MagicQ

[norty303]

Not very complicated at all, and that's the long way of doing it, the quick way is to hold down the select button and either turn the X wheel or tap the Y button in time to the music.

 

Read the question again. He'll be using a dongle and PC only, so no wing or playbacks or select buttons available (not sure if what you are suggesting would work with a multitouch touch screen though)

 

An idea of how simple and quick this OS is. Say you want to create a colour cue stack for busking. Simply select the group of fixtures you want in the stack then highlight the colour pallets you want in the stack press record then press the select button above the fader you want the stack on. then all you have to do is tell that fader to behave as a cue stack rather than a chase.

 

Now thats useful! I record them 1 by 1 usually. Does it build the stack based on the order of selection?

[timd]

Once those dongles are back in stock I'm going to get one, if I can't make it work for him, then I'll just keep it for myself, I'll find a use for it eventually, I do do some stuff where DMX controllers might come in handy. £10 is hardly breaking the bank anyway.

[smalljoshua]

Double Tap the S soft button (in the software just below the screen) for the playback you want to alter the speed of and then tap the Area just to the left of the Y encoder for the tap to time, or click on the X encoder for speed adjustment.

 

Josh

[greenalien]

MagicQ is undoubtedly a brilliant product, and the fact that it's pretty much free to use makes it attractive, although you also need to allow for the cost of the dongle and PC - however, for a lighting setup as simple as described, it's complete overkill, as already mentioned. I think you would be much better off using a dedicated lighting desk - there are plenty of 192 channel DMX desks on the market, such as the Stairville DMX Master or the Soundlab which are quick to learn, simple to use, have sound to light built in (essential for disco use) and aren't that expensive. Furthermore, a desk like this is less likely to crash than a computer, will restart instantly if you have an interruption to the power supply, only takes a few minutes to connect, and doesn't take up much space. Horses for courses!

[norty303]

have sound to light built in

 

My experiences of the various rebrands of those 192 channel desks are that the sound to light is useless, simply causing constant triggering because of the lack of sophistication in the sound filtering

[greenalien]

My experiences of the various rebrands of those 192 channel desks are that the sound to light is useless, simply causing constant triggering because of the lack of sophistication in the sound filtering

 

Sounds as though you were unlucky, or working in a very noisy environment - I've found both the Stairville and Chauvet variants to have entirely usable sound triggering that will happily step through chase sequences to the bass beat.. Anyhow, better than nothing, which is what you get with MagicQ and a basic dongle...

 

If you want more sophisticated sound triggering on a small budget, you could do worse than look on Ebay for a second-hand Pulsar Masterpiece - their sound to light system is very good indeed.

[Grum]

If you want more sophisticated sound triggering on a small budget, you could do worse than look on Ebay for a second-hand Pulsar Masterpiece - their sound to light system is very good indeed.

 

 

Unlike the rest of the interface which is one of the worst consoles I've had the misfortune to encounter.

[norty303]

or working in a very noisy environment

 

Ummm. yes a club.... ;)

 

The issue is with the filtering or rather lack of it.

 

Anyhow, better than nothing, which is what you get with MagicQ and a basic dongle...

 

Tap to time is massively more reliable than sound triggering anyway - I have never desired sound triggering yet.

[greenalien]

Unlike the rest of the interface which is one of the worst consoles I've had the misfortune to encounter.

 

There's probably no other devices in the entertainments industry that polarise people as much as the Masterpiece consoles - you either love them or hate them; they are certainly not intuitive to learn! Nevertheless, if you are on a tight budget, a second-hand Masterpiece will give you a lot of 'bang for your buck', provided you are prepared to accept the steep learning curve, not helped by the disorganised manual. There's a lot of them about, so being able to program one can still be a useful skill.

[Judge]

Nevertheless, if you are on a tight budget, a second-hand Masterpiece will give you a lot of 'bang for your buck', provided you are prepared to accept the steep learning curve,

Do you actually hate the OP?

Or do you just specialise in Cruel and Unusual punishment?