MagicQ MIDI interface

[Wol]

I think there is some confusion in this topic - bottom line seems to be, if you have a Chamsys Midi interface connected to MagicQ PC, can you use a Behringer BCF2000 to control the faders in MagicQ (thus doing away with the need to have a PC wing or Mini-wing).

 

I can just imagine the conversation with my other half: "Hey, sorry dear, I can't afford to keep up payments on the mortgage anymore, all these people are being cheap and not supporting us even though we give away our software for free and all we ask is for them to buy our hardware in return."

 

because the BCF2000 + MIDI interface is a lot cheaper than even the mini-wing!

 

Incorrect.

 

The price of a BCF2K plus the MIDI timecode interface is actually *more* than a miniwing, so you'd be better off buying a miniwing, which properly supports the flash / go / select buttons, has a couple of other buttons to hand, as well as providing a DMX output. You also get 10 playbacks and a master, rather than just 8 faders.

 

I'd also be interested to know, if the answer to the above question is 'yes', then is it possible to get feedback from MagicQ PC to the BCF2000 to move the motorised faders when changing pages?

 

No, we don't support parameter feedback. Of course you could patch an individual dimmer foreach playback foreach page, and then have that output over artnet, write a bit of software to read this in and act with some form of passive MIDI adapter which allows you to inject commands into the midi stream to make the faders move up and down along with the ones on screen.... and even after all that MagicQ uses the model that the fader will control either the playback that was active on that fader, or will activate the current page, so will be a massive headache to get that to sync correctly.

 

Or you could just..... buy a miniwing! :D

[greenalien]

I'm not that much of a cheapskate - I already have a Chamsys PC Wing and a Chamsys audio interface! However, I also have a BCF2000 (which I currently use as a laser controller) and am always interested to see if it has other uses.

[dirkenstein]

I think I've managed to confuse everyone, including myself. By 'interface', I meant Chamsys DMX interfaces, _not_ the MIDI/timecode interface, or the audio interface. For some reason I assumed those were in a differnt category, and thought there was such a thing as a combined audio/midi interface, which there obviously isn't.

 

To be able to use serial or TCP/IP remote control including setting playback fader levels, the somewhat older manual I have suggests that you need:

 

Either

a) An actual Chamsys console

or

b) A PC wing of some type, including the mini wing or the maxi wing

or

c) A Chamsys USB/DMX interface (not MagicDMX).

 

My understanding is that adding any of these products to MagicQ PC/Mac also enable a number of other features that are not available with the free software or MagicDMX such as:

Web-based focus remote

iPhone/iPod touch remote app support

Support for mouse scrolling and moving light mouse pan/tilt axis control (pc wing and maxi wing only).

Playback control via DMX

Several other features I can't remember offhand.

 

My understatiding is that remote control of playbacks via MIDI, serial, TCP/IP or DMX is only enabled on PB1-10 on any version of MagicQ PC/Mac, and that a console supports this on a larger number of playbacks (38?).

 

What I wasn't sure about is whether adding the Chamsys MIDI interface _on its own_ also takes Magicq PC/Mac out of 'demo mode' and enables most of the above features, as adding a wing or usb DMX interface does. It obviously adds the ability to send and receive MIDI and timecode. That much was obvious and clear from the manual. What wasn't absolutely clear was whether that would allow you to use remote control of playbacks via MIDI, although I was left with the mpression that it probably did. What certainly wasn't clear is whether it also enabled playback remote control via TCP/IP, serial, or DMX.

 

I think you've now clarified that in your latest mail. Basically any Chamsys interface (Audio, or MIDI, Chamsys USB/DMX, or current model Chamsys network DMX) will eable extended functionality. The only exception appears to be that mouse pan/tilt support requires a wing with X/Y encoders (PC or maxi wing, basically).

 

It would be nice if you could put together a table or matrix in the manual which shows which features are enabled in which combinations of interface and/or wing hardware on MagicQ PC/Mac. That would avoid any ambiguities.

[mark_s]

It was indeed the operating mode of the BCF2000 - once I changed it to S-4, it all worked. MagicQ does also recognise control change messages (and by extension, I assume any message - you can map any number in usermidimap.txt).

 

I haven't got it to change the levels of playbacks yet, but that's probably my error rather than it not being supported - the manual definitely says that the remote protocol allows you to set a playback to whichever level you want, so you should be able to map your control change message to the set level message, using one of the parameters as the % value to set it to.

 

:)