Which PC/mac control software?

[harrison110]

Hello again everyone,

 

I have been using MagicQ on my mac for the past week or two now. I mainly got it because it is free and came highly recommended to me.

 

I have been looking around at other PC/mac control software as well: (Enttec, strand, Qlab, chamaeleon,etc.) and wondering exactly what other people are using, what would others recommend and if I am going down the right road here?

 

I have experience with the strand 300 and zero 88 desks but I am most interested in using computer software mainly as it is cheaper for myself and 100x easier than trying to strap a flight case to the back of my motorbike...

 

I have no problems with MagicQ at the moment but I was just wanting to know where I stand compared to everyone else???

 

Harrison

[dbuckley]

This is the Blue Room, and here we have two standard question, with mandatory answers.

 

The first is what sound system should I buy, and the answer is D&B. the second is what lighting software should I use on my PC (or Mac) and the answer is MagicQ.

 

You've mentioned QLab, that falls into what sound playback software should I use, and there isn't a mandatory answer for that question, yet, but for fanbois, QLab is a favourite.

[harrison110]

Thanks for the straightforward answer there... It was a question I needed to ask, or else I will never know.

 

Harrison

[Joe Bleasdale]

Another peice of software is Martins MPC. It can utilise the Entec devices for free universe output like MagicQ. Pretty cool peice of software if you ask me.

 

Thanks.

[d_korman]

Take a look at Show Cue System - it can control a lot more than just sound effects:

 

Show Cue System

[nickydeb]

Another thought -

 

SFX6 - Sound effects, basic video, and can talk to other hardware/software via MIDI, Telnet, Serial, has a scripting language that can let you do some fairly powerful stuff.

 

http://www.stageresearch.com/products/SFX6/SFX6.aspx

[stevelinus]

why dont you look at hog4pc the new version is quick nice to use and generally does not fart too much, either that or the grandmaonpc is pretty decent as long as you have a few external screens. it also has a fairly decent free visualiser compared to other free offerings.

 

the majority of big shows going out at work are running on hog or grandma so it would be beneficial to get a heads up on it in case anything bigger came along in the future.

 

chamsys is a bit old hat to be honest and not what a lot of the bigger shows are using in fact I have only seen 2 go out over the whole summer compared to a hog or MA being on everything else.

 

but anyway im just a student for 1 day a week and as far as people on here goes that puts me in the bracket of "does not have a clue" the other 6 days of the week are a different matter however.

[gareth]

If you already use MagicQ and are familiar with the software, why change? If you feel the need to build on what you have, consider investing in some of their hardware - maybe a PC Wing, Or if you can wait until next year and fancy the idea of a proper console rather than a laptop-based solution, the MQ40 looks pretty good - and it's cabin-baggage-size, so carrying it around on your bike shouldn't be a problem.

[chrisw92]

What's all this fuss about MagicQ? I'm in the position where the small live band I do lights have grown out of the cheap disco DMX controllers but aren't are no where near the side of fully programed and synced professional shows. We have been looking at Macbook based software controllers (and the ENTTEC DMX USB pro) since its cheaper than the mid range DMX desks and its getting hard for me to turn up a ton of faders at once. I'm not strictly a lighting guy I do it because I find it fun so most of the talk in the lighting section goes way above my head (and hurts it). The reason I haven't asked on here for advice about software yet?

 

I know how to use the search function, and on every thread that something like this is mentioned the answer is always MagicQ.

 

I haven't learnt the software (it looks like no walk in the park but I guess it can do amazing things once I get a degree in quantum physics and know how it works). Is MagicQ right for me? is basically what I'm trying to say.

My Ideal situation is that:

I need at least 20 'fader' type of controls (if mappable... 36 if not), preferably that I can move a few at once (think of groups in ProTools, bad analogy but its the background I come from).

'scene' buttons (or triggers) that 2 'layers' can be played at once (Instead of making tons of scenes I made 'front lights' and 'back lights' scenes that could be outputting together on the old cheap desk that has now died).

An overall X-fade.

 

 

The band doesn't play to a click and I don't want the same lighting show each night, otherwise all this would be easy. I was looking at Led Player by chromateq but it won't run on the 32bit, single core macbook. Any help would be greatly appreciated and sorry if I sound like a complete... novice.

[Wol]

Theres the basic single preset style desk mode in MagicQ (click Simple in the top right / http://chamsys.co.uk/magicq_schools ), which gives you direct control of 48 channels, and then you can program different "groups" / "scenes" or "cues" as we call them, onto the 10 playbacks at the bottom.

 

You can then play back several playbacks at once. So you can have one which is "working lights", one which is "front lights", one which is "back lights", one which is "red pars" and so on....

[indyld]

chamsys is a bit old hat to be honest and not what a lot of the bigger shows are using in fact I have only seen 2 go out over the whole summer compared to a hog or MA being on everything else.

 

yeh I find that 500 watt fresnels the same old hat I never spec them because they arent going out on any major tours and they need gels in them and you have to focus them and everything.

 

To the OP: In terms of cheap / free control then unless you see a reason to change then you might as well stick where you are unless you fancy a stab at Martin's MPC or going off down a more software-y route. They all basically work the same way anyway so learning MQ or Martin means you can work out how to use that Hog 4 or the GrandMA 2 or the Sapphire Touch you suddenly decide to hire because all the major tours are using them. Make sure you patch your 12 PAR56s to the right universe as those NSPs can be hard to configure.

 

To Chrisw92: MagicQ in Simple mode will do what you want (for all that a lighting desk on a computer will) and really isn't that hard to learn in that config. Certainly if you want to pay next to nothing for hardware (excluding the cost of the Mac, of course) and don't mind fiddling with faders on screen then it'll do the job.

 

If I were in your position, I would much rather use a hardware lighting desk with real faders and the ability to create submasters. At the risk of sounding like an expensive kit junkie who has to use all the latest toys I saw on X Factor, this would be a Z88 Jester or something equally decent although I'm sure a 100 odd quid of Behringer EuroSh!te LC2412 or whatever would do it. This is might be in the "cheap disco" controllers class but in my eyes it's in the "put things on faders and push them up" class and I'd find it a lot easier to run the show.

 

I would use my expensive Macbook for something more fun like running media clips through an Optoma or whatever.

[chrisw92]

If I were in your position, I would much rather use a hardware lighting desk with real faders and the ability to create submasters. [......] I'm sure a 100 odd quid of Behringer EuroSh!te LC2412 or whatever would do it. This is might be in the "cheap disco" controllers class but in my eyes it's in the "put things on faders and push them up" class and I'd find it a lot easier to run the show.

The Behringer is the exact sort of thing we are growing out of (be it the showtec 'version'), we want to be able to do more and since I don't have the ability to grow 2 more hands its getting harder to control just using faders and the limited cues.

 

We already have an old macbook gathering dust so the computer doesn't cost us anything. The Z88 Jester is way out of 'budget'.

 

You can then play back several playbacks at once

I have figured out how to put something on these playback faders (I haven't a clue how) but they don't like each other?

I have green lights on one fader and blue lights on another (for example) both colours are on the same fixture and can be used at once... But when I turn up a playback fader just a little bit the lights change very suddenly (not the blue>aqua I was hoping but blue>green).

[Wol]

I have figured out how to put something on these playback faders (I haven't a clue how) but they don't like each other?

I have green lights on one fader and blue lights on another (for example) both colours are on the same fixture and can be used at once... But when I turn up a playback fader just a little bit the lights change very suddenly (not the blue>aqua I was hoping but blue>green).

 

What was the fixture?

 

IT sounds like youve programmed it using latest takes preference / LTP, rather than highest takes preference / HTP.

 

The "blue" fader has likely recorded on it by default all the colour channels so your first fader is saying "green at full, red off and blue off", then your blue fader is saying "blue at full, red off and green off". If you have the fixture in LTP, then "green off" is later than the "green at full", and thus will snap.

 

If you have the fixture in HTP mode, then as you pull the fader up, then the colours will fade in.

 

The other way is if you want one fader per colour, then when recording, don't select all the colour information by default, but press shift, then record, to only save each colour attribute. That makes each fader only say "blue at full" rather than having the others at 0 also.

 

Again, it's hard to really judge without knowing which fixture youre using and in which mode!

[chrisw92]

What was the fixture?

 

IT sounds like youve programmed it using latest takes preference / LTP, rather than highest takes preference / HTP.

 

The "blue" fader has likely recorded on it by default all the colour channels so your first fader is saying "green at full, red off and blue off", then your blue fader is saying "blue at full, red off and green off". If you have the fixture in LTP, then "green off" is later than the "green at full", and thus will snap.

 

If you have the fixture in HTP mode, then as you pull the fader up, then the colours will fade in.

 

The other way is if you want one fader per colour, then when recording, don't select all the colour information by default, but press shift, then record, to only save each colour attribute. That makes each fader only say "blue at full" rather than having the others at 0 also.

 

Again, it's hard to really judge without knowing which fixture youre using and in which mode!

 

I knew it would be me just doing something stupid, the manual has only gone and confused me more.

 

I'm testing it with Chauvet Slimpar 56's at the moment (we use some of them), and I keep flicking between simple and normal mode.

 

Is there some sort of MagicQ for dummies guide, made for 4 year olds? I really want to love this for some reason but it keeps pushing me away.

[Wol]

Is there some sort of MagicQ for dummies guide, made for 4 year olds? I really want to love this for some reason but it keeps pushing me away.

 

Have you clicked the "Quick Start guide" on the downloads page on the website? Another good one is the tutorials over at onstagelighting for MagicQ. Check out indyld's profile above for the link to it.