QLAB Control Device by Stream Deck

[Carsten Frey]

First of all, Thank you Sam for yet another great Webinar about Qlab!!!

I've been using Qlab quite a while now and learned some great new tricks again.

Really looking forward to the next one!!

btw, is there a schedule for the next one?

But back to topic:

There was the question about a QLab Control Device

And as long it wasn't mentioned, I wanted to really recommend the Elgato Stream Deck  with the free software Companion by btifocus

It's a small device with either 6 (about 100€), 15 (150€) or 32 Buttons (250€)

The Buttons are actually little LCD-Screens (128px x 128px)

There is a direct integration for most of the Qlab Commands for editing and playback of cues (e.g. starting a cue number, regardless if Qlab is running in the background or on screen; triggering other Qlab instances, and so on)

And if you want to, you can get some more features using OSC

But there are a lot of more features and ways to control a lot of PRO Audio, Video and Light Devices (Video Switcher, Audio Consoles, Light Consoles, Remote Cameras, OBS for Live Streams, and so on!!)

I'm using it mostly in corporate events, where you often don't want to use just the "next cue" which I think are the products mentioned

Midi would be a way to do that too, but it's not made to give feedback... 

[Patrick Spadrille]

Do you use Keyboard shortcut to customize stream deck os is there a Qlab direct integration? And if there is such an integration, does it mean that the app doesn't need to be active in order for Streamdeck to control Qlab?

[Carsten Frey]

There is an Integration
You do use the cue number to start it.
And as you are pretty free on the cue “number”, like it can be numbers, letters, signs or a combination of that, there aren’t any restrictions on how many cues you want to start, except that you can set up 99 pages in the stream deck containing 29 (32 minus 3 for Navigation) buttons so you and up with close to 3000

And because you do trigger the direct cue, QLab doesn’t need to be active.
Just start Qlab and than put it in the background

[Carsten Frey]

Just try it out
You can download the software for free and they do have a stream deck emulator
So you can do and program everything without having the actual hardware
Than you get something like the my picture in the first post, that’s actual just the screenshot from the emulator
You can download version 1.4, that’s super stable, but doesn’t use the Qlab feedback function (to see the time left on cues)
But it only supports the 15 button version right now
If you want to test the 32 button version, you need to try the 2.0 beta
I’m doing a lot lately with the beta and it’s running really good and stable
Wouldn’t worry to use it in a live show
Maybe not the latest, which gets updated almost every day, but just one “stable” version

It’s pretty easy to set up, but if you need any help, just let me know

[Patrick Spadrille]

In fact I have a streamdeck. I use it with Premiere pro with keyboard shortcuts and OBS which have a direct integration. It works great! But I have no idea how to use QLab with it. Can you help me?

[olivier rijnsaard]

Its really simple,

first thing you need to do is download the companion plugin in your streamdeck app you can do that by clicking the ''more actions'' button in you stream deck configuration window,

then when you have done that, you can make a profile in you streamdeck with companion buttons.

when you finished doing this 

you need to download the companion app https://bitfocus.io/companion/

and ofcourse install it.

then when thats down you can start the bitfocus companion app.

then you see a red window, and in the bottom there is ''launch GUI''

press this and a web page will open,

you will see a window where it says connections,

and in the bottom of that window there will be ''add by search'', just type ''qlab'' there

and add it and apply changes

then go to your buttons tab press a button and select what you want it to do :)

Op donderdag 9 april 2020 19:25:10 UTC+2 schreef Patrick Spadrille:

[Gordon P. Howell]

If you are using a Mac (assuming yes, since we are talking Qlab) and have loaded the Streamdeck application, it is VERY difficult to remove and Companion will not run with Streamdeck remnants on the system.  

If you look in Activity Monitor, you’ll see a background process running even if you’ve deleted the main program.  That will not delete.  The Streamdeck folks have a removal process available on  their website, and that’s what has to be used to get rid of all of the Streamdeck program so Companion will run.  

That was my experience, your’s may vary.  But if you find Companion doesn’t work, the first thing to look for is that process in the activity monitor.

I remember that the Streamdeck app does know about Qlab, but not as extensively as the Companion app.

Geep

HH Audio

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[John Forrister]

A quick word about the Companion 2.0:

Technically, it's still beta, but there was an announcement from Bitfocus on Mar 18 on their facebook group that they were

ready to promote 2.0 to production, but COVID-19 hit them pretty hard and they've not had the cycles to actually do the

work required to release it.

Their official statement is that 2.0 beta is a better choice than 1.4, and has been for a while now.

Also, Note that 2.0 has 2 qlab integrations: 

• QLab
• QLab w/ Feedback (requires the use of TCP)

The difference is that QLab w/ Feedback allows for pulling information like currently running cue, etc back from QLab and displaying it on the Streamdeck/Web UI

Also, while this thread seems to be primarily around controlling qlab with Companion, I've had excellent luck

using OSC from QLab to fire pre-configured integrations in the companion software - things like power and shutter controls

for projectors, etc - Companion can listen for OSC, and sending a "/press/bank/$PAGE/$BUTTON" will simulate a button press for the software.

-John

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[Patrick Spadrille]

I just made my first steps with Companion and it seem pretty great ! Thank you for the share and for your help !

[Neil Connolly]

Hi Patrick how do i setup companion with lab?