Hardware required for midi show control

[B.C. Batty]

Hey all,

Curious what hardware is required for midi show control from Macbook Pro to ETC Express 24/48 Console.

My first guess is simple USB to midi cable. Oui?

[Lists]

Any midi interface (it's more than just a cable!) will that passes Sysex.  I believe that there are a few oddities with the Express (it only responds to the 'lighting' type, not 'all types' so some manual reading and setup time is necessary.

Charles Coes

cco...@gmail.com

"Forms and rhythms in music are never changed without producing changes in the most important political forms and ways" - Plato

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[Tyler]

I use MSC to cue an express 96 every week. Works great. I use a Focusrite Sapphire for midi out. Be sure to set device ID (1 for example) on console, and under midi message cue in QL use MSC midi type, set type to Lighting and put in whatever device ID you chose. ETC manual has a page devoted to MSC commands

[Bryan-Clifford Batty]

Hey all,

So got my USB to Midi adapter.

Have set everything up, crossed and double checked everything but I cannot get QLab to fire GO commands to the ETC Express. Now my Sysex Message coming out (using Midi Monitor), is different than what ETC says is recommended for Express MSC, but, I do not know how to change the parameters of that Sysex Message using the UI of Qlab.

Any ideas?

[Bryan-Clifford Batty]

Here is a line from Midi Monitor to give some more insight.

13:11:33.298 To USB Uno MIDI Interface SysEx Universal Real Time 9 bytes F0 7F 01 02 01 01 00 31 F7

That HEX Code is identical to the one listed on ETCs website for a simple GO command to the Express/Expression series - yet nothing happening on Express's side of things.

However, I am sending something back to the computer to the console, because if I allow Qlab to be controlled the board will control Qlab, but not the other way around, like I am looking for.

[Mike Post]

That command reads ‘GO on Lighting device 1 (a rather large cue number)’  My hex parsing falls short of saying what the actual cue number is, but it looks like it’s over 1000.  I could be totally wrong there.  Be that as it may, if you have the right cue number, then as long as the Express has such a cue number, it should execute it.  If you don’t have such a cue number, then the Express will ignore it.

Which version of QLab?  The particulars change between 2 and 3.  

Pardon if I’m being redundant below…  Since you got QLab to respond to MSC it seems like you have a handle on how to do the setup, but just in case...

Things to look for in QLab

Make sure you are sending to the correct MIDI patch

Make sure you have the right cue number

Things to look for on the Express:

Is MSC Receive enabled?  There were a few variations of what that meant, but it’s in the setup somewhere.

SETUP

6 - Options Settings

2 - MIDI Show Control Device IDs set to 1/1 (just need the receive really)

Beyond that, if you can send me a QLab file or a screen shot of the MSC command I might be able to spot something.  Best of luck and hope this helps!

Mike Post

mdp...@mac.com

http://mdpostdesign.com

(601) 307-8657

[El Armstrong]

ETC also requires the cue list and path are both not 0.  Cue list one is the a/b fader pair, and cue list 2 is the c/d fader pair.  Also Command Format must be lighting General

[Mike Post]

That may be the issue.  The data string may be List: 01, Path: 00, Cue: 49…  I’m not up on how the data breaks down in the string but that’s one possibility.

Mike Post

mdp...@mac.com

http://mdpostdesign.com

(601) 307-8657

[Rich Walsh]

It really isn't that tricky. You should read this before mucking about with MSC:

http://www.richmondsounddesign.com/docs/midi-show-control-specification.pdf

You should read this when working with Express:

https://www.etcconnect.com/Support/Articles/MIDI-Show-Control-MSC-In-Depth-Programming-Information-for-Obsession-and-Expression.aspx

And this when working with EOS:

https://www.etcconnect.com/Support/Articles/Understanding-the-MSC-Commands-Eos-Family-Receives-and-Transmits.aspx

F0 7F 01 02 01 01 00 31 F7 breaks down as:

F0 7F – MSC header

01 – device ID (does this match what's on the desk?)

02 – MSC padding

01 – Lighting command format

01 – GO command

00 – delimiter between absent Q_number and Q_list

31 – ASCII code for Q_list number called (=1)

F7 – end of SysEx

However, you can't actually generate that string from a QLab MSC Cue as QLab (correctly) won't let you enter a Q_list without a Q_number (ETC are bending the definition of MSC by asking you to do this: the spec says "<Q_number> optional; required if Q_list is sent"). So I guess you're entering it as raw SysEx (without the F0 & F7)?

Have you:

1. Confirmed that the MIDI message is reaching the Express (is there a MIDI activity display?)?
2. Tried it with an all-call: change device ID to 7F? Ignore the misleading information about "all device"; presumably they mean "all type" command format…
3. Tried triggering a specific cue, eg: F0 7F 01 02 01 01 35 31 2E 33 00 31 7F for cue 51.3?

There's nothing in ETC's documents that says they require path to be sent: you'd need two instances of 00 in their examples if that were true.

Rich