setting up a ethernet switch

[flp]

Hi. New to this group.

I have just finished programming my first show on QLab. The play is a
new one woman show and we run video and stills and sound on three
screens with two projectors. I am loving Qlab.

My question is... Currently I am running on a Mac Pro running
everything, the next theatre we are going to has two Mac Books and a
mac mini. I have bought a ethernet switch but have never set one up
and want to test it at home before we go out of town. Is there anyone
who has experience with this? Should I keep the sound on the mini and
put the videos and stills on the two laptops? What order of operation
should I do to set up the switch?

Thank you for your time!

flora

[Christopher Ashworth]

Hi Flora,

Welcome to the list. Glad to hear that the program has been helpful!

More below:

On Feb 24, 2012, at 8:26 AM, flp wrote:
>
> My question is... Currently I am running on a Mac Pro running
> everything, the next theatre we are going to has two Mac Books and a
> mac mini. I have bought a ethernet switch but have never set one up
> and want to test it at home before we go out of town. Is there anyone
> who has experience with this? Should I keep the sound on the mini and
> put the videos and stills on the two laptops? What order of operation
> should I do to set up the switch?

Do you have more than one computer available at home? It will be hard to do a full test run without multiple computers to simulate what you'll have at the venue.

I'd start with hooking the computers together and just verifying that they can talk to each other over the network before you begin working with QLab. In most situations Macs should "just work" when connected on a local network together, although if something is unusual about the setup networking can get pretty hairy. Pray for the former. :-) The system preferences will be where you access the various networking settings for the computer.

Presumably you're planning to have one of the machines automatically control the others. I'd recommend using a free utility called ipMIDI to let QLab send MIDI messages over the network:

http://nerds.de/en/ipmidi_osx.html

Best,
Chris

[flp]

Hi Christopher.

I am planning on doing the test with a imac and a mac book. I have the
switch and cables. I am just a little unsure of what to do next? How
do I tell it who is the master? Do I run both off my original Qlab
program? Is there a page out there with step by step?

(sorry I am a LD and TD and not a programmer...)

Thanks!

flora

[dan howarth]

hi flora

here's my quick-guide on setting up an ethernet switch and multiple macs to synchronize qlab --- 

first of all, plug in all the ethernet stuff. if you have an active / hot internet feed, plug that into the uplink slot on the switch. 

if you aren't including internet, don't worry about it. the computers will figure out how to see each other -- that's part of mac os x. 

they won't need an outside internet line to run qlab, see each other, trigger each other, etc etc. this all happens through the switch. 

for the qlab workspaces --- i suggest building a master workspace that will be run from your "master" or "operator" computer. 

and of course, build "slave" workspaces that will run on the other computers and be triggered by the master computer. again, the 

master workspace will have trigger cues, the slave workspaces will simply have the media cues (you mentioned audio and video slaves) 

and these slave workspaces will wait for the master to send triggers. 

for the triggering of the remote / other computers: install that ipMIDI software that chris ashworth recommended (on all computers). be sure 

to patch each workspace's MIDI patch to ipMIDI (just like patching audio or video in qlab preferences). 

then program the master workspace to include MIDI Message Cues that send Note On data over ipMIDI to the slave workspaces: drop in a MIDI message cue, 

patch the MIDI message output to ipMIDI port 1 and then specify a note number, a velocity, etc. this more or less is what you'll do with the master workspace. 

then go to the slave workspace, select the corresponding audio or video cue that you want to trigger when firing the MIDI message cue in the master workspace .. 

go to this slave cue's Trigger tab and check the box for MIDI message -- note on -- @ note number & velocity that you specified in the trigger from the master workspace. 

repeat this for every cue that you want to trigger remotely. you might want to set-up some STOP cues too -- so you can remotely stop the audio or 

video cues ---- just use another MIDI message, a different note number and / or a different velocity. repeat as much as you need. 

hope this helps ---- sorry if my description is confusing --- can send a sample workspace if needed. 

i'm sure there will be some helpful addendums and corrections so stay tuned to this mailing list ------ best d

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dan howarth

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[flp]

Hi Dan.

Can you sent me two screen shots of some sample Q's? (the master and
slave) I am doing the laptop set up tomorrow and hope I can get it
going by tomorrow night.

cheers

flora

[dan howarth]

flora -- here's a screen shot ............ in this example, if i press GO on the left cue-list, 

the video group cue 30 fires on the right cue-list ............ hopefully you can see / read 

the info in the tabs at the bottom ....... let me know if this doesn't make sense. 

this is using MIDI message cues, plain and simple ------- there are many other ways to 

do remote triggering including more elegant versions of MIDI ....... but this is a reliable, 

tried and true way to do it and it should make a lot of sense. 

[Chris Ashworth]

Hi Showhow,

We would need to know more information to help.

Which part isn't working? What have you tested?

Best,
Chris

On Jun 20, 2012, at 2:50 AM, 修皜林 wrote:

> hi dan
>
> i have do the way you say, but it just not work, why?
>
> is because the ipMIDI or network setup?
>
> sorry for my english
>
> Showhow Lin

[Dave "luckydave" Memory]

On Wednesday, August 1, 2012 at 6:28 PM, Gacha wrote:

And it's NEARLY working well.

So I've installed ipMIDI and connected them all with powered CAT5 switcher(TP-Link 10 port hub).

All the computer are recognising each other(checked on Audio MIDI set up on Utility) 

Now I've got 2 of the computer that responding really well, but the other 2 doesn't seem to respond to the MIDI message at all... 

Have you turned off Airport or any other network connections on all of the machines? ipMIDI isn't very good at priority, so it might be sending the messages through wifi, and then they're getting lost. If the ethernet is the only active connection, it should work more reliably.

-- 

luck...@figure53.com

 

[Chris Eschweiler]

Gacha,

I see you're using an ethernet switch.

In the Networking pane of System Preferences, have you put the IP address of your machine's wired connection into the Router field as well?


On Aug 1, 2012, at 5:28 PM, Gacha wrote:

> Hi I'm New to this group.
> I'm currently running 4 computer(macbook pro, with OS10.5 on it) using your very clearly explained method.

>
> And it's NEARLY working well.
> So I've installed ipMIDI and connected them all with powered CAT5 switcher(TP-Link 10 port hub).
> All the computer are recognising each other(checked on Audio MIDI set up on Utility)
> Now I've got 2 of the computer that responding really well, but the other 2 doesn't seem to respond to the MIDI message at all...

> I've tried the obvious thing like swapped the cables, slots(though that can't be it if the computers are recognising each other... but I thought I'd try), try other notes, velocities, checked the patch and definitely patched into ipMIDI port1, created extra ports and tried on other port, and classic "turn the computer on and off" and so far nothing works.
>
> Any ideas or tips?
>
> Thank you...
>
> Gacha

[Gacha]

Hi Dave, 

I turned the wifi off and it worked!! Just like that. 

Thank you very much. you saved my bacon. 

Gacha

[Gacha]

Thanks Chris, 

It's working now. But to be extra sure, Should I put in the IP address manually in every machines.

(Just for the curiosity what does it do? it's on automatic at the moment...)

Thanks very much. 

Gacha

[Charles Coes]

You can also set the service order (which network port the computer goes to first when trying to connect to something) by clicking on the little gear in the network page of system preferences.  It might let you have working ipMIDI and wifi at the same time.  

You're definitely better off with manually set static IPs.  That way there is no chance that one of the devices will get a new IP and another wont be able to find it.  It's a way to make the show setup the same every time you turn it on, instead of leaving it up to whatever is acting as a DHCP server on the network.