Control/Dimming ETC ION - Syncing Music with Light Cues - Midi?

[APhamX]

So I have an orchisis show coming up in a week (Thursday and Friday Performance), and I was wondering if it is possible to get a usb to midi cable and plug it into Ion's midi in to be able to sync a song with a midi track. For example, we have cues already made for certain points in the song and the timecode of when to go the the next cue, but would it be possible to make the midi go to the next cue at a certain time while that midi track is synced up with the song?

What we do now is just click go when someone or myself tells the person who mans the lightboard when the next cue will be and count down. Though this works, at some parts we get off sync and have to start the song over during rehearsal.

I've read on other forums on controlbooth (most threads just end without the OP posting back) and I've seen Qlab quite a bit, however I only have a windows PC and an android tablet to work with. They're quite powerful computers I've built myself for the performances I've used this year (for sound editing and such).

(This site is currently blocked in my school, so I cannot see it until after I'm done with the day. I currently have to be at school at 6AM till 10PM everyday for the next two weeks.)

Thank's in advance. If I'm in the wrong place to ask this, sorry!

Update - Do you guys recommend any usb to midi cables? I see a lot on amaazon, but they're all for pianos and are REALLY cheap (4-11 bucks). Does it really matter which midi cable I get?

 

[emac]

To my understanding as long you have a audio track with midi attached to you this should be fairly straight forward. This is one of the thoughts behind the Midi I?O ports on the ion.

Now I don't have enough board time on an ion to tell you how to do this but I think this has been discussed before on here, and im positive that you can find more info on the ETC forums.

 

[icewolf08]

The short answer is yes, you can use MIDI to fire your light cues. However setting up is not the simplest task.

You will need playback software on your computer than can send MIDI show control (MSC) commands, a MIDI interface, and then you will need to configure the lighting console to accept the MIDI commands.

If you know the timing between your cues you could just program them all as auto follows so that all you have to do is start the audio playback and push GO on the lights at the same time. Then all the cues will just fire in time without needing to hit go for each. This method may require some tweaks in the timing, but won't cost you anything.


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[HansH]

This is also being talked about over on the ETC forums here -> ETC ION - Syncing Music with Light Cues - Midi? - Electronic Theatre Controls

Essentially, there are two options - MIDI Show Control, or MIDI Time Code. I went over a general overview of them briefly on the ETC forums.

 

[APhamX]

This is also being talked about over on the ETC forums here -> ETC ION - Syncing Music with Light Cues - Midi? - Electronic Theatre Controls

Essentially, there are two options - MIDI Show Control, or MIDI Time Code. I went over a general overview of them briefly on the ETC forums.

Haha, I posted this on both forums to get as many answers as possible from both communities.

 

[APhamX]

Yea I know the timing between each cue, I'm thinking of using Adobe Audition or Sony Vegas which are the only program I own atm. I was thinking of doing a macro, but I'm afraid of off sync in the beginning. Do you know if there is a way to link a midi track with a song so they sync up to the same time?

 

[icewolf08]

Yea I know the timing between each cue, I'm thinking of using Adobe Audition or Sony Vegas which are the only program I own atm. I was thinking of doing a macro, but I'm afraid of off sync in the beginning. Do you know if there is a way to link a midi track with a song so they sync up to the same time?

I don't know if Vegas or Audition are capable of MSC. they may be capable of MTC, but again I don't know.

Synching via auto follows wont get off unless you are way off hitting go and starting the music track at the same time. Cue an follow timing can be tweaked to the hundredths of a second, which should be fine enough control.

Another option is to use an interface like the Rosco Keystroke to have the lighting console trigger the sound playback, then set up your auto follows. This way the timing will always be the same, it won't require software that supports MSC and it can be used for many other things. We use one for this purpose all the time.

This all is besides the fact that many people light performances like this and take every cue manually on the SM's call without much trouble, and many of our members have done light shows to music where they press go on every cue and have great success. Sometimes it is just a matter of training your op better.

This is not to say that you shouldn't use some kind of show control system. Learning how to do that is valuable.


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[SanTai]

You could do it with SMPTE, it is timecode you send as an audio signal. You have to program into the console at which times it should go to the next cue. Depending on how many cues you have it is quite easy to work with.

Such a setup could look like:

Audio Source ->Splits:->
->Audio channel 1(Music)->Out
->Audio channel 2(SMPTE)->Light Console

Since channel 1 and 2 usually are Left and Right channel on a CD it sends the timecode and music in perfect sync. The SMPTE tells the console what time it is.

This is a normal setup for Laser and Pyro shows synced with music. I belive the CB member Soundlight used timecode on some of his lightshows.

 

[HansH]

This would work if the OP has a Net3 Show Control gateway -- the Ion console doesn't have a SMPTE port, but can listen to incoming data from the show control gateway. If you don't have the gateway, MIDI is typically the best built-in option for show control.

Typically, my approach (on the MIDI side) is to have the controlling program fire the timecode and music in a group cue. One cue, and as long as the program fires the group cue the same way every time (let's hope so!), the timecode and audio track are synced.

If you do use auto-follows, keep in mind that the Hang function can be your friend. This counts from the completion of the cue's fade, rather than from the push of the GO key.