Triggering looks with keystroke?

[knoodler]

I have a student who is very very involved with the MAkey Makey MaKey MaKey | Buy Direct (Official Site)

He wants to do some performance art using it to trigger different preprogrammed looks. The Makey Makey can trigger keystrokes through a USB interface. Any ideas on how to use keystrokes to trigger predetermined looks. Nothing too fancy - color change on the LED's and maybe a strobe effect.

I thought maybe I could setup Macros on my Hog3PC to be triggerable by keystroke but I have yet to figure it out.

I have access to almost any console or media server I could want for this project so any help will point me in the right direction.

Thanks

 

[dbaxter]

There are several computer based lighting programs listed in this forum, both for Apple and PC, depending on your preference. You would need a USB to DMX interface, but the MaKey MaKey could drive the software directly.

 

[Joshualangman]

I have actually done this! I did an art installation where visitors touched various things connected to the MakeyMakey to make (among other things) lights turn on and off.

MakeyMakey -> USB -> Mac laptop running QLab -> hotkey triggers on MSC cues in QLab -> virtual MIDI bus -> LXConsole software -> USB -> Enttec USB/DMX converter -> DMX -> dimmers

To put that in prose, I programmed a bunch of cues in QLab with hotkey (keyboard) triggers and used MSC to get them to send commands to the lighting software. (It could just as easily have been a physical console with a MIDI port.) If your board accepts OSC, even easier.

Hope this helps!

 

[knoodler]

Josh - Thats great - thank you so much. Everything makes sense except the MSC in QLab and I'm not familiar with the LXConsole but I'm sure I can figure it out. No dimmers...just LED's. I'm going to look into both of thoses today but would you mind if I reached out to you moving forward if we have specific questions?-

Thanks
Matt

 

[Joshualangman]

Hey Matt. Sure, I can answer questions.

MSC (MIDI Show Control) is just a way for QLab to trigger something else, like a physical or virtual lighting console, to do something. OSC (Open Sound Control) is the more recent protocol which often has advantages over MSC, but not all consoles speak OSC, whereas MIDI is fairly common.

LXConsole is a free, but very basic, Mac application that essentially mimics old ETC consoles. It's good for very simple control of conventionals. I used it because I was just turning on and off a few table lamps etc in dimmers and I didn't have a console at my disposal, and the fact that it was all self-contained in the laptop was very convenient. For programming LEDs, I would say, if you have a real console to use, use it. It will be much better. You just need to run a MIDI cable from the QLab laptop into the console (via a USB to MIDI adapter or a proper audio interface) and use MSC cues in QLab to tell the console what cues to fire. The hotkey triggers in QLab determine what key presses will fire the cues. If your console takes OSC, even easier. Just connect it to the laptop with an ethernet cable and fire OSC cues.

 

[knoodler]

Josh - thanks for all for the info. We are just running LEDs all at the same intensity and color so really its only 5 channels. I have a HOGPC that I use but I would need two midi-USB boxes to get the signal in. Your method should be perfect but I am having trouble setting up the virtual MIDI bus. I'll be using the same setup as you so screen caps would be dope!

Thanks for your help