[QLab] MIDI file playback

[Sean Birdsell]

I accomplished roughly the same idea by creating a marker track on cubase,
adding markers at the cue trigger points, and then (here comes the imperfect
part) copying the times down of the track.  Then I used a group of "fire all
children" MIDI cues with the wait times set to above, and voila - perfectly
timed.   Not perfect, but it's something...

Sean


On 4/14/07, Joshua Coleman <josh at specialized-audio.com> wrote:
>
> I guess I started this whole thing, so I'd just like to clarify.
>
> -QLab is totally capable of sending virtually any flavor of MIDI *message*you could ever want.
>
>
> -QLab is not capable of sending a MIDI *file* which contains many
> (possibly hundreds or thousands) of MIDI messages on a timeline.
>
>
> -In no way would I expect or want QLab to be a sequencer, just as I would
> not expect or want it to be an audio editor.
>
>
> -I would like QLab to be able to *playback* a MIDI file, just as it will *
> playback* an audio or video file.
>
>
> Here's what I would do if it were possible to playback a MIDI file:
>
>
> First off, the scenario is a one woman show at the Gene Frankel Theatre in
> New York City. QLab will be cueing the *ENTIRE* show including Lights,
> Sound, Video, and some GPOs to lower a projection screen and run a confetti
> drop apparatus. This is mostly a theatrical show, but there is a dance
> number that is the cause of this whole mess.
>
>
> During the dance number, there are a number of chase and flash type
> lighting cues that must be timed exactly to the music. I cannot rely on the
> operator (probably an intern) to hit GO for all these cues.
>
>
> I would love to load the song into a DAW (take your pick) and create a
> MIDI track to play along with the audio track. On this MIDI track, the note
> ON/OFF messages would actually control lighting channels. This would allow
> me to program the entire dance sequence lighting design on the MIDI track in
> perfect sync to the music. After the initial programming, I would save ONLY
> the MIDI file from the DAW.
>
>
> Now in QLab, I could simply place the original audio file, and my new MIDI
> "light show" file into a Group Cue, then select "fire all children
> simultaneously". Since QLab is already controlling the lighting board using
> MSC via my MIDI interface, it could also then control the individual light
> channels with the note ON/OFF data contained in the MIDI file. Now my light
> show and soundtrack are played back in perfect sync every time with just the
> press of a space bar... Hooorrrraaayy! :)
>
>
> But QLab cannot (yet) playback a MIDI file directly... Bummer:(
> It can playback a MIDI file through the Video cue using
> Quicktime....Swweeet!
> But alas, there's no way to route Quicktimes' MIDI playback to the
> interface that's connected to the light board....Bummer:(
>
>
> So you can see how useful this option could be for synchronizing lights
> and sound in a fun and simple way.
>
>
>  Sorry for the dissertation length posting,
>
>
>  Joshua Coleman
> 646-229-7905
>  www.specialized-audio.com
>
>
>
>
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