[QLab] Cue audio, video & midi @ random w program changes on footswitch

[Christopher Ashworth]

On May 31, 2007, at 6:22 PM, ericlane.com wrote:
>
> I do a solo-act show. I need to cue my backing tracks at random  
> with a midi
> footswitch that sends program change messages that simultaneously  
> cues an
> audio track, a midi track that has program changes for all my  
> outboard fx
> year (automates all my patch changes for gtr and voc).  And another  
> mid
> track that send midi messages (bank select and program change) to  
> cue light
> scenes that are already programmed into a Lanbox unit, and finally  
> a video
> file.....like I said, everything cues with one program change from a
> footswitch.

[...]

> The idea is to choose song 1-127 at my feet, hit
> play on a 10 key while working the audience, and have the show fully
> automated on each song.

[...]

>  While the song
> is playing I can punch in the next song I want at my feet.  When  
> the current
> song finishes, that next song cues up.  I can change my mind about  
> the next
> song at anytime while the current song is playing, and DP just cues  
> up the
> file associated with the last program change sent at my feet.

Hi Eric,

Those are some great questions.  If I understand your scenario  
correctly, here are the answers:

The biggest trick to this would probably be with the MIDI tracks.   
QLab doesn't currently offer a way to direct a pre-composed MIDI file  
to external equipment.  The Video Cue will play back MIDI files, but  
only as music out the speakers.  (Even though the QuickTime  
documentation explicitly says you can direct MIDI files to external  
equipment, it's not true.  I recently confirmed this with the Apple  
Engineers; the QuickTime docs lie.)

So depending on how onerous it would be to recreate those MIDI tracks  
as individual MIDI cues in QLab, that may be the hardest bit.  (I do  
have plans to eventually add a MIDI File cue for this purpose, FWIW.)

Everything else should be easy.  The way I'd do it is as follows:

You'd have a single Start Cue assigned to your "play" key.  This  
would be the cue that starts each song.  It would target a single  
Goto Cue.  This Goto Cue would be responsible for redirecting  
playback to the start of each set of cues for the different songs.

You would dynamically set which song the Goto Cue was "pointing" to  
using a Target Cue for each set.  So you'd have 1-127 Target cues all  
set to target 1 Goto Cue.  Each Target Cue would be assigned a MIDI  
trigger so that when you hit the 1-127 program change at your feet,  
it would fire the corresponding Target Cue that retargets the main  
Goto Cue to whichever song you wanted to come up next.  Then when you  
hit GO (with your remote keypad, or what have you), it would fire the  
start cue, which would start the goto cue, which would go to the top  
of your most recently selected song.  You could change the song "on  
deck" at random whenever you wanted while the last song was still  
playing.

That would be the majority of the logic for the workspace.  The rest  
would be straightforward lists of cues for each song: any audio you  
wanted, video, midi, etc.

This would require the use of Pro MIDI, Pro VIDEO, and Pro Control:  
total $317 USD.

Hope that helps.  Let me know if anything needs clarification!

Cheers,
Chris