Ion - MIDI control from REAPER (or other software)

Ion can be controlled using either MIDI Show Control (MSC) or MIDI Timecode.

MSC

MSC is generally a good solution if you want to synchronise multiple slave devices to a 'master show controller'.

The MIDI source is sending "DEVICE X GOTO CUE Y" commands down the MIDI cable.
To use this on Ion you enable MSC Reception, set the MSC Group/Device ID and select which Cuelist MSC should drive.

MIDI Timecode

MIDI Timecode is generally a good solution if you want to synchronise cues to pre-recorded audio or video track(s).

The MIDI source simply sends a stream of time down the MIDI cable, and the Ion console itself works out which cues to fire.
- For example, you might play an audio or video track and send the console the Timecode (Hours:Mins:Secs:Frames) of the AV track.

To use this on Ion you enabled MIDI Timecode and create an Event List contianing all the times you want "something" to happen.

The easiest way to program this list is to "Learn" it:

Create a new Event List, set it to be a MIDI one and any other settings you want.

Hit [Learn] to start learning, set the timecode running.

Now hit [Go] at the right moments, Ion will then build all those Events for you.

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As for how to configure any of the above in a particular MIDI control software, you'll need to read the manual for it and talk to the support people for that software.

Reaper do appear to have an online forum as well so that might be a good place to look for setting that software up.

Thanks Richard.

I have indeed posted on the reaper forum already, so hopefully will get some feedback from there also. Also had an e-mail from Graham at ETC with some additional pointers, so hopefully we might get somewhere.

Thanks again.

Tony

I'm not sure that REAPER can output MIDI Show Control (the type of MIDI that the Ion can hear).  I would try QLab with a Pro MIDI license.

http://figure53.com/qlab/

It's very simple to program, and quite robust.

~P

I'm not sure that REAPER can output MIDI Show Control (the type of MIDI that the Ion can hear).  I would try QLab with a Pro MIDI license.

http://figure53.com/qlab/

It's very simple to program, and quite robust.

~P

Hmmm...

Sadly I'm not a Mac user. A couple of the guys have their own personal Macs, but theatre runs on PCs...

I have a topic running over on the Reaper Forum as well...

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?p=926445&posted=1#post926445

Seems that's generating some positive responses (just wish I could understand them!!).

Think I have some reading/experimenting to do.

I had a quick read of that thread and it appears that you've confused MIDI Show Control and MIDI Timecode.

MIDI Timecode (MTC) is simply a clock. It doesn't send any commands of any kind.
It's a way to tell the console where in the track you are - how many hours, minutes, seconds and 'frames' since the nominal start of the track.

For example:

• Start of the track it might send 00:00:00:00
• At 10 seconds in, 00:00:10:00
• 20 seconds, 00:00:20:00

When you skip forward, pause, and rewind the track, the MTC is changed to match where you currently are in the track.

The Ion listens to that clock and hits Go itself at the appropriate times. You use the Event List to set those times (and what to do at each).

To control the Ion using MTC, you are only looking for a way of playing back the audio track that sends the MTC matching with the audio track.

It's quite likely that you only need to turn on MTC output in Reaper and play the track.
- That's how it works in all the SMPTE LTC systems I've used - I've not used MTC, only SMPTE LTC, but the idea in both is the same.

This Post looks like it's exactly what you're after.

It sounds like Reaper does MTC by using a special Timecode track type, much the same as SMPTE LTC (an audio signal) is recorded (or striped) onto a spare audio track of a multitrack tape deck.

Some general hints:

If you have multiple independent timecoded tracks in the same show, it's a good idea to have each track start at a different time so that you can have them all in one Event List. Otherwise the console can't figure out which track you're playing because it only sees the timecode and you'll have to manually (or via Macro) enable/disable the right Event List for each track.
Eg. Track 1 might start at 01:00:00:00, Track 2 at 02:00:00:00 etc.

Ensure that you have some 'preroll' at the start of every timecode section. That's time when the timecode is running but nothing happens yet.
This gives you some time to check that Timecode is being received by the console (the MIDI cable didn't fall out etc) and for the console to synchronise to the timecode.

SMPTE LTC it can take five seconds to work out what time it is, MTC is much faster but still takes a moment.
- So an event that's supposed to happen at the moment of hitting "Play" is unlikely to fire reliably (if at all!)

Well, I DID say that I was confused before I even started!! :)

However, I think I now see where you're going with this.

I set all the timings in the Ion Show Controls window, so when the time code comes in from the audio track it will execute them at the times I set...

Assuming I can get the MTC from the PC to the Ion OK, that actually sounds SO much easier than I'd been imagining - the only slightly tricky bit is sorting out what those actual cue times need to be, and that's just time (literally) consuming grunt work.

How do I get the Ion to run these from timecode rather than a manual 'GO'? (Or is it a case of they'll run manually anyway, but if the desk sees the timecode it'll run them automatically?)

Oh, and looks like Reaper generates SMPTE LTC/MTC so may not be as far from ideal as it may have seemed to now.

Cheers.

Looking forward to having a play on the desk tomorrow.

Hmmm...

Seem to still be struggling.

MTC RX is enabled, I believe I have the Reaper settings OK on the PC, and on the USB-MIDI interface I get a flashing indicator to show that it is seeing a MIDI signal leaving when I play the track/timecode. However I don't seem to be able to trigger the simple cues I've set up in a show control window.

Those cues (1 thru 9) are linked to events 1 thru 9, and timings set at 00:00:03:00 for event 1, then 3:00 intervals after that.

On the Show control page I see the 9 events listed, and there's a LIST panel below that - I can set the TYPE to MIDI, EXTERNAL is set to ON. What more must I do??

One glaringly obvious possibility is that the STAUS is showing as 00:00:00:00 CLOCK DISABLED at the moment, but whatever I try I can't change that option...

So - any more thoughts guys??