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    Rufusdisturbed
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SmartFade ML and MIDI

Hey all.

I made the big mistake of looking at the back of my console and seeing MIDI ports there. This caused me to think logically and assume that they were useful. I've been beating my head against a brick wall on 2 PC systems with Ableton Live 9 and Pro Tools 10 trying to get a MIDI triggered light show happening. Is there any way to do this at all?

With Ableton I got as far as getting the notes to trigger the buttons on the console, but just for my first fixture @ DMX 10 (which is programmed 1. Red; 2. Green; 3. Blue; etc....). If I fiddle around I can get the second light @ DMX 20 (which is programmed the same, only on mem bank 2), but it just does what light 1 was doing exactly, and light 1 now sits there and does nothing.

I had a crack with Pro Tools and it's just a disaster. Send one note to the board and the first light just goes flashing like crazy. I've tried recording and that's just as unpredictable. They're just 45w RGB cans, they shouldn't be that hard.

Can anyone help?

  • The smartfade ML has 3 main modes of midi:

    Show control systems: Responses to Midi Show Control (MSC)

    Desk sync: This uses "normal" midi to sync stack playback and grand masters

    Sending midi: Channels are outputted as Midi controllers.

     

    For details see page 29 of the manual: http://www.etcconnect.com/docs/docs_downloads/manuals/SmartFadeML_v3.0.1_User_Manual_revA.pdf

     

    Marcus

  • Page 30 in the manual will give you the MIDI events that the SFML will send and respond to - here they are:

    1. Controllers

      • 1-24 = Master 1-24 (only in MEM mode)

      • 124 = Live fader

      • 125 = Next fader

      • 126 = Bump Master

      • 127 = Grand Master

        Program Change

        • 0 = Reset the Stack to step 0

        • 1-99 = GOTO step 1-99 in the Stack

        • 100-111 = Memory pages 1-12

        • 124 = Pause

        • 125 = Start (GO)

        • 126 = B.O. not active

        • 127 = B.O. active
          Note on/off
          • 0-47 = MEM bumps 1-48 (only in MEM mode)

           

          From the above info you will see that you can only control the fader masters of MEMORY channels, change memory fader banks, Memory bumps,  master control faders (Live Next Bump & Grand Master), go to a step in the Stack or reset, start or pause the Stack or activate Blackout.

          This means that if you want to control just a single DMX CHANNEL via midi you will first need to record that single channel to a memory location, then activate that memory by the memory bank and fader midi messages.  

          Upshot is that you still need to do all your programming on the SFML, then trigger those memories or the stack via MIDI messages.

          You may find this interesting: 

          http://community.etcconnect.com/wikis/products/smartfade-touchosc-layouts.aspx

          I made this layout for Touch OSC more as a wireless remote for SFML - it works entirely on midi messages.

          Good luck



  • I think you may have misunderstood what MIDI itself actually is.

    MIDI is a way to sequence the playback of pre-recorded samples.

    • In MIDI audio, those samples are (usually) the sounds of various instruments across the 11 octaves (128 notes), with 128 'adjustments' (Controllers like Pitch Bend).
    • In lighting control, those samples are pre-recorded looks - MEMs and stack cues on a SmartFade ML.

    In both cases "Program Change" is generally used to change "page" or "bank" of samples, as many devices have more than 128 samples available.

    You can use MIDI to play back anything you've recorded onto the console (or audio sampler) in any order you like.

    On SmartFade ML:

    • MIDI Notes 0-23 press the Flash Buttons for MEMs 1-24.
      - Notes 24-47 are for MEMs 25-48 on a SmartFade 24/96.
    • MIDI Controllers 1-24 move MEMs faders 1-24.
      - Controllers 25-48 are for MEMs 25-48 on a SmartFade 24/96.
    • MIDI Program Change switches the MEMs page.
      SFML also lets these do other 'global' actions like Blackout and Goto Stack Step 0-99. This isn't standard but we thought it would be useful.

    MIDI Show Control (MSC) is a MIDI standard that allows you to do a "Goto Cue" to any cue in your cue stack.
    (As opposed to the first 99 which is all we could squeeze into Program Change.)

    The Notes, Controllers and important Program Change values you need for sequencers like Ableton Live and Pro Tools are in the section of the manual.

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