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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => Lighting Forum => Topic started by: duane massey on October 20, 2020, 11:40:55 AM
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Has anyone used the Novation Launchpad or similar surface for playback/triggering in conjunction with DMX software? What program? Thanks!
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Launchpad is alright - it was the first midi controller I used for software probably 8 or 9 years ago. Right away you’ll wish you had faders. Get an Akai APC unit - several sizes available and they have button grid plus faders.
Virtually all Dmx software supports midi triggering , so get whatever software you like
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Launchpad is alright - it was the first midi controller I used for software probably 8 or 9 years ago. Right away you’ll wish you had faders. Get an Akai APC unit - several sizes available and they have button grid plus faders.
Virtually all Dmx software supports midi triggering , so get whatever software you like
Dave, can you elaborate on how you set this up? I've tried using a Launchpad as well but had no success. Launchpad only has a USB interface and not a direct MIDI output which can severely limit compatibility.
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Jeff, if this was for my use I'd certainly not be happy with the Launchpad. However the client in this case does NOT want anything but buttons. Lots of them. He is old-school, as in Pulsar Touchpanel old-school, and wants to run the system manually.
It is a challenge. At the moment he has 5 Showdesigner controllers, each one controlling a separate type of fixture. I am trying to come up with an alternative that he will be comfortable with that will still allow me to provide a lot of programming to utilize the odd assortment of 20-year old light fixtures.
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Thanks Duane - I was more curious to hear how Dave got his Launchpad solution to work. Using a Launchpad to fire lighting commands is one of the few things I've had to accept total failure on when trying it myself. Because to the best of my knowledge the data sent over USB isn't true MIDI, most software and nearly all hardware consoles won't be able to natively use this. I know programs exist to interpret/pipe the data from Launchpad to other applications in true MIDI, but I never got anything to work successfully.
Thinking outside the box a bit, I know that the DMX capabilities of playback programs like QLab and ShowCueSystem have gotten quite good. They're much more friendly to accepting MIDI and hotkey triggering, so unless you need a high degree of complex cuing you might have better luck going this route since there are many off the shelf button pads and custom keyboards to run QLab such as from XKeys, etc. Hope this helps!
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I’m not sure what’s tough. Make sure your Dmx software recognizes your launchpad, and start assigning scenes to buttons.
I’m assuming you aren’t trying to use a launchpad to control a dmx board, but instead software loaded onto a computer. If I’m right this is petty common with a lot of Dmx Software. YouTube ?
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I’m not sure what’s tough. Make sure your Dmx software recognizes your launchpad, and start assigning scenes to buttons.
I’m assuming you aren’t trying to use a launchpad to control a dmx board, but instead software loaded onto a computer. If I’m right this is petty common with a lot of Dmx Software. YouTube ?
Thanks, Dave. I thought it should work, but I didn't want to have the client invest in something that wouldn't do what he needs. Any software you'd suggest that gives you options like HTP, LTP, swap, latch, etc, for the scenes or buttons? Thanks.
This will not be for touring, but will be permanently installed so riders or traveling LD's are not an issue.
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...Make sure your Dmx software recognizes your launchpad...
There in lies the problem - many won’t. As example, MagicQ PC will only accept MIDI commands through the ChamSys proprietary interface. Nomad is also picky about which flavors of MIDI it will accept. Not saying it can’t be done - just saying I was never successful with it.
YouTube is sparse with success stories that would be considered acceptable for a professional application, hence I am curious to hear about the combination of hardware/software that you got to work.
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Has anyone used the Novation Launchpad or similar surface for playback/triggering in conjunction with DMX software? What program? Thanks!
If you found the right program , please let me know!!
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Turns out the client has a Launchpad that he bought for his son last year, and it is now gathering dust in his garage. I will get it next week and start looking into software. I will post my results when I have something. Thanks to all for participating.
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Good Luck! I'd probably say to start by looking at Freestyler or QLC+. I don't have any direct experience with MIDI mapping on either, but the quasi-"roll your own" programs such as those two tend to be the most friendly to these sorts of projects compared to name-brand programs which are usually more locked down in terms of hardware compatibility.