Thanks @persist for starting a new thread!
@JerryAshton, we’re over here now!
So, to run my light show from the Beat Buddy, I use the following equipment:
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Beat Buddy (BB): Set to send MIDI on Channel 1 (my downline gear listens to Channel 1). I have turned on Start: Main Beat, Notes, Next Part. Everything else is currently off.
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MIDI Solutions Event Processor (EP): Programmed to convert MIDI info in Channel 1 to a sequence of notes. I use an Event Processor Plus, which gave me 24 notes (http://www.midisolutions.com/prodepp.htm), and, because it requires power via MIDI, I had to add a Power Adaptor:(http://www.midisolutions.com/prodpwr.htm)
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Chauvet Obey 40 (OB): the single most finnicky and problematic piece of gear in the system, but the Event Processor lets me manage its idiosyncracies.
So, short-ish verson…
The OB responds to MIDI notes to switch to mapped scenes. For example NOTE 0 = Bank-1 Scene-1, NOTE 1 = B1S2, and so on. In the EP programming, I built a sequence of events that are a repeating list of notes. Whenever it “hears” START or NEXT-PART or NOTE-1 (more on this in a minute) on Channel 1, it moves to the next step/note in the sequence I built. When it reaches the end, it restarts.
The biggest downside to this approach is that, if, unlike me, you are a proper lighting designer and you want a specific scene for each part of a song, this approach only gets you the NEXT SCENE in the sequence, and not a SPECIFIC SCENE. So if you have to have that magenta-on-orange scene for that sweet tuba solo, well, you can’t have it; instead, you get whatever scene is next in the sequence, and you must suffer the wrath of the magenta-enamored tuba player (dude plays Bird quotes, man – friggin’ BIRD QUOTES!!).
But, if, like me, you’re not that set on being really artsy-specific, this approach works well. And, if you think about the lighting systems out there that are being used by your bar-, wedding-, and party-playing competition, quite frankly, it’s actually a LOT more than any of them are doing. They may have lights, but the operation of them has nothing at all to do with the music. You will have a proper light show (albeit with random-scenes).
Well, unless you live in Ottawa, Canada. In which case, none of this works, don’t even try (I like being the only duo in town that sounds like full-on power trio and has a real light show). So – and this only applies to Ottawa – this will not work for you, not at all. Something about magnetic north and a galvanic reaction with the typical bar/event room carpeting.
Meanwhile, back to our regularly-scheduled program…
The net effect of this approach is that every song in the BB will run my lights at least minimally: The scenes change with each part because the BB announces them via MIDI, and the EP translates that into NEXT SCENE for the OB.
Wait: Did I mention NOTE-1?
I did say I’d talk about that. So here’s the deal on that: I edit the actual drum MIDI files to include a NOTE-1 in MIDI Instrument 1 wherever I need a lighting punch. So, for example, if you think about the resolve at the end of the verse in a song like Hard to Handle, for example, there’s a big BUM-BUM-BUM to end the verse; by adding a NOTE-1 to each of those punches, I get the lights singing along as well. There’s a video where you can see it happening, here:
Apologies if there’s a sync problem on that. It seems to be a random YouTube issue. Anyway, you’ll want to jump ahead to about 1:25, or 2:00, because I didn’t do much with the first verse (it’s mostly just doing what the BB is sending).
So, does that all make sense? Hopefully it helps.