D-pro start up questions

[enki2017]

Firstly hi to all on the forum..
Ok i am new to the lighting/show control sector and have been tasked to run a small community based non profit theatre group which we are doing a small play over easter. I have acquired some moving head lights and the theatre has basic generic lighting..

I want to run this play as automatic as possible and have purchased out of my own pocket which are..

ipod with lumanir

enttec artnet node

standard router

elation midicon desk

old macbook for qlab-lighting control software

So the big queston is if i purchase d pro for the lighting control software can i use qlab for the music thru cues to trigger the d pro to operate the lighting thru artnet-ipod-lumanire- midicon desk..

Will this be workable or is there a better control software ie show buddy, dmxis? Would i even need the midicon desk? Is there someone on the forum that can help me get thru this minefield? waiting for your quick reply..

many thanks Paul

[JRUDER]

Hello Paul --

Until Dave or somebody more knowledgeable gets back to you here are my thoughts:

1. The midicon desk should work great as a controller, especially given the theater application you have.
2. What is the reason for using artnet vs straight DMX? It seems to me (with the caveat that I know little about artnet) that this adds a unneeded layer of complexity.
3. What are you going to use both lumanir and D-Pro for, along with the midicon desk -- it seems like either would be a good choice but both together are not needed.
From what I know Luminair 3 is a stand alone DMX solution.
4. Q-Lab -- what do you see it's role being? Controlling the sound?

If you are just wanting hands off control of the show while still retaining the ability to grab the wheel when needed you may want to consider the following setup:

Use D-Pro and import your music directly into it.
Use D-Pro and a DMX interface to control the lighting - or look into artnet if you need to run things over ethernet for some reason.
Use the midicon desk to allow you to control some overall cues or add special effects as needed.

Using D-Pro this way you can have a song playing from the computer and the lighting cues driven directly from the audio file while still being able to have some manual control over things.

Am I off base on my understanding of what you are wanting to do?

Joe

[enki2017]

Hi Joe many thanks for helping out ..

Ok to answer your questions..
2. What is the reason for using artnet vs straight DMX? It seems to me (with the caveat that I know little about artnet) that this adds a unneeded layer of complexity.

A/To fine tune moving head fixtures on the stage with the ipad/lumanair instead of running between the stage and control booth? But all moving heads smoke machine will be daisy chained with dmx cable and last fixture will have cable going to control booth or side of stage into enttec artnet node..

3. What are you going to use both lumanir and D-Pro for, along with the midicon desk -- it seems like either would be a good choice but both together are not needed.

A/ to control the moving heads and generic lighting during the show. the desk i guess to programme/ control.. tbh i dont know....

From what I know Luminair 3 is a stand alone DMX solution.

Can you explain standalone.. does this mean it works alone /wont work in conjunction with d-pro if i dont use lumanair for the ipad how do i fine tune the fixtures with the ipad? Will D-pro allow me to do this..?

4. Q-Lab -- what do you see it's role being? Controlling the sound?

A/ yes to control sound /(video footage if needed) and send cues to lighting software to control moving heads/smoke machine/generic lighting in sync throughout show..

D-pro can control both music and lighting in a timeline on a stop go scenario what about generic light control after say scene 01.lighting desk? or can i automate it all?

Hope this clear to understand. i am lost because its my first venture. and i have talked to some lighting guys in my area and said that was the way to go about it.. Ie qlab midicon desk ipad etc etc...I really want to be able to smoothly go from on scene to another and having it look professional.. and be able to stop at end of track have generics on help with props come back start again this is my idea...

Many thanks Paul

[enki2017]

Anyone out there any thoughts on this? thanks Paul

[nath2099]

For my 2c, it seems to me that you're over thinking it a bit.

D-Pro will do all your moving head and generic lighting. You can also run audio beneath each cuelist. In the show Control window, you can set each cuelist to the same start trigger (say "A" on the keyboard), then someone just has to press the "A" button to cycle through the cuelists. D-Pro will output ArtNet directly to the receiver through your router. Apparently TouchOSC can be used with D-Pro to control D-Pro via iPad (according to the D-Pro section on this page: http://www.enttec.com/index.php?main_me ... s&pn=70305 ), although I've never used it so can't really comment on its effectiveness.

The only thing it wont do is run your videos as far as I'm aware. If you want "easy to use and learn" for novices, D-Pro, as far as I'm concerned, is your only real choice.

[enki2017]

Hi thanks for responding..
Ok its starting to make a bit more sense to me..

you say you can set each cuelist to the same start trigger (say "A" on the keyboard) could this be the keyboard on computer or midicon desk?

Would i even need the midicon controller i bought ?

Has anyone on the forum used the ipad with touch osc successfully?

Could i use lumanair with ipad instead of touch osc. as lumanair is purchased already?

You say D-Pro will output ArtNet directly to the receiver through your router. (Receiver being artnet node?)

Whats your thoughts on having two computers, one for audio and two fro the lighting?

Is d pro stable enough to run the two together?

Thanks Paul...

[enki2017]

Anyone out there any thoughts on this? thanks Paul

[nath2099]

I can't really offer you much more sorry as I'm a noob with this software myself. The forums seem dead, so it seems to be that you're pretty much on your own to work it out, which is a shame, as this seems like a nice intro to decent lighting control... but anyway:

"you say you can set each cuelist to the same start trigger (say "A" on the keyboard) could this be the keyboard on computer or midicon desk?"
I would imagine so... but can't guarantee it as I've never used that controller.

"Has anyone on the forum used the ipad with touch osc successfully?"
I haven't personally, but it does say it's supported. Enttec are pretty good at responding to support requests through their email address, maybe email them with questions?

"Whats your thoughts on having two computers, one for audio and two fro the lighting?"
I think that's un-necessary. D-Pro seems to do Ok with audio playing under cue lists.

"Is d pro stable enough to run the two together?"
I can't recall ever having D-Pro crash. It does occasionally drop connection to the Enttec Mk-II DMX dongle, but I've never had an issue outputting ArtNet.

Sorry I can't be any more help.

[nath2099]

This post seems to address a Midicon controller:
http://forums.dmxis.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1667

[APT Tech]

I can address part of this, we use QLab with D-Pro in our community theater with good results. We've elected to use an EntTec DMX USB PRO Mk2 controller from our Mac; we replaced a physical light board so we already had DMX to our tech booth. We use some DMX splitters to run our movers and other smart lights; if I had it to do again I might go ArtNet though just to simplify the wiring.

QLab does a good job running D-Pro. Set up an IAC MIDI interface (e.g. steps at http://monoplugs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=665 are good) and use that for QLab to control D-Pro's Show Control page. You can drop all your palettes, cuelists, etc on Show Control and assign MIDI triggers, use MIDI events in QLab (Note On/Note Off for buttons; Control Change for dimmers). Also the new "Snapshots" feature looks really awesome, we were already in prep for our current play when I started reading about that so we set up individual palettes/cues for this play but will probably use Snapshots heavily for the next one.

QLab handles all our pre-recorded music, sound effects, and projections - and it triggers all lighting via D-Pro. It also triggers the stored mic scenes on our sound board (A&H QU-32 in our case). So we literally run the show with one person - hitting space bar on the Mac to advance Q-Lab, and tweaking sound as needed on the mixing board. We've been using this setup for about a year now with excellent results.

[enki2017]

HI nath2099 thanks for the response to the post..yea the forum seems dead on this so i went ahead and got programming with kit i have and decided to use qulad for audio that will trigger the lighting thru midi with luminaire.. I'm half way there.. best paul...

[enki2017]

Hi APT TECH thanks for the super post post..

is your generic lighting running of the same setup?

Do you run a second mac as a backup?

What would happen if there was a crash how would the lighting be affected?

How would the midicon controller i have come into play here?

Thanks Paul..

[APT Tech]

Our house lighting is running off the same dimmer rack as our stage dimmers, so I can control house lights & aisle lights from D-Pro & QLab. We also have an old Unison system that connects at the DMX input of the dimmer rack, which can take over house lighting. That has a couple panels around the theater so people can turn on house lighting without needing to use the Mac or even have it on.

We do have a 2nd Mac as a backup, and all our show files including the DSF file are in a DropBox folder so both Macs always have an updated copy (as does my personal MacBook). However redundancy is not as smoothly handled with D-Pro as it is with QLab. QLab licensing allows three complete functional copies - main production computer, backup production computer, and development computer. I can develop fine with D-Pro using the free demo version, but in order for our backup to actually run lights, we'd need to purchase a complete 2nd license of D-Pro for it - or, purchase the 8u license and move the USB dongle to the computer we want to be active.

As you may know, QLab v4 now handles DMX directly, so "An" option would be to eliminate D-Pro and let QLab do the whole thing - which would be simpler from a licensing point of view. I haven't played with that much as yet but it seems pretty rudimentary, not sure it's really going to be a good solution for running moving lights in particular. Also it would not work with the USB DMX controller that we have so I'd need to switch to ArtNet, but I may end up doing ArtNet anyway since it would simplify replacing the Unison house light controls we have now (that are 15+ years old). I do expect we'll stick with D-Pro but I'd definitely like to see the licensing behave more along the lines of QLab so that we can have a "Warm" backup computer without the considerable extra expense (Dave? You listening?)

[Dave Brown [admin]]

...However redundancy is not as smoothly handled with D-Pro as it is with QLab. QLab licensing allows three complete functional copies - main production computer, backup production computer, and development computer. I can develop fine with D-Pro using the free demo version, but in order for our backup to actually run lights, we'd need to purchase a complete 2nd license of D-Pro for it - or, purchase the 8u license and move the USB dongle to the computer we want to be active.

...I'd definitely like to see the licensing behave more along the lines of QLab so that we can have a "Warm" backup computer without the considerable extra expense (Dave? You listening?)

Someone has clearly misinformed you regarding D-Pro licensing. It's perfectly OK to install your 2U license onto a backup computer for redundancy purposes. You only need to purchase a second license if both computers are in use simultaneously.

[APT Tech]

Someone has clearly misinformed you regarding D-Pro licensing. It's perfectly OK to install your 2U license onto a backup computer for redundancy purposes. You only need to purchase a second license if both computers are in use simultaneously.

That'd be Enttec doing the informing. States single computer only here, and when I inquired with them on this scenario they confirmed second license needed http://www.enttec.com/index.php?main_me ... s&pn=70571

I'll reach out directly regarding the mechanics of installing the license on the 2nd machine.

[Dave Brown [admin]]

I'll reach out directly regarding the mechanics of installing the license on the 2nd machine.

I can help you with that - contact me directly at dave@db-audioware.com

[Baylink]

FWIW: My interpretation was the same as APTs, about the licensing on the 2u version...

Needs to be activated on a single PC before use.

[DaveRodda]

Hi...i want to know what are you going to use both lumanir and D-Pro for, along with the midicon desk -- it seems like either would be a good choice but both together are not needed.
From what I know Luminair 3 is a stand alone DMX solution.Q-Lab -- what do you see it's role being? Controlling the sound?

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