Re: [LCtalk] Midi..again

[Frank Alfredsson, C h r o m e]

Hi John,
I remember when I had the same problem and the frustration I felt...  
I'll try to explain my experiences.

First be absolutely sure you have set up the Lanbox correctly in terms 
of what midichannel goes to each layer.
Its very important as commands to an underlaying layer might not be 
visible.  I suggest you first check you cuestep/cuelists in LCEdit in 
the layers you intend to use from midi.

Then, go for the contr. 21 + 53 + 86 technique. It gives you the 
possibility to go to any cuestep in any cuelist, very convenient !
Be aware of timing problems when sending contr 21 + 53 + 86
First, I used a dos-sequencer from Voyetra. With Voyetra the controllers 
had to be sent at the exact same time, otherwise nothing happened.
These days I use Sonar 3.1 and most of the times it works fine, sending 
the controllers at the same time.
A strange thing with Sonar though, is that it seems to be important to 
insert the controllers in correct order.
I must start with 21 then 53 and finally 86 if you want the controllers 
at exact same time.
This means that if you delete contr 53 you have to delete 86 as well, 
then insert 53 and finally insert the 86 again...
Don't ask me why, just accept it.
Occasionally, no reaction occurs when sending 21+53+86 at the same time. 
In those cases, I always move the controllers a bit ( + .005 in sonar 
work fine) The disadvantage is that your last contr might go into 
another bar and you loose it when copying and pasting whole bars !!
Originally all controllers had to be sent every time, but from a certain 
firmware the Lanbox "remembers" the status of 21 + 53 + 86 Thank you 
Fokko !!!!!
This is a breakthrough, because you only have to send one or maybe two 
controllers.
As long as you jump within current cuelist you only send the 86 contr.  
When you need to change cuelist, send 53 + 86 and so on.
I use less than 127 cuelists so I never need to send the 21 controller 
more than once.

An example:
Lets say you want to go to cuestep 7 in cuelist 56.
Then you should send contr 21 value 1, controller 53 value 56, 
controller 86 value 7
If you want to go to cuestep 80 in the same cuelist, just send contr 86 
value 80

Hint !!
Use different layers for static events and movements.
Lets say you have a scanner or moving head.
Create the movements (dynamic events) in one layer, using just the pan / 
tilt channels.
Use another layer for static changes like colour / gobo / shutter 
changes.  Those static changes can be done easily by sending note on 
messages with desired velocity
This means you save a lot of memory in the Lanbox.
You create just one movement, lets say a circle, than you change the 
appearance of the circle with Note On
Green, red, gobo1, shutter1 and so on.
It looks like you have many different cuelists, but in fact it's just 
one.  Just one cuelist to edit if you would like to change the circle to 
an oval and so on...

Hope this will help you.

I admit it's tricky in the beginning, but it's worth the effort, I can 
tell.

I'll never get rid of my Lanbox

Regards,
/Frank, Chrome