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cruise control through midi!

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 14:14
by mtijn
This weekend we tested our "remote control set". Two PC's on Resolume, two V4's. All controlled by one PC running Ableton. It's soooo cool. We can:
-trigger clips for two layers individually
-controll playhead (loop clips to the beat, random jumps)
-controll the videofader of the V4 (the beattap function of ableton is far more reliable and you can create different switch patterns)
-control the output fader (our's is set to strobe by default) so we can put some strobe shots in to the beat (more accurate to control it this way, the strobe frequency is better controlled this way)
-of course much, much more! It' still in development :)

The Ableton PC is controlled by a Behringer BCR2000. It is used to trigger patterns in Ableton, switch decks on the Resolume PC's and to controll the video and output fader of both V4's.
Both resolume PC's can be controlled with their dedicated Behringer BCF2000 (faders :) )

We will use the remote controll feature mainly for semi automatic pilot. This weekend we'll test how it works when the set goes on full automatic pilot... At nature One (Germany) we'll do two nonstop sets, one of 10 and one of 16 hours :D The cruise control will be very hany if it works nice!

Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 13:01
by mtijn
This weekend we tested our cruise controlled rig.

It worked VERY well!
We performed at Nature One, Germany last weekend. Friday from 20:00-6:00 and saturday from 18:00-10:00.. Last year we did the same set and at the end we were completly exhausted. This year, tanks to the setup we survived and at 10:00 sunday morning were all very alive :)

On friday we gave the initial setup a test and did some expirements with it. At the end we mainly used the playhead controll for resolume and the switching of the V4's. So saturday we made some modifications in Ableton. We now controll the playheads of layer 1 and 2 of the two resolume machines and the switching and output fade (strobe) of the V4.
Together with the beattap functionality of Ableton Live it makes the visuals very rythmic and extremely sync to the beat!!!
We only had to choose footage and let the machines do the rythmic stuff for us, it saved us a LOT of energy!
The only thing we need now is an audio to midi clock device :)

pics and a video of the set will be online soon

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 13:50
by mfo
Quite interessting approach. The abilities of Abelton give you a lot of possibilities, especially kind of sequencer functions.
I'm curios for the video!
But you need a lot of hardware (which also costs some money, right ?). Why do you need two V4? Can't you use vidnet and do the mixing in one of the two "working" computers?? Even without the V4, pheeww, sounds like a lot of work to transport and install 3 comps...