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Is there any evolution regarding MIDI console Button Light Feedback?


Jocelino

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Hi All,

 

Is there  any evolution regarding having feedback of MIDI Inputs / Aux Timeline Status or Outputs to be possible to have/set up colours on a Button in a for example Novation LauchPad MIDI controller?

 

The idea is to have a button colour/light feedback of a cued Aux Timeline, Example:

 

Aux Timeline Stopped - No Button colour/ light

Aux Timeline Active - A colour or light

Aux Timeline Paused - same colour or a new one or blink of a light

 

If we had a MIDI Output or other type to have bi-directional communication, we could use the Output variable to do this.

 

If we use an external Software, if I press different times to cue a Aux Timeline with multiple cues or if we stop a Aux Timeline with other one, the external software doesn't know.

 

Is there any work around using TCP or UDP or RS232 to integrate with this kind of MIDI console using an Add-on external software?

 

The idea it's to launch different Aux Timelines and know the status of each one without looking for a very big list of Tasks.

 

Wait for your Ideas

 

Thanks

 

Jocelino

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Hey Jocelino,

 

we are currently developing a control panel which will talk to Watchout. With 9 -18 OLED displays and broadcast style buttons you will be able to control and monitor

all Aux Timelines you choose. You will see the name and current timecode of the playhead per Aux Timeline. Of course the buttons will reflect the current state of the timeline with blinking and coloured lights. :D

 

Last year we were working on a TV show for a big football event on television. Over the weeks of the event over 500 Aux Timelines were created in the project.

Most of them had to be triggered by directors command very fast. To deal with it more efficiently in the future we decided to build a control panel to be able to trigger Aux Timelines with the click of a button. We talk to Watchout via standard integrated tcp commands. You will be able to arrange Aux Timelines as you wish and create different pages.

 

The panel will also be able to trigger Blackmagic Atem mixers macros and send TCP/UDP/MIDI/OSC messages to whatever device you choose.

More device integration is planned for future software updates. There will also be integration to another media control software to give it the option of physical buttons.

The idea is not to replace touchscreen control apps, but to give users a physical button to trigger events. Of course you can build your own controller using the tcp commands provided in the documentations here in the forum and on the website. Just search for it. Im a big fan of midi controllers as they are cheap and easy to use. Especially in fixed installations you can do a lot of stuff with these controllers and different software solutions! :) With the getStatus request you should be able to get the informations you want back from watchout and connect aux timelines to midi buttons. There are lots of midi software solutions to do this. However to make it fully automatic you have to write a bit of code.

 

What would you like to see in a control panel? We are planning to build the first prototypes this summer!

 

Jochri

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Hi Jochri,

 

I'm interested to follow up your solution, because we work in different areas like Events and Fixed installations with live productions. For Events we use the EC-50 + E2 from Barco and the WO to do Backgrounds, launch videos and so on. But we are exploring the way to have more functions using both. It's more easy to control the E2 from WO than the other way around. We like to use physic buttons.

 

For now, for a fixed installation that we need to trigger Aux timelines with different buttons , I need to have the status of the Aux Timeline if is in STOP, Pause or play mode using the Novation Lauchpad MK2 that has colourized buttons or use just 1 colour that could be:

 

OFF - when in STOP mode (no Aux timeline working)

Full - if it's on Pause Cue in a Aux Timeline (if whe have loops in free looping)

Blink - if it's on PLAY mode

 

Each one of the 64 pad buttons will trigger a different Aux Timeline, with Pause Cues inside and we need to understand what are the ones in PAUSE mode without looking for the small buttons of the TASK list in the WO.

 

What MIDI app Add-on you suggest to use to program the Novation Launchpad MK2?

 

It's better to use xKeys instead of the MIDI controller and program from the beggining?

 

Wait for your ideas.

 

Thanks

 

Regards

 

Jocelino

 

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Hi Jochri,

 

I'm interested to follow up your solution, because we work in different areas like Events and Fixed installations with live productions. For Events we use the EC-50 + E2 from Barco and the WO to do Backgrounds, launch videos and so on. But we are exploring the way to have more functions using both. It's more easy to control the E2 from WO than the other way around. We like to use physic buttons.

 

For now, for a fixed installation that we need to trigger Aux timelines with different buttons , I need to have the status of the Aux Timeline if is in STOP, Pause or play mode using the Novation Lauchpad MK2 that has colourized buttons or use just 1 colour that could be:

 

OFF - when in STOP mode (no Aux timeline working)

Full - if it's on Pause Cue in a Aux Timeline (if whe have loops in free looping)

Blink - if it's on PLAY mode

 

Each one of the 64 pad buttons will trigger a different Aux Timeline, with Pause Cues inside and we need to understand what are the ones in PAUSE mode without looking for the small buttons of the TASK list in the WO.

 

What MIDI app Add-on you suggest to use to program the Novation Launchpad MK2?

 

It's better to use xKeys instead of the MIDI controller and program from the beggining?

 

Wait for your ideas.

 

Thanks

 

Regards

 

Jocelino

 

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Im using flashing red to timeline play and no color for time line stop.

 

All this is done on the app.

The app is like the middle man, receives the button press, sets the color os the button and sends the command to WO.

There is no real feed back from WO, its possible to implement, but we don't  need it.

 

Edit to add the video.

Sorry about the sound, but its there only low.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5YTMT4DnRA

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  • 4 months later...
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Hey Orlando!

 

We are currently manufacturing the first prototypes. I will keep you updated!

If you are interested in Beta testing drop me a PM.

 

Its not a Watchout specific device and you will be able to send control messages to all the standard video hardware in the future too.

However we were inspired by the need to handle more than 500 aux timelines for the TV studio of the footbal champioship in France for german TV.

We are just using all the TCP control messages and return informations the production pc is providing.

 

The device is based on a single board industrial PC. So its not just a nice button unit with displays but it also

brings the intelligence of the software compared with the reliability of a custom Linux system build in.

 

It will be modular and expandable. You will get the option of manual droping the Aux Timelines to a display with 2 buttons which you can then assign for example with

Play/Halt/Kill or you can jump to a specific cue. Alternatively you can let the panel handle the Aux timelines and when you add one it will be assigned to a display/button unit without further interaction. All of this is controlled through an easy to use web interface. We are using the standard broadcast switches from NKK which will give you a nice tactile feedback and they will glow in the dark too... :D^_^

 

We hope to finish the first prototypes by september this year.

We really want to make this an affordable device an operator can buy. So it should be priced between 2300 $ - max  $ 3000.

This will give you 20 Buttons / 2 Push Encoders / 8 OLED Displays. Of course there are pages and a scroll function so you can assign multiple functions.

The new Barco EC-30 in comparison is arround 8000$

 

What functionallity would you like to have?

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