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Any documentation about Midi on FLX?


Davidmk

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You never forget your first love and, discounting flirting with resistance dimmers and a later dalliance with Strand Mini 2's, that would make mine a Sirius (then, later, a Bullfrog until my main venue replaced it). With that in mind I'm pleased to say that I have just ordered my very own FLX.

Now, until/unless a button wing becomes available, I'm hoping to use a Midi controller instead but, despite searching the website, support FAQS and everything Google has returned elsewhere, I can't find any detailed information about what you can trigger with Midi show control and what Midi commands you'd use to do it. I get that a controller with Midi DIN output or a good quality USB to Midi link is needed but the little other information I've found is sparse and contradictory. I know there are UDK's and I have plans for them as well as for the remote input socket and I will be using a touch screen and probably a tablet as well but there's no substitute in my mind for physical controls when you want a colour change or a can-can in a hurry. (Mostly I light bands and have to busk.)

Is there anything out there already? Could something be put together and published? (I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one looking for it.). Ideally a full description so I can see the possibilities rather than suggestions for the specific examples above.

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Hi David,

Welcome to the Zero 88 Forum, really glad to hear you've joined the community and have ordered a FLX.

Regarding MIDI, FLX currently supports MIDI Time Code (MTC), and MIDI Show Control (MSC) protocols. In the next software update coming in a couple of months time, MIDI Notes will also be supported. 

MIDI Time Code can be used to trigger any cue in any playback on the console. MIDI Show Control can be used to trigger any cue in the Master Playback.

For a list of MIDI information, take a look at the article below...

http://support.zero88.com/990063141

If there's any extra information you think would be useful in this article, do let me know and I'll be able to add this in.

Have you seen the ZerOS WING...

https://zero88.com/products/consoles/wing/index.shtml

For extra hands-on control this may be worth considering, as even if you don't want the extra faders, this does give you an additional 24 buttons you can program lighting states and macros to. It is also worth mentioning the UDKs can be paged, giving you 40 different UDKs in total (10 pages of 4).

I haven't personally heard/seen any FLX users using MIDI button panels to gain extra playback buttons, however this is possible.

If you have any further queries, just let me know.

Edward

Edward Smith
Product Specialist

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Thanks Edward. I'll give this some thought while I wait for my FLX to be delivered. The Congo Jnr I have to endure on a regular basis has 40 PB faders and I try to avoid paging but I can select movers & trigger palettes on the screen with a mouse which is a bit clunky and doesn't provide a fade time. I'm guessing the FLX won't let me execute more than one cue from the master PB at the same time (why would it after all) but with Load and Go commands I should get part way to what I want. There's also master fade time and selecting groups/palettes from the screen to explore. I'm confident I'll find a way to busk that will suit me - especially with the promised midi notes in the next OS version. Never been dissapointed by Zero 88 yet 😊.

The wing is a possibility but the additional expense is probably too much.

Just a thought... If you could trigger macros with Midi you'd get more flexibility.  I'm sure you've thought of that yourselves but maybe one day???

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Hi David,

8 hours ago, Davidmk said:

But I can select movers & trigger palettes on the screen with a mouse which is a bit clunky and doesn't provide a fade time.

On FLX you can still do this if you wish, but also apply a fade time using Programmer Time.

8 hours ago, Davidmk said:

I'm guessing the FLX won't let me execute more than one cue from the master PB at the same time (why would it after all) but with Load and Go commands I should get part way to what I want.

Correct, FLX will allow you to output a single cue from each playback at a time. If however there were 2 cues in a playback you wanted to output at the same time, you could make a copy of this playback, to allow the original to output one of the cues and the copy to output the other.

8 hours ago, Davidmk said:

There's also master fade time and selecting groups/palettes from the screen to explore. I'm confident I'll find a way to busk that will suit me - especially with the promised midi notes in the next OS version. Never been dissapointed by Zero 88 yet 😊.

Programmer Time is commonly used for busking, and in conjunction will speed faders for effect rates there are many different ways to configure the console to busk. There’s more information on Programmer Time here...

http://support.zero88.com/1011402011

8 hours ago, Davidmk said:

Just a thought... If you could trigger macros with Midi you'd get more flexibility.  I'm sure you've thought of that yourselves but maybe one day???

All cues have the ability to trigger macros. Therefore to trigger macros via MIDI, you could program a blank cue with a macro trigger, that can then be triggered via MIDI / close-contact triggers.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any queries.

Edward

Edward Smith
Product Specialist

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15 hours ago, Edward- Z88 said:

Hi David,

On FLX you can still do this if you wish, but also apply a fade time using Programmer Time.

Correct, FLX will allow you to output a single cue from each playback at a time. If however there were 2 cues in a playback you wanted to output at the same time, you could make a copy of this playback, to allow the original to output one of the cues and the copy to output the other.

Programmer Time is commonly used for busking, and in conjunction will speed faders for effect rates there are many different ways to configure the console to busk. There’s more information on Programmer Time here...

http://support.zero88.com/1011402011

All cues have the ability to trigger macros. Therefore to trigger macros via MIDI, you could program a blank cue with a macro trigger, that can then be triggered via MIDI / close-contact triggers.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any queries.

Edward

Aha!! Macros in cues - that's the thing I'd seen in the manual but forgot, of course they can!! Thanks for the reminder. Can't wait for my desk to arrive now. 

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