TimR Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 (edited) Seems to me there is a lack of programmable DMX foot controllers. I'm thinking of designing and building something aimed at bands. What features would you like to see? How many switches? My initial feeling is to build something that is programmed via a laptop and USB then taken to a gig as standalone. I think that would be the balance between ease of programming and portability and complexity of design. Fire away. It may never get off the ground but if I can pencil in some design ideas, get a few people interested, a working prototype might go places. Thanks for reading. Edited August 8, 2015 by TimR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Are we talking DMX lighting rigs here TimR ? If so i'd be really interested in this. For me you need your basic sound to light trigger for stage colours A slow fade in/out fast fade in/out then need your spot lights usually for soloists / singer effects triggers as and when required ie :- lazers pin-spots projector smoke machine trigger Hope that helps a bit. I'm currently using a 24ch desk controlled by my better half but it would be better for me to trigger effects when needed as the songs are all originals only the band knows them really well and what's best for certain parts of the songs. Dave Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurksalot Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Wow , that seems a bit complex !! I would say 4 press buttons Flood , Blackout Program up , Program down Then the light chases, sound to light , or timed , can be selected from the program list when needed , To be honest the Ryger does a lot of that and a bit more , BUT, once you have changed to the next sequence , you have to go through 9 more to get back to the first one as it only changes sequence upwards . It sounds like a great idea though, good luck with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted August 8, 2015 Author Share Posted August 8, 2015 (edited) I'm thinking. Everything programmed as sequences. Then a single colour could be programmed as a one stage sequence. Then two switches to page up and down and select a sequence, then a third to active the selected sequence. Maybe 4 and 5 for 'user programmed DMX sequence' which could be blackout, strobe or anything really. Maybe just 5 buttons for 5 sequences? Really I'd like to know how people use their current controllers at the moment and what the limitations are or if they don't have a controller, what they'd like to be able to do. Edited August 8, 2015 by TimR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurksalot Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 For me , a 'go to ' flood , and a 'go to' blackout , is what I use most , everything after that is done on a whim , some songs played on sound to light , some on fades and chases , I would like the ability to go from a fade chase to a strobed type chase then come straight back to the previous fade , for a solo or a specific effect . I may well be asking for too much as I can quite close already Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 (edited) On my controller I have two programmes - "band playing" which has cross fades on three channels, either timed by a slider or sound-to-light for the last spot. Then I have "standby" which is a slow, dim mono colour wash for when we are not playing. The only other thing I use is the blackout. I'd suggest - bank up and down, blackout, mode (timer/sound trigger). Then maybe a knob (or expression pedal) to control speed/sensitivity. Edit: Oh, and some sort of display - 7 segment LEDs or similar so you know which bank/mode is active Edited August 8, 2015 by Norris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted August 9, 2015 Author Share Posted August 9, 2015 I like the idea of an 'expression' pedal to control values. Definitely an LED display for parameters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidder652003 Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 tap tempo for strobe, moving "robot" heads and fade in/out maybe? Aso haze/fog activation would be ace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 Chauvet apparently do a foot-C. Bought out in Jan 2015. It looks like it might actually be what I'm trying to build! Not available in the UK and seems to be out of stuck in the U.S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurksalot Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Is it actually available yet , I am not sure that they have it on sale anywhere , even the you tube clips don't actually show it working , they say that it does loads , normally when they bother with a you tube they do a demonstration ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 You could be right. Don't know why it wouldn't be. It's just an Obey 40 in a foot case. Urm... Actually that gives me a better idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 You might be reinventing the wheel - there's a couple of bits of software available for the Raspberry Pi. Haven't looked properly at them as our guitarist does the DMX programming on a laptop. [url="http://lightput.com/"]http://lightput.com/[/url] (freeware) [url="http://www.qlcplus.org/raspberry.html"]http://www.qlcplus.org/raspberry.html[/url] (donationware) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 (edited) [quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1439215037' post='2840912'] You might be reinventing the wheel - there's a couple of bits of software available for the Raspberry Pi. Haven't looked properly at them as our guitarist does the DMX programming on a laptop. [url="http://lightput.com/"]http://lightput.com/[/url] (freeware) [url="http://www.qlcplus.org/raspberry.html"]http://www.qlcplus.org/raspberry.html[/url] (donationware) [/quote] Yes. My thought was to do programming on a laptop and then download the sequences to a Rasperry PI or similar. There's lots of third party software and hardware about. The key is getting the functionality right. What switches and knobs are required for a simple and basic foot controller while playing live. In theory you could program a whole show of scenes including advanced sequences with a single button to page through those scenes. With all the programming done at home. Edited August 10, 2015 by TimR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Could you control the Pi gadget with a MIDI pedal? Admittedly you wouldn't have a display on it but you could probably program the lights to flash a bit of morse code to indicate settings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largo Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Do you mean something like this? [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_led_foot_8_dmx.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_led_foot_8_dmx.htm[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesparky Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 My suggestion would be, as mentioned to have pre-programmed scenes and chases in banks with switches for up/down bank. Each bank having 2, or 3 different looks or chases on their own button - a 7 segment display would be handy for this. It depends on how big you want / need to go. A tap-tempo could be handy for chases used during interesting songs and also a flashing LED letting you know what the tempo is would be good. Smoke on off could be handy. A couple of things that could be nice to have could be a default "between-song" look, so you can hit it's dedicated button at the end of the song, which overrides everything and a pre-stored or default look comes up and stays there until you press it again so it'll revert to whatever you've setup to be ready for the next song. This would avoid the ghastly look of the lights still chasing wildly whilst the vocalist is introducing the ballad you're about to play. Also the option to have one of the scene / chase buttons which doesnt toggle / latch on, it'll only be active when it's pressed. It can either override whatever is being currenlty outputted, e.g. for a quick black out, or snap to dark blue during a quick rest / 4 beat pause in the song etc. or it can ADD to whatever is being outputted/ e.g. it could be a cue where all lights go to white, this could be on a big hit, or when you go into a chorus, big intro chord etc, if it's only on when you're pressing the footswitch it'll be natural to do as it'll often be on the first beat of a bar etc and natural to do whilst playing (the same as engaging an effects pedal on your rig) or have a scene stored which can make all / some of the rig strobe (overridden in white, or not) controlled by a latched or momentary footswitch. A master intensity push button control might be handy. I don't know how bright the lights are that are commonly used, but they may be overpowering for some of the more cosy venues, but could be perfect for the larger venues. Then you could have the chases and scenes programmed at full intensity and you'd have the ability to dial them down a bit if you're just a duet in the dog and duck on night, and then have it all at full intensity when you're at the enormodome the next night. If you're lucky enough to have moving lights, then the ability to maybe store a chase on one of the button which does a position move, over 2 seconds. Store 3 or 4 position only scenes for all moving lights in a chase, which is advanced by a push of a foot button. In my opinion the worst thing people can do with moving lights is having them move and flash all the time, non-stop. Less is definitely more when it comes to moving - unless it's a wild solo or a nice gentle waft during a ballad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurksalot Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 [quote name='largo' timestamp='1439220482' post='2840976'] Do you mean something like this? [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_led_foot_8_dmx.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_led_foot_8_dmx.htm[/url] [/quote] The reviews for that seem very poor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 [quote name='Norris' timestamp='1439220431' post='2840975'] Could you control the Pi gadget with a MIDI pedal? Admittedly you wouldn't have a display on it but you could probably program the lights to flash a bit of morse code to indicate settings [/quote] I presume so. QLC+ allows MIDI control, and that's how the guitarist controls it, using a Behringer FCB1010 via a M-Audio Midisport 2x2 into a Windoze laptop. Raspberry Pis are quite happy to read MIDI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largo Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 There are others too, there's also the Terralec Foot 4 which we use in our band and it's worked faultlessly for the last 5 or 6 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 My need would be for something foolproof and simple, I'm already running the sound whist playing bass, singing and trying to work the audience. If they are up dancing we try and have no gaps between songs, maybe 5-10 secs every third song. I don't need the lights as a distraction. The current four switch controllers are great except for two things, scrolling through dozens of unused programs to reach a new scene relying on a confusing display the other side of the stage and the fact they are set up for DJ's rather than bands. Everything is rather frantic and even slow fades and strobes can't be slow enough for a band where the band not the lights is what you'd like to be displaying. Something where you could pre program say, half a dozen scenes which could be dialled up with just a couple of stomps would be great. An expression pedal would be a bonus too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largo Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 That's what we've done using the Terallec, programmed scenes 1-10 with slow fade at 1 to frantic at 10. I know I just step thru the scenes to match a song tempo, the slow ballads are 2-5'ish and faster goes 6-10. Scene 1 is a subdued lighting for when the band are offstage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 I started working on plans to build something like this but it got pushed to the side my initial idea was : Would play "songs" from a playlist (Effectively providing backing tracks and samples) Output for PA, Separate output for drummer with a click (Pre-program on computer) As the song progressed it would trigger the necessary light cues (Pre-program on computer) It could also work as a pedalboard, triggering any pedal changes automatically (Again pre-programmed) The idea basically being to leave the musicians to perform rather than fight with technology. Ofcourse it does rely on working to a click etc but thats a necessity of this kind of setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt P Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 (edited) I think for me it would just have to be simple to setup. would it be possible to have 5 or 6 button unit (metal momentary footswitches would be my ideal) and a 2 digit 7 segment display and then use the software to setup what each one does? a connection for a standard expression pedal would be nice but not essential. that way everyone could configure it to how they need it. my setup would probably be: patch up patch down select (so that a new patch can be selected during the ending of a song and then punched in at the right moment for the new song) blackout/background lighting strobe fog/smoke a 2 digit display gives 100 patches, I don't think i'd need any other leds Matt Edited August 11, 2015 by Matt P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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