Photon 2 in action with backing tracks!

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This was a first tryout of Photon 2 using MIDI cc and note messages.

https://youtu.be/81yIjmSM_2s

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John
Thanks for sharing! Great video!
You definitely showed what’s possible with Multitracker and Photon.
A little disappointing the lights locked up once. Hopefully that issue can be identified and corrected.

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I know, and it was on a cool song. I think I forgot to overlap the MIDI notes on that song. It seems that if a NOTE OFF command is triggered without a standing NOTE ON somewhere in the MIDI stream it increases the chance for a lock up on a song. It resolves the minute you launch a next song, which is strange. Still working on figuring that out.

Thanks for the inspiration! Great shows are coming!!

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That’s really impressive! Are you using particular keyboard note/notes to trigger photon presets on/off or is Multitracker providing all the MIDI messages to Photon and you are playing keyboard along with that? I currently trigger sequences based on song selections but would also love to trigger some presets from my keyboard playing directly.

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Thanks! What i did was created a bunch of presets, 3 sequences and a few faders. The control surface only used 1 square each regardless of it being a button or fader (so i could have a bunch of options). Then I set each preset and sequence to a MIDI note (flash, type) and faders to CC#. Then imported each backing track (mixed down to a single file) into Cubasis and set each note/fader to the music. Used MIXDOWN to export only the MIDI track. Then I dropped that MIDI track into the song on Multitracker. So, all lights were fully automated.

I never thought of triggering live, but you gave me an idea that would make use of my CME WIDImaster!

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Whouaaa !! It is the first full test video on a live stage from a Photon community user.
Thank you very much, we are very proud to see what you did with Multitracker and Photon 2.
I don’t fully understand why you had this freeze, we add this bug to our todo list to try to fix it.

Very good job, I am impressive by flashes appears exactly at the right time and how it looks good without a dedicated light engineer.
how long did it take to configure photon with multitracker?

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I believe that the freeze was associated with improperly placed note data. I plan to examine that particular song to scan and repair any potential note programming errors.

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I programmed 27 songs with Photon and Multitracker. It started slow, but eventually it looks as if it is about 30 minutes per song to program. Yes, that is a lot of time, but once it is done, the show is extremely easy to create in Multitracker. Photon is integrated into all songs, and I simply put them into song sets and Photon does the rest (after I plug in all the DMX cables to the lights). As with anything, it is a great deal of time spent preparing, after which, it is a snap to set up at gigs.

I love this app and the addition of timed lights to our shows. At the end of the summer, we will see if it results in rebookings!

Impressive!

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Hi @CaliCreed,

absolutely love your setup and instructional videos!! Inspired by you and using Multitracker myself for our backing tracks and looking to automate lighting, I gave it a try. I want to automate two LED bars (8 segments each), which will be placed next to the drummer and underline the show. But so far it is not working as expected and I was hoping that maybe you’d have some tips for me from your experience :smiley:

I set up each segment of each bar as a device in Photon 2, so that I can trigger them individually and at the same time without overwriting each other. I created 16 presets (each contains one segment of one bar in one color (for now)) with the idea to have 16 Midi notes and program e.g. running lights, but also full flashes with all segments triggered at the same time. I mapped the Midi notes in Photon (Bar 1 C-1 to G-1, Bar 2 C0 to G0 - all with trigger mode flash). Then I created according Midi tracks in Logic matching our backing tracks, integrated them in Multitracker and set Photon 2 as output.

Now I came across the following issues:

  • The triggering is unclean, i.e. sometimes notes get skipped (I can see in Photon in live mode, that not all programmed notes/presets are triggered - so the problem is between Multitracker and Photon)
  • Sometimes presets keep going although the Midi note is already off for quite a while
  • Sometimes there seems to be no connection, i.e. Photon is set as output in Multitracker and the presets show Multitracker as incoming Midi source, but when I start a track, Photon doesn’t receive any commands resp. no presets are activated

Do you have any ideas or tips that might help me to overcome this?
How do you do the Midi programming? Is it maybe a problem that the Midi notes are “that close together”? (I also set Bar 1 to DMX address 1 and Bar 2 to DMX address 100, because when I do it directly after each other, Bar 1 is influenced by commands that I send to Bar 2, which I find very strange.)

Thanks so much in advance!!

All the best,
Manu

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Thanks Manu, for the question.
This is not uncommon, given the process that you are using.

Here is what I discovered.

  1. The Node may be a very very small part of that. The DMXking is good, but the Cauvet has won my heart for the time being.
  2. Since the errors are happening between Photon and MT, I use BOME or midimittr to establish a proper “handshake”. I bought BOME, as it seems stout at establishing consistent data flow between apps.
  3. For the process of recording the DMX light show midi lane, I prefer to use Cubasis since I can audition, edit and adjust my light show in real time (Cubasis to Photon2), and review/replay over and over in Cubasis before mixing down the MIDI for the MT MIDI lane. Then, with the same iPad, I can drop the MIDI file in the MT MIDI lane, and audition in the context of my playlist. BOME maintains data transfer in each scenario (Cubasis to Photon2, MT to Photon2 respectively) while all apps remain open.
  4. Avoid overlapping MIDI notes, as this can disrupt the NOTE ON/NOTE OFF message clarity. I have noticed that this has fixed many of the problems. Again, in Cubasis, I record the show with Auto Quantize at 1/8th resolution to keep notes separated.
  5. It may come as a surprise to you, but you may discover that what you thought was the right programming sequence, may not be correct. Photon2 may be doing exactly what you are telling it to do, and what you are telling it to do, may be incorrect. Again, a great reason to use Cubasis to record your MIDI and mix down MIDI for DMX.
  6. The length of your MIDI lane should be “consolidated” or made exactly the same length as your audio backing tracks. If it is not, you will get MIDI errors. Be sure to have some sort of MIDI data at the very beginning of the MIDI file and at the very end of the MIDI file to firmly establish the track boundaries in data format.
  7. The iPad that you are using has a lot to do with data flow integrity. Photon2 will only process data that is clear. If your iPad lacks the processing power to deliver complete commands lightning fast, you may have incomplete data packets arriving at Photon2. This would be a CPU issue. I went from a 7th gen iPad with some issues with stuck/skipped notes, to an 8th gen with few issues, to an iPad Pro 11 3rd gen with very infrequent issues. All I can conclude is that the processing power had something to do with it.

My only complaint about Photon2 at this point is the comprehensive export of fixtures from iPad to iPad.

I hope this helps some!

John O.

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Hi John,

thanks so much for your answer and all the tips!! I greatly appreciate you taking so much time to help me out :hugs: Ich will work on the topics you mentioned and let you know my progress.

All the best, Manu

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Hi John,
we had a deep dive into your comments and tips yesterday and definitely got some findings, but could not yet get it working properly. I was hoping, maybe you’d take another moment to advise with your experience and know-how :grinning:

The issue sadly is still persistent: When sending Midi from Multitracker to Photon it seems like it goes through a “blender”. Only a part of the lights are actually triggered (sometimes even none), lights stay on although the Midi note is long off and the timing is off.

We dug deeper and found out, that …

  • creating the Midi tracks in Cubasis and including them into Multitracker yielded the same issues as the previous tracks created in Logic (only the Cubasis tracks add the *.cbd file in Multitracker, files from Logic don’t - don’t know how relevant this is)
  • when working in Cubasis (both live as well as with a programmed Midi track) the direct synchronization to Photon is perfect. Also more complex Midi tracks (multiple notes at the same time, running lights with overlapping Midi notes, etc.) work without any issues, all the signals came to Photon, no issues with lights not being turned off (except once a light got stuck) and there is basically no latency
  • when sending the Midi track from Multitracker to a MacBook and recording it in Logic, all the data is perfectly transmitted and the recorded Midi track is exactly the same as the one included in Multitracker
  • we tried both BOME and midimittr, but it didn’t seem to make any difference.

Somehow this all doesn’t really make sense to us :roll_eyes:

We are not sure if we used BOME and midimittr right, because we didn’t have to buy anything. We just opened the according app, selected Midi Router in BOME, Multitracker (Midi out) als Input and Photon 2 as Output. In midimittr just selected this on the main screen. But there wasn’t any additional settings, confirmation, etc. → How is your BOME/midimittr Setup? Would you mind to share it with us?

Do you have any additional ideas, what might me the cause for this issue? It seems to be in the connection between MT and Photon, but the connection between Cubasis and Photon works perfectly, also MT to an external MacBook works perfectly :thinking:

Thanks so much (again) in advance!! :hugs:

All the best
Manu

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This forum is not letting me upload my videos of our light show. I will have to youtube them and get them to you.

The issue is clearly with the MT app in the context of your particular iPad.

The only thing missing in this discussion is the version of iPad you are using and the potential apps using resources.

Let me youtube a few things

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Hi John,
thanks so much, it‘s so nice to help us out and we greatly appreciate it :star_struck:

We are using an iPad Pro (11 inch, 2nd Generation). There are a bunch of other apps on there, but everything was closed except MT and Photon (and partly BOME/midimittr) and it was set to flight mode.

Looking forward to your findings :grinning:

All the best,
Manu

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Quick question. Did you import the Logic file into Cubasis and perform a Mixdown and move it into MT, or did you create a whole new light show for the song all in Cubasis, and perform a Mixdown (MIDI only) and move it to MT?

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Here are a couple videos indicating MT running our timed DMX light show on a MIDI track in MT. The lights do not flash faster than 1/8 notes, and I try not to do the same light flashing sequence more than once or twice.

The lights pointed at the band are DMX timed with MT, and the lights pointed from behind the band toward the audience are sound triggered.

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Good question, I actually did import the Midi track from Logic into Cubasis and then did a mixdown from there. We‘ll give it a try to create the whole track in Cubasis.

But with the experiment to send the Midi track from MT to Logic and record it there as perfect track, it seems the problem isn‘t the track in MT itself - or so our thought

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That looks so amazing!! Really well done, it adds so much action and wow to the show. I hope we can make it work as well.

Follow-up question: For BOME and/or midimittr, do we have to put anything special? Or just configure in and out and that‘s it?

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Thanks again John for these videos!
At night, with the smoke and the space used it looks great! Honestly, the music drop synchronized with the flash is very very cool, bravo I love it!
Are we allowed to use some of your videos for Instagram or even later for Photon ads?
Congrats and as usual thank you for sharing it’s a pleasure.

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Hi Clement,

Feel free to use them. The ending of Don’t Stop Believing and the hits on Play that funky music are the most noticeable. Our drummer wanted me to program more accent flashes, but that will have to be for next year since our last gig for 2022 is 10/29. We plan to use November and December to handle some health problems and pass my clinical exam for licensure. Busy, busy! I am honored that you are using and sharing the videos!

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