I’ve been using QLC+ to drive DMX lights shows for the last 6 months or so. I also managed to get QLC+ to trigger Laser Show Gen clips, but I’m moving away from LSG in favour of Liberation. I’d love to be able to get QLC+ to trigger timelines in Liberation. It seems that the method Liberation likes for this kind of thing is SMPTE timecodes, but I don’t think QLC+ supports that. What it can do is send MIDI commands, but I don’t think (from what I’ve read) that Liberation’s MIDI-in can be used to run a timeline show. Is this correct?
I do this with Chataigne and Timecode Expert 2. This method will work with any kind of input, including MIDI or OSC from QLC+.
Chataigne is a free (open-source) routing control software which handles input and output to many protocols and software interfaces. TE2 can generate and route timecode in various formats, but it is commercial software (€69 for a single computer license).
A community module is available for Chataigne to control Timecode Expert 2. You can play, pause, stop, set a relative time offset, and set the absolute time of TE2 generators (multiple, if you wish). You can route an input action such as a MIDI note or OSC mapping to control these aspects. This is how I sync Liberation, MagicQ, and TouchDesigner together across multiple systems.
You can download a time-limited demo of TE2 to try it out for free. It will stop outputting after a random amount of time (10-25 minutes). Enable OSC under Preferences → External. Setup a Generator and timecode sender which can send to either MIDI on a virtual interface or SMPTE on your chosen sound card or virtual audio interface. Check the docs on their website for more info. Downloads - TXL20
Chataigne is free, but it’s a bit complicated. There are tutorial videos in multiple languages which i recommend. The documentation on the website is a bit thin. Chataigne | Chataigne
The TE2 module is available inside Chataigne’s “Custom Modules” section. It wasn’t downloading for me today for some reason, but you can find it on the developer’s GitHub here. Extract the zip to a folder with the same name under <Documents>/Chataigne/modules.
Here is a Chataigne project to map MIDI controls to TE2. I labeled everything to make it easy to change. This uses “mappings” of MIDI commands to trigger the “actions” of the TE2 commands in order to allow flexibility for multiple simultaneous input controls such as a USB MIDI controller, QLC+ cues, and TouchOSC. The TE2 output module also has direct input values added but disabled if you want to simplify the project.
- cc37 - stop
- cc38 - play
- cc39 - pause
- cc45 - set absolute time to 00:05:00:00
- cc46 - 00:10:00:00
- cc47 - 00:15:00:00
TE2 Controller.zip (2.3 KB)
Inside Liberation, set timecode offsets for each of your timelines and match those times in the Chataigne actions.
Let me know if you have any questions.
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