MadMapper Timeline Control Vezér QLab VDMX? Mac
  • ProjectileObjects
    activ8 member
    Posts: 60
    Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2014 4:47 am

    MadMapper Timeline Control Vezér QLab VDMX? Mac

    by ProjectileObjects » Tue Aug 13, 2019 8:13 pm

    I know people have asked but, I haven't seen a straight forward answer about this. I'm trying to control an A/V project that is 1 hour long. To automate the change in opacity of various interactive layers inside of madmapper, I have considered Qlab, Vezér, or VDMX for the project. Does anyone have a recommendation? The audio, video and DMX controls are all currently in sync coming out of Madmapper, but the interactive layers will need to fade in and out automatically. I'd like to avoid porting this project over to Millumin or another platform.

    (another question I didn't see answered is how to sync something like Vezér to madmapper, so if a change happens the other one pauses and continues where left off (like a midi clock link / sync?))

    Thanks.
  • ProjectileObjects
    activ8 member
    Posts: 60
    Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2014 4:47 am

    Re: MadMapper Timeline Control Vezér QLab VDMX? Mac

    by ProjectileObjects » Thu Aug 22, 2019 4:57 am

    I'll post an update to this since no one else has chimed in.

    Currently, I am using QLab to automate an entire show with a hybrid of madmapper, DMX control, LED Pixel mapping, Live cameras with interactivity through OpenCV (thanks to Char Stiles code), and control OSC fade in and out through time intervals. Since Madmapper does support MTC or a timecode based sync. I basically use Qlab to hit play and then count seconds/minutes, until it executes the next action. I wish there was an easier way, but without a cross-application sync function, madmapper won't sync across timecode.

    Note: I did get madmapper to sync to an MTC clock, but it ran 1/4 the speed it should. If I had the time I could route the MTC through Osculator, correct the values, and then plug it back into madmapper, but stacking all these applications is not ideal.


    Despite Veźer's functionality and OSC query, I found it easy enough to copy the OSC address in madmapper and paste it directly into Qlab. Without a time base sync between madmapper and Veźer, Qlab was quicker to set up and troubleshoot (IMO).
  • jasonbeyers
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    Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2018 7:16 am

    Re: MadMapper Timeline Control Vezér QLab VDMX? Mac

    by jasonbeyers » Thu Aug 22, 2019 8:34 am

    I tried Vezer a while back, but settled on Ableton Live Suite for controlling madmapper -- Vezer is a bit limited in the audio department and I make heavy use of Ableton's warping to align beats with the timeline grid in there. It certainly isn't the cheapest solution, but Max-for-Live (M4L) makes it easily to build patches that send OSC commands (or MIDI nodes) to Madmapper. There are a few publicly available patches out there, including ones specifically for Madmapper, but the possibilities are really endless with M4L inside of Ableton Live -- and you can build it visually, without having to write code. I usually have four or five simultaneous tracks tracks in Ableton (MIDI tracks, but they aren't sending MIDI), each of which is sending OSC commands for a certain row of cues in MM, using the same M4L patch.

    Ableton Live can send MIDI clock signals, but I usually use the Ableton Link feature to sync the tempo with Madmapper (MM has direct support for Ableton Link). Using the automation built into Ableton Live, you can change the tempo for certain parts of your set and Madmapper will automatically adjust to the new tempo. This also works if you're changing the tempo on the fly (through Ableton + MIDI controller).

    Another reason I switched to Ableton from Vezer, is that I couldn't control regular DMX fixtures from Vezer. Such as low-tech DMX lights, as opposed to Artnet ones like LEDs. There may be devices to convert Artnet to standard DMX and enable Vezer to do this, but I found it easier to use the DMXIS plugin for Madmapper, combined with the DMXIS usb-to-dmx box. Made it easy to automate things like pan/tilt for moving head lights, in parallel with controlling Madmapper.

    Overall, Ableton's timeline and automation features are top notch, and M4L allows for endless customizations. But super pricey for the version that includes M4L, around $600.
  • Robbie the Robot
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    Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2018 9:32 am

    Re: MadMapper Timeline Control Vezér QLab VDMX? Mac

    by Robbie the Robot » Fri Sep 13, 2019 7:43 am

    I'll share my experience as I was in a similar situation; looking for a way to control MadMapper along with audio cues and lighting for a 45 minute multimedia art performance. I went with Vezér, mainly because it was the cheapest solution that did everything I needed. The software is rock solid and the support is fantastic. The developer would email me back within 24 hours if I had any questions. That saved me a lot of time during the production since there was quite a learning curve to get everything to work seamlessly. The software itself is quite simple -- it's just a linear timeline with separate tracks for each event like audio, DMX commands, etc. -- but configuring it and the other software applications to communicate with each other was quite an ordeal.

    The level of control Vezér gives you over MadMapper is impressive. I was able to select scenes or cues, either manually or automatically, while having music and sound effects playing underneath. I was able to program fading in and out of individual layers within a scene. It gave me the ability to restart and pause a movie clip so that it would play back from the beginning when the MadMapper scene was selected. Basically any parameter of a media clip, generator, layer, scene or cue can be controlled and automated with Vezér. Overall I'm very satisfied with my purchase.

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