Midi Button Trigger with Logic Pro X

live control with midi devices

Midi Button Trigger with Logic Pro X

Postby CityEscapeMe » 14 July 2019, 19:32

Hello All!

I'm brand new to the forum, but have gone through all of the available tutorials for ShowXpress! The application seems pretty fantastic and quite intuitive and I hope to implement this into live performances soon. A key question for me is the following; How do I get Logic Pro X(ver. 10.4.6) to trigger "Live Buttons". Seemingly, I've set everything up to work(as far as I've read), though I must be missing a crucial Midi element as it's not firing exactly the way I would expect. Note: I'm running this virtually(3D Viewer) and do not have fixtures / dmx512 box just yet, as I don't want to invest if it's not going to work efficiently.

Currently I have setup:
Mac OS
IAC Core Audio Enabled
The Lighting Controller ver. 9.2.3
MIDI In -- Enabled -- Set to Core IAC Driver - Status is checked -- Device Type "Default"
Live Button Macro -- Set to Midi In -- Device: 1 -- Channel: 1 -- Type: Note -- Data: 0 (C-2 Note in Logic) -- Control -- Unclear as to what to select so currently have Monostable button -- Apply

Logic ver. 10.4.6
Created "External Midi Track" (input IAC)
Created MIDI Region
Created Note at C-2 which should be Midi Note 0(as reflected in DATA portion of ShowXpress)
Hit play and let it play through with intermittent triggering working.
At times it works but it seems there's a "delay" at least from a software perspective -- Also, My assumption is that as I trigger different notes, C#-2 would be MIDI Note 1 for the DATA portion, Correct? I attempted to assign this to a second Macro and nothing fires. HELP!

Any help / guidance that could lead me to getting this to work would be incredible. I like the software a lot so far, and want the justification to spend a bit on some lighting fun! Thanks so much and looking forward to the responses!
CityEscapeMe
 
Posts: 4
Joined: 14 July 2019, 19:04

Re: Midi Button Trigger with Logic Pro X

Postby livetechproductions » 15 July 2019, 12:12

I use Logic Pro X to prepare the lighting before I copy the MIDI files to the play back unit (which controls the lights during the live shows).

There is something weird going on in Logic Pro when using IAC busses. It kind of introduces MIDI loops which causes delays and eventually crashing of ShowXpress.
Please follow this video to disable this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM3Z034j5bY. Keep in mind this is a project setting and not a general Logic Pro setting!
If you want to play VST with a MIDI keyboard you should enable this again though.

Regarding the 'Control' setting of the Button Trigger in ShowXpress. I left this to Default. And just use the 'Learn' button and play the note in Logic so the correct note and data will be set automatically.
Another handy tool is MidiMonitor (https://www.snoize.com/MIDIMonitor/) to keep track of any MIDI data going in and out each MIDI port/device. Great tool to find issues and verify if data is sent anyway.

Hopefully this will help you further.
livetechproductions
 
Posts: 39
Joined: 19 February 2019, 13:39

Re: Midi Button Trigger with Logic Pro X

Postby CityEscapeMe » 15 July 2019, 14:07

livetechproductions wrote:I use Logic Pro X to prepare the lighting before I copy the MIDI files to the play back unit (which controls the lights during the live shows).

There is something weird going on in Logic Pro when using IAC busses. It kind of introduces MIDI loops which causes delays and eventually crashing of ShowXpress.
Please follow this video to disable this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM3Z034j5bY. Keep in mind this is a project setting and not a general Logic Pro setting!
If you want to play VST with a MIDI keyboard you should enable this again though.

Regarding the 'Control' setting of the Button Trigger in ShowXpress. I left this to Default. And just use the 'Learn' button and play the note in Logic so the correct note and data will be set automatically.
Another handy tool is MidiMonitor (https://www.snoize.com/MIDIMonitor/) to keep track of any MIDI data going in and out each MIDI port/device. Great tool to find issues and verify if data is sent anyway.

Hopefully this will help you further.


This is super helpful, thank you! I was noticing that Midi Loop happening and was wondering why so thank you for linking me! Also really good to know the Learn button is a software Learn as well and not just Hardware. I eventually got the Midi Notes to fire using C-2 (0) C#-2(1) and so on, so that's good to know too, but the Learn is a lot easier :)

Re: Midi Monitor -- I was using the monitor in the environment window of Logic but thanks for yet another great tool!

WIll report back on all. Thanks again livetechproductions!
CityEscapeMe
 
Posts: 4
Joined: 14 July 2019, 19:04

Re: Midi Button Trigger with Logic Pro X

Postby CityEscapeMe » 15 July 2019, 14:13

The video has no sound and I'm unclear as to what the intention is. It brings you to clicks & ports and then?? -- is the goal to just "clear all cables" from the IAC input cable to the keyboard input notes?
CityEscapeMe
 
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Re: Midi Button Trigger with Logic Pro X

Postby livetechproductions » 15 July 2019, 14:48

Yes, remove the single cable on the left side which runs to the 'Sum' one. The 'Sum' is were it's all about. You can leave the rest attached.

I'm using this Midi monitor because it's separate and therefore independent on the MIDI sent and receiving part (whether being software or hardware devices). In that case I'm sure all traffic is shown and able to detect any strange data.
livetechproductions
 
Posts: 39
Joined: 19 February 2019, 13:39

Re: Midi Button Trigger with Logic Pro X

Postby CityEscapeMe » 15 July 2019, 15:09

livetechproductions wrote:Yes, remove the single cable on the left side which runs to the 'Sum' one. The 'Sum' is were it's all about. You can leave the rest attached.

I'm using this Midi monitor because it's separate and therefore independent on the MIDI sent and receiving part (whether being software or hardware devices). In that case I'm sure all traffic is shown and able to detect any strange data.


Perfect. Makes total sense and in my preliminary testing, working much more efficiently than previously! Thanks again!
CityEscapeMe
 
Posts: 4
Joined: 14 July 2019, 19:04

Re: Midi Button Trigger with Logic Pro X

Postby livetechproductions » 16 July 2019, 08:00

No problem, good to hear!
livetechproductions
 
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