Wich product to choose...?

[peterbeer]

Hi' there...

I'm looking for a solution to organize/program and control lights in a small/medium sized band.
The setup is Par Cans (on a DMX-dimmerbar), LED Pars and LED pods, LED Moving heads is next move.
Uptill now we have controlled the lights with a DMX-controller and a Behringer fcb1010 footcontroller. This works to a point, but sucks when it comes to programming the scenes - you can only go so far with a standalone DMX-controller...
Here's where Sunlite Suite 2 comes in to the picture.

I've tried the software and like the features but my questions are which hardware to choose?
Basic Class? Economy Class? ??
If we want to use a lot of scenes and control it live with the midi footcontroller, will that be possible with the Stand Alone Use?
Is it possible to start with Basic Class and then upgrade to a higher version later, on the same hardware??

Thanks.
/P.

[simonB]

Hi

I purchased an FCB1010 yesterday, should be arriving this morning :)

The Suite2 basic class should do the job unless you think you might need more than 512 channels at some point in the future, in which case you may need to consider the 1024 channel EC.

Regarding memory, the economy class has stand alone memory but not enough to store much, for a show with moving sequences you will probably need the FC which has the miniSD stand alone memory. Also, you cannot write directly from Sunlite Suite 2 to the Economy Class, you must use a small piece of software called EasyStand Alone.

So to answer your questions specifically:

Basic Class? Economy Class? ??

Basic class, unless ou may want to use more than 512 channels and want the security of some simple stand alone scenes should your computer have any problems (static colours, simple color fades and chases).

If we want to use a lot of scenes and control it live with the midi footcontroller, will that be possible with the Stand Alone Use?

The interfaces cannot be triggered in stand alone via midi, but they do contain dry contact ports. Bridge one of the 8 pins with the ground pin to trigger a scene. You would need to build your own controller to connect to this. You cna also combine the 8 trigger pins in binary to make up to 255 triggers.

Is it possible to start with Basic Class and then upgrade to a higher version later, on the same hardware??

Not at the moment, as the higher versions contain additional XLR sockets, memory etc...

Something which may interest you is that Suite2 contains a tap button which you can pair with a MIDI controller. You can use a pedal on the FCB to tap the tempo and have any sound-light scenes in sync with your playing

[peterbeer]

Hi' Simon,

Thanks for your response - good answers! I've just ordered a Basic Class.. :)

I'm really interested in how you get along with the Behringer fcb1010.
For an artist playing live, I find it to be a great tool to control lights with during a show.
I'm also interested in, if it's possible to use/program the two expression-pedals (on the foot-controller) to control dimmer on specific lamps and/or generel scenes/switches and so on..?

Something which may interest you is that Suite2 contains a tap button which you can pair with a MIDI controller. You can use a pedal on the FCB to tap the tempo and have any sound-light scenes in sync with your playing

That's a nice feature, but we'll also use the AUX-output of the Bass-drum to sync the Sound-Light scenes...

Regards
Peter

[simonB]

Hi Peter

That's a nice feature, but we'll also use the AUX-output of the Bass-drum to sync the Sound-Light scenes...

You probably won't be able to use a bass drum to synchronise a sound to light scene with BPM. Although we have a very nice beat detection algoritm, a bass drum is not normally enough to calculate a reliable BPM, however you could use it with the pulse detection feature to flash lights for example with the pulse of the music (like sound activation which is often built into lighting fixtures).

I've been playing around with the FCB1010 the past couple of days. It is a very powerful controller and an amazing product, but with a few key flaws (like always with Behringer). The main one is that although you can program the unit like a stomp box, the LEDs on the pedalboard will not toggle. Imagine you want to program 5 of the pedals to control the state of 5 switches, you won't be able to see this on the LEDs. I have purchased the uno firmware: http://www.ossandust.be/ This allows you to program proper stomp box style triggers and the LED's will react to this. I'm still waiting for this to arrive but it should solve the problem. It also fixes several bugs which Behringer have never fixed.

I'm also interested in, if it's possible to use/program the two expression-pedals (on the foot-controller) to control dimmer on specific lamps and/or generel scenes/switches and so on..?

Yes, this is quite simple.
-Program the foot controller to send a controller message between 0 and 127 on whichever controller number you like.
-Right click a fader on your console (in suite 2), go to the far right tab, click midi learn and move the pedal on your FCB
-Shift + right click your dimmer switch in suite 2 (or whatever switch you want to control the dimmer of) and select Link to console->dimmer function
-Move the expression pedal
-You could set the switch property "this switch is always on" to have it as a master dimmer

[simonB]

Hi Peter

That's a nice feature, but we'll also use the AUX-output of the Bass-drum to sync the Sound-Light scenes...

You probably won't be able to use a bass drum to synchronise a sound to light scene with BPM. Although we have a very nice beat detection algorithm, a bass drum is not normally enough to calculate a reliable BPM, however you could use it with the pulse detection feature to flash lights for example with the pulse of the music (like sound activation which is often built into lighting fixtures).

I've been playing around with the FCB1010 the past couple of days. It is a very powerful controller and an amazing product, but with a few key flaws (like always with Behringer). The main one is that although you can program the unit like a stomp box, the LEDs on the pedalboard will not toggle. Imagine you want to program 5 of the pedals to control the state of 5 switches, you won't be able to see this on the LEDs. I have purchased the uno firmware: http://www.ossandust.be/ This allows you to program proper stomp box style triggers and the LED's will react to this. I'm still waiting for this to arrive but it should solve the problem. It also fixes several bugs which Behringer have never fixed.

I'm also interested in, if it's possible to use/program the two expression-pedals (on the foot-controller) to control dimmer on specific lamps and/or generel scenes/switches and so on..?

Yes, this is quite simple.
-Program the foot controller to send a controller message between 0 and 127 on whichever controller number you like.
-Right click a fader on your console (in suite 2), go to the far right tab, click midi learn and move the pedal on your FCB
-Shift + right click your dimmer switch in suite 2 (or whatever switch you want to control the dimmer of) and select Link to console->dimmer function
-Move the expression pedal
-You could set the switch property "this switch is always on" to have it as a master dimmer

You don't necessarily have to control a dimmer, you could control the speed or size of a scene, patch directly to a channel, zoom in and out of the easytime timeline, select fixtures...

I'm going to make a suite2 console design for the FCB as I have asked for this quite a few times, you will see it in the next beta.

[peterbeer]

Hi' Simon,

Good reply!

How do I do the Pulse detection instead of BPM detection - and is it possible to Start and Stop (pause) a Scene just with a single footswitch feature of the FCB?
By the way, I've also bought the firmware update for the Behringer FCB - looking forward to install it...

You wrote somewhere that you run Sunlite Suite 2 on a Mac, through Bootcamp - I'm well aware of Bootcamp and its features - but, will it be possible to run Sunlite Suite 2 through WMvare or Parallels on a Macbook - do you have any experience with that?

Regards
Peter

[simonB]

How do I do the Pulse detection instead of BPM detection

Pulse detection for stepping is not possible yet, it will be in a month or 2. For now you can use BPM detection or link and easytime timeline to the bargraph function to create apulse between 2 blocks (2 colours, on off etc...). The bargraph function is not currently documented as it is quite new, this is what you ned to do....

-Go to sound to light->bargraph (make sure audio analysis is running so you have the audio input)
-In EasyTime, click the small checkbox next to the "loop" checkbox to change from time mode to BPM mode
-The timeline cursor will now move backwards and forwards with the music volume level
-Drag and drop 2 blocks

EasyStep will soon have a pulse button which will allow you to select a bargraph band, set a threshold and have the steps change to the music pulse

is it possible to Start and Stop (pause) a Scene just with a single footswitch feature of the FCB

You cannot stop a scene without triggering another scene as 1 scene must always be activated. You need to make a switch, then shift+right click->link to midi controller->button activation, then hit the pedal on the FCB

will it be possible to run Sunlite Suite 2 through WMvare or Parallels on a Macbook

not possible as the drivers aren't supported. A customer has managed to run it with VMWare but I don't know how and I cannot guarantee reliability.

[peterbeer]

Hi'

Did you go further with the Behringer fcb1010 pedal?

I've also bought the Uno firmware and I have the PC editor to program the pedal (Ed Dixon's FCB1010 MIDI Editor, ver. 2.99-2).
Though I seems to have a few problems with it - propably caused by my lack of knowledge.
In Sunlite Suite2, I've made a console, with 10 buttons an two faders (as the exp. pedals) - which all reacts fine when I do the 'learn Midi' - and I can link the scenes and switches to the console.
It works fine on the screen - just not with the pedalboard...
I can see in the midi window that the software receives midi when i step on the footswitces 1-10.
Strange enough, the dimmers works fine together with the Expression Pedals...

As I say - It's propably not set up correctly.
Have you made this work with the fcb1010 yet?
Would it be possible to ask for a SysEx-file (for the fcb) from you, to try out with - or do you have a good advice for setting up Program Changes and Control Changes (or notes) on the fcb?

Otherwise I really love your software and if I only could make the pedal work - it would be with us on the road!!

Best regards
Peter

[simonB]

Hi Peter

Try programming the FCB manually. I had some strange problems when using the PC editors. Once you get used to it, programming can be done quickly.
-Assign CC1 to pedal 1 and set the minimum value to 0 and the max to 127.
-Go to the Suite 2 software preferences and make sure you have the FCB selected as a MIDI input device.
-Click the "test" button and press the first foot pedal, make sure you can see the correct MIDI data.
-Re-learn the console command.

[peterbeer]

I made a few simple test by your advice, and it made a huge difference - thanks!

[simonB]

...and you'll be a professional tap dancer in no time