Search Results for 'qu midi protocol'

[pdParticipant]

Hey all,

I am looking into buying a QU32 and one thing I just found out is that this beautiful console is only compatible with Mac for DAW control. The link points toward A&H whitepaper on midi mapping and control – https://www.allen-heath.com/media/Qu-MIDI-Protocol-V1.5.pdf

Since I am a Studio One Win7 user, this desk will not help with DAW mixing control. I am hoping that this will be remedied as there is no way I will switch to a Mac.

Correct me if I’m wrong please, because I will buy this desk tomorrow if the DAW support is functional on Win7 Studio One 2.6.

*Custom build MSI, Intel i7 6 core, 32G Ram, Firewire 800, USB 3, SATA3 SSD x6, Win7 Ultimate 64

I am trying to send a SysEx message to my Qu-16 to change the name on Channel 1 and I’m ready to pull my hair out. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.

The Qu Mixer MIDI Protocol V1.5 document specifies the System Exclusive Header as:
A&H ID Qu mixer Major/Minor version MIDI channel
F0, 00, 00, 1A, 50, 11, 01, 00, 0N

Is the Major/Minor version it refers to the current firmware version? If so, should I convert the minor number (50) to Hex (0x41)? That’s the one thing I haven’t tried.

The complete command should be:
Sysex Header, 03, CH, <Name>, F7
So, if I want to send Change Channel Strip One to “ABC” on MIDI Channel 1:
ASCII A B C
CHAR 65 66 67
HEX 41 42 43

Therefore, the complete buffer should be Byte{F0, 00, 00, 1A, 50, 11, 01, 41, 00, 03, 00, 41, 42, 43, F7}?

Does anyone have an app that can send this string to their Qu to see if the name changes?

CoreMIDI Library defines both MIDIPacket and a MIDIPacketList Classes.
MIDIPacketList looks like an array of Type MIDIPackets with a couple of additional properties.
The MIDI Protocol spec for the Qu Series Mixers specifies the NRPN (Non-Registered Parameter Number Messages) used to control the Fader Position, Pan, Mix Assignments, etc.

The NRPN’s are divided into four groups of three values each.

My question: When sending NRPN’s from within an app, should all twelve values be placed into a single MIDIPacket or should each group of three be placed into a separate MIDIPacket within a MIDIPacketList?

[Nicola A&HKeymaster]

Hi Dave,

The Network port on Qu mixers is only for control data. It doesn’t stream any audio.
The main reason why the DAW Control driver allows TCP/IP connection is to work with GLD (which doesn’t have a USB B port).

Does the fact that I can send midi data over enternet mean the QU can or in the future be used as a surface to an IDR rack?

No I’m afraid. That would require a significant amount of software to be written to allow the Qu to connect to the iDR host via TCP/IP, and the messages of the MIDI strips to be user defined. Also although the MIDI Protocol might look similar in places, comprehensive iDR MixRack control is only possible through our proprietary AHNet protocol.

[cornelius78Participant]

Thanks for the clarification Nicola. I was confused due to certain parts of the documentation (user guide, DAW control setup notes, DAW control Driver and TCP/IP driver sections of the website, Midi Protocol pdf) claiming a combination of

“The Qu mixer can stream audio and send MIDI messages to and from an Apple Mac or Windows PC computer via the rear panel USB B port. This lets you work with a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) running on your computer.”

and

“DAW Control is available only for Apple Mac computers. It is not available for the Windows PC.”

Then there was dhak’s experience of using a Qu to control a DAW on Windows.

For me, the confusion came from the fact that the ability to control a DAW via midi (a feature which I thought could be sensibly marketed as “DAW Control,”) is available on both platforms, whereas the special driver that translates midi messages to Mackie Control\HUI, which also happens to be called “DAW control” is only available on the Mac platform.

What you’ve said makes sense:
Multitrack streaming: OSX and Windows
“Controlling a DAW” via vanilla midi messages: OSX and Windows
“DAW control” (special driver which translates midi messages to Mackie Control\HUI, which allows for “Controlling a DAW” using Mackie Control\HUI:) Mac Only.

So I suppose the real question for the OP is “Can Cubase on Windows be controlled via Midi?” If yes, the the Qu can control it. If Cubase can’t be controlled by Midi but instead requires Mackie Control or HUI, the the Qu can’t control it (on Windows, but it can if Cubase is running on a Mac.)

[Nicola A&HKeymaster]

Hi all,

To clarify:

USB audio streaming
On Mac OS X it’s class compliant and has worked from day one.
On Windows it requires Qu firmware V1.4 or higher and the Qu Windows driver.

Control of DAWs
On BOTH Mac and Windows (with the Windows driver installed) the Qu MIDI messages are tunneled over the USB connection and can be manually assigned to any DAW that supports standard MIDI control (Pro Tools doesn’t). This is what dhak did with Reaper on PC.

The free DAW Control driver is Mac OS X only. Works with Qu firmware V1.2 or higher by translating the MIDI protocol to either HUI or Mackie Control. Generally allows easier setup, and bidirectional communication (the Qu faders will follow the DAW track levels and automation). Instructions for a number of DAWs are available on the Qu Software pages.

Hope this helps.

[cornelius78Participant]

You’ll need to distinguish between fx and processing. When people talk about fx they usually mean the built in fx racks that can be used as inserts on individual channels/mixes or in a send-rtn configuration, and include things like reverb, delays, modulators etc. The FX racks’ returns returns CAN be recorded to the computer. You’ve got 32 channels you can stream to the computer, which by default are set to be the 32 mono inputs, but p61 of the manual shows how you can change them from mono inputs to include fx returns (or mixes, or stereo inputs etc.) Basically you can route any combination of mono inputs, stereo inputs, fx returns, groups, mixes, mains, mtxs and pafl to the PC. On the qu32 there’s a total of 72 sources you could route to the PC, but you’ve got a maximum of 32, so you just have to pick and choose which of the 72 are going to be in that 32.

When people talk about a the console’s processing they generally mean the individual channels’ own processing (eq and comp etc.) You CAN record tracks to the DAW with this processing switched in. Instead of tapping from the “insert send” position of the signal (which is the default, and won’t include eq and comp,) you can tap from the channel’s “direct out.” It sounds counter-intuitive, I know, as on most analogue desks the DO is pre any eq, but p28 of the manual shows how you can move the direct out tap’s position in the signal chain. If you adjust it such that the DO is post eq, post comp, and set your sends to the PC to be tapped from the “direct out” rather than the “insert send,” you’ll end up with channel’s eq and compression being sent to your PC. The only caveat is the direct out position is global for all channels, as is the insert send vs direct out option for sending input channels to the PC.

The A&H website has a pdf with setup instructions for a number of DAWs, including Cubase, but again they claim it’s Mac only. There’s also a document on the midi protocol too which is probably worth reading.

My new QU-24 works well as a studio tracking/mixing front-end, but it could be AWESOME with one small addition to the QU firmware:

When in the ‘Custom’ layer mode, all buttons should send MIDI (and respond to receive MIDI, where the button has an LED).

The A&H DAW Control utility could then easily be enhanced so that individual buttons could be assigned to Mackie MCU protocol actions, such as fader banking, transport controls etc.

The lack of fader banking is my biggest issue to using the QU-24 as a control surface for mixing in the box. I’ve got a setup working which uses a tablet with a MCU software emulation to give me the transport controls and bank switching, but the workflow would be so much better if it could all be integrated on the desk.

I believe this would make the QU desks a clear winner against Behringer/Presonus etc. for those of us who want a good digital mixer and control surface in one unit, and more than double the effective market for the QU.

[Nicola A&HKeymaster]

Hi Sam,

so i need to change it to hui protocol?and run this setup.

No, it looks to me as you are following the instructions for the DAW Control OS X driver (Mac only). There isn’t such a tool for Windows unfortunately. You can still get MIDI messages from the Qu but you’ll have to assign these manually (or try Dave’s template as a starting point), not via the Control Surfaces menu.

Hope this helps.

[DocDocDocDocParticipant]

I just checked into Raspberry Pi a bit… since I’m working as a nerd in my day-time job, I’m quite familiar with Linux and computer programming in several languages.

Is there any documentation of the protocol resp. the MIDI-over-TCP/IP communication that the Qu16 does?

Best
Doc4

Hi all,

This is aimed at mainly all those who purchased the QU-16 to perform stage mixes rather than have the luxury of a FOH engineer do it for you/them.

I perform both of the above, but 90% of the time I am performing on stage and do all mixing from there, the problem I found with the QU-16 is that there is no way of connecting a foot switch to mute the internal FX like you could with an analogue desk. My only way around this at the moment is to set up my iPad and have it fixed to my mic stand where I can press the FX mute group on the QU-App.

This is less than ideal as some of our songs start and finish in acapella, so having reverb on when performing such songs isn’t very satisfying.

So I approached our techie with this dilemma, he come up with the solution of building a custom TCP/IP foot switch that is programmed with a dedicated midi protocol to mute the internal FX just like you would do in the old days of analogue. The foot switch would plug in to the Ethernet port on the back of the QU-16, in doing so, at this moment in time the QU-16 doesn’t support more than one device plugged in via Ethernet. So you wouldn’t be able to use your iPads.

This isn’t a game changer for me as I can use the iPad during set up & sound check and then physically alter the desk if anymore adjustments are needed throughout our show.

So this long winded message is to see who would be interested in purchasing a custom FX mute foot switch once I have had them built?

Thanks
Lee

[StixParticipant]

I think Recalling a scene will send a unique midi message for that scene number so you can use that to trigger other things. See the iLive MIDI protocol PDF file for MIDI details. You can remove all mixer scene data so that all the scene then does is send a MIDI message.

I’m lookinh help from iLive Studio user…
During the winter festival break , I will try go deeper in the iliv’s FX…
Actually I set up my iLive144 at home mixing a lot of multitrack live recorded during those last years thru Ethersound Network FOH/MON/REC.
Thru Ethersound I use the iDR16 (normally used for monitor) as a second ilive fx processor without latency, this is really powerfull!
The problem I met without to found solution is to map the iLive FADER with my Cubase DAW specially for automation of volume and Mute. I can’t learn MIDI fadeur in the Cubase dedicated MIDI page. If anybody experience iLive in studio, contact and tips would be welcome on MIDI.
I already read all the MIDI protocol and user guide without succes…
Thanks for help
Yann

[Nicola A&HKeymaster]

Hi Harald,

Have you followed the DAW Control Setup Notes available in the Qu-16 page? You should have up to 16 MIDI strips controlling the track Mute, Solo, Sel and fader level without any problem. No need for manual assign.

Hi all,

We have published the Qu MIDI Protocol specs on the product page.

‘Qu transmits MIDI messages when its controls are operated. It also responds to parameter changes it receives via MIDI, for example from a computer, Qu-Pad or an external MIDI controller.’

Hope this helps.