Hey Everyone, New to Touch Designer and I have a pretty ambitious project I am working on for a live band’s performance, but I’m excited to learn how to make it happen! here is the vision:
External Midi tempo → Touch Designer → procedural LED Chases → DMX out → WS2812B Individually Addressable LED Strips
I have watched a number of tutorials and the webinar series from the Berlin Summit, but I still have a limited understanding of the capabilities of the software and how to massage the data correctly. Here are some things I have been thinking about that I could really use some help with.
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Beat Interpretation: I have MIDI Tempo input coming from an external Midi Device how do I get that to drive the chases?
I have been using the Constant → Speed → Null → Ramp contraption from one of the webinars, is there a clean way to get Beat/midi clock data to drive the Lighting Chases directly? -
Triggering Chases: I have a Roland SPD-SX and I am capable of assigning custom MIDI note sends from each of the pads, how do I construct something to listen for specific midi notes and trigger different tempo based chases? I am aware of the Switch TOP but would that be the best option to trigger different chases? What would be the cleanest way to activate different “pathways” using midi data?
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DMX output: I am using DMX since it’s the protocol I’m most familiar with. Quick aside, if anyone has any recommendations for a good DMX Decoder that would be much appreciated. I watched this introduction Tutorial on LED pixel mapping (youtube.com/watch?v=ShYYcr30vJw). My understanding is that I am limited to LED strips that are 170 Pixels long in order to have RGB control over each Pixel. Does that mean I need a separate decoder every 170 pixels, or can I just convince the software to treat Pixel #171 onward as a separate send/universe?
Sorry for the lengthy post. I understand there are a lot more questions than people to answer them so any help would be much appreciated. I have a feeling that the trial and error is just beginning. Even if you can link a tutorial video in the ballpark for a piece of the puzzle I would really appreciate it!
Here are some resources I have been looking at that might help:
led enttec dmx Touchdesigner (english) - youtube.com/watch?v=G2aKT-bbNZI
This tells me the basics of what I am working towards but doesn’t help with Pixel Lights and the DMX issues I would run into when using a decoder or more lights than 512 channels can handle data distribution for. What am I missing here?
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11208
This is one of the few links I have found talking about how the MIDI Clock in TD is kinda broken, although it’s from 2011 so I’m not sure if this has been sorted out. Is it easier/more fool proof to just go through ableton link? I have no issues using that route if it’s more robust/reliable.
Thanks
-AJK