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Using a Piano Keyboard to Program Lights


Matt the Franchize

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Hello there,

 

I'm new to the forums. Ive been a Light O Rama User for about 3 years now. Anyways I was wondering if it was possible to program lights with a Piano Keyboard? I was trying to use a different method to programming and thought this way might be easier. I read somewhere that it was possible but I guess I must have read wrong. Ive been at this for about 2 hours trying to figure this out. Does anyone know if it is possible?

 

Thanks Matt

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If you mean set up a piano keyboard using lights under a prop that has translucent keys to look like a giant piano keyboard then have the sequence animate those lights to the notes, yes, it can be done.   And there have been many folks that have done it.

 

Here's a video someone did of a mash up of Star Wars songs, the guy is a music teacher, and he has a lot of large instruments in his yard, hopefully this is what you're talking about.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5dfpe_-Lgg

 

Hope the video shows up in the post, if not click on the url and it'll take you to it on YouTube

Edited by Orville
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Great idea! I think he's talking about using a MIDI controller to trigger lights live and record the sequence. I don't think the folks at LOR have even put that on the radar, but it would be way cool.

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I brought that up years ago and LOR said not something they do.  I wanted to do it with electronic drums...

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I use a program called TrackSkull  (monkeybasic.com) that uses your joystick to write LOR data. I use it to program my penguins. It's just cut and paste data, so you could use it like a live dimmer switch on your lights.

 

"Somebody" should write a program to use USB MIDI input to write LOR files. I'd pay for that software.

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In addition to the options mentioned by other people here: We do have a tool called the "MIDI Wizard" (in the Sequence Editor) that is not exactly what you're hoping for, but it might be useful.  Basically, you give it a MIDI file, and you can tell the MIDI Wizard to do things like "Every time a C3 plays on the trombone track, turn on channel #3".  So it's not direct, and it may or may not be practical for you, but in theory you could play something on your MIDI keyboard, record it to a MIDI file, and then use the MIDI Wizard on that MIDI file.

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Intersting Bob, wonder if there is a way to convert MP3 files to MIDi format?    Sounds like the Midi Wizard could make programming the lights a tad easier using the instruments found in the MIDi file, as opposed to the MP3 files would take more time to make work.    

 

At least I have found no way just to single out an instrument or vocal tract in an MP3 to use any of the other Wizards on, so I have to sequence those sections individually and manually, or am I missing something on how to do that with the VU and Beat Wizards?

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It's possible in theory to go from an arbitrary waveform (like would be in an MP3 file) to a set of individual, perhaps simultaneous, notes coming from different instruments (like would be in a MIDI file), but it seems to me like a difficult problem in practice (though I am not an expert on it and it may be a lot easier than I think).  I think that there are software packages out there that do it, but I am not familiar with them and I don't know how good they are at it.  One software program whose name sticks in my head regarding this for some reason is "Melodyne".  I purchased Melodyne years ago for an unrelated purpose, but never got around to actually using it.  I think it had some sort of wave-to-MIDI functionality (which was not what I purchased it for).

 

... Yeah, looking at their website now, they list "Audio-to-MIDI" as one of the functions of at least some versions of Melodyne.  Again, I've never used it, I don't necessarily understand specifically what they mean by the general claim "Audio-to-MIDI", and I don't know how good they are at whatever it is that they do.  But... maybe it's something.

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This would actually be a nice feature though.

 

Small midi keyboards are cheap and it would be easy to sequence with them. Also if it were possible to assign a keyboard key or number to a channel that would be good.

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