Skip to content

How the hardware shapes the show

The problem

The same show file runs on a full-size console, on onPC on a laptop, and on everything in between. How you play that show doesn't carry over so easily. A layout built for 30 faders is unusable with a mouse. A busking concept that relies on hitting 12 buttons at once needs physical buttons. And if you have only a laptop, you'll want a different structure (fewer, bigger building blocks, more on screen) than with a desk full of faders.

Practice

This page is working practice. The executor counts and remote input details are from the manual; the advice on how to use them is not.

What each setup gives you

Setup Physical executors Screens Notes
grandMA2 full-size 30 fader + 30 button executors, 20 X-keys 4 + externals everything in reach
grandMA2 light / ultra-light 15 fader + 15 button executors, 20 / 10 X-keys 3 / 2 + externals same software, smaller surface
onPC alone none: on-screen executors, mouse, keyboard your monitors programs anything, outputs nothing without unlock hardware
onPC + command wing command keys, encoders, grand master, a 100 mm fader your monitors the programming surface; unlocks parameters
onPC + fader wing 15 fader + 15 button executors (+ 45 executor buttons) your monitors the playback surface; unlocks parameters
onPC + MIDI controller whatever the controller has, via remote input your monitors cheap, flexible, limited feedback

(Parameter counts per device: see Systems and networking.)

A blue ChamSys PC Wing in a desk drawer: ten playback faders with buttons, encoders and programming keys, cables to the computer behind

A playback wing for PC lighting software, here ChamSys's PC Wing: the same idea as MA's onPC fader wing, faders and buttons for the software on the laptop. Photo: Titanic97, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Design for the hands you have

Many physical faders (console, fader wing)
Spread the show out. One layer per fader (atmosphere per fixture type, effect sizes, speed, submasters), hits on buttons, few page changes. Fixed controls in the same place on every page. See What goes on an executor.
A few physical controls
Prioritise. Give physical faders to the things you ride (atmosphere master, speed, the main intensity layers) and put everything you trigger on screen buttons, X-keys or keyboard shortcuts.
Mouse and screen only (onPC alone)
Build bigger building blocks: complete colour looks rather than colour per fixture type, fewer and larger executors, more in sequences, less in live combinations. Use on-screen executor windows (Action Buttons and Playback Big, with Direct Action so one tap fires the button), a layout with groups and presets as touch buttons, and views for each task. Keyboard shortcuts help a lot.

Interpretation

The fewer physical controls you have, the more decisions you should make before the show. A full-size console invites building looks live from layers. A laptop rewards preparing finished looks and switching between them, like the colour looks in Colour concepts for busking.

MIDI controllers

grandMA2 can be driven by external controllers through remote input (Setup → Show → Remote Input Setup), with tabs for MIDI, analog (contact closure) and DMX input. Each input row triggers either an executor (button 1–3 or fader, on a fixed page or the current page), a command (anything you can type, including macros), or a hardkey.

The important limitation: the MIDI remote input works with MIDI notes. A note triggers a button; for faders, the note's velocity sets the fader position. Many cheap controllers send control change (CC) messages for their faders and knobs, so they need either a note mode or a translation step in between.

Practice

Common approaches for controller setups:

  • controllers that can be configured to send notes with velocity for faders (many can, via their editor software)
  • a MIDI translation tool on the computer that turns CC into notes
  • map buttons to commands rather than fixed executors when you want them to work on every page (e.g. Go Executor 1.1, or a macro)

To verify in onPC: check 5

For more complex setups there's MIDI Show Control (MSC) for cue triggering, telnet (any command from another program), and the web remote.

Macros and Lua: making your own controls

Macros are lists of commands in a pool, runnable from the pool, keys, executors, X-keys or view buttons. Because the console is driven by its command line, "if something can be done using the command line then a macro can do it". They can ask for input, use variables, wait between lines and run conditionally (see Macros).

Lua plugins go one step further: scripts that interact with the software directly. The manual calls them "for the very advanced users". In practice they're used for things macros can't do well, such as generating many objects at once, custom logic and complex controller integration.

Practice

Start with macros. Most "I wish there was a button for …" problems are a two-line macro on an X-key or a remote input. Reach for Lua only when macros get unwieldy.

When it matters, and when not

  • Programming: hardware matters less. onPC with a mouse can program anything, and a command wing mostly makes it faster.
  • Busking: hardware decides the concept. Design the show around the physical controls you'll have at the gig, not the ones you program on.
  • Mixed setups (program at home on onPC, play on a console or wing): keep the executor layout identical, so the show file works on both.

Sources