# QLab, MSC and Etc. Ion light board



## crimsonwombat (Dec 17, 2009)

We are using QLab (v2.2.6) for overall show control in our booth. We have had great success controlling a Mackie TT24 sound board but have run into a road block getting our ION light board working. We are using a MIDI-Man 2x2 USB interface for both the Mackie and ION. The Mackie uses standard MIDI note-on/note-off type controls. Our understanding is that the ION will use the MSC protocol. We suspect that we are simply not understanding how to get the device ID, source ID and channel settings sync'd between QLab and the ION. 

Standard MIDI we understand deeply. MSC is new to us.

Has anyone accomplished this? The documentation, for both QLab and the ION, is a bit sparse on the details.


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## NicktheEvil (Dec 22, 2009)

This can be confusing but maybe I can help. But I should let you know that I have done this before, but we have an Obsession II board so it's a little older but the principle should be the same.
First -- make sure your Qlab has a device ID and that the 'use midi show control' box is checked.

Second -- Make sure your ION has midi turned on. in the Obsession II it was in the I/O settings. 

Third -- Configure your ION to listen for the device ID of your Qlab and set its own device ID. For instance, lets say your Qlab is setup to be device ID 1 then you need to make sure that your board is listening for device ID 1. Then when you use the Cue in Qlab you'll have to set it to the device ID of the board (lets say 2).

That part is pretty easy.. now here is how you use the MSC command. It might be different for the ION than it was for the Obsession. but this should get you close.

In your MSC cue go to the midi show control message tab.

Make sure your output device is correct. Then set your command format to Lighting (General). Set the command to GO (assuming you want a cue to go). Set the Q number to the Cue number you want to go. The Cue list number correlates to the list running on the board. Most likely if you don't know what this is it's Q list 1. I honestly have no idea what Q path is but again I've had success setting it to 1.

If all the device IDs line up and the board is configured to accept the command this should fire lighting Cue X. 

Now to take it a step further... we have a few boards at school. I've managed to make all of them talk to Qlab with the MSC function but with different results. On our Expression board i can take the MSC command and leave the Q number blank but make sure the command is still GO and no matter what Cue the board is on it will take the next cue or cue sequence. But on our Obsession board you have to put a cue number in to tell it to fire a specific Cue. 

Hopefully this was coherent enough for someone to follow. Hope it helps!


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