ProPresenter 6 Tutorial: Automating lights with the midi module
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By itself, ProPresenter is already REALLY, REALLY powerful, but Renewed Vision didn’t stop when they got to “good enough for most churches”. No, they added modules that make it even more powerful, and you only need to buy them if you need them, keeping the cost down for those who don’t.
[tweet “Want to control your lighting with ProPresenter, click here to learn how:”]So, today, let’s look at one of those modules, the midi module, and automate lighting control with it. The first thing you should know is that the midi module does come with the communication’s module, so if you need to control more than just lights or talk to other pieces of hardware, look at it instead. That said, I’m only scratching the surface of what it can do, since it can both send and receive midi signals and react based on them as well as make other things react to them.
For this tutorial, I’m using a hardware lighting console, the Elation DMX Operator, and I’m connected to it with a USB to midi cable (this is the one I’m using, the Roland UM-ONE MK2, but I’m told that the M-Audio USB Midisport Uno also works). So, without any further delay, let me show you just how this works.
First, connect your USB to midi cable to your mac (because this only works on the Mac version of ProPresenter, right now) and your lighting board. Then, install any drivers you need, following the manufacturer’s directions.
Next fire up Audio Midi Console and create a new device. You’ll need to connect the midi cable, which should already be in the Audio Midi Console, to the new device.
Then, fire up ProPresenter and go into preferences to demo the midi module (which you’ll want to do before you buy it and at a time when having the Renewed Vision watermark on the displays is not a big deal).
Now, add the midi device you created earlier and add midi notes to the slides that do things in your light board.
For troubleshooting, you can download Midi Monitor for free and make sure Propresenter is sending the notes you think it should be sending.
The rest is just working with your lighting tech to make sure the right midi note is sent at the right time to control your lighting rig.
Are you starting to get ideas yet? Are you thinking about the times when you really needed one more person and that with this technique, maybe you can have the ProPresenter operator also run lights? Are you thinking about times where it would have been great to have lyrics, backgrounds, and lights all change at once?
Tell me any ideas you have in the comments below.
Join the conversation; leave a comment below the video, or hit me up on Twitter (@PaulAlanClif)
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About this show:
If you use ProPresenter and do tech at your church or you use computers to advance your church’s mission, this show is for you.
