Building My New Lighting & Video Timecode Rack Step By Step
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- Опубликовано: 16 апр 2020
- In today's video, we piece together some interesting bits of gear to create an all-new timecode rack that I plan to use on my upcoming gigs. I needed a way to get two streams of timecode from ShowKontrol into a 3U portable rack and send both of those streams to Resolume and MA2 onPC, while also allowing for the time pitching that ShowKontrol requires without damaging the signal. Oh, and I also needed it to be completely plug and play with its own set of parameters to run a ground package of LED lights on its own. No problem!
Complete list of parts to build one of your own available at: www.christian-jackson.com/timecoderack
For my current live streaming and publishing schedule, visit www.christian-jackson.com/live
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Links to expand your learning:
Lighting Design: Vectorworks Spotlight - www.vectorworks.net/spotlight
Lighting Control: GrandMA2 - www.malighting.com/downloads/...
Lighting Visualization: Capture - www.capture.se/
Personalized Training - www.christian-jackson.com/tra...
Gear I use to make these videos (affiliate links):
Sony A7III - amzn.to/2Pwht47
Sony 16-35 GM lens - amzn.to/36VPQrh
Sony A6600 (B cam) - amzn.to/2Kdovay
Sony 16-55 G (B cam) - amzn.to/2RHtowE
GoPro Hero 7 Black - amzn.to/2Pw4Kyt
Headset microphone - DPA Dfine 4188
Rode Procaster Mic - amzn.to/2EuO3gA
My camera recommendation for getting started with recording/photographing your shows: amzn.to/2PuWQp4
Wow, what a crazy past 24 hours doing nothing but putting this video together! Yes this was all shot and edited yesterday. It was meant to go up at 9AM as scheduled, but there were some processing errors. Sorry about that! We will be streaming TONIGHT, make sure to check the link in the description for my new weekly schedule and check out my instagram to vote on what we do tonight on stream. Thanks for watching! Ok now I need to go sleep.
"BlueWalker PowerWalker VFI 1000 LR1U Lithium", "Eaton 5P 1550GR-L Li-Ion" or contact APC from Germany maybe they have some for you.
50:31 "...a shorter USB A to B - also known by boomers across the country as a printer cable" I'm dead😂😂😂😂
The lighting on this video is amazing, it's almost as if - no it can't be -
S
C
As casa xaxsss
S
Ss
This is such perfect timing - my NSP came in yesterday, can't wait to build one myself!!
Thanks again. You explaining all of this makes me feel so much better about going back to school for electronics 😂. I thought it was overkill but it fits in just right.
I bet you must be happy to have it! Great show - thank you A lot
Hi, super cool bro. Cant wait to see the process
Somehow your voice gets more and more relaxing the more I listen to it...
When the world opens back up and your ever in L.A and want to visit a t.v. show, I am a LCP. Great video, stay safe and healthy.
Thank you for the upload, great work!
Didn't know I had the option for series 2 with my NSP before I watched. Got grandMA2 onPC spitting out sACN. Now, I'll have to watch your series 2 tutorials, and get myself out of 2009. Thanks a million!
Boom! Yeah it’s a killer way to get a few cheap parameters
APC makes a few great shallow depth Lithium Ion UPS units now in their Smart UPS line. I'm a huge fan of their regular Smart UPS SMT/SMX line of UPS units and we'll be switching to the Lithium Ion ones for longevity/weight/space reasons.
RE: UPS, had this same concern with a switch and artnet node - In the end I took out the switchmode PSU's from the devices and powered them straight from a battery (so also more efficient as UPS will have DC batteries, which then will go through a rectifier to 110v AC (or 230) in my case - and then you are switching back to DC again for the device itself. Plenty available if you look at DC UPS for industrial controls. They are tiny too! Be similar to the setup in your MA (or in my case MQ60)
"Chauvet DJ Style"...made my day. :-)
Dennis Feichtner please explain this bit I had no idea :/
I learned soooo much! thank you for showing us!
GOOD JOB
Solid video Christian! 2 observations. 3M hook and loop heavy duty would have helped with the clearance issue with not flat bottom devices. Also, you need angled neutrik in your life! :)
Great job. I would also put power for the laptop there or even put the laptop's brick inside.
Wow, reading my mind about locking IEC....
What a master! if someday I win the lottery, I'll call you to teach me and of course paying you! Keep the good job
Thanks
Two years ago, Cacao Beach Bulgaria, Denis Cruz, 4000+ people, I do the mixer changeover while the warm-up DJ is playing and do a blackout, Denis starts (thank god with a long intro). The MA laptop stop. Completely. In 30 seconds I grabbed my personal laptop, download the showfile from a backup flash drive, plug the fader wing and somehow manage to open in time for the end of the intro. Now I have two fully identical laptops always running next to each other.
p.s. a little tip for easy change-overs: If you have 3 or 4 players and one DJ needs mixer A and the second needs mixer B, simply connect all players to mixer A via analog and to mixer B via digital. All that needs to be done is to swap the booth monitors from one mixer to the other and all can be done while the Warm up DJ has started the last song. No downtime whatsoever.
amazing. Thank you very much for your interest in teaching your knowledge.
I have been wondering for months if nsp from ma1 works as an art-net node in ma2 ... can you confirm if it works correctly?
APC make a couple of Lithium based UPS'. The BG500 should suffice for the power draw of that rack.
hi Chris, you can move the boom of the headset mic a bit more backwards, you will have less breath artifacts and it will also look a bit better :)
Next time you can screw the patch panel on to the rack backwards, making it much easier to solder everything
Now that right there is a pro tip!
Never clicked on a video so quickly
42:21 The panel mount USB was flipped incorrectly. There is a flat silver piece of metal with a retaining clip pressing against the USB B part, when it was flipped that should have been removed and put on the other side before screwing it back together. this will also let the USB B connector go further into the panel mount with the center "barrel" going into the metal part more. I hope that helps!! Great video!!
Came searching here for this comment. Glad I am not the only one who saw it.
Hey Christian, nice build hope you are doing well during lockdown.
Some notes I would like to say from my own experience, the rj45 pass thru connectors are way more easy to do the build but they're also way more easy to malfunction, unless its for indoor use only I would recommend to use the stripping type of connectors like you did on the previous rack. Another thing but its more about personal preference and depends of the use, I usually prefer to remove bottom or side screws of the equipement I want to fix and drill a hole in the tray and fix them with their own screws, I dont know if you can understand.
Anyway I enjoyed it a lot and overall perfectly made! Hope you stay safe!
I think I will be making some changes and posting an update :) the punchdown type seemed more fragile, but I will do some more research.
Thank you
Nice video,
How much clearance do you have between the top of the switch and the case ? the reason I ask because if there is no clearance things might get damaged if you ship it as freighting companies ( road or air ) will assume it’s indestructible and handle it accordingly.
Nice vid
I see this video's a couple years old but those 1U UPSs have li-ion versions now. I haven't looked up the weight savings but they're making things like this with that tech now.
Perfect, all I have to say
Thank you Christian for providing all this content. Now get some sleep!
Really appreciate this video! It sounds like the distripalyzer rack is more for situations where you don't want a physical console to fail and lose your LTC signal into MA, therefore onPC would take over with MTC. Would the mif4 rack be when your artist is sending you two separate timecode signals which have different timecode times, as demonstrated with ShowKntrol in the video? I suppose with the mif4 rack you would be losing some redundancy in terms of getting, for example, timecode A or B into the MA session twice(Like the distripalyzer rack) because the other timecode signal is a different timecode time? Hopefully my thoughts make sense lol.
I'd highly recommend securing devices to rack shelves with stick on industrial velcro. Easier to re-position, easier to swap out devices when they fail. Just as adhesive.
Velcro all the things!
covering shelves in loops is always the first thing I do.
habit I picked up from a guitar tech roommate, it just saves so much time reconfiguring little silly things without rack ears.
Added to the velcro, a few holes drilled into the shelf and pass cable ties to make sure nothing moves during transit too.
You can get pass through XLR to avoid stripping and soldering
Known as a Printer Cable, I audibly cackled at that haha!
Great design! Do you have the model number for that UPS? Been looking for a nice compact conditioned 1U that doesn't break the bank.
If you are looking for a smaller UPS, Middle Atlantic makes one that is just over 9 inches deep. UPS-S500R
Can you do a full setup tour
Question:
ShowKontrol
As I Understand,
Should have a CDJ 2000 NXS2, connected via Ethernet out of the CDJ and Into the Mac Laptop where SK is Running, and from what I can see in the Very Helpful video is that SK can Generate a Timecode signal w/o the need of a CDJ connected.
How is that setting done on SK?
Connot seem to find the propper setting so that I do not need a CDJ Hooked to generate TC.
Would be Awesome.
I am running the last available version of SK, on a MacMini, with SK installed,
This MacMini is only used to run SK, and runs it well,
So please,
Share how You actually got SK to Run and send TC, w/o a CDJ
ThanksMan!!
Awesome Video!!
Very Helpful!
🙏👍🏻🤜🏻✨🤛🏻
May I ask what those hard side rolling cases you were travelling with in the Timecode (I think) video please?
Keep in mind that airlines have max battery limits for carry ons and a 0 lithium battery limitation on checked bags. Not sure If you fly a lot to your gigs but just a thing to keep in mind for the UPS
Yeah, that was my main reason for doing it this way but if I can get a smaller battery that can supply enough power for 10 minutes, then I can easily carry on the smaller package. I almost always carry everything on anyways.
Hey Christian,
Thanks for your great Videos. I‘m from Germany so please excuse my english.
I‘m using GrandMA2 OnPc in combination with NSP 2. Since some weeks i own a Command Wing for GMA 2 and i have the following problem maybe you can check it on your own.
I load a Showfile which was created with the NSP 2. When the CMDWing is Pluged in it doesnt work directly with the showfile. I have to creat a new Show, Switch dem CMDWing on and then i get the Massage about Original MA Hardware. When the Pop up comes i can Click okay and the Command Wings works with grandma 2. I can load the Original Showfile and everythink Works.
Maybe you have a good idea for this Problem.
Best regards
For the UPS, is your main concern that the switch is going to lose mains power, or that the internal power supply will fail?
If the latter, there are some relatively affordable 1U switches with redundant power supplies built in.
If the former, they make fancy power cables that have two input ends and a big switch that can detect a power loss on one of the input lines and switch to the other. They're called ATS (automatic transfer switch) cables and are used in datacenters when critical devices don't have redundant power supplies built in. They're expensive but might be a solution if you know you'll be able to have access to two distinct power sources on location.
As far as lighter batteries, you've probably already come across this but there are some decent AC-capable battery packs. Mophie's Powerstation AC is a really good option. I've got one in my travel kit. The limitation of course is wattage it can support. I think the Mophie tops out at 100w. There are some lesser known brands that claim they can do better, but I'd be wary of accepting those specs at face value.
Oh! And another option would be a lithium powered UPS. APC makes a nice one that's half the weight of the Cyberpower unit you've got. That's probably the most straightforward solution. Link: amzn.to/2VALnGl
When your sfp modules are packaged better than the fiber itself😂
could all ways DIY a LIPO pack and migrate the ups over to a 4U server case with the lipo pack and configure it as an inverter only instead of as a UPS and throw in a separate lipo pack charger so it would use the lipo pack as a ups battery bank and the lipo pack charger keeps the pack topped up
Please make a grandma3 timecode with reaper,
ltc timecode also and show hardware
Which Case you use for the Project?
What is the 3U case ?
👑
What rack case is that?
10:50 Frys still exists....at least, in some places. 3 in my area, but boy do most of their stores look like they dont have much more air to breathe, ill say that.
Yeah haha I went to the Renton store a few months ago and WOW. literally 95% empty
Hi Christian, which laptops used for this projekt
OM 1 thru 4 define the thickness of the core and cladding of the FiberOptic Cable. OM 1 and 2 are basically the same. OM 3 and 4 as well. There are some minor differences which make the even Numbers a little bit better for longer cables. But in the End they are mostly the same
Basically it is like wire gauge.
You can call it Fiber Optic cable. Technically it is more correct to call it a Fiber Optic. At least in Germany. A Cable defines something which transmits electrical Signals. A Fiberoptic doesn't do that.
And your Fiber cables aren't crossed as they should be. Any Fiber patch should do a crossing pattern. There are certain applications, where that is not possibe, therefore you do have the ability to take those fiber connectors appart and make a regular "Crossed" Fiber Optic a "Straight" Fiber Optic. I could be wrong though. Because it doens't show on your video very well.
And I couldn't find a "Pin-Out" for the Opticalcon Quad.
Nevertheless, those are 2 nice pieces of Equipment. And I hope you will enjoy them without to many trouble.
If you can make it happen, try and test that Rack with any other Network rack and please prove me, that I have seen wrong. I've been in the situation before, that something with fiber optics wasn't working and it was a real Pain until i bought myself a small fiber fault finder for like 20 Euros. That made my life way easier ever after.
you could do a lithium mod to that cyberpower ups, but its risky and will prolly void your waranty.
Yo cj nice video but you dont have to use whole strips of that industrial tape... a small square piece on every corner should be more than enough
Brainstorm vs Rosendahl, whats the pros and cons?
I understand that CDJ-2000NXS2s are the club standard for DJ gear, but I have no idea what venues are generally doing with DMX. Are there any real standards? I was going to get an Obey 70 and 5 or 6 cheap lasers/fixtures/washes just to try to understand it better. But this time code stuff seems complicated. I remember seeing a video of Armin a few years ago saying that at the time he was playing with two decks that were just for the time code, and then he needed to keep those in sync. That seems like a lot of work when you could just setup some chases and manually switch at the drop/breakdown/whenever and it would probably look a lot more like it was perfectly in sync than a lot of these super-complicated setups. I assume it's mostly because the DJs want to delegate the lighting and not have to poke a button to switch to a different chase - and that's kinda funny, because DJs love having buttons to press! Just pretend your DMX controller is like another beat effects section on the mixer!
37:31 why don't you use XLR Ltype connector
the real question is how somebody has watched it when it came out 20 seconds ago
Nice tutorial 😊
Whats the name of the rack case?
hi! i have a question, i noticed you have the motu microexpress on the first rack, can you use it as a standalone to convert LTC to MTC? does it transmit that MTC output in every MIDI out? i've been looking everywhere (manuals, forums, tutorials,etc) for that information and i haven't found anything, i would prefer to buy something like the MIF-4 but the price difference is big. i hope you can reply to this comment soon. thanx a lot for the videos, your channel helped me a lot with the stuff i'm learning to do right now. keep it up.
This is a good question! I just verified with my setup that this scenario DOES work. However, you will have to use the MOTU midi software first to save a user preset with that midi mapping. All you have to do is create a routing from “MTC” to the midi outputs you would like, then save those settings/routings to the user profile. Then you can power it with just USB, not connected to a PC, select that preset on the micro express front panel and it will work.
@@christianjackson that's awesome!!! thanx a lot for the reply!! right now i'm waiting for the update on my avolites software that will include a secuencer (i think it is currently in beta) and then i'll get my hands on the microexpress, so i'm still a couple of months apart from getting it. thank you very much! cheers!
Hi Christian, this project is awesome and I’m making my own Timecode rack😊 I would ask u what is the test pattern showed in Resolume at 1:14:22 that’s in sync with Timecode. Thank you :)
It’s a test pattern video I made in after effects
@@christianjackson Thank you 🙏🏻
I had a thought, put a usb nic in the hub so then its a single usb cable to the rack. No idea about reliability or any of that.
Interesting idea!
@@christianjackson I use a USB hub with Ethernet in my NSP rack. There are almost no delays. I can recommend it!
This video cured my insomnia.
Re UPS, have you found a rack ups that happily tours both 120 and 240V?
I have not
Why don't you use xlr L type connector
There are such thing as lithium lead-acid replacement batteries, they are designed to be swappable with Legacy sealed lead acid battery systems. if you could find a compatible size or maybe sacrifice time that would cut your weight down dramatically. and do realize that the UPS is a way better method then a battery system as it has communication with the computer. Otherwise you would be building your self a online UPS which would consist of a very beefy power supply, charge controller, lithium battery pack and good quality sine wave inverter. And a lot of the battery packs on the market you have to watch out for as 90% of the inverters on the market are modified sine wave and not true sine wave, which does make a big difference in efficiency, Cooling and anything that's relying on the AC waveform to be clean, stable and consistent in timing. I had a i think Dell power brick that just refused to run on my older modified sine wave APC UPS, meanwhile the hard drive for data intake was completely fine with it and everything else I plugged in at a bit of loss of efficiency. And when I say older model I mean it's one of the older gray really cheap power strip style models all my newer ones have much better control on the modification of the sine wave, and if I can get it working again I have a nice sign wave expensive ups that I got for free.
I "do"? live sound and I Was Bitten once by a power outage. I was using somebody else's PreSonus mixing on my iPad and we just finished practice and pre-check, as I was walking to the mixer to sync the faders with the computer.... the power went out and everything reset to where the physical fader positions were. I believe in using a UPS for everything because then everything comes back up right where you left off; plus you have some light when you're trying to troubleshoot from your computer monitor. I will plug as much as I can into the UPS except for the laptops and amps and if I do anything bigger I really do consider dragging out the Behemoth that I can run everything including the most important piece of equipment the cooling fan, for me.
I guess I should say I am a reasonably small setup with the xr18 a handful of laptops and about 1-3x 100 watt dual Channel amps. I was looking to upgrade to a 4 ch 500 watt for my mains+mons I'm torn between the Behringer and the seismic audio and lack of cash... suggestions would be appreciated.
As far as stage stuff goes I generally wouldn't put that on unless I could see one of the musicians having something that would be badly affected by a restart as in losing settings, amps and stuff will just go off and then come back up; unless there's a brown out then that's bad and you should be ready to hit the stage power switch and pull the plug!
If you made it that far congratulations, I'm sorry.
I also put my network on it obviously. I recently ( was it January or February? ) did a live streaming event and I figured the internet will probably go down at the hotel but as soon as it comes back up all I have to do is restart the stream and all of my equipment remains active and maintaining IP addresses.
Although I do plan to incorporate a better router at some point that we'll be able to do load balancing and fell over to a Cellular Connection...
Oh yeah there's also the benefit of things continuing to record capturing the disaster as it unfolds. Thankfully the only disaster I had was with Facebook and the live streaming app that decided 1 hour was all I needed to stream for and continuously posting to my Facebook and not the events for that event.
42:20 feeling kinda triggered that he didn't put the metal plate of the USB Connector on the other side to make toe connector flush with the front again. xD Otherwise great Video tho
If you got a second channel you should put that in the «channels» part of your channel. :)
50:31 LPT Parallel port: am i a joke to you?
How would you power it if you're in Europe and only have 220-240 V ?
It’s a part of our rider to have 120v transformer at front of house
1:16:08 Yup I laughed.
2.
Although also realize that's an unassuming small black case ripe for being grabbed, unfortunately for that guy who tries to steal it there's a lead boat anchor in there.😱😵😀😉😊lol
Why do you need PoE?
Christian, please reconsider some of the things you did with power. The metalic panel with the power should be grounded. If a connection came loose and caused the panel to become live, you would be the one liable for any injury / death.
Those connectors should also be compleatly insutaled, you can get a couple of Neutrik covers (called SCDR). And only ever use ratchet crimpers, others are just unreliable.
It's also not acurate to say that an MA 2 shouldn't be connected to a UPS, ACT Lighting themselves say:
"If you want to have power available beyond this internal UPS Battery, in the event of an unexpected power loss, it is possible to connect to an external UPS, provided that it does not lift ground from input to output. The console must be grounded."
An MA has a power distribution PCB which transfers power from a PSU to a battery, no inverter or anything that would cause problems.
Not having watched the whole video I want to add one concern:
MY Ubiquiti 8port POE Switch gets really warm, even with nothing connected and drawing power over POE.
Seeing as this will get used in summer festivals or club shows where it tends to be warm anyway it might not be the best idea to put the switch in flush with the box.
It would be a shame to see any of these parts fail due to overheating.
I also second the grounding of the metal plate. In Germany you would have to test this entire unit and the panel not being connected to ground would make the whole thing fail the test.
If you don't desperately need POE (or you are happy to use seperate POE power supplies that aren't backup-powered) one option could be the replacing the switch with eg the Netgear GC110 which is still an 8-port switch with SFP ports but because it doesn't have POE it is possible to power it from 12v and use (for example) one of these 12V CCTV backup batteries www.amazon.com/dp/B074MQ1Q3V which should just be able to plug in between the switch and it's 120v wall adapter. This would just serve as backup power for only the router but be much lighter. The Netgear GC10 also has the power port on the same side as the ethernet ports! :D
That’s an interesting idea!
What is timecode?
what do you use the motu express for?
It translates the smpte from the distripalyzer to midi timecode
@@christianjackson Why do you need midi timecode?
Those fibers are not happy... Keep the radius bigger and Do it last So they get less stress
Good call I will do a little rerouting! With the original configuration with the panel in the middle slot of the rack it was no issue but I was forced to move the panel up to the top and it’s not ideal for the fiber. Mostly just wanted to get this built since it was 6am and I needed to finish this video :) thank you
@@christianjackson you are welcome
Also that SFP connection without opening the clamp.. Yikes xD
Haha copy all that. Will open em up and get it fixed and post an update. I can’t really even use the fiber part I just wanted it all in there to be ready for when I do eventually need to use it :)
Overheating?
Naw!!!!! It'll be fine!
check out www.monoprice.com/ for short usb to b cables, they also have a ton of other cables too
I guess the artist plays on a click track on these shows? is this allsow generated by your time code?
Yes. That’s generated from the playback/monitors rig. I don’t generate anything for the live shows, it’s an audio line sent to me that I plug into the rack.
Build em and sell it
THANOS NODE THANOS NODE THANOS NODE
So many words and things I’ve never heard of 😂 I’m trying to learn lights but it seems way more complicated than IEM stuff
Fourth
I from egybt and I love you so much I want to be like you can you learn me I want to be like you in egybt
third
Instead of your double sided tape which is quite messy if you ever have to take out the pieces of equipment why don’t you use sticky back hook and loop Velcro tape 2025 mil it is super stuff all my racking of loose equipment I use this protocol and it works very well and it’s very easy to take out for maintenance
Check out the APC SCL500RM1UC for a UPS - just under 10 lbs
why this is not ASMR?
1st
Are everyone happy with the things you're doing? I mean: is sharing quite a lot of the tricks of the harsh job. All' these almost 100000 subscribers like me are not for your continuation a threat ? , also is very specialistic as well as professional close up to things that not so many people do...what these people do? I am confused
Oh there are plenty of professionals that hate me for making videos. They don’t even know me and they hate me. It really takes a toll on my mental health but I see it as a net benefit. Plus, if someone can watch a 45 minute video or download a show file and take someone else’s job, maybe that person wasn’t so good at their job to begin with. This industry is, for better or worse, more about who you know and making good connections.
@@christianjackson Oh MAN! , having a feedback from you makes me really happy, I really admire you. I am sorry for the side effects aspects...yeah, life is shit at times. Thank You for your time spent sharing what you are going through. I Agree with you... definitely the stealing infos bit, does not determine the whole picture of being a professional, or not being a professional one!. That is how I kinda feel at the moment at starring at what your are doing: this character!!-> ruclips.net/video/Mz_XMpdLiBk/видео.html&ab_channel=akz247365
Love your videos but this seems like overkill.
What’s overkill about it?
If anything it’s slightly under specd for it’s intended purpose. But I don’t have infinite money