Linux Automated Show Setup.

Ive just nearly finished a fully automated linux show system for my live performances using a mixture of programs on a linux antergos based system. Ive moved from ubuntu to arch based systems as they dont seem as bloated. This is all done on a dell xps 13 inch ubuntu laptop.

Before we start i got antergos linux installed which is based on arch just a easy way to install it. Then i install the realtime kernel, i did use the LTS RT long term kernel but i had a few problems so moved to a newer on the bleeding edge kernel and this is perfect. I then install jack-dbus which is what is used for connecting the audio connections together, i use cadence for starting and stopping jack and visually making the connections for audio and midi. I was using guitarix but was showed amplitube which is a windows / mac application which i have gladly running smooth as in linux using wine and wine asio as amplitube connects through using the asio driver nicely. Below a couple of quick tips to get this working right on arch based systems

sudo pacman -Sy wineasio
regsvr32 wineasio
wine64 regsvr32 wineasio
Successfully registered DLL wineasio.dll (hopefully)

With the amplitube just go into the settings and change the driver to asio for audio once you have jack running with the wine and the wine asio drivers you should be good to go. The main hardware which has has no configuration at all really is the rubix22 audio interface and the Behringer FCB1010

– i just had to change the midi channel to number one and initialize the two pedals which is on a earlier blog. It works perfect with no problems. I had a problem getting the pedals working with amplitube and nearly gave up but in the end i sussed out going into midi in aplitube and changing recieve channel from 1 to all fixed this!! only took about a week to figure this out !!!!! the

good thing is this takes in the audio to carla and takes the guitar to amplitube nicely. The fcb 1010 controls the amplitube fully and nicely but also the linux show player sends midi signals to the amplitube to mute the guitar in between songs and then when the song starts sets the main sound i want for this song 🙂

The main part of the system which plays the backing tracks and send all the midi triggers is done with linux show player. This is the main core of the setup which you load all the songs in and build midi triggers around this to operate all the automation. I purchased a usb key foot switch and also a very cut down kodi remote with wireless dongle. The wireless remote is set to trigger the show start of stage then once on the stage the footswitch is used to trigger the next song after you have talked. When the song is started the show player will send a midi trigger to carla which does the audio effects, i have this sending one for a reverb on and off and another for a delay on and off with scope for adding a slapback delay soon. Carla is loaded with the calf studio plugins not only does the plugins calf supply sound awesome, they also look awesome! i got the rack loaded with compression and a 12 band EQ and reverb and delay. I just attached the midi triggers to the reverb and delay as the other just stay on continuous.

The last part of the automation is the light control using open dmx and the mighty QLC Plus light software now to get this connected to the lights you just need a little box which was a great price , i got the enttec open dmx box plugs and plays no problem, the only problem i had the box has a five pin out and my dmx is 3 pin so had to get a convertor which wasnt easy to get local like so although a cheap price! I connected to this two led floods a spinning head light, a laser and a smoke machine. All the hardware added as the fixtures were already in the software and watched a couple of tutorials on the website and had a light show up and running in ten minutes with lasers, smoke spinning heads the lot running! Now im just working on triggering the light shows i make with midi triggers. When i find this out ill post the triggers on this post as i cant find them online! but here is a idea of the results..