Production Properties - Control Send Devices

MIDI Control Send Devices are only available with SCS Professional and higher license levels. Remote Devices other than 'Any Device or Product' are only available with SCS Professional Plus and higher license levels.

In SCS you may set up Control Send cues to send commands to external equipment such as sound mixers or lighting boards where Control Send cues can be used to select pre-programmed scenes, snapshots, etc. They can also be used to send control messages to other software, which may be running on a separate computer. See Control Send Cues for details. The layout of the lower part of the screen depends on the Device Type of the currently-selected device. The example below shows the layout for a MIDI device.

Devices Required in Cues

Here you need to identify each device you want to use in Control Send cues. You select the Device Type and give the Device a Name that will be used in your Control Send cues.

Mapping to Physical Devices on this Computer

All your Device mappings are held in a Device Map. This is the same Device Map used for Audio Output Devices, so the name of that Device Map is displayed but is not editable here.

The Physical Devices chosen are for this Device Map on this computer. Where there are no suitable device type available then you can select a dummy. This enables you to set up, for example, MIDI Control Send cues on a computer that does not have MIDI available.

Device Number (S1, S2, etc): If this number is displayed with a colored background (eg see S1 in the above screenshot) this indicates this device is the 'current' device for the Sidebar Controls to the left, and for the 'Settings' panel displayed below the device list. To make a different device the 'current' device, click on any field in the line for the required device, or on the Device Number itself.

Sidebar Controls: Controls are available to enable you to easily change the order of the devices as explained for Audio Output Devices.

Device Type: This drop-down list contains the Control Send device types supported by your license level. This Help page describes the properties etc for 'MIDI Out' devices. Note: If you need MIDI Thru (so that any MIDI received on a MIDI In port is automatically be passed to the MIDI Out port) then select MIDI Thru as the Device Type.

Name Used in Cues: Enter the name you want to use for the device in your Control Send cues. Note that SCS provides a default name based on the Device Type but you can change this if you wish.

Computer-Specific Fields

Physical Device: The physical device assigned to this Name Used in Cues. The Physical Device is a display-only field based on the 'Settings' provided in the lower part of the screen.

Active?: This display-only checkbox will be checked if SCS has successfully initialized this device, or will be blank if the initialization failed. If you have devices that have not been initialized successfully, click Retry Activating Devices at the bottom of this tab.

MIDI In Port: This is only displayed if you have selected MIDI Thru as the Device Type. Select the required MIDI In Port from the drop-down list. The entries available in the list will depend on the installed devices and possibly whether or not they are connected and switched on. At the end of the list you will see 'Dummy MIDI In Port'. Selecting the Dummy entry enables you to set up MIDI Thru for this MIDI In device even if you have no real MIDI In Port available.

MIDI Out Port: Select the required MIDI Out Port from the drop-down list. The entries available in the list will depend on the installed devices and possibly whether or not they are connected and switched on. At the end of the list you will see 'Dummy MIDI Out Port'. Selecting the Dummy entry enables you to set up Control Send cues for this MIDI Out device even if you have no real MIDI Out Port available.

Remote Device: The default for this is 'Any Device or Product', but if you want to use this MIDI Control Send device to control a mixer supported by SCS then select that mixer from this drop-down list. Supported mixers (or potentially other devices) are determined by entries saved in an SCS-supplied configuration file. Updates to this file may be released as required, and normally will not require an update of SCS itself. See Control Send - MIDI Remote Device for information about Control Send Cues that use this feature.

MIDI Channel: (Not shown in the above screenshot.) This field is only shown if it is required by the selected Remote Device. For example, standard MIDI messages (eg Note On, Control Change) must include the MIDI channel number expected by that Remote Device.

For MTC (MIDI Time Code) Cues: If you want to use this MIDI device for sending MTC (MIDI Time Code) then select (tick) this checkbox. Only one MIDI Out device may be selected for MTC. A device marked 'For MTC' will be used when MTC Cues are played. The device may also be used for Control Send Cues if required, so it's possible to send MIDI Control messages within an MTC stream. Note: This facility is not available for MIDI Thru devices. This is because MTC is generated by a high-priority thread which does not handle MIDI In Ports.

When applying M2T, do NOT send earlier Control Send messages for a cue: If you use the Move to Time (M2T) facility then when you 'Apply' M2T any earlier MIDI Control Send messages for that cue will be processed. For example, if you have MIDI Control Messages in sub-cues set to start 0.0 seconds, 7.5 seconds, 18.0 seconds and 25.0 seconds after the start of the cue, and you specify 18.0 seconds as the 'move to time' then when you click the Apply button the messages at 0.0 and 7.5 seconds will be immediately sent. This is important as the messages may be required for unmuting or muting mics, etc. However, if the messages are for selecting scenes on a lighting board then you do not want to send those earlier messages. This 'do not send' checkbox is device-specific, so if for this device you will not want to send earlier control send messages then select this checkbox.

The buttons at the foot of the tab apply to all device types as explained for Audio Output Devices.