Hello! Awesome project

[Mattallmighty]

Hey mate, awesome project and see a heap of work to get it to where it is today!
Well done and keep up the good work.
Going to have a play around and i may even contribute to the code.
Thanks again and talk soon.
Cheers, Matt

[spensbot]

Great to hear! Definitely let me know what you think, and if you run into any snags.

I'm surprised at how much work I got done on this. Somehow the code was fun to write the entire time, so the project drove itself!

Thanks for trying it out!
-Spenser

[spensbot]

Hey Matt,

Captivate unfortunately can't run on Windows for now due to it's native node-link dependency. (That's the submodule in the repo that wraps Ableton Link in a N-API wrapper for Node.

My original plan was to gage interest on Mac before putting the time into the windows build, but it seems alot of people are waiting on Windows and it shouldn't be too much work.

I'm going to get started. I'll keep you posted and let you know when it's running on my end!

[spensbot]

I think it's working now. You were super close. It seems like the build error you were getting might be an include bug on the Asio side of things in the Ableton Link submodule.

I followed this SO answer and added #include <malloc.h> before the link include as a workaround and it runs!

I think Link should work out of the box. I'm not sure if the USB DMX connections will though. I'll have to test those tomorrow.

[Mattallmighty]

Hey Spenser,

Awesome mate! Thanks heaps for the support.
After your latest commit, I now have captivate going on Windows!

Having a look into this project, its honestly amazing!
True work of art dude! Really really really cool!! I am about to move apartments this weekend so all my stage lighting equipment is packed away, but I cannot wait to get it out again and get it going with captivate.
Like the light scenes, visual scenes - just everything about it just works so nicely together.
I like how you have put it in order of how a user should set it up: Fixtures first, select a scene, then select a visual.

I'm a frontend dev working on LedFx. High level, LedFx offers is the ability to take audio input, and instantaneously processes the audio into realtime light show to multiple LED strips/matrix. Have a look at https://youtu.be/dgoE4BnF95w?t=8
Project: https://github.com/LedFx/LedFx
Beta version: https://github.com/YeonV/LedFx-Frontend-v2/releases
I have created Ledfx integrations (hidden to devs), which works with other software that has a API/websockets, such as QLC+, Spotify. In the future, I might create one for captivate.

MIDI is connected and detecting my Pioneer DDJ-400. Unsure how to use MIDI at this stage. Can I have your guidance?
What data do you get out of Ableton Link? Having a look at Ableton Link it can connect to Pioneer Rekordbox which is interesting.

Thinking for captivate, what about for fixtures, the ability to select config of a fixture file (such as QLC+ file .qxf) and import fixture config? Or could have a fixture files that the community has uploaded? In Ledfx, we use GitHub cloud to import community presets. Admin roles can upload presets (hidden at this stage to only devs).

Is there a Discord server for captivate?

What is your vision for the future of this project?

Thanks again and keep the light show going!
Matt

[spensbot]

Thanks so much for the motivating feedback!

If you end up trying Captivate with your lighting setup, your feedback would be super valuable! I’m happy to help with fixture configuration if you have any questions/issues. Unfortunately fixtures need to be configured manually for now. But I plan to add a server to host fixture configurations in the future.

Here’s the info Captivate gets from link every frame. The key member is “beats” which is the total beats since the start of the session (floating-point).

interface LinkSessionInfo {
  numPeers: number
  bpm: number
  phase: number
  beats: number
  isEnabled: boolean
  isPlaying: boolean
  isStartStopSyncEnabled: boolean
}

I use link with Serato, and Serato’s integration is honestly too clunky for me to use in a live setting. I bet link would work better coming from something like Ableton though. I’m prioritizing live beat-detection as a future feature since Link isn’t as useful as I hoped.

LedFx looks really cool! It also seems to be a fairly mature codebase with a strong community! Would LedFx integration provide beat & phase timing info for Captivate?

Regarding midi, once you select a midi device, click the piano icon to enter control map mode. Captivate’s midi system has some polish to be done, but it’s very useful already. I like to map midi keys/pads to various scenes and map a slider to the master dimmer on the left.

My plan for Captivate is to gauge interest and see how useful it is to people. If it proves useful, I would love to flesh out the features. If it really catches on, I might monetize by adding premium visualizers, since the possibilities there are endless, and visualizers are super fun to make.

Here’s a tentative roadmap:

• Windows Build
• Live Beat Detection
• Fixture Config Server
• Improved Midi System
• Interactive help window
• … lots of other things. More visualizers, dedicated hardware, improved LFO & modulation, etc.

A discord server is a great idea. I just made one! https://discord.gg/w5NHYFwU

[spensbot]

Oh also, video 6 of the tutorial series covers midi control in Captivate. Let me know if that is helpful!

https://youtu.be/SLxdzWcwVdo