MSC Control on HogPC

I'm working on an educational research project on advanced show
control automation. I'm using SFX v5.6 as the master to control
other devices such as an Obsession 600 and hopefully HogPC. I am
using SFX's MSC commands to control the entire systems. I have had
no problems so far controlling the Obsession from SFX, HogPC however
is another story. To the best of my knowledge I have everything set up correctly. My inputs/outputs are correct on both HogPC and SFX. I also have the coressponding device IDs set. One thing I'm not 100% sure on is what the 'format ID' on the HogPC Input Panel means. I think it's much like a 'command format' in SFX. If anyone can enlighten me though, I'd appreciate it. Anyway, I've tried numerous MSC commands from SFX to try and get a cue on a cuelist in HogPC to run. I was wondering if there was a different syntax that HogPC uses to recognize MSC commands instead of the standard format. Also, does it matter if I use 01 (General Lighting) or 02 (Moving Light) Format IDs on HogPC? I can answer any questions about my setup if that would help, but if anyone has experience with this, I would highly appreciate some help. Thank you.

-Chris Stokes
Bucknell University
rstokes (at) bucknell.edu
  • I was able to trigger Hog2PC with no problems (using MidiYoke to test instead of an external MIDI device).

    I created a new MSC cue in SFX (5.6) using the following settings;
    Command: 01 GO
    Device ID: 01
    Command Format: 01 Lighting (General)
    enter in cue and cuelist number
    output tab, verify the correct output is selected

    In Hog2PC defaults should be in place;
    Device ID: 1
    Format ID: 1
    MIDI IN should be toggled on at the top of the Input Panel

    SFX File attached.
  • Chris,

    Jason has already provided you with some great information. It should be a simple process as Hog 2PC uses standard MSC commands. One other thing I would suggest is opening the Event Monitor (Setup, Control Panel, Event Monitor). This will display all incoming MIDI information. You can then view this to confirm that you are receiving the MIDI and that it is properly formated (If you know the HEX values you are expecting).
  • Thank you Jason and Brad for all of that useful information. I definetly have some things to work on now and see if I can fix the problem. I was unaware of the page showing all incoming MIDI information, that sounds like a great feature. You guys are awesome, thanks! I'm going to work on the project this afternoon and willd definetly post and sucess or failures I have. Thanks!
  • I just wanted to update anyone interested in this thread. So after a bit of trial and error I realized what my mistake was. I'm currently using a 3 In and 3 Out/Thru USB MIDI interface (The UM-3EX). I really like it for the most part. It seems that in my signal chain the daisy connection of the devices was causing HogPC to not recieve MSC commands. The connections I was using was the program SFX generating MSC commands going out an external Sound Card with a MIDI port, into the UM-3EX and then selecting the output of the same MIDI port on the UM-3EX to be Thru. The Thru then went to an ETC Obsession console. There are not three ports on this MIDI controller, only 2, with the option of the 2nd being Out or Thru. Having the selection set to thru was the problem. As soon as I switched it to out the system worked great. I have yet to try to see if the Obsession would still work on an Output command, as I isolated the entire HogPC and SFX setup. Having extra MIDI ports anyway I ran individual cables to each device I'm controlling. That's the deal. I also just presented my semester long research project into Automated Show Control today on this topic, and it went great!
    Thanks.
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