I have been working on a solution to a problem that arises constantly when utilizing the popular software QLab to trigger lights, sound, and projections from the same workspace.

To be able to facilitate these triggers, you usually need to put all of the MIDI and/or OSC cues in the workspace manually. The problem with this is that it is unnecessarily time consuming. You are creating a list that has already been created in your light board or in a spreadsheet, and since they are only “trigger” cues, they do not have the same subtle differences required of sound or video cues. It boils down to pretty much, “LX 12 GO”, “PQ 122 GO”.

As a solution, I wrote a program that takes a csv spreadsheet file and imports that “trigger” data rapidly and accurately.

Downloading from Github can be difficult if you are not a developer, but I will walk us through it below. Keep in mind this project is still in development and may have bugs or issues. I recommend testing on an empty QLab workspace and copying the created cues into your working QLab workspace to avoid potential issues.

UPDATE: 11-24-2021

I was asked twice in the span of a week for this feature, so I decided to bundle a release. Thank you to those interested in using this software! Your insight will help this project grow to be more useful to more people.

Version 2021.1.5 now allows a raw osc command to be sent to QLab. Type should remain “network”, Message type will be “2”, and the raw osc command will go in column “command”.

UPDATE: 2-26-2021

We have a new version! v2021.1.1 is now available and allows much more flexibility with the csv file. You can now choose more options, or fewer, depending on your needs. The latest information can be found on github.

A documentation and information site is coming soon!

Step 1

Download the file called csv_to_qlab.dmg from Github. You may see warnings, you can probably ignore them, but that is up to you.

Open the download, and move the application to the applications folder on your computer.

Step 2

Open the program, and you should see this:

* You are likely to see some warnings because I am not an Apple developer. It is up to you to decide if you want to download and open this program.

Step 3

Follow instructions to properly format csv file. Set ip address to address of QLab machine and the MIDI device ID. The rest of the information needed will either be pre-set or be pulled from the csv file. This program uses QLab’s OSC documentation to send cues from your computer to QLab.

Update:

Parts of this step were updated in v2021.1.0. You no longer need to enter the MIDI device ID in the app, but rather enter it in your csv file.

Step 4

Click submit and your cues will be generated automatically in QLab.

Conclusion

It is pretty clear that this is a first attempt at something bigger, but I would love to hear what anyone else thinks might be useful.

Right now, next on my list is:

• Other types of cues (OSC next probably)

• Color options

• Command Format options

As always, you can contact me with questions or comment below.