How do I control the Pro Bar using MIDI?

I would try to help you but the link to download the manual is not working on our site. Let me see what i can do.
Sincerely,

Are you talking about the MEGA Bar Pro? I've got two of those and I really like them as well.

There are no midi inputs on the Mega Bar Pro. I did a file search of the manual for the word "midi" and got no results. You can't control the MEGA Bar Pro directly with midi.

Some controllers can be controlled by midi. And any controller that can be controlled by midi can controll your MEGA Bar Pro. So you can indirectly (through a controller) control your MEGA Bar Pro with midi, but not otherwise.

BTW: Be careful when choosing a midi controllable controller. Some are more compatible with the midi you would like to send than others.

Hobson this customer is referring to the elation product PRO BAR
thank you for your advice on midi though.
Sincerely,

Yes it is the pro bar 4 as James said.

I have found a link to the Manual which is working.

in the manual there is some descriptopn how to set up the bar to recieve MIDI, and the Signal LED flashes constantly when the first signal is send from my BCF2000 MIDI controller (Also tried with a USB MIDI interface with same result)

what kind of signal does the pro bar need? Notes or control change or something else??

maybe i should try with another midi cable?

Looking at the manual (thanks for the link) It goes by notes. 0-128. and you can assign any of those notes to a channel. I am still having someone else look into this. I appreciate your patience.
Sincerely,

Sorry for the confusion I added to the thread. I wasn't aware of this Pro Bar.

This unit does have a regular midi input and a thru output (what comes in the in will be rebroadcasted out to another midi device if you want). You won't need any special hardware. It will respond to either DMX signals or midi note signals, but apparently not both at the same time - you've got to choose.

On each of four separate channels the unit will do something when it recives a midi note on that channel channels. You can select the four midi channels on which you want the unit to receive, and you can select the note to which you want the channel to respond.

Beyond that the manual is not clear to me. Here is my best guess: The unit is primarily a wash light bar designed to operate on it's own. It can do the Master/Slave thing, but the light it puts out is set by punching the buttons on the back of it, i.e., you do not control its light with either dmx or midi. What you can control by DMX/Midi are the four plugs on the back of it. You can plug in other lights, fog machine, etc. into this unit and turn those lights on and off via DMX or Midi. With DMX control you control the brightness of incandecent/halogen lights plugged into it, but with midi you can only turn the lights on or off.

If all else fails, hook it all up, set the channels and notes, plug lights into the four outlets, and start sending the specified midi notes. Before you know it, you will learn what it does.

Hope this helps.

Hobson

Too bad I can't download a manual from the web site, I could actually be able to provide a more definitive answer.

It appears the PDF file got hosed or something. It goes through the download, then comes up blank. Doing a download instead of viewing as a PDF browser plug in confirms the manual is in fact damaged.

If anyone wants to send me a manual, hit my web site and use the Yahoo chat link at the bottom of most pages.

chris this link works.
http://new.elationlighting.com...es/Pro%20Bar%204.pdf

Much better. Sort of.

This is how I read it:

First, it's either MIDI or DMX or probably stand-alone. I skipped to the MIDI section to address the question.

Second, the MIDI implementation ins't fully explained. I have to assume quite a bit. I am interpretting that you can assign any channel/port a MIDI note number. Now things go downhill fast. I would assume hitting the note would turn the channel ON. Is it full on? Does it read velocity to compute intensity? How does the light turn off? Must the note be held to stay on and then off when released? Or is it note ON again to turn it off?

Anyone care to send me one to play with for a few days after May 22nd? I can have better answers in a few days.