Fader Abuse Wild demo for Assembly 2017 ----- This demo is made with the Behringer X32 Compact audio mixing console. Not tested, but will probably work with any X32 series mixer. The demo runs all in one take; video cuts are there because you couldn't read the small screens from a zoomed-out view. And for entertainment purposes. The right side of the mixer (demo faders) runs in "DAW remote" mode, which means it reads things automatically from the audio software (in this case FL Studio). The left side (demo text and lights) can be operated by sending commands to the mixer via TCP/IP (USB). In this case, the commands are sent using a command line program called X32_Command. It's available at https://sites.google.com/site/patrickmaillot/x32 , along with a bunch of other tools, and the unofficial X32 OSC Remote Protocol, which is the command language of the X32. Apparently Patrick-Gilles Maillot maintains these as a hobby. Hats off to him. I used python to generate the batch files (long lists of commands), and a program called Bome Midi Translator ( https://www.bome.com/products/miditranslator ) to time their launches. When a specific (quiet) MIDI note in the song plays, the translator picks it up and launches a bat file, which then animates the mixer. The channel screens can display up to 8 characters each from a very limited set of characters, and they have 14 colour modes (7 + 7 inverted). No graphics modes that I'm aware of. So it's all good old text animation. The mixer itself can execute commands surprisingly fast (many dozens or hundreds per second), but the LCD screens are slow, blurring any motion. Hence the slow scroller, and the copying of characters for visibility. For example a single "H" flying around is actually "HHHH" which morphs into H when it settles into place. As an example, the instructions for the last three animation frames of the text scroller look like this: /ch/09/config/name ,s " Trivi" /ch/10/config/name ,s "a: the " /ch/11/config/name ,s " fader" /ch/12/config/name ,s "s survi" /ch/13/config/name ,s "ve ~300 " /ch/14/config/name ,s "000opera" /ch/15/config/name ,s "tions. " /ch/16/config/name ,s " " /ch/09/config/name ,s " Trivia" /ch/10/config/name ,s ": the " /ch/11/config/name ,s " faders" /ch/12/config/name ,s " surviv" /ch/13/config/name ,s "e ~300 0" /ch/14/config/name ,s "00operat" /ch/15/config/name ,s "ions. " /ch/16/config/name ,s " " /ch/09/config/name ,s " Trivia:" /ch/10/config/name ,s " the " /ch/11/config/name ,s " faders " /ch/12/config/name ,s " survive" /ch/13/config/name ,s " ~300 00" /ch/14/config/name ,s "0operati" /ch/15/config/name ,s "ons. " More trivia: The text and light effects are made with about 25000 commands (25111 lines, minus some empty lines, also some batch file repetition doesn't count towards the number). This is 776 kb plaintext, or 29kb rar. ----- For reading the fader positions, the FL studio project has these extra things compared to a normal audio project: - "pre-master" channel - quiet "processing" channels for tweaking audio signals - "reading" channels, which take input from the processing channels - final "fader" channels. All sound-producing channels are routed to the "pre-master" channel instead of the normal master out. Master effects are applied in the "pre-master" channel, after which the audio is sent to the normal master out and to 8 "processing" channels. The processing channels slice the audio into one frequency band each (processing a is 0 to 100hz, processing b is 100 to 200hz, proc c is 200 to 500hz and so on). These slices are sent to another 8 "reading" channels, which each have a "peak controller" plugin, which turns their volume peaks into numerical values you can link things into. Finally there are the "fader" channels, in which the volume sliders are linked to the peak controllers. The X32 is set to display the "fader" channels, so the physical faders of the X32 move in sync with the volume sliders. And so you have the "frequency bands" fader mode in the demo. The routing is done this way so that the different demo fader modes (master volume, instrument volume, frequency bands, guitar freq bands) can be assigned to the same "reading" channels. Routing cannot be automated (changed on the fly), so all the routes are connected all the time, and only their muting is automated, using a simple mute on/off plugin. The "reading" channels are routed to nothing, so the signal used for moving the faders can't be heard in the demo. It would be a complete mess if it were audible. ----- Some more trivia: The motorized faders should last for about 300 000 operations, according to specifications. I have no idea how many operations is one demo. Ours have survived so far. This is obviously not sensible use for them, and you probably shouldn't do this. At the time of writing this, Thomann sells sets of 5 replacement faders for €95 + VAT + shipping. Last bit of trivia: The X32 is a professional and somewhat expensive mixing desk, and when my studio roommate bought it, he probably probably had something else in mind than me wearing it down with a wild demo. We're still on speaking terms. I think. If you have any questions about the demo, feel free to ask! ^_^