Combining Multiple Techniques

Hey Everyone, New to Touch Designer and I have a pretty ambitious project I am working on for a live band’s performance, but I’m excited to learn how to make it happen! here is the vision:

External Midi tempo → Touch Designer → procedural LED Chases → DMX out → WS2812B Individually Addressable LED Strips

I have watched a number of tutorials and the webinar series from the Berlin Summit, but I still have a limited understanding of the capabilities of the software and how to massage the data correctly. Here are some things I have been thinking about that I could really use some help with.

  1. Beat Interpretation: I have MIDI Tempo input coming from an external Midi Device how do I get that to drive the chases?
    I have been using the Constant → Speed → Null → Ramp contraption from one of the webinars, is there a clean way to get Beat/midi clock data to drive the Lighting Chases directly?

  2. Triggering Chases: I have a Roland SPD-SX and I am capable of assigning custom MIDI note sends from each of the pads, how do I construct something to listen for specific midi notes and trigger different tempo based chases? I am aware of the Switch TOP but would that be the best option to trigger different chases? What would be the cleanest way to activate different “pathways” using midi data?

  3. DMX output: I am using DMX since it’s the protocol I’m most familiar with. Quick aside, if anyone has any recommendations for a good DMX Decoder that would be much appreciated. I watched this introduction Tutorial on LED pixel mapping (youtube.com/watch?v=ShYYcr30vJw). My understanding is that I am limited to LED strips that are 170 Pixels long in order to have RGB control over each Pixel. Does that mean I need a separate decoder every 170 pixels, or can I just convince the software to treat Pixel #171 onward as a separate send/universe?

Sorry for the lengthy post. I understand there are a lot more questions than people to answer them so any help would be much appreciated. I have a feeling that the trial and error is just beginning. Even if you can link a tutorial video in the ballpark for a piece of the puzzle I would really appreciate it!

Here are some resources I have been looking at that might help:

led enttec dmx Touchdesigner (english) - youtube.com/watch?v=G2aKT-bbNZI

This tells me the basics of what I am working towards but doesn’t help with Pixel Lights and the DMX issues I would run into when using a decoder or more lights than 512 channels can handle data distribution for. What am I missing here?

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11208
This is one of the few links I have found talking about how the MIDI Clock in TD is kinda broken, although it’s from 2011 so I’m not sure if this has been sorted out. Is it easier/more fool proof to just go through ableton link? I have no issues using that route if it’s more robust/reliable.

Thanks
-AJK