Elation Midicon 2 User Manual

ELATION

|

|

MIDICON-2™

user manual 

MIDICON-2

™

user manual

©2017 ELATION PROFESSIONAL all rights reserved. Information, specifications,
diagrams, images, and instructions herein are subject to change without notice.
ELATION PROFESSIONAL logo and identifying product names and numbers herein
are trademarks of ELATION PROFESSIONAL. Copyright protection claimed includes
all forms and matters of copyrightable materials and information now allowed by
statutory or judicial law or hereinafter granted. Product names used in this
document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
companies and are hereby acknowledged. All non-ELATION brands and product
names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

ELATION PROFESSIONAL and all affiliated companies hereby disclaim any and all
liabilities for property, equipment, building, and electrical damages, injuries to any
persons, and direct or indirect economic loss associated with the use or reliance of
any information contained within this document, and/or as a result of the improper,
unsafe, insufficient and negligent assembly, installation, rigging, and operation of
this product.

Elation Professional USA | 6122 S. Eastern Ave. | Los Angeles, CA. 90040

323-582-3322 | 323-832-9142 fax | www.elationlighting.com | [e-mail]

Elation Professional B.V. | Junostraat 2 | 6468 EW Kerkrade, The Netherlands

[phone] | [phone] fax | www.elationlighting.eu | [e-mail]

DOCUMENT VERSION

Please check www.elationlighting.com for the latest revision/update of this manual.

Date

01/04/17 1 Initial release.

Document

Version

Notes

www.elationlighting.com 2

CONTENTS

General Information

4

Warranty

6

Safety Instructions

7

Overview

8

Playbacks

10

Page Controls

12

Matrix Buttons

13

Shortcut Buttons

14

Jog Wheels

15

Master

16

Rear Panel

17

USB Light

17

Rack Mounting Hardware

18

MIDI Messages

20

MIDI Messages Received

24

Custom MIDI Maps

25

Firmware Updates

26

Technical Specifications

26

3 www.elationlighting.com

GENERAL INFORMATION

INTRODUCTION

This device has been designed to perform reliably for years when the guidelines

in this booklet are followed. Please read and understand the instructions in this

manual carefully and thoroughly before attempting to operate this device.

These instructions contain important information regarding safety during use and

maintenance.

UNPACKING

Every device has been thoroughly tested and has been shipped in perfect

operating condition. Carefully check the shipping carton for damage that may

have occurred during shipping. If the carton appears to be damaged, carefully

inspect your unit for damage and be sure all accessories necessary to operate

the unit have arrived intact. In the event damage has been found or parts are

missing, please contact our customer support team for further instructions. Please

do not return this unit to your dealer without first contacting customer support at

the number listed below. Please do not discard the shipping carton in the trash.

Please recycle whenever possible.

BOX CONTENTS

 USB Cable

 Rack Mount Kit

www.elationlighting.com 4

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Elation Professional® provides a customer support line, to provide set up help and

to answer any question should you encounter problems during your set up or

initial operation. You may also visit us on the web at www.elationlighting.com for

any comments or suggestions. For service related issue please contact Elation

Professional®.

ELATION SERVICE USA - Monday - Friday 8:00am to 5:00pm PST

Voice: 323-582-3322 Fax: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

ELATION SERVICE EUROPE - Monday - Friday 08:30 to 17:00 CET

Voice: [phone] Fax: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

WARRANTY REGISTRATION

Please complete and mail in the enclosed warranty card or register online:

http://www.elationlighting.com/Login.aspx to validate your purchase. All

returned service items whether under warranty or not, must be freight pre-paid

and accompany a return authorization (R.A.) number. The R.A. number must be

clearly written on the outside of the return package. A brief description of the

problem as well as the R.A. number must also be written down on a piece of

paper and included in the shipping container. If the unit is under warranty, you

must provide a copy of your proof of purchase invoice. Items returned without a

R.A. number clearly marked on the outside of the package will be refused and

returned at customer’s expense. You may obtain a R.A. number by contacting

customer support.

IMPORTANT NOTICE!

There are no user serviceable parts inside this unit. Do not attempt any repairs

yourself; doing so will void your manufactures warranty. Damages resulting from

modifications to this fixture and/or the disregard of safety and general user

instructions found in this user manual void the manufactures warranty and are

not subject to any warranty claims and/or repairs.

5 www.elationlighting.com

LIMITED WARRANTY

A. Elation Professional® hereby warrants, to the original purchaser, Elation Professional® products to

be free of manufacturing defects in material and workmanship for a period of two years (730 days),

and Elation Professional® product rechargeable batteries to be free of manufacturing defects in

material and workmanship for a period of six months (180 days), from the original date of purchase.

This warranty excludes discharge lamps and all product accessories. This warranty shall be valid only

if the product is purchased within the United States of America, including possessions and territories. It

is the owner’s responsibility to establish the date and place of purchase by acceptable evidence, at

the time service is sought.

B. For warranty service, send the product only to the Elation Professional® factory. All shipping

charges must be pre-paid. If the requested repairs or service (including parts replacement) are within

the terms of this warranty, Elation Professional® will pay return shipping charges only to a designated

point within the United States. If any product is sent, it must be shipped in its original package and

packaging material. No accessories should be shipped with the product. If any accessories are

shipped with the product, Elation Professional® shall have no liability what so ever for loss and/or or

damage to any such accessories, nor for the safe return thereof.

C. This warranty is void if the product serial number and/or labels are altered or removed; if the

product is modified in any manner which Elation Professional® concludes, after inspection, affects

the reliability of the product; if the product has been repaired or serviced by anyone other than the

Elation Professional® factory unless prior written authorization was issued to purchaser by Elation

Professional®; if the product is damaged because not properly maintained as set forth in the product

instructions, guidelines and/or user manual.

D. This is not a service contract, and this warranty does not include any maintenance, cleaning or

periodic check-up. During the periods as specified above, Elation Professional® will replace

defective parts at its expense, and will absorb all expenses for warranty service and repair labor by

reason of defects in material or workmanship. The sole responsibility of Elation Professional® under

this warranty shall be limited to the repair of the product, or replacement thereof, including parts, at

the sole discretion of Elation Professional®. All products covered by this warranty were manufactured

after January 1, 1990, and bare identifying marks to that effect.

E. Elation Professional® reserves the right to make changes in design and/or performance

improvements upon its products without any obligation to include these changes in any products

theretofore manufactured.

F. No warranty, whether expressed or implied, is given or made with respect to any accessory

supplied with the products described above. Except to the extent prohibited by applicable law, all

implied warranties made by Elation Professional® in connection with this product, including

warranties of merchantability or fitness, are limited in duration to the warranty periods set forth above.

And no warranties, whether expressed or implied, including warranties of merchantability or fitness,

shall apply to this product after said periods have expired. The consumer’s and/or dealer’s sole

remedy shall be such repair or replacement as is expressly provided above; and under no

circumstances shall Elation Professional® be liable for any loss and/or damage, direct and/or

consequential, arising out of the use of, and/or the inability to use, this product.

G. This warranty is the only written warranty applicable to Elation Professional® products and
supersedes all prior warranties and written descriptions of warranty terms and conditions heretofore published.

www.elationlighting.com 6

SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

is an extremely sophisticated piece of electronic equipment. To

guarantee a smooth operation, it is important to follow the guidelines in this

manual. The manufacturer of this device will not accept responsibility for

om the misuse of this fixture due to the disregard of the

This device

damages resulting fr

information printed in this manual.

INDOORS USE ONLY!

DO NOT EXPOSE DEVICE TO RAIN AND MOISTURE!

7 www.elationlighting.com

OVERVIEW

The MIDICON-2™ is a general-purpose MIDI controller designed to work alongside
Elation Lighting software packages or any lighting software that accepts MIDI. The

controller is USB powered and uses the USB class drivers so that no special driver
needs to be installed on the host PC or MAC. When you connect the MIDICON-2™
controller for the first time, your PC will automatically assign the MIDI driver that is
included with your operating system. It will work with both Windows™ and Apple™
operating systems. The controller uses standard MIDI messages to communicate
with your software. Tables showing the default MIDI messages and continuous
control numbers assigned to the buttons and faders are listed at the end of this
manual. You can also create your own MIDI map for the MIDICON-2™ controls using
the Elation MIDICON-2™ mapper software. Some lighting software programs will
support MIDICON-2™ as plug and play device without any need for special setup
other than selecting it as the default MIDI controller. Consult your lighting software’s
manual for more information.

MIDI is an acronym for “musical instrument digital interface”. MIDI has been in use
since the 1980’s and was intended as a means to interconnect musical instruments
such as keyboards and electronic sound producing devices. MIDI communicates
digitally between devices by sending event messages, for example a button press.
Many lighting control software programs allow MIDI messages to be used as event
triggers. The MIDICON-2™ makes use of MIDI messages to communicate with your
lighting software using MIDI over USB.

This user manual does not try to explain the technical details of how MIDI works. If
your lighting control software allows you to select the MIDICON-2™ from its setup
menu as a plug and play device no special programming of the MIDICON-2™ will
be required. The MIDICON-2™ can be customized to fit any lighting software if
needed. Some knowledge of how MIDI works would be helpful in that case. There
are many articles online that explain how MIDI works.

The MIDICON-2™ has a default MIDI map that assigns specific MIDI messages to
each control (button, fader, wheel, etc.) For software programs that support the
MIDICON-2™ as plug and play, the default MIDI map will work with your software as
soon as you select the MIDICON-2™ as your controller. For other programs, the
default map should also work. For programs that require a custom MIDI map, you
can create your own map using the Elation MIDICON-2™ mapper software. Refer to
the Custom MIDI Maps section for more details.

With the factory default MIDI map, the MIDICON-2™ sends MIDI note messages to
your software whenever buttons are pressed or when the data wheels are turned.
When a button is pressed a MIDI “note on” message is sent and when a button is
released a MIDI “note off” message is sent. This will allow you to control momentary
events. The MIDIcon 2 sends MIDI continuous controller messages when you move
the faders.

The MIDICON-2™ can also receive MIDI messages to control the LEDs and page
displays. This will allow your software to take control of the MIDICON-2™ so that it will
be in sync with your lighting software. At the end of this manual is a list of all the
default MIDI messages that are used.

www.elationlighting.com 8

PLAYBACKS: 8 playback faders each with 1 rotary push-in style dial, 2 playback buttons

with bi-color LEDs, up and down fader page select buttons, and an LED page number

display

MASTER FADER and BLACKOUT BUTTON: Located in the center of the controller.

SHORTCUTS: 6 general purpose shortcut buttons labeled S1 through S6 are located above

the playback buttons, and 8 general purpose shortcut buttons labeled A through H are

located above the 4 jog wheels.

MATRIX BUTTONS: 32 matrix buttons and matrix page select buttons and a display.

JOG WHEELS: There are 4 wheels that can be used for data entry or direct control of

lighting parameters. The wheels are also push buttons that allow you to press in on the wheel

to send an additional button press message.

9 www.elationlighting.com