grandMA3 Timecode Setup: Art-Net Timecode from Your DJ Set

Step 1: Connect TimecodeLink to your DJ software

Set up your input first: Rekordbox, Serato, Pioneer CDJ/XDJ or VirtualDJ. Load a song and press play. The timecode in TimecodeLink should start running.

Step 2: Give each song its own hour

In the Track List panel, give every song a start timecode. The simplest scheme is one hour per song: the first song starts at 01:00:00:00, the second at 02:00:00:00, and so on. Songs never overlap, and on the console each hour maps to one timecode show.

Align in the track list numbers a whole list in one go from a start timecode and interval you choose. Set the interval to one hour.

Step 3: Turn on Art-Net output

Click OUTPUTS on the master row, switch on Art-Net Output, and under Broadcast pick the network the console is connected to. Art-Net timecode is a broadcast, so there is no console IP address to enter.

Pick the network by name even if All networks is offered. When the computer is on more than one network (Wi-Fi plus a lighting network, for example), the operating system sends an all-networks broadcast out of only one of them, which may not be the console's.

Step 4: Set up Art-Net timecode input on the grandMA3

On the console, press Menu (or tap the gear icon on the Control Bar in onPC), then open DMX Protocols and Art-Net:

1. Select the Interface connected to the TimecodeLink computer.
2. Turn on Enable Input.
3. Add an Art-Net row, set it to Enabled and its Mode to Input.
4. Set the row's Timecode Slot to 1.

Play a song. Timecode slot 1 in the Timecode Slots pool shows an Art-Net icon and the running time.

Step 5: Create a timecode show per song (TC slot and offset)

Store an empty object in the Timecode pool and open its Settings. Four settings matter here:

• Set TC Slot to TCSlot 1.
• Set Offset TC Slot to the song's hour: 1h00m00 for the song at 01:00:00:00.
• Set Duration a little longer than the song.
• Turn on Auto Start and Auto Stop.

With the offset set, the show's timeline starts at zero when the song starts, so an event at 1m00 fires one minute into the song. Auto Start runs the show as soon as that song's timecode arrives, and Auto Stop stops it when you pause or switch songs. Repeat for every song with the next hour as the offset.

Step 6: Record your cues

Open a Timecode Viewer window (Add Window → Tools), select the song's show, turn on Setup and press the record button. Play the song in your DJ software and fire your executors as the music goes: sequence Go's, flashes and fader moves are written into the show at the current time. Stop recording when the song ends.

From then on the cues play back by themselves whenever you play that song. You can move and edit the events on the timeline afterwards. Because the timecode follows your pitch fader, the cues stay on the beat when you play the song faster or slower.

Optional: BPM sync to a grandMA3 speed master

TimecodeLink can also drive a grandMA3 speed master with the live BPM over OSC, so effects and chasers follow the music between timecoded cues.

On the console, open Menu → In & Out → OSC, turn on Enable Input and add a row with port 8000, prefix gma3 and Receive Command set to Yes.

In TimecodeLink's master OUTPUTS, switch on Tempo (grandMA3) and enter the console's IP address as Host, port 8000, OSC address /gma3/cmd and SpeedMaster 3.1. Then assign speed master 1 to the sequences that should follow the music.

Using LTC or MIDI timecode (MTC) instead

If Art-Net isn't an option, TimecodeLink can send MIDI timecode or LTC. Connect the MIDI output to the console's MIDI In, or the LTC audio output to its LTC input, then open Menu → Connector Configuration and set MIDI TC Mode or SMPTE Mode to In with timecode slot 1. Steps 5 and 6 stay the same.