Connections

The Connections tab of Present's settings links Present with the rest of your gear in both directions. Send to other gear lists the lighting consoles, switchers, mixers and other devices a slide can fire a cue at. Receive commands lets a MIDI keyboard, a lighting console or a Stream Deck drive Present.

Where to find it

Open Present, click Settings in the top bar, then Connections (under System). Sending works from the web app and from Tech Manager, because the booth computer makes the connection either way. Receiving commands only works in Tech Manager on the booth computer.

Add a device to send cues to

1. In Present, click Settings, then Connections.
2. Under Send to other gear, click the button for the kind of connection: + OSC (UDP), + RossTalk (TCP), + HTTP, + MIDI, + Control API or + ATEM switcher.
3. In the new row, type a Target name you will recognise, such as "Lighting desk".
4. Fill in the address:
   • OSC: pick an OSC preset (Behringer X32 / Midas M32, QLab, Resolume Arena, disguise) or Custom, then the host or IP and the port. A preset fills the port.
   • RossTalk: the host or IP and the port.
   • HTTP: pick an API preset (vMix, Bitfocus Companion, Resolume Arena, ProPresenter 7) or Custom, then the base URL. With a preset, replace the host with your device's IP.
   • MIDI: Device for a MIDI port on the booth computer (pick or type its name; blank uses the first), or Network for an RTP-MIDI session (host and port), then the MIDI channel.
   • Control API: OBS Studio uses the booth's own OBS connection from Settings > OBS Studio; Q-SYS Core (QRC) needs the Core's host or IP.
   • ATEM switcher: the ATEM's IP, or leave it blank to use the ATEM the booth is already connected to.
5. Click Test to send a harmless test message, and check the device received it.

Every change saves as you type. To remove a device, click the trash button on its row.

Fire a cue from a slide

1. In Present, right-click the slide that should fire the cue.
2. Choose Add action….
3. Click + action.
4. Change the type to one of the kinds listed under Protocol (booth): HTTP request, OSC message, MIDI send, RossTalk command, Control API request or ATEM switcher.
5. Pick the device in the next box, then fill in the message. If no device of that kind exists yet, click No target — add one.
6. Close the window. The cue fires when the slide goes live; a slide's actions run in order.

Playlist items have Add action… in their right-click menu too, and a slide's menu has Edit action and Remove action for changing it later.

Let other gear drive Present

In Tech Manager on the booth computer:

1. In Present, click Settings, then Connections.
2. Under Receive commands, switch on what you need. Nothing listens until you do.
   • Listen for MIDI: choose the Device (or Any device), then click Add mapping for each key or controller. Each mapping is Note or Control change, a channel (or Any channel), the note or controller number, and the command, such as Next slide, Previous slide, Toggle blackout, Start timer or Run macro.
   • Listen for OSC: set the OSC port (1024 to 65535). Turn on Accept from the church network to take messages from other computers; OSC has no password.
   • Listen for HTTP: set the HTTP port. Every request must carry the booth's Token as "Authorization: Bearer" followed by the token. Use Copy token to paste it into your controller; New token stops every device using the old one. Accept from the church network lets other computers send, still only with the token.
3. When a listener is running, the tab shows "Listening on" and its address.

The Commands list shows the addresses: for example /wm/next, /wm/previous, /wm/cue/3 (go to slide 3), /wm/blackout, /wm/clear, /wm/timer/start/ followed by a timer's name, and /wm/macro/ followed by a macro's name. The same address works as an OSC address and as an HTTP path, so a Stream Deck or Companion button can send an HTTP request to it.

Let a web page on a slide go to other sites

A web page on a slide stays on its own site: a link to another site does nothing. To change that, in Present > Settings > Connections, under Web pages, turn on Allow any site. A warning reminds you that the audience sees wherever the page goes.

Troubleshooting

"Remote control listens on the booth computer."

You are in the web app. Open Present in Tech Manager on the booth computer to set up MIDI, OSC or HTTP commands.

"The booth did not save that. Try again."

The booth computer did not accept the last change, and the tab went back to what it had. Make the change again; if it keeps failing, restart Present.

A listener shows a warning instead of "Listening on"

The warning says why it could not start. If another program already uses that port, choose a different port between 1024 and 65535 and update the sending device to match.

The cue did not reach the device

Click Test on the device's row in Send to other gear. If the test does not arrive, check the address and port, and that the booth computer and the device are on the same network. Cues are sent by the booth, so the booth computer must be on with Tech Manager running.

"No target — add one" appears under an action

There is no device of that kind yet. Click it to add one, then pick it in the action.

Good to know

• These connections are separate from the switcher and camera control in Produce; the OBS Studio connection itself is set up in the app's Settings.
• A MIDI test from the web app plays from the computer you are on.
• Commands taken from other gear do exactly what the same click would, and the room's history records where each came from.