SCS 9.2.5 Issues

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 8:51 am

Mike, I've been using the latest version (9.2.5), and I've had two playlist issues giving me problems.

1) For some reason, certain audio files refuse to play in the Editor Test section when "Highlighted File Only" is selected. It doesn't seem to be related to the file itself, but rather the position. Files 1 and 2 work fine, but when I try to play #3 (or beyond), the play button doesn't respond. If I take #3, and move it to position #1, then it plays fine, but the new #3 and beyond won't play. Fortunately, there does not appear to be a play problem in the production window, only the editor. Also, if I use the First/Last 10 or 5 sec play, it works fine.

2) In the production window, the Playlist Remaining time reflects something other than the actual remaining time. I haven't figured out what. It starts out incorrectly, and counts down from the incorrect starting value. Then every so often, kind of "jumps" to a new, incorrect value, and counts down from there. The jumping doesn't take place at regular intervals that I can see - at least not at file break. Strange. Again, it doesn't seem to cause any problems, it's just not right.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 9:04 am

Followup on #2 - it seems to correct itself when you exit the program and restart it. If I go from the Test window to the Production window and play, then the remaining P/L time is messed up. But, if I exit the program, and then play from the production window, the P/L is correct.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 1:03 pm

Now a followup to #1. While I was at rehearsal tonight, I tried using the playlists I had created, and even from the Production screens, once I got to the third audio file, it did not play. The countdown timer runs, but no audio is produced. If I shut the program down, and restart it, then it works.

The problem seems to be tied to hitting the Stop Everything button. If I start the program, and just let the playlist play, all works well. But, if I play a few cuts, then hit the Stop Everything button, when I restart the playlist, only the first two cuts work. Then it goes into no-sound playing of the cuts.

I've also noticed that on the ones that produce no sound, when they are "on deck", that is, the next cut to play, the positional slider is positioned to the far right - as if the cut has already completed.

Mike Daniell · Post by **Mike Daniell** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 9:03 pm

Dan, that'll take me a few days to debug and sort out, but I have reproduced #1. As you suggest, it is probably related to the Stop Everything button. If you find you do need to 'Stop Everything', after you have done that try clicking past the Playlist cue and then going back to it again to re-open the cue.

I haven't tested anything regarding #2 yet.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 2:01 pm

More info on #1... I was trying to step through the playlist files by selecting 'Highlighted File Only', clicking on the first file, and playing it long enough to determine its playback level, then hitting the stop button, then highlighting the next file, and clicking play. After the first two songs, it goes into the non-play mode - with the position slider to the far right. This problem does make it difficult to adjust the levels beyond the second file.

Actually, what I was trying to do brings two other suggestions to mind (after fixing the "beyond 2" problem, of course...

Autoplay Next File On Play
Since I was trying to go through all of the files sequentially to set the levels, it would be nice to have another dropdown option, say, "Autoplay Next File On Play". That would facilitate stepping through the files to set the individual playlist levels. I would highlight any song in the playlist, select "Autoplay Next File On Play", and hit the play button. Then I could manually set the level, and just hit the Play button again, to automatically go to the next file, and play it from the beginning. This would make setting individual playlist file levels very quick and easy.

Apply Level to All Files button
A second suggestion, since it appears you have some Real Estate under the Relative Level(%) slider, would be to put a button, similar to the "Apply this Transition to All Files" button, that would apply the same relative levels to all Playlist files. For example, if I discovered that after I had set all the levels in my large Intermission playlist, I needed to adjust all of the levels up, rather than having to go through each file individually to move it from 50% to 75%, I would be able to just move one file to 75% and then hit the "Apply This Level to All Files" button, to adjust them across the board. Then, it would be simpler to adjust any specific files that still needed to be adjusted up or down from the new base - especially if my first suggestion were also available...

Manual Adjustment of upcoming Cues
One more thing I noticed tonight as I was running my playlist. If I manually adjust the level of a file while it is running, it works fine - the level is adjusted as expected. But if I manually adjust the level of the next loaded file in the playlist, it allows you to make the adjustment, but when the new file actually begins playing, the level is reset to the original level. I would think that if the level of an upcoming file is manually adjusted, you would want to use that when it plays. I didn't check to see if that is the way it works on standard (non-playlist) cues, but I would still think that if you wanted to dynamically change a pre-play level in the displayed list of upcoming cues, you would want the cue to play with the level you have changed it to as well.

I guess I've rambled on enough for now. Thanks for listening, Mike!

Mike Daniell · Post by **Mike Daniell** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 6:41 pm

Just to let you know I'm still working on this, Dan.

Regarding the Apply Level to All Files button, if you need to adjust all of the levels then the easiest way to do that is to use the Master Level sliders. Will that achieve what you want?

Regards,
Mike