Show Cue System

Hi Mike,

On a PC with limited RAM (384MB), would there be any advantage to using compressed formats such as WMA instead of WAV? I assume that SCS buffers a large portion of the tracks into RAM while in standby, and then streams them directly from RAM during playback. I am about to use SCS in a "revue" type environment, and nearly all cues will be long music tracks.
Thanks!

With 384Mb you should have no problems. I prefer to use WAV files for a production but am quite happy about using MP3 (or something else) for pre-show music, etc. Sometime ago I ran a whole musical's backing tracks plus sound FX from a 256Mb PC, using WAV files exclusively. Every performance went perfectly.

The actual memory usage is a bit deceptive. All file streams that are open have a playback buffer wich holds the data in a comon format (usually floating point) regardless of the original file format. The additional memory requirements varies depending on the file type. WAV files require the least memory (no decoding involved) at less than 1KB. MP3 is next at 60KB. OGG varies but uses the most at up to ~300KB.

What this all means is that you may, in fact, require less memory if you use WAV files.