Show Cue System

To feel good about using a software based, or anything running Windows for that matter, for show control I would like to have a backup running as well.

I would like to see a master-slave setup where one PC can be used as a playback master witch sends midi or rs232 commands to the slave PC to trigger the cues. That way if one pc crashes, power supply fails, etc the other will continue playing. This would reduce the downtime to the amount of time it takes to unmute a second set of channels.

I can see how I could do the same with the current version with midi commands but it looks like I would have to add a subcue to every cue. Not the end of the world but a cleaner solution would be much nicer.

Maybe some kind of unique key is created for each cue made so cue 5 always is equal to cue 5 in the second copy of the data store on the slave PC.

Anyway, with that feature I would gladly buy the software. I think it would give others piece of mind as well.

This is commonly called "tracking" and is available in some of the software commonly used for console control and so on in the professional theatre environment (such as the Cadac console software "SAM" and also Matt McKenzie's "G-Type" software, which started life as an alternative to the Cadac software and has become a more general Show Control product). It is a great idea, and usually uses RS232 or ethernet for the link, but is only of use if there is NO WAY that a bug or crash in the 'master' (or actively triggered software) can cause a mis-cue or sympathetic crash in the backup instance of the software on the other computer. This can happen with an ethernet link, where network monitoring on the backup computer pops up a warning that a network cable is disconnected when the main computer shuts down, thus taking the focus from the running software, and answering any incoming keyboard command to trigger a cue with an annoyed 'beep', as it wants you to acknowledge the warning dialog.

We often run redundant backups without linked tracking, both SCS, and other software such as that used to control Richmond AudioBox hardware. You simply have all your commands to SCS (ie go next or go specific cue messages) generated by something else ( a console, a midi transport box etc) and send it to both computers via a Midi thru box. Granted if you skip around using the mouse on one instance of SCS you will get out of sync, but this is usually the case (in our work) in Production, not show running, and we don't run the backup at that time. You have the advantage of knowing that neither computer is aware of the other's existance, and therefore no issue with one can affect the other.

Cheers,
nick

I have nowhere near the complexity of your system, but always like the idea of having "playback redundancy".

Just thinking outside the square - having explored the options of Slave/Master via MIDI or MIDI sysex messages - I am about to archaically dismantle a mouse, disable the right mouse button and connect a double pole, double throw switch which will hopefully duplicate the action of the right mouse button (to start all my cues).

If this works, then I can also connect another mouse with its right button disabled. Then, between my two computers (both running exactly the same SCS cue file) I can have some form of momentary action switch that triggers both computers at the same time!!?!

It's basic and won't give me a synchronised system, but that's not what I'm looking for.

Currently I only have sound cues, so I can connect the audio outputs of both (primary and secondary) computers to the mixer and if/when disaster strikes I can just pull up the "secondary" faders and the show can continue, hopefully with only a minor skip/glitch in the sound.

(This may be better as a new topic, but) In a few months I will be heading off on tour with a show for pre-school children and they are keen for me to be able to trigger their lighting from SCS. I am very keen to know the best way to achieve this that will give me the option of triggering a lighting scene change/pre-set (not necessarily in consecutive order) from various points in my audio cues.

Because I am familiar with MIDI, I automatically think of program changes and note on/note off commands or sysex to trigger the scene changes, but is this the best way for audio and sound to cohabitate??? I am involved in another show where SMPTE time code, as a sub-cue, successfully triggers the lighting, but the eight scenes have linear timing whereas this show is at the mercy of the Actors' timing.

Once I add MIDI/MSC/RS232, I realise that my mouse "umbilical" will not give me redundancy if/when I lose the lighting triggering from the main computer. I have previously adapted a clunky 25 pin A/B parallel switch as a "disaster switch" which was "fully manual" but worked very well when tested and was never needed during a performance. I am sure that there are more elegant solutions, but I am looking for preventative measures that again I will hopefully never need.

Just to cover all bases (if Mike Daniell is reading this), are you happy for me to run the primary and secondary computers from only one SCS licence???

MaleXLR wrote:In a few months I will be heading off on tour with a show for pre-school children and they are keen for me to be able to trigger their lighting from SCS. I am very keen to know the best way to achieve this that will give me the option of triggering a lighting scene change/pre-set (not necessarily in consecutive order) from various points in my audio cues.

Because I am familiar with MIDI, I automatically think of program changes and note on/note off commands or sysex to trigger the scene changes, but is this the best way for audio and sound to cohabitate??? I am involved in another show where SMPTE time code, as a sub-cue, successfully triggers the lighting, but the eight scenes have linear timing whereas this show is at the mercy of the Actors' timing.

Depends on your lighting board, but if that supports MIDI Note On/Off and/or Program Change and/or Control Change then I recommend any one of these MIDI command formats. The required commands should be set up in Control Send cues in SCS, triggered either manually or automatically as required.

MaleXLR wrote:Just to cover all bases (if Mike Daniell is reading this), are you happy for me to run the primary and secondary computers from only one SCS licence???

Yes, that's fine. Having SCS installed on your production machine and also on a backup machine is acceptable under a single-user license.