Show Cue System

The new chase lighting feature is so great, that SCS has the ability to replace the lighting desk completely in many applications.

One thing that would be great, is to have the possibility to select if the chase lighting cue shall work with the BPM specified in the cue itself (like now) or if it should listen to a production property "Global Tap BPM for chase lighting cues".

This production property should have the possibility to be changed by "tapping" a key on the keyboard with the BPM speed needed AND/OR by receiving MIDI commands.
So when the audio mixing desk is connected to SCS via midi I also have the possibility to tap a soft key on the mixer in the needed BPM speed and the MIDI commands are translated to the "Global Tap BPM" value.

This would create the possibility to define lighting shows for bands where I can switch lighting chase cues via midi AND apply the correct song tempo by tapping on a key so the light changes to the beat of the music.

Best regards,
Edi

I was expecting that request to come up Thanks for your suggestions on the implementation. I'm considering having an 'keyboard shortcut' to define the 'tap' key. Following up on your suggestion I'll then just add a checkbox to the chase lighting cue to indicate if the cue is to monitor the tap key. The existing BPM will still apply as that effectively is the default BPM for that cue.

What type of MIDI message would you expect to be sending? Could this be a Control Change message?

Yes, this was a obvious thought

A keyboard shortcut sounds good, also a TAP button in the menu bar would be great which "flashes" with the current BPM (probably also shows the BPM value)

I don't understand what you mean with "The existing BPM will still apply as that effectively is the default BPM for that cue"? Isn't it either EXISTING BPM or TAP?

I don't really mind which type of MIDI message it will be, but I don't think of a message where the BPM value is encoded. When possible it would be great if the timing of the receipt of the "TAP midi message" would define the BPM. So if you want 60 BPM, the "TAP-Midi-Message" is sent with an interval of one message per second. (I think it will need some kind of calculation algorithm to extract the averaged timing from the MIDI interval - I don't even know if this is possible...)

Edi_28 wrote:I don't understand what you mean with "The existing BPM will still apply as that effectively is the default BPM for that cue"? Isn't it either EXISTING BPM or TAP?

This depends on how the chase will be started. Currently all 'manual start' cues are started by clicking the GO button, pressing the space-bar or some other available option. What's you're expectation on how a TAP BPM chase cue will start sending DMX? As I see it there are two options: (1) SCS starts the chase (and starts sending DMX) as soon as the cue is started from the GO button etc, or (2) SCS starts the chase (and starts sending DMX) when the operator has pressed the TAP button at least twice in order to set the required BPM. If we implement option (1) and if the cue is started before the operator has used TAP to set the required BPM, then SCS needs to know what BPM to start with. So that's when the 'default BPM' is applied.

Does that make sense?

Ahhh now I understand what you mean.

In my opinion the TAP should have nothing to do how a cue is started, that's why I meant that the TAP tempo is a global parameter which can be set (timed) with a keyboard shortcut, Menu Button or Midi message. Each chase cue which is set to "use BPM from global TAP" should run with this speed. On startup of SCS the global Tap could be e.g. 80 BPM, so if you don't change the global TAP by one of the options mentioned above each chase light cue which is set to global tap will step through with 80 BPM and ignores its own BPM set within the cue.

So definitely option 1 but always use global tap when the cue is set to use it. Global Tap tempo should be changeable while the chase is running to sync it to the song tempo by simply "tapping" on the TAP button (or midi, keyboard shortcut). Think of a delay effect on an audio mixer. It's exactly the same there as I think how the Tap function for light chases should work.

Therefore also the idea with the TAP button in the menu strip which always flashes in the current global tap tempo independent if a light chase is currently running. I always have a visual representation of the current tempo with which an light chase will run when it is started.

I basically agree with all your suggestions and the easiest solution to implement and operate would be the global tempo setting. A possible issue is always having to manually reset the tap delay for each chase cue that is set to respond to tap control, and that is what the cue's default tempo was intended to overcome. I realize the global tempo approach is similar to tap delay on an audio desk, although it's possible to reset the tap delay on an audio desk through the use of scenes, etc. I think I'll go with your suggestion of a global tempo - at least initially. (btw, this will not be in 11.6.1 but I should subsequently be able to let you have a pre-release of the following version with this implemented.)

Sounds great!
I'm looking forward to get my hands on this feature!

Thank's a lot.
Best regards,
Edi

This would be definitely helpful for my theater uses too. It would be even better if the tempo tapped for that particular cue could somehow be saved with that particular cue - I use prerecorded music for each musical production I do and once that tempo is set for that piece of music it can stay the same (unlike the OP's live band situation where the tempos could change each night).

Hi Eric,

I understand your request, but don't think that you need the global tap for that how I thought about it. My idea of the global tap
is definitely a LIVE feature to adapt the cue speed needed at the moment.

What you need is a function at show design time where you can tap on and the BPM is determined from you tapping and
transfered into the numerous value in the cue.

I could imagine of a little button in the chase light cue beside the BPM slider where you tap on and the timing sets the BPM value.
So just a little BPM calculator helper function while you run your prerecorded music.

Like this here:

http://www.all8.com/tools/bpm.htm

Best regards,
Edi

SCS 11.7.0 includes support for tap delay for lighting chase cues. Tap delay can be set by keyboard, MIDI or X32 network messages.