Hi Mike,
It would be really useful to be able to make a CD backup of shows created in SCS. I realise that you can't get a CD to take the place of SCS (otherwise we'd be using CDs wouldn't we?), but I live in fear that I will lose the show if my laptop gets lost, stolen or damaged.
Something as basic as being able to export the files to a playlist in iTunes, MediaPlayer or other would be helpful. It at least allows for a plan B.
Thanks,
Nic
CD backup
-
Mike Daniell
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3630
- Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2005 8:58 am
- Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. TZ:GMT+10
- Contact:
Your best plan is to have a backup copy of SCS plus your show files on another computer. Having a backup copy of SCS installed on another computer is quite acceptable under the single-user license. To simplify transferring your files between computers I recommend you have all the audio files for a show in the same folder as your cue file. See the SCS Help topic Miscellaneous / Portability for more details.
CD Backup
Hello Mike,
Currently running SCS for a run of "Our Town" and our sound engineer (1st time use for him, although he's seen me run it for shows while he's taken care of the live stuff) is quite happy and impressed.
Being part of a rather limited budget community theater group, a second laptop for backup is out of the question. Heck, I'm still working on getting the Board to approve the purchase of a laptop dedicated to audio use instead of borrowing the Board secretary's personal computer to run shows. She's quite understanding and accommodating considering I twiddle with much of her personal settings to keep them from conflicting with a smooth performance operation. (I do document all the changes and return it back to the way it was - minus SCS and Goldwave - well at least almost completely back to normal. (':roll:')
After having used SCS to run a very successful presentation of Wizard of Oz (the ability to run multiple files for the twister scene allowed for an awesome audience experience) they (the Board of Directors) definitely see the need but dollars are still a tight item for an all volunteer organization.
So, I have to agree with Nic, being able to at least have a Plan B where we have either a backup CD or MD, which isn't nearly as capable but puts sound on the speakers, for which we have equipment is certainly preferable to silence and the sound of the sound techs sweat hitting the keyboard of a dead PC.
Ken O
(30+ years in community theater)
Currently running SCS for a run of "Our Town" and our sound engineer (1st time use for him, although he's seen me run it for shows while he's taken care of the live stuff) is quite happy and impressed.
Being part of a rather limited budget community theater group, a second laptop for backup is out of the question. Heck, I'm still working on getting the Board to approve the purchase of a laptop dedicated to audio use instead of borrowing the Board secretary's personal computer to run shows. She's quite understanding and accommodating considering I twiddle with much of her personal settings to keep them from conflicting with a smooth performance operation. (I do document all the changes and return it back to the way it was - minus SCS and Goldwave - well at least almost completely back to normal. (':roll:')
After having used SCS to run a very successful presentation of Wizard of Oz (the ability to run multiple files for the twister scene allowed for an awesome audience experience) they (the Board of Directors) definitely see the need but dollars are still a tight item for an all volunteer organization.
So, I have to agree with Nic, being able to at least have a Plan B where we have either a backup CD or MD, which isn't nearly as capable but puts sound on the speakers, for which we have equipment is certainly preferable to silence and the sound of the sound techs sweat hitting the keyboard of a dead PC.
Ken O
(30+ years in community theater)
I have succesfully used SCS in a production in Hong Kong, and everything went well, even last minutes changes requested by the director. After thinking about back-up, I was orginally going to revert to the original CDs, but as the show grew in complexity I realised that going to computer control means going for it full time.
I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a back up laptop, and SCS and a copy of the show was loaded, and this was connected to a spare set of inputs on the mixer.
I didn't need the back up PC, there were no issues, but it was reassuring that all the cues, timings and features that make SCS excellent were just available in a total loss of the primary system by pushing up some faders and switching to the backup.
Which brings me to my issue. Is it possible, using standard laptop interfaces, to allow the primary PC to issue 'go to next' cues to the back up, so that the next cue on the back up is the same as the primary?
I know you may be able to do this via serial commands, but my laptops don't have serial ports.
I think a solution using usb, a network cross-over cable, or even wireless may be considered. Any ideas how the product could, each time a cue is played, issue a command to the backup PC, so this PC 'tracks' the primary?
Thanks
Ian
I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a back up laptop, and SCS and a copy of the show was loaded, and this was connected to a spare set of inputs on the mixer.
I didn't need the back up PC, there were no issues, but it was reassuring that all the cues, timings and features that make SCS excellent were just available in a total loss of the primary system by pushing up some faders and switching to the backup.
Which brings me to my issue. Is it possible, using standard laptop interfaces, to allow the primary PC to issue 'go to next' cues to the back up, so that the next cue on the back up is the same as the primary?
I know you may be able to do this via serial commands, but my laptops don't have serial ports.
I think a solution using usb, a network cross-over cable, or even wireless may be considered. Any ideas how the product could, each time a cue is played, issue a command to the backup PC, so this PC 'tracks' the primary?
Thanks
Ian
-
jkowtko
- Posts: 138
- Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2007 2:36 am
- Location: Redwood Shores, CA (SF Bay Area)
- Contact:
I print the cue list from SCS, pick out the tracks that I will put on the CD backup, assign them CD track numbers 1-N, then burn the CD using my favorite CD burning program.
I know there is a difference between the SCS program and the CD track list since you can only run one track at a time on the CD. However I have a dual CD player so as I assign my CD track numbers to the items on the SCS cue list I will assign them to either the A or B device (so tracks labelled A1-An, B1-Bn. If I really wanted to retain "full" overlay backup capability, I might buy another dual CD player and be ready to run four devices.
For enhancement requests I think SCS could help out in a few ways here:
- Have an option to print cue list "for CD backup". In this mode:
* eliminate those extra lines of output for subcues and hotkeys, and output only one line per cue.
* Allow the user to select the number of CD devices they have (1-4), and intelligently assign each audio cue to an appropriate device and track number, allowing for overlay of sounds in the order in which they have been programmed for SCS. Before I bought SCS I did this manually with my two CD devices, and cut A and B program CDs to allow this.
* Keep the level change and fade out cues on the cue list output but mark the track number with an indicator (like putting it in parentheses) to indicate that this is a level change on a currently running cue.
* be to generate a CD burn list for one or two popular CD burning programs ... Roxio .dsma file would be one example.
I know there is a difference between the SCS program and the CD track list since you can only run one track at a time on the CD. However I have a dual CD player so as I assign my CD track numbers to the items on the SCS cue list I will assign them to either the A or B device (so tracks labelled A1-An, B1-Bn. If I really wanted to retain "full" overlay backup capability, I might buy another dual CD player and be ready to run four devices.
For enhancement requests I think SCS could help out in a few ways here:
- Have an option to print cue list "for CD backup". In this mode:
* eliminate those extra lines of output for subcues and hotkeys, and output only one line per cue.
* Allow the user to select the number of CD devices they have (1-4), and intelligently assign each audio cue to an appropriate device and track number, allowing for overlay of sounds in the order in which they have been programmed for SCS. Before I bought SCS I did this manually with my two CD devices, and cut A and B program CDs to allow this.
* Keep the level change and fade out cues on the cue list output but mark the track number with an indicator (like putting it in parentheses) to indicate that this is a level change on a currently running cue.
* be to generate a CD burn list for one or two popular CD burning programs ... Roxio .dsma file would be one example.
John Kowtko
Sound Designer/Engineer
Local schools and community theater
Redwood City, CA USA
Sound Designer/Engineer
Local schools and community theater
Redwood City, CA USA
-
DumaisAudio
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 10:21 am
- Location: Richmond, VA
Our TD was asking me about doing something like this, and I was hoping there was an easy way to do this. I would love to be able to mix down the show to a CD, so that if something fails, be it the computer, the audio interface, or SCS crashing, we can have a backup to finish the show. Of course it would be great to have a spare computer with the show ready to go, but for many of us, that just isn't an option because we just can't afford it.
Is there a way to take our show (using 8 outputs) and then default it to 2 outputs and then just record it analog out of our interface into another CD recorder? I could take the cues and burn them to CD separately, but then I would have to recreate all the fades and times all of the other great stuff I do inside SCS.
I'm in no way trying to say I don't trust SCS to run properly, but there are several other things in the chain that can fail, and a good old fashioned CD player can get the job done. If you have to have that gunshot, or that vital phone call, you don't want to have to cancel a show because the computer died.
Also, I'm curious, what have others done to make backups of their show?
Is there a way to take our show (using 8 outputs) and then default it to 2 outputs and then just record it analog out of our interface into another CD recorder? I could take the cues and burn them to CD separately, but then I would have to recreate all the fades and times all of the other great stuff I do inside SCS.
I'm in no way trying to say I don't trust SCS to run properly, but there are several other things in the chain that can fail, and a good old fashioned CD player can get the job done. If you have to have that gunshot, or that vital phone call, you don't want to have to cancel a show because the computer died.
Also, I'm curious, what have others done to make backups of their show?
-
jkowtko
- Posts: 138
- Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2007 2:36 am
- Location: Redwood Shores, CA (SF Bay Area)
- Contact:
I actually got a second PC for backup. It has a 6 channel card but I only had one stereo cable, so when I copied the production program over I just reassigned the devices at the program level to all point to the same pair of outputs. The volume gets a bit much when I have cues that would normally play on many channels and they end up summing on these two, but it's really fine for a backup machine. Eventually I will get a full 8 channel card for the backup and, input channels on the board permitting, will hook the two up so we have virtually transparent failover.
Fyi, the backup PC actually came in handy in our last production. The main PC did not have a problem, but one pair of speakers were inadvertantly turned off during the production, and the girls who were running the show freaked when some of the cues didn't sound. So they switched to the backup -- which happened to have only two output channels so all audio cues from that point on sounded on all the remaining speakers, although not with full 8 channel control, but they still all played. So maybe the backup PC should be only two channels ... hmmm
Recording out of the sound card to a single stereo CD sounds okay, but why not just mix the raw tracks using Goldwave instead?
Also, for inexpensive PCs I found that the used Dell Optiplex GX260 and GX270 with 512mb RAM and 40gb disk can be picked up for around $150. I have mine pumped up to 1gb to avoid paging. 15" flat panel monitors are going for around $50-60, and CRT monitors basically free. Get the new Dell keyboard with the huge spacebar -- makes it really easy to trigger the cues.
Fyi, the backup PC actually came in handy in our last production. The main PC did not have a problem, but one pair of speakers were inadvertantly turned off during the production, and the girls who were running the show freaked when some of the cues didn't sound. So they switched to the backup -- which happened to have only two output channels so all audio cues from that point on sounded on all the remaining speakers, although not with full 8 channel control, but they still all played. So maybe the backup PC should be only two channels ... hmmm
Recording out of the sound card to a single stereo CD sounds okay, but why not just mix the raw tracks using Goldwave instead?
Also, for inexpensive PCs I found that the used Dell Optiplex GX260 and GX270 with 512mb RAM and 40gb disk can be picked up for around $150. I have mine pumped up to 1gb to avoid paging. 15" flat panel monitors are going for around $50-60, and CRT monitors basically free. Get the new Dell keyboard with the huge spacebar -- makes it really easy to trigger the cues.
John Kowtko
Sound Designer/Engineer
Local schools and community theater
Redwood City, CA USA
Sound Designer/Engineer
Local schools and community theater
Redwood City, CA USA
I'm running a two computer system with identical computers except the sound cards. One has a 10 channel and one has a 6 channel. I set the directories up the same on both computers. I put all the files related to a show in a directory with the same name. When I get a show set up the way I want it, I just copy that directory to the other computer. The SCS program will see that it's a different sound card and make the changes to the other card.
To record a stereo mixdown on the same PC just use something like Total Recorder (http://www.highcriteria.com/) and set all the different audio output devices to be the same virtual device it uses for recording.
I think saving the full show to a single directory, dumping to DVD/CD and having a 2nd PC (even a personal laptop) as an emergency stereo backup is the way to go. You could slave them together by using a midi control panel feeeding both machines to trigger the cues.
Neil
I think saving the full show to a single directory, dumping to DVD/CD and having a 2nd PC (even a personal laptop) as an emergency stereo backup is the way to go. You could slave them together by using a midi control panel feeeding both machines to trigger the cues.
Neil