Couple of Enhance emnt Requests

[PhilVale]

There was talk about the following a little while back:

1) An Apple Mac version of SCS
2) Being able to control from an iPad
3) Built in Equaliser and/or effects panel.

Did any of these ever get any further than pure speculation?

[Mike Daniell]

1) An Apple Mac version of SCS

Unfortunately porting SCS to Apple Mac would be a major project. Although SCS is compiled under what's technically a 'cross-platform' development environment, there are many Windows-specific API calls which would need suitable Apple Mac replacements.

2) Being able to control from an iPad

I'm seriously considering this as a project for next year and would welcome requirement and design suggestions. The aim is to provide a remote app that can control SCS from any of the common tablet types, eg iPad, Android or Windows 8 tablets.

3) Built in Equaliser and/or effects panel.

EQ is currently available for Live Inputs as shown under Faders Window in the Help. EQ is implemented via SoundMan-Server (SM-S). EQ could also be provided for Audio File Cues, ie providing EQ on the 'input' channel. SM-S also supports delay, speed (tempo) and pitch, but not other effects like reverb.

[PhilVale]

Mike,

Thanks for the update on these.

In terms of iPad control:

(and I'm an Apple user so iPad and iPhone)

I think as a minimum (and maybe this is a first implementation) we want the ability to fire off cues and hot keys during show as well as modify output levels. So as a sound operator we can sit in the auditorium and hear what's being played live during a production and adjust accordingly. So it's really the replay functions.

Of course I'm thinking your big problem here is how immediately responsive the SCS player is to a remote controller given I'm assuming it would go through a Wifi network and therefore potentially bumping into other wifi traffic on the network. The other approach might be to use a point 2 point network connection to the pc but I know this doesn't work on older PC's and below Windows 7.

Later implementations may start to encompass the ability to set up queues and levels remotely, but to be honest - I tend to set up the cueing sequences at home and then set levels in the auditorium.

OK - now back to the Apple Mac idea - totally understand your problem and what I guessed might be the answer. SO will SCS work under one of the windows emulators on an Apple like for instance Parallels - given as I remember rightly you install a full version of Windows onto this then is there any reason why this won't work?

Finally, thanks for answer on Eq etc. I kind of think when it comes to effects then we should leave it to the software that's designed for the job e.g. Audition or Pro Logic or external processing units.

Phil.

[Eric Snodgrass]

I own a Windows phone and have an app called PC Remote Pro. I've set up my own wifi network on gigs and used a custom remote feature in PC Remote Pro to create custom control keys for use with SCS. With it I can fire off cues using my phone and the response is virtually instantaneous. I just looked at the app and noticed that they have made a version for use with Android devices too. That must have been a very recent addition.
I didn't set up any controls for cue volume. I do not know if you can create a control for that, but in this app there is also the ability to see what is present on the desk top and control it, so if I need to change volume levels on a particular cue I use the desktop view, see that SCS is open, zoom in on the volume slider of the cue I want and adjust away. It works extremely well during tech.
As for wireless issues, in a theater environment it should be very easy to set up your own network and simply block the network's SSID from showing up on people's devices. You can also add another level of security by using MAC Address filtering, which is a way of allowing network access only to those devices you choose via the MAC address assigned to each device. Doing both of these things assured your network is secure.

So it appears that with a five dollar app and an Android or Windows device you can have exactly what you have requested.

[PhilVale]

Eric,

Thanks for that. unfortunately I have an iPad/iPhone, but I suspect there'd probably a similar app.

We run alongside a professional theatre and my concern would always be the network traffic bearing in mind it might not just be internal traffic but maybe the manager down loading some huge file from the internet. I had thought of utilising my own wireless router for such which of course would get over the traffic problem.

Phil.

[Mike Daniell]

OK - now back to the Apple Mac idea - totally understand your problem and what I guessed might be the answer. SO will SCS work under one of the windows emulators on an Apple like for instance Parallels - given as I remember rightly you install a full version of Windows onto this then is there any reason why this won't work?

Sorry for the delay in replying to this, but yes, SCS will run under Parallels, Boot Camp, or probably any other product for running Windows applications.

[PhilVale]

Mike,

Thanks for the insight.

Phil.

[tocsin]

Hi,

i am interested in an remate app, too. Currently i am using an iphone app called TB Midi Stuff -->http://www.thiburce.com/TBStuff/?page_id=664 together with rtpMidi --> http://www.tobias-erichsen.de/software/rtpmidi.html to trigger some Cues when setting up the show to compare and check levels.

Picture of the remote (you have to design it for yourself or can have mine https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/113 ... emote.tbms)



You have to assign the incoming midi data to the remote features of SCS. Works like a charm for me but i never used it during show. just for setting up.
Midi Sliders and Hotkeys are possible, too

The one thing i am missing is the visual feedback where i am in the Cue list. So if there are any thoughts on a remote app, implement the view of the Cuelist aswell, please. Not only Buttons to press. So one is able to hop to specific Cues or move just up and down. That would be useful. If there are only control buttons you never know where you are.

And i t would be great if the remote App runs on Windows (XP, 7, 8 ) ...some older Tablets are getting cheaper and cheaper these days.

Future wish will be easy and fast levelchange of Cues when setting up the show in the audience area.

P.S. the same like TB Midi Stuff is possible with Midi Buttons --> http://www.da-share.com/software/midi-buttons/. Tested it on WinXP with an old Panasonic Toughbook CF-18. Same problem here is the missing "Cuelist View Feedback". Tried Desktop sharing with UltraVNC... it works, but it is not very smooth.

Thanks for all
gun

[Eric Snodgrass]

Tocsin, please see my previous post in this thread concerning a remote app. The app I describe in that post might be what you seek. I think they have a demo you can try before purchasing.

[tocsin]

Hi Eric,
thank you for your suggestion! I have an iPhone so i cannot test this exactly app, but i think it is more like a VNC Client for remote desktops than a real remote app. I have tested VNC Clients for iphone and it worked very well. But not that perfect that i would say it can replace a real remote app with a cuelist and controll buttons.