Show Cue System

Hello,
after an entire week of single show days and no probs. I had a four show weekend last Sat. and Sun. at the end of the fourth show six cues from the end I hit the space bar and the cue appeared to be running on the monitor but no audio signal came to the board. Mics were up actor were vamping waiting for there song, I recued... nothing... I dropped down to the floor traced the connections all were good actors skipped song went to next scene I checked amps (mics on two amps, monitor and mains on two others all good, then checked board nothing muted, I hit esc. muted my music channels shut down the software to restart but the actors sang the last song acapella took bows with no curtain call. I let the audience leave while I checked the interface box, all good. Restarted the computer started the software anew unmuted the audio channels and sound came out as normal.
I believe Windows defender was running at the second start up but that might have been up during the whole two show period on Sunday but it would have also been up during the last show I ran at this theater which was 45 cues heavier but nothing like this happened during it but it was not a MUSICAL!!!
I ran this same show 5 years ago on mini disk (I have already dragged them out and set them up for back up) please help me find a way not have to run a show from mini disk again it might open up a rift in time and space and send us all back to the 1990s HELP!!!!

I've had a couple of other reports of this but so far have not been able to reproduce the error or identify the cause. If this reproducible then let me know. Which version of SCS are you running? The error can occur if you are using an external sound device (eg a USB or Firewire sound card) and you lose the connection. Recent versions of SCS check every 5 seconds that the required devices are still available - however, ASIO devices are NOT checked as the underlying software does not provide the facility to check this. If SCS finds it has lost a device then a warning message is displayed. After making the device available again, you should close and restart SCS.

hth.

Good to see others having this problem (it's "good" only because I'm not alone).
Just this week I built a show on SCS version 10.6.1 using my Compaq Presario laptop running XP Media Center SP 3 while using an M-Audio Fast Track Pro USB audio interface. The rehearsals and tech went flawlessly. But, because I'm only the designer and cannot leave my laptop for the run of the show, I transferred the show file and entire production folder to a Compaq desktop running Vista Home Basic 32-bit SP 2 with an Echo Layla 24/96 card (latest drivers installed, no anti-virus software or unnecessary processes running in the background). After changing the device preferences the program worked fine, until I experienced the mysterious lock-up issue described in the initial post. After hitting the spacebar the selected cue would turn green, the description of the cue would say "Playing", there would be a short, steady green bar in the Master meters but no movement at all of the time cursor and absolutely no sound. Hitting ESC would stop the program as normal but every cue would exhibit the same behavior. I had to consistently close the program and reopen it to make it work properly.
I'm not suspecting the sound card drivers at all. Just three weeks ago I used this rig with a program called Software Audio Console, which is a live virtual console. I was passing 14 channels of audio with processing and effects to two P.A. speakers and two separate stage monitor mixes for a live benefit featuring three bands and an acapella group. The latency buffer was set at 128 and the system didn't glitch at all for hours.
This behavior didn't change and really screwed the opening night tonight (Saturday). I need an answer ASAP as to why this is happening and how it can be fixed so the computer can be used tomorrow.

Please try 10.5.0, which is available from the Download Archive.

Thanks for the link, Mike. I also was thinking of backpedaling on versions just to see what would happen. I'm going to install and test today. We have a show tonight.
Let me know if you need anymore information on the system or the SCS show file. FYI, there are only audio cues for the show - no video, no MIDI control or anything else.

Eric,

When you test, try to reproduce a typical show scenario regarding timings. For example, if there is a 15-minute delay before the next cue is to be played, then wait approximately that amount of time before playing the cue in your test. And use the same computer and sound gear that you use for the production. In other words, run the test like a dress rehearsal.

I downloaded 10.5. I uninstalled 10.6.1, rebooted the computer, installed 10.5 and loaded the file. The same issues happened. I even changed the amount of files to pre-load from 10 to 15 and nothing. I'm going to change it to 5 and see what happens.

I created the file in 10.6.1. With what versions is it compatible? I'm thinking of going even further back in versions.

You could probably go all the way back to 10.1.4 (the oldest SCS 10 version in the archive).

Have you checked that your SCS Audio Driver Options on your production computer (Compaq desktop) are the same as on your Compaq Presario laptop?

Can you reconsider continuing with your laptop and associated M-Audio Fast Track Pro instead of using the desktop and Echo Layla?

Mike Daniell wrote:You could probably go all the way back to 10.1.4 (the oldest SCS 10 version in the archive).

Have you checked that your SCS Audio Driver Options on your production computer (Compaq desktop) are the same as on your Compaq Presario laptop?

Can you reconsider continuing with your laptop and associated M-Audio Fast Track Pro instead of using the desktop and Echo Layla?

Ah, good point on the Audio Driver options. On the laptop Use Software Mixer instead of Hardware Mixer was UNchecked. On the desktop it was checked. Unfortunately, even after changing that the same lock-up behavior occurred.
Now, the cues just don't release, it seems, even though the program indicates they are playing - the cues are green, the "Playing" label comes up, but there is no movement on the playback counter nor the level meters. As an experiment, instead of hitting ESC, I just hit the next cues in order. They also show the same behavior. But then, about three-to-six cues into this stacking, all the cues release and play at once upon triggering a cue. So they will release, but only if cue is stacked upon cue.

And no, I can't really give up my laptop for the run of the show. I've already attempted to use two other laptops running Vista x64 but the drivers for the Fast Track Pro are terrible for Vista x64 (outputs 3 and 4 do not show up - I need four outputs for this design).
I'm going to switch the Echo Layla for an M-Audio Delta 1010LT (which has been in this particular Compaq desktop computer before) and see if there is any difference.

Eric Snodgrass wrote:I'm going to switch the Echo Layla for an M-Audio Delta 1010LT (which has been in this particular Compaq desktop computer before) and see if there is any difference.

OK. There's a Delta driver option you must change - see Martin's post of 13 October here: http://www.showcuesystems.com/forum/vie ... 3856#p3856. From memory I think the particular option choices are 'in sync' and 'independent', and you must choose 'independent' or the Delta driver will wait for audio to arrive for ALL outputs before it plays.

Mike Daniell wrote:

Eric Snodgrass wrote:I'm going to switch the Echo Layla for an M-Audio Delta 1010LT (which has been in this particular Compaq desktop computer before) and see if there is any difference.

OK. There's a Delta driver option you must change - see Martin's post of 13 October here: http://www.showcuesystems.com/forum/vie ... 3856#p3856. From memory I think the particular option choices are 'in sync' and 'independent', and you must choose 'independent' or the Delta driver will wait for audio to arrive for ALL outputs before it plays.

This was a great clue. I read this and decided to check out any similar settings on the Echo Audio Layla 24/96 before I changed sound cards. Guess what? There IS something extremely similar in the Echo Software mixer. I uninstalled and reinstalled the Echo driver version 8.2. I opened the Echo mixer and went to the Settings tab. In the Settings page there is a setting called Sync Wave Devices, with a toggle button called Synchronized, which was Enabled. Quoting the Echo Driver Manual, "Normally, the driver tries to keep playback and recording synchronized. However, there are a few cases where you don't want that. If you are running an application that needs the inputs and outputs to be totally independent, then turn this off. Most of the time, you probably want to leave it enabled." It turns out I don't want it enabled.
I clicked on the Synchronized button, disabling it, and ran my file in SCS 10.5. It performed flawlessly. I closed the program and rebooted the computer. I opened my show file in SCS and tested it. Again, it performed flawlessly. I even put the program through some stressful playback, triggering as many cues as I could. It performed flawlessly.

So, because of this I'm guessing that the Sync Wave Devices is extremely similar to the Delta driver option you mentioned. I'm going to take this computer to the theater tonight and see how she runs. I'll update you.

That's great news. Hope all continues to go well.

Mike Daniell wrote:That's great news. Hope all continues to go well.

So far so good. I've installed the computer in the theater and run through the show cues three times. I also sat at the computer and hit the space bar repeatedly, making all those cues play at once. It's performed flawlessly. I'm currently sitting here waiting for the show to open. I'll post back the results.
If everything goes well then this week I'll reinstall 10.6.1 and test it out.

The show went off without a hitch. This was definitely due to the Synch Wave Devices option.