Show Cue System

I am interested in purchasing SCS Pro so that I can assemble sound cues at home, and then bring them to the theater, which will also have its own copy of SCS Pro. Can I just bring my work in on CD/DVD and transfer the files?

Also, if I design sound for our 8-speaker system, would it default to 2 channel output on my laptop and still route to the 8 channels in the theater, or would I have to create a 2-channel version for myself and then divide it up into 8 channels at the theater? I am basically just trying to find out if there is a way for me to create a sound project from home and bring a working project into the theater.

Thank you.

1. Yes, if you follow the folder structure recommendations in the Help file under Portability. It's one of the great features of SCS. Since Mike recommends uncompressed WAV files for effects playback (using MP3s for pre-show etc.) a big show may need a DVD.

2. In SCS 8.x.x you can set up up to eight sound Device Names to be used in cues. Each cue can be directed as required to, say, FOH (L&R) or FX1, FX2 etc. and plotted through the show. In the show setup (View/Options/Sound Devices in SCS 8.x.x) these device names are allocated to a Physical Sound Device and (if required) Speakers. On your laptop only the onboard sound device and default speakers will appear as available.

You do not say that the computer at the theatre has an 8-channel card. Assuming that it has, the first time you take the SCS file to the theatre computer you have to assign the Device Names you have used in the show to the Sound Device you want to use, and the appropriate destination speakers, which will now appear in the list. You can then check the routeing with the test buttons.

Other threads here make recommendations about using independent channels rather than surround-sound speaker assignments for maximum useability and panning.

Download the demo (if you haven't already done so) and have a look at the help file, which should answer many questions.

Hope that helps.

Malcolm