Show Cue System

I have started work on implementing MTC (MIDI Time Code) in SCS.

There are two areas to consider:

1. 'MTC Cues' in SCS, where SCS would send MTC to an external device (eg lighting board). An MTC cue or sub-cue would typically be linked to an SCS Audio File cue or sub-cue.
2. SCS to support a cue 'Activation Method of MTC <time>', eg MTC 00:12:34.00

Item (1) handles SCS sending MTC, and (2) handles SCS receiving MTC.

Initially I will implement (1), ie MTC Cues, and welcome your thoughts on the implementation. I am planning to have a new cue type that will contain basically just the required MTC start time in the format hh:mm:ss.ff, default 00:00:00.00. The MIDI output 'device' and MTC frame rate would be set in the Production Properties.

MTC cues would normally be implemented as sub-cues of Audio File cues, so when the audio file starts the MTC sub-cue also starts. Another idea is to allow you to select the Audio File cue or sub-cue that the MTC sub-cue is to be synced to. The MTC sub-cue would end (ie MTC would stop) when the associated or parent Audio File cue ends, unless the MTC sub-cue itself had been stopped earlier by an SFR cue.

Also, if the Audio File cue is repositioned, such as by dragging the progress slider or the cue being looped, then the MTC sub-cue would be repositioned identically.

Comments?

Glad to hear this is being implemented. I wanted to post since a lot of the ideas I have are for a specific project I am working on, but I am always curious how others are using SCS, timecode, and MIDI in general.
My interest in MTC is to keep sync between an audio track and a lighting console. I want to have an MTC track locked to an audio track so when I move back and forth on the audio track, my lighting cues follow suit. I have tried to just have MIDI show control sends at the right times for cues, however with complicated lighting cues, it is just too cumbersome to have to input a time in HH:MM:SS:FF every time I want a strobe hit...

It seems this is already possible with LTC, since one could have an LTC audio track running at the same time as the audio track in SCS and that would do the job. I am not sure if you can "sync lock" 2 audio tracks but it seems like it would work. For more professional applications, LTC seems to be the norm, while in pro-sumer/ DJ type scenarios, MTC seems to be more prevalent.
The only real thing I see maybe being an issue here is if I want to skip to 1 minute 30 seconds into a song to look at a lighting cue, I don't want to have to play the song from the start to look at it, I want to skip to 1 minute 25 seconds, hit play and watch it happen. If I messed up rewind a little and try again. This is something that sync lock should allow you to do. I don't want to have to use an editing program while I am editing lighting cues and then switch to SCS to run the show, I want to do it all in one program if I can.

So my ideal situation would be to have the MTC track be a sub-cue option. It would have a place to input the start time of the MTC in HH:MM:SS:FF
It would be able to be sync'd to the start position of the main cue audio track, in case for example the audio track has 3 seconds of lead time, I might not want that, so I should be able to set a start time on the audio track at 3 seconds into the track with the sliders, I want the MTC to sync to that and start at 00:00:00:01 exactly when the audio starts in SCS.
In my particular case I would also like the MTC to be able to be stopped by SFR cues or sub-cues in other cues. This way I can always use the same start time for each track.

The MTC sub-cue would have the ability stay locked to the audio track so if I start playing the audio track at 1 minute the MTC starts at 1 minute as well, this will make editing things so much easier. If this could also be implemented into the SCS editor I would be thrilled since looking at the waveform is sometimes an easy way to find where I want to make edits.

As far as how to specify frame rates, I like the idea of a global default and then the option to change it in the sub-cue. I would like to set in the preferences a default frame rate for the project, say 30 FPS and then if for some strange reason I had to change it on an individual track I could have a dropdown box to change it from (project default) to the other options. 30, 25, 24, 29.97, I am not sure if any others are needed or even supported by MTC.

Lastly is how the MTC is routed out. I think it should be routed in the control send devices section. I am not sure what other people need here but for myself I need to have MSC and MTC merged into one MIDI output. I use MSC to trigger a start cue and MTC to keep time. I am not sure but I could think of some possibilities where I might want MTC, MSC, or MIDI notes to go to separate outputs from the same cue, however I don't personally need that.

Please respond with ideas and whatnot so we can get this working how everyone needs it,
thanks mike!