Significant Changes
The two most significant new features are a Device Mapper and support for SoundMan-Server. The Device Mapper is an improvement in the way SCS device names (eg FOH) are mapped to physical devices on your computer, and makes obsolete the radio buttons "Other SCS computers...". Please read the updated Help on Production Properties, and the Help on Device Mapper. More information about SoundMan-Server is given later in this posting.
SCS Installer
Another significant change is related to the SCS installation process, which you will be doing if you install this release. Previously when you installed SCS the application name was 'Sound Cue System'. The application name has been changed to 'SCS 10'. If you decide to change over to SCS 10.8 you should uninstall the application 'Sound Cue System', but don't do that yet until after you have run SCS 10.8 at least once so that 10.8 can pick up the registry settings saved by your earlier version.
List of Changes
The following changes are included in 10.8.0:
- Added SoundMan-Server (SM-S) support for SCS Professional and higher license levels.
- Added a new license level, SCS Platinum, to take advantage of the extra outputs available with SM-S.
- Changed the method of mapping SCS devices to physical devices to provide more flexibility and improved machine-independence. This is implemented by a new feature known as the Device Mapper.
- The file extension of saved SCS cue files has been changed from ".scs" to ".scsq". SCS 10.8.0 can open both .scs and .scsq files but will always save as .scsq. This change is due to the device mapping information being removed from the cue file and stored separately, so an old .scs file can still be processed by an older version of SCS if necessary.
- Added a new auto-start method for cues - auto-start n seconds after cue file loaded.
- Changed the location in the Registry that Options are saved, to avoid losing info when you subsequently uninstall SCS 10.7 or earlier.
- Fixed a few errors.
SoundMan-Server (SM-S) is a "virtual sound system audio engine" from Richmond Sound Design Ltd (www.richmondsounddesign.com). The interface between SCS and SM-S has been developed with the full cooperation of Richmond Sound Design. SM-S provides some functionality above and beyond that available with the BASS audio library. BASS will continue to be the default audio library used by SCS as it will satisfy the needs of many users and incurs no additional cost. To use SM-S there is the cost of an SM-S license, details of which are available on our web site under Purchasing a SoundMan-Server License. More details are available on the Richmond Sound Design web site.
Initially only a minimal amount of the extra SM-S functionality has been included, but this will be significantly expanded over time. SM-S can support many outputs - up to 512 with the highest SM-S license - and the new SCS Platinum license will support all these outputs. Syncing of linked cues with SM-S should be 'sample accurate'. Technically it's possible to have SM-S on a different machine to SCS, allowing you to have a dedicated machine for audio playback, but there's quite a bit involved in ensuring common file access so it's much easier to have SM-S and SCS on the same machine. The 'SCS Internal Mixer' is not required for SM-S. Some of the extra SM-S functionality that will be added later in SCS (for SM-S users only) will be live inputs, EQ control (particularly important for live inputs), output channel delay times, and output channel gains.
More information is in the SCS Help, particularly in the new topic 'SoundMan-Server'.
There are currently two known issues with SM-S, and Richmond Sound Design are working on both of these issues. Firstly, there is a bug in the current release of SM-S (1.0.70.3) that will hang the system if you release a loop in an SCS cue. The hang will occur when the loop next reaches the end point of the loop. If the hang occurs you may have to restart your machine.
Secondly, with the demo version of SM-S I recommend you do not include hotkey cues. The reason for this is that the demo version of SM-S has very limited capacity for holding files open, and if you have hotkey cues in SCS then SCS wants to keep the associated audio files permanently open. If this prevents you from testing SM-S with SCS then contact Richmond Sound Design as they are willing to provide a 15-day temporary SM-S license to assist in checking out the full functionality.
As I say, Richmond Sound Design are looking into both of these issues, and we'll advise via this forum when they have been resolved.
