Similar Software for Windows?

[Michael Long]

I feel a little weird posting this here, but I figured you would be the best folks to ask. So, I'm working on a show now, doing very simple sound effects using QLab. I can only work half the shows, and someone else is working the other half. Unfortunately, he doesn't own a Mac, so he cannot use QLab. Is there any comparable free software for Windows? Right now he's trying to run them all from his iPod, and it's sort of a disaster. Thanks!

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Michael Long
Video Designer - Philadelphia (and I guess sound designer now, too?)
michaellongfilms.com

[Paul Gotch]

If you only need stereo then AVD Multiplay. Which is free.

-p

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[Jeremy Lee]

For a simple show that needs to be cross platform, try SoundByte

http://www.blackcatsystems.com/software/soundbyte.html

Before the magic of QLab, I used this software in rehearsals a lot. I don't know of anything else cross platform.

If you want windows only, try Sound Cue System

http://www.showcuesystems.com/

Or SFX

http://www.stageresearch.com/products/sfx6/sfx6.aspx

Both are capable, but way clunkier (IMNTHO) and harder to learn, but would work in a pinch.

Thats ballsy to even try and run a show off an iPod! Possibly almost as ballsy as swapping out a playback platform in the middle of a run.

Jeremy Lee

- A thumb is a terrible speller. Please forgive my trespasses.

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[ra byn taylor]

On Sun, Aug 26, 2012 at 2:55 PM, Michael Long <mlon...@gmail.com> wrote:

I feel a little weird posting this here, but I figured you would be the best folks to ask. So, I'm working on a show now, doing very simple sound effects using QLab. I can only work half the shows, and someone else is working the other half. Unfortunately, he doesn't own a Mac, so he cannot use QLab. Is there any comparable free software for Windows? Right now he's trying to run them all from his iPod, and it's sort of a disaster. Thanks!

I'd personally design the show in an app it will run on for the entire run. 

It would be one thing if the op already knew a windows app & preferred it over Qlab but if the operator doesn't know either, I'd go straight to a windows solution & stay there. 

OR

If you have very simple audio that just plays out & you don't need any fades, overlapping cues, etc...and the sound isn't terribly important to the success of the show,  a simple a CD player if you have one that will autopause at the end of each track would do.

OR 

An Ipad running the revised Sound Cue app which now supports setting levels per cue which was the one thing I was holding out for. It doesn't allow for overlapping cues but if you need CD player type access to sound cues with a better interface, Soundcue for Ipad. 

Every theater will logically have some sort of audio playback option to function & locgically should stay within the limits of it's inherent capacity IF they can't afford to rent or purchase a better solution. I'm loaning my Mac Book Pro & Qlab to a symphony that was going to run a RF broadcasted event on an old Mac Book Pro with he hard drive set to sleep whenever possible. I couldn't allow them to run without a backup plan.  Maybe you can offer to rent them yours so the design can be done in Qlab :)

ra byn

[Michael Long]

Thanks for all the input, everyone! We're looking into all this software right now. I guess I didn't emphasize the simplicity of these cues: literally a ding sound, a buzzer sound, and a few songs. The problem is, he was having trouble quickly playing the buzzer or ding after the contestant answered a question using iPod, iTunes, CD player, etc. Plus, those programs don't allow for easily adjusting the levels on individual cues. Certainly if it were a much more complex show we would designate a single computer for the entire run. Thanks again!

Michael Long
Video Designer - Philadelphia

http://michaellongfilms.com/