Re: [QLab] cues not advancing

[raymond soly]

Hi, there is aknow problem with certain mp3s..that could explain your problem. I would convert all files to same format and see if that cures it....

Ray

On 22-Sep-12, at 12:20 PM, John Ballinger wrote:

Help! (and thanks in advance for any that comes...)   I have about 4 cues (out of 90) that are not advancing to the next cue after "GO". There seems to be no explanation that involves
programming  i.e. I have nearly identical cues that DO operate well relative to the ones that do not. The only difference between them are audio files. One thing that was suggested to me
was to create a separate cue list, copy and paste the problematic cue into the new list, then copy and paste the cue from the new list into the "show" list, erase the "old" problematic
cue and see if that fixes it. It did in one case but not in others. I am updated to qlab 2.3.8

We have a preview tonight and I'm getting loads of fecal matter from the SM. Anyone out there have wisdom on this?

(no video, using 6 channels of audio, mixing mp3's with AIFF's, very straightforward gig, no mics, no MIDI, )

john

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[Mike Skinner]

Hey John,

Are the files you're experiencing issues with mp3s? My first suggestion would be to replace all mp3s with AIFFs.

-mike

On Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 12:20 PM, John Ballinger <john...@gmail.com> wrote:

Help! (and thanks in advance for any that comes...)   I have about 4 cues (out of 90) that are not advancing to the next cue after "GO". There seems to be no explanation that involves
programming  i.e. I have nearly identical cues that DO operate well relative to the ones that do not. The only difference between them are audio files. One thing that was suggested to me
was to create a separate cue list, copy and paste the problematic cue into the new list, then copy and paste the cue from the new list into the "show" list, erase the "old" problematic
cue and see if that fixes it. It did in one case but not in others. I am updated to qlab 2.3.8

We have a preview tonight and I'm getting loads of fecal matter from the SM. Anyone out there have wisdom on this?

(no video, using 6 channels of audio, mixing mp3's with AIFF's, very straightforward gig, no mics, no MIDI, )

john

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[John Ballinger]

Mike?....mike from f**king hipsters at NYMF?...it's john....the guitar player/md/author of that play. lol

I'll try that....it's odd though because other cues containing both mp3's and aiff's work well. Good to try anything at this point.
An update from 2.3.6 to 2.3.8 resolved one of the cues.

[John Ballinger]

THANK YOU. will do.

[raymond soly]

It's the lenght of the mp3s that matters.......some play fine others
not so much.....make everything aiff or wav and see if that solves
it.....

Ray

[John Ballinger]

that really could be it...there are some long mp3's (tone, atmosphere). heading to the theater now.

thanks for the ideas...hope I can return the favor some day.

[Jeremy Lee]

Try converting all the mp3s to Wav or aiff. QuickTime and mp3s don't always get along.

Jeremy Lee

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

On Sep 22, 2012, at 12:20 PM, John Ballinger <john...@gmail.com> wrote:

Help! (and thanks in advance for any that comes...)   I have about 4 cues (out of 90) that are not advancing to the next cue after "GO". There seems to be no explanation that involves
programming  i.e. I have nearly identical cues that DO operate well relative to the ones that do not. The only difference between them are audio files. One thing that was suggested to me
was to create a separate cue list, copy and paste the problematic cue into the new list, then copy and paste the cue from the new list into the "show" list, erase the "old" problematic
cue and see if that fixes it. It did in one case but not in others. I am updated to qlab 2.3.8

We have a preview tonight and I'm getting loads of fecal matter from the SM. Anyone out there have wisdom on this?

(no video, using 6 channels of audio, mixing mp3's with AIFF's, very straightforward gig, no mics, no MIDI, )

john

--

[Rabyn]

On Sep 22, 2012, at 1:46 PM, John Ballinger <john...@gmail.com> wrote:

> that really could be it...there are some long mp3's (tone, atmosphere). heading to the theater now.
>
> thanks for the ideas...hope I can return the favor some day.

I think this issue has bit way too many users to be a casual matter any more. I'd be incline to think the following:

Qlab should refuse to load a file that won't play correctly. If the mp3 issue is a moving target. Meaning that its not a fixed length but random, I'd be inclined to think that qlab should just refuse to play mp3s at some point. Better that than these sorts of emergencies that could of been avoided. Obviously a first time warning is a start but not enough. Maybe the mp3 warning should show up any time qlab is started from scratch of it doesn't and any time an existing workspace file is loaded that contains any mp3s.

DSP Quattro converts any mp3 I open into a aiff/wav automatically. Maybe that is an option.

As a hardcore fan and user of qlab, I'd be in complete support of qlab not supporting mp3s at all. Maybe provide a mp3 to aiff / wav file batch tool. Something besides this situation where a new user to qlab learns the hard way that some mp3s will play but not correctly. I think this makes it appear that qlab is flawed even though it's an apple issue.

My 2 cents,

Ra byn

[John Ballinger]

those 2 cents are worth more than that. thanks

[Daniel Perelstein]

[Drifting off-topic, responding to ra byn's suggestion to Figure 53]

I do use mp3s as part of my workflow. For someone who knows that there is a bug with them and has a workflow that can incorporate that information into their process intelligently, it'd be a bummer to not have qlab support mp3s at all... the warning is enough... it sounds like the OP was using a version of QLab from before the warning was put in place, which is the problem with regards to mp3 support.

[Specifically, because I know I'll get a lot of eye-rolls from saying that I use mp3s as part of my workflow — sometimes directors expect you to move quickly during tech. If the short sound cue that I throw together is composed of mp3 pieces, I'll flag them so I know to convert them later, but I at least want to be able to drop them in, take a listen, and start working with them without holding everybody else up by pausing to convert them. Of course, if the source material I'm working with is a long file and I know the bug is likely to rear its head, I won't use the mp3]

I'd be bummed if QLab stopped supporting mp3s until it also has a quick and easy to use file conversion tool built in. Sounds like all of this is coming down the road, so I'm happy to wait, but I wouldn't be happy to see another change prohibiting mp3s from qlab altogether in the meantime...

Thanks,
Dan

Daniel Perelstein                 

Full-service music and sound for the theater

Musical Direction | Sound Design | Composition | Multi-Instrumentalist
Conducting, Arranging & Orchestrations, Vocal Coaching, Accompanying
www . danielperelstein . com

[Rich Walsh]

On 22 Sep 2012, at 21:29, Daniel Perelstein wrote:

> I'd be bummed if QLab stopped supporting mp3s until it also has a quick and easy to use file conversion tool built in

You have a quick and easy-to-use file conversion tool built into the OS already: afconvert.

Here is a script that will construct the shell command and run it for you:

http://wiki.figure53.com/QLab+Scripts+and+Macros#x-Audio%20Cues-Convert%20to%20wav

Although it's currently stalled at version 0.3, my QLab Script Companion app will batch convert mp3s to wav/aiff too.

Rich

[Christopher Ashworth]

On Sep 22, 2012, at 2:58 PM, Rabyn <rabyn...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I think this issue has bit way too many users to be a casual matter any more.

The way QLab v2 handles MP3s will not be changing.

The issues will not arise in v3.

-C

[John Ballinger]

This is probably already known to all but I found "switch" batch converter for mac

http://download.cnet.com/Switch-Audio-Converter/3000-2140_4-10703967.html

it helped a lot today. 

[Rich Walsh]

On 23 Sep 2012, at 00:57, John Ballinger wrote:

This is probably already known to all but I found "switch" batch converter for mac

http://download.cnet.com/Switch-Audio-Converter/3000-2140_4-10703967.html

Or – at the risk of sounding like a self-publicist – you could use this, which is _free_ and written for QLab:

http://www.allthatyouhear.com/softwareprojects/qsc.html

And again, have this script on a Hot Key and you can convert Audio Cues from mp3 to wav or aiff directly in QLab without losing any of the other cue settings:

http://wiki.figure53.com/QLab+Scripts+and+Macros#x-Audio%20Cues-Convert%20to%20wav

The routines in these were both written specifically to address the mp3 issue, well over 2 years ago now.

Rich

[Chris Bakos]

And then there is my favorite batch converter XLD. Drag a whole folder of MP3 files into the XLD icon in the dock and it will batch convert into the same folder while preserving the name.

http://tmkk.pv.land.to/xld/index_e.html

[Angus Turner]

+1 to XLD. It's one of the fastest i've used as well.
Thanks
Angus Turner
angus...@gmail.com

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