Varying Audio Cue content from day-to-day?

[Simon Eves]

I'm about to set up for a show using QLab, and I want to have a single workspace but have the ability to use a different audio file for a particular cue dependent on the day of the week.

I don't want to maintain multiple workspace files, as I might need to mess with the actual show cues.

Is there an easy way to do this, please?

Perhaps if not by picking different audio files, then by having all the audio in a single file and then changing the in/out points or something?

[micpool]

Put your 7 cues in a Fire first Child and go next group

Put a script cue as the first cue  in the group (above your 7 audio cues)

The script would be along the lines of this this one which selects one of 2 cues depending whether it's a matinee or an evening show. Obviously you want to get the day from system events and have a conditional that selects the cue based on that value but you get the idea.  It should be fairly easy to adapt. 

tell application "System Events" to set timestring to hours of (current date)

tell application "QLab"

tell front workspace

if timestring > 18 then

start cue "0.52" --"Good Evening..."

else

start cue "0.51" --"Good Afternoon..."

end if

end tell

end tell

Mic

[micpool]

This works. (read in conjunction with attached screen shot)

tell application "System Events" to set timestring to (weekday of (current date)) * 1

delay 0.1

tell application "QLab"

tell front workspace

if timestring = 1 then

start cue "1.01"

else if timestring = 2 then

start cue "1.02"

else if timestring = 3 then

start cue "1.03"

else if timestring = 4 then

start cue "1.04"

else if timestring = 5 then

start cue "1.05"

else if timestring = 6 then

start cue "1.06"

else if timestring = 7 then

start cue "1.07"

end if

end tell

end tell

However for some reason when i was testing it by manually changing my system date it sometimes didn't work so I can't guarantee it's 100% reliable. I assume its something to do with not being able to get the date due to something else happening as the rest of the script is completely straightforward. Perhaps someone (Rich?) may have a suggestion how to make this more reliable.

Mic

[Chris Ashworth]

Perhaps someone (Rich?) may have a suggestion how to make this more reliable.

---

What about, instead of scripting, having cues that are named for the day of the week, and asking the operator to fire the correct cue based on the day?

Like, a cue that arms/disarms/reroutes/whatever the relevant audio cues for Monday, one for Tuesday, one for Wednesday, etc?

-C

[Lyle Barrere]

I frequently have a group of arm/disarm cues titled "Live Preshow Speech" and "Prerecorded Preshow Speech" that the operator fires before a show and it works well.  Just be careful which state the cues are in when you save your workspace so you don't change the 'default' setting. 

Lyle



Chris Ashworth wrote:

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[Lucas Krech]

Or put the cues on a separate cuelist and launch via hotkey 1-7.

-L

*insert witty mobile device advertising here*

On Mar 26, 2014, at 6:56 PM, Chris Ashworth <ch...@figure53.com> wrote:

>> Perhaps someone (Rich?) may have a suggestion how to make this more reliable.
>

[Rich Walsh]

On 26 Mar 2014, at 23:39, micpool <m...@micpool.com> wrote:

> However for some reason when i was testing it by manually changing my system date it sometimes didn't work so I can't guarantee it's 100% reliable. I assume its something to do with not being able to get the date due to something else happening as the rest of the script is completely straightforward. Perhaps someone (Rich?) may have a suggestion how to make this more reliable.

What are the error messages (including in the Console)? I couldn't get it to run at all until I removed the tell app QLab block, but probably because QLab 2 is called "QLab" for me still. Anyway, I took that block out and tested it a few times myself and nothing went awry.

Personally though, I'd probably number the cues "Mon", "Tue", etc, and then start cue (text 1 thru 3 of (weekday of (current date) as text)) – and ignore the error -10004s that go on in the background. I may even go so far as to disarm a sub cuelist of such cues and then arm today's cues as part of the reset. It's really just an extension of the understudy voiceover challenge…

Incidentally, it would be great if when the act of previewing a Script Cue causes it to break (with a red cross) the "Successfully compiled." text could immediately update to the error message, instead of having to select another cue and go back to refresh the display.

Rich

[micpool]

On Thursday, March 27, 2014 10:17:44 AM UTC, Rich Walsh wrote:

What are the error messages (including in the Console)? I couldn't get it to run at all until I removed the tell app QLab block, but probably because QLab 2 is called "QLab" for me still. Anyway, I took that block out and tested it a few times myself and nothing went awry.

Every time I change the date I get

31/03/2014 11:11:48.512 com.apple.time[327]: Interval maximum value is 946100000 seconds (specified value: 9223372036854775807).

which I think is normal

After changing the date sometimes the cue works sometimes it doesn't.

If the cue doesn't work the console log is

11/03/2014 11:13:00.988 QLab[37041]: Double GO protection. GO ignored for cue: Group [ID:1 NUMBER:1 NAME:Days of week (Start First Child and go to next cue)]

Changing the double go protection time or the keyup requirement in settings doesn't make any difference.

UPDATE: This has nothing to do with the script and applies to any cue.

I have just tested with another script free workspace and now conclude:

Changing the date or TIME while Qlab is open can render the go button inoperable and Qlab will report Double go protection. 

I think it only breaks the go button if you set a time or date in the past.

I'll send a bug report via the normal channels.

Mic

 

[Chris Ashworth]

Incidentally, it would be great if when the act of previewing a Script Cue causes it to break (with a red cross) the "Successfully compiled." text could immediately update to the error message, instead of having to select another cue and go back to refresh the display.

Thanks Rich; I’ve made that change and it will be available in the next update.

-C

[Willo]

I have done this for many shows, and one show in particular that had an improvisational element (it could be performed with a varied number in the cast) and needed a whole lot of options to be checked each show.

I set up a selection of questions at the top of the workspace, which had multiple options i.e. "How many actors in today's cast?" By arrow-keying down and triggering the correct answer (Four, Five, or Six in this particular show), it would set off a heap of arm cues and disarm cues later in my workspace, so the correct number of SFX would fire. Some other questions were: "Is this the short version or the long version?" (could cut a complete scene and the interval); "Who is playing the Captain? (would change voiceovers to either Sam, Geoff, or Phil); "Is there a live muso?" (could play pre-recorded music if the live musician was not available)

Each time an option was selected, it would also trigger disarm cues for the other options to that question, and the question itself - disarming everything so I could not accidentally give two different answers to the same question. 

Once the answers were locked in, you couldn't go back and change the show without specifically re-arming the question cue.

I also had a 'summary" group. As each question was answered, Various Memo cues in the Summary group would be enabled or disabled, so I could look at it and see exactly what options would occur in the current set up.

And 

I had a "reset all" cue, which would restore the various options in the program, and re-enable the questions to start the decision-making process again when circumstances had changed.

It took a bit of logic and some careful planning to cover all options, and ensure that choosing one course would disable all other courses

But it was invaluable to be able to look at my locked (disarmed) summary of the workspace and know that it would play "the long version with 4 in the cast, when Phil is the Captain and no live muso"...

Arm/Disarm cues triggering cues and Goto cues can make the program extremely flexible.  

Cheers,

Craig

[Rich Walsh]

On 27 Mar 2014, at 11:52, micpool <m...@micpool.com> wrote:

> UPDATE: This has nothing to do with the script and applies to any cue.
>
> I have just tested with another script free workspace and now conclude:
>
> Changing the date or TIME while Qlab is open can render the go button inoperable and Qlab will report Double go protection.
>
> I think it only breaks the go button if you set a time or date in the past.
>
> I'll send a bug report via the normal channels.

I wasn't testing using the GO button; previewing instead… Worth remembering there may be a difference I suppose.

I know little of these early normal channels of which you speak; what are they? I thought you could only file bug reports when QLab crashed…

Rich

[Chris Ashworth]

I know little of these early normal channels of which you speak; what are they? I thought you could only file bug reports when QLab crashed...

In version 3 we added: “Help” —> “Contact Support…”

[craig k]

I've looked at doing something similar to this, but actually scripted a dialogue box to come up and then select the options from there. The script then triggered the Arm/Disarm cues as required.

Craig k

[Simon Eves]

Thank you all for this. Lots of great ideas there. Unfortunately, I'm using the free version of QLab so can't use Script Cues, even though those solutions would be the neatest, so I'll have to go with the slightly more manual Arm/Disarm Cue approach but those are equally functional. Yay QLab! :)

[John Leonard Main]

Great to have HHGTTG back on the airwaves, isn't it?

John

Sent from my iPad

[Rich Walsh]

Glad someone spotted the reference... Didn't mean to include the word "early"; oops. Do you mean this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1g84m0sXpnNCv84GpN2PLZG/the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-game-30th-anniversary-edition? I wasn't actually trying to be topical; I adopted a writing style in about 1984 and have relentlessly stuck with it - although I do occasionally pick up those turns of phrase that they have now from people like Stewart Lee.

Rich

[John Leonard]

Sorry for the OT-ness, but for the uninitiated, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams, started life as a BBC radio program many years ago. Apart from anything else, the program was remarkable for the sound effects, which were mainly produced using what today is regarded as vintage equipment and to a very tight deadline, as Douglas, notoriously, had a tendency to be a bit late with presenting final scripts. The whole of the first series, complete with some small sections that were removed for various reasons from subsequent versions, is currently being broadcast on BBC Radio4 Extra on Saturday evenings. You may be able to access it on-line, depending on where you are in the world.

I did the sound design for one of the stage adaptations in Coventry and on the press night, the theatre administrator made Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters (a drink whose effect is described in the program as "like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon, wrapped 'round a large gold brick.") which looked like a nice sparkly clear liquid testing of lemonade, but was actually every clear spirit behind the bar (schnapps, vodka, gin, white rum, etc.) topped up with clear lemonade and decorated, naturally, with a slice of lemon. She didn't actually mention how they were made and I drank three or four (I don't remember clearly) before falling over.

That aside, the radio program is very funny and the online game mentioned by Rich is fiendish, but fun. (The film is terrible - don't bother with it.)

Regards from Liverpool,

John

[Rich Walsh]

I adapted it for the stage, directed it and acted in it. Last time I did any of those things! The guy who lit it for me went on to co-found Innocent... I think the guy who played Deep Thought founded his own software company and sold that for a few million too. Hmm.

I have a theory that there is some significance to Martin Freeman playing both Arthur Dent and Bilbo Baggins. Oh, and Scrooge is the prototype Arthur Dent, being forced into the past in his dressing gown...

Enough now I think.

Rich