[QLab] SMPTE generator
Milburn/Bodeen Music & Sound Design
Hope you are doing well!
Can QLab 2 generate SMPTE timecode? We know it can receive it.
Thanks in advance,
Michael Bodeen
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Christopher Ashworth
Currently it can not generate SMPTE, only MTC. Of course, it can play
back audio files, so there's that as a workaround.
-C
On Aug 13, 2009, at 3:06 PM, Milburn/Bodeen Music & Sound Design wrote:
> Hi Chris,
>
> Hope you are doing well!
>
> Can QLab 2 generate SMPTE timecode? We know it can receive it.
>
Charlie Richmond
> Currently it can not generate SMPTE, only MTC. Of course, it can play back
> audio files, so there's that as a workaround.
With the free version of SoundMan-Server, it can generate SMPTE.... ;-)
C-)
*
I for one would like to see the details of doing this.
Including any external hardware (1 mac, 1 pc, 1 x cable, etc...) & how it
would all be configured.
*
On Thu, August 13, 2009 11:37 pm, Charlie Richmond wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Aug 2009, Christopher Ashworth wrote:
>> Currently it can not generate SMPTE, only MTC. Of course, it can play
>> back
>> audio files, so there's that as a workaround.
>
> With the free version of SoundMan-Server, it can generate SMPTE.... ;-)
Charlie Richmond
> I for one would like to see the details of doing this.
>
> Including any external hardware (1 mac, 1 pc, 1 x cable, etc...) & how it
> would all be configured.
If Chris does not have a chance to describe it before I return from holidays
next week, I will be pleased to do so. In the meantime, I'm on email once a day
on a very slow dialup, not on my own computer, up in the mountains of northern
California and having a great time!
We'll talk next week after we get back from a leisurely trip of the Oregon coast
;-)
Greetings to everyone!
Charlie
Christopher Ashworth
not available to me at the front of my brain. :)
But the general structure is that you'd have a Windows PC running
SoundMan Server, a Mac running QLab, and a network connection of some
kind between them. You'd use the SoundMan Cue in QLab to send any
command that SoundMan Server can understand, and one of those will
cause it to generate SMPTE.
I'll let Charlie fill in the rest of the detail....
Cheers,
Chris
Charlie Richmond
> I can describe the general structure, but the specific commands are not
> available to me at the front of my brain. :)
>
> But the general structure is that you'd have a Windows PC running SoundMan
> Server, a Mac running QLab, and a network connection of some kind between
> them. You'd use the SoundMan Cue in QLab to send any command that SoundMan
> Server can understand, and one of those will cause it to generate SMPTE.
>
> I'll let Charlie fill in the rest of the detail....
>From http://www.richmondsounddesign.com/soundman-script.html#settcgen :
SET TIMECODE GENERATOR
* SET TCGEN | TCGENERATOR [ channel number ]
o FREQ | FREQUENCY < 5..24000 >
o CODE { SINE |
SMPTE30 |
SMPTE30D |
SMPTE30DROP |
SMPTE25 |
SMPTE24 |
IRIG A [ INV | INVERTED ] |
IRIG AMOD [ INV | INVERTED ] |
IRIG B [ INV | INVERTED ] |
IRIG BMOD [ INV | INVERTED ] }
o START [ TIME | TC ] < start time > [ AT [ TIME | TC ] < offset > ]
o DATE < yy/mm/dd >
o DAY < nnn >
o USERBITS < nnnnnnnn >
o SPEED < fpt number >
o RUNNING { YES | NO | ON | OFF }
There are two timecode generators on channels P1000 and P1001. The timecode
generators can be used independently to generate two different timecode streams.
The timecode streams can have different time bases, or can have different
timecode types. For instance, you could generate SMPTE at 30 frames/second from
one generator and 24 frames/second from the second generator if you needed to
lock a projector and a lighting console to the same time, but they required
different frame rates.
The timecode generators appear to be playback channels. Since they are playback
channels they can be started and stopped with PLAY and STOP commands, just like
real playback channels. This lets you generate timecode in synchronism with
audio playback. The timecode generators can start, stop, pause, loop, and change
speed just like playback channels, so can track all movement actions identically
to playback channels.
The timecode generators can generate many different forms of timecode. They can
also generate pure sine waves, so can be used as an additional two signal
generators if this is desired. By default the generators generate full output
level.
The frequency should only be set if you are generating a sine wave. When you set
any other code type the frequency is set automatically to the correct rate for
that timecode type. It is possible though to manually set the frequency after
setting the timecode type. This will probably cause the timecode to run off of
the correct frequency, but there may be times when that is useful. The timecode
type generated are:
* SINE - A plain sine wave
* SMPTE30 - 30fps non-drop SMPTE
* SMPTE30D - 29.97fps drop frame timecode
* SMPTE30DROP - 29.97fps drop frame timecode
* SMPTE25 - 25fps SMPTE timecode
* SMPTE24 - 24fps SMPTE timecode
* IRIG A - 1000Hz IRIG-A pulsed timecode
* IRIG AMOD - 10KHz IRIG-A sinewave modulated timecode
* IRIG B - 100Hz IRIG-B pulsed timecode
* IRIG BMOD - 1000Hz IRIG-B sinewave modulated timecode
SMPTE timecodes are most commonly used for synchronization between show
equipment of various forms. IRIG is an older timecode form that is very good for
long-range synchronization, between hundreds of feet and for some codes, tens of
thousands of miles. It tends to be more resistant to noise and distortion than
SMPTE timecode. However, it is polarity sensitive to decode correctly. Since the
output polarity of an audio channel is not necessarily predictable, you can
generate the IRIG codes either positive or inverted.
The TIME field is used to set or get the starting (or current)generation time.
The time will start from zero by default. If the playback channel for the
generator has a TRACK START TIME specified, the TIME field will be the timecode
value corresponding to that relative position. If no track start time is given,
the TIME timecode is the time generated at the front of the track.
The DATE field is used to set or get a date field. This will be placed into the
USERBITS field for SMPTE. The field will be validated to insure that it is a
valid date. If the DATE and USERBITS parameter are both used and DATE occurs
second, it will override the USERBITS value. The date value is initialized to
zero by default, and is not automatically rolled over.
The DAY field takes a Julian day number between 1 and 366. This will be inserted
into the Julian day field for IRIG timecode. This value is automatically
incremented when the time rolls over from 23:59:59 to 00:00:00. It will also
automatically roll over from 366 to 1, but not from 365 to 1.
The USERBITS field will place an arbitrary hexadecimal value into the SMPTE
timecode user bits field. This will override any value set with the DATE
parameter if it occurs after the DATE parameter. For IRIG timecode, the low 27
bits of the userbits value will be placed in the "control bits" field in the
timecode value.
The SPEED value can be used to tune timecode generation to match some external
source that is running at the wrong speed. Normally pitch = 1.0, which is exact
speed. A smaller value will slow down timecode generation and a larger value
will speed it up. It is generally more practical to use the TRACK SPEED
parameter on the generator channel than to use the SPEED parameter on the
generator command.
The RUNNING value will start or stop the generator. The generator is stopped
initially, and can be started from the generator command or from a PLAY or
RESUME command, possibly along with other playback channels that it will then
track.