[QLab] Replacement Cues for Voice Overs
JCS
I am currently working on a Broadway show using QLab.
In our setup, we are using MIDI program change to directly recall cues
from our console.
We have Voice Overs in the show, and 3 actors who can potentially play
the part of the character with the voice over.
Currently, I have three projects with the different actor's VO's
loaded.
I am looking for a slick way to replace the Voice Over cue with the
appropriate actor in the part, hopefully a cue at the top of the cue
list which would select the appropriate actor.
I have had success using "GoTo" cues, but only if I am using the GO
command. I can target the appropriate cue in a group, but when I
direct recall the group with MIDI program change, it fires the first
cue in the group, not the cue I have targeted with "GoTo".
What would be ideal:
Top of Cue List:
Buttons for "Adam as XX", "Justin as XX", "Bill as XX".
I would select one of these cues at the top of the show, and when I
recalled the group with the Voice Over via MIDI Program Change, the
cue that I targeted would fire.
Thanks a lot! I really enjoy using your product!
________________________________________________________
WHEN REPLYING, PLEASE QUOTE ONLY WHAT YOU NEED. Thanks!
Change your preferences or unsubscribe here:
http://lists.figure53.com/listinfo.cgi/qlab-figure53.com
Jason Knox
Rich Walsh
> Two possible solutions come immediately to mind.
>
> 1. Very similar to what you're already doing, but instead of using separate projects (Workspaces) for each possible narrator, just copy your main cue list into two new cue lists and replace each set of VO cues with the other actors. It's extremely simple to switch between cue lists, although it does require that you maintain any adjustments manually in all three cue lists. Kind of a pain.
>
> 2. The other option would be to use the "Arm" and Disarm" cues to switch between narrators in a single cue list.
>
> Make all of your VO cues group cues that contain a cue sequence with an audio cue for each narrator.
>
> Create three Group Cues at the top of the cue list and within these Groups create a cue sequence of "Arm" and "Disarm" cues that turn on the desired actor and turn off the other VO cues. It's pretty simple.
>
> There are probably other ways to do this (I'm sure there's a scripting solution that would work), but I'd probably opt for option 2. It's easy to program and any changes made to the cue list don't need to be duplicated in other lists.
We're about to run into the same issue. I haven't worked out exactly what we'll do yet, but I suspect we'll put each actor's cues into their own cuelist, put Start cues in the main cue list for every actor for each cue and then arm/disarm the relevant cue lists at the top of the show. We might find a more elegant solution when we come to actually do it though.
You could modify this script to batch arm/disarm all the cues for a particular actor if their name was in each q name:
http://figure53.com/wiki/index.php?title=QLab_Scripts_and_Macros#Batch_disarm
That doesn't seem as elegant as using the built-in tools though.
Rich
Andy Leviss
> We're about to run into the same issue. I haven't worked out exactly what we'll do yet, but I suspect we'll put each actor's cues into their own cuelist, put Start cues in the main cue list for every actor for each cue and then arm/disarm the relevant cue lists at the top of the show. We might find a more elegant solution when we come to actually do it though.
Three other options:
1) A script cue that re-targets the start cues rather than
arming/disarming. This would avoid the big "disarmed" color bars in
the main Q list, and keep it cleaner.
2) I'm not intimately familiar with the script dictionary so this
might not be possible (I sort of feel like I've asked this before, but
could be crazy), but can a script cue re-target an audio/video cue? If
so, you could have a sub-folder for each actor, and then a script cue
that would take all those cues and just point them to the appropriate
file path.
3) A variation on this, you'd have a "Tonight's Show" folder, and one
folder for each actor. The playback cues target the "Tonight..."
folder, and then a script cue replaces the files in that folder with
the appropriate ones.
--Andy
raymond soly
just love the way these questions, issues or dilemmas grow with the
"creators" on this list.......
Ray
Jeremy Lee
There's many different ways to do this.
- Have 4 QLab "patches" that all potentially route to the same hardware device. #1 for all your FX, etc. #2-4 for your actors. Then repatch in QLab each night (a 10 second task) to activate those cues. VO for actor 1 would use patch 2, actor 2 uses patch 3, and actor 3 uses patch 4. The only downside is that you'll likely see red x's when some cues are unpatched.
- Send all of the actors' voices all of the time, but to different output channels. Then mute the channels on the board that you don't need.
- Make 4 cue lists in a single workspace- one main one and 3 for each of the actors. In your main one, there's "Start" cues for all 3 of the others. Disable the cue lists you don't want to hear.
- I'm sure there's at least 2 or 3 more easy ways to do this that does not include multiple workspaces...
Best,
Jeremy
--
Jeremy Lee
Sound Designer, NYC - USA 829
http://www.jjlee.com