Beach Ball Of Death Problem...

[tcgass]

Hi everyone

I have been using QLab in countless theater, ballet, and event productions on three continents since 2007, and I have never had a serious problem with it. At least, not a problem that couldn't be solved quickly—and most of which were due to user error.

In a current production, I no longer understand the technical world ;-) Maybe one of you can help me.

It's a show with many, sometimes nested, text and music cues (450 cues). These are played back via a MacMini M2 running the latest version of QLab. Audio interface: USB MOTU828. I set up the computer myself about two years ago, and the audio interface was replaced a year ago. I used QLab's Prep and Restore session for the setup. The cues run through 3x2 cue outputs (output 7 is subwoofer and output 8 is monitor). I use a multiband compressor plug-in (Apple standard plug-in) in each of the 3 stereo outputs.

Over the past two years, all productions at this theater have run without any problems. In the latest production, I receive feedback from the stage manager at about every third performance that one or two cues are being played with a 5 to 10 second delay due to a BBOD. It's always the same cues, which I now even load in advance by a load cue.

I have set autoload cues to avoid performance peaks, checked the computer settings, and ensured that all audio cues are uncompressed wav files. Without success.

However, a colleague of mine pointed out a problem with MOTU interfaces: USB idle behavior. ?? But I don't know what to do with that. Does anyone have any idea how to get this performance problem under control and what might be causing it?

Unfortunately, I can't provide any detailed information about the MacMini (specs, HD, memory, etc.) at the moment, as I'm not at the theater.

Thank you very much for your help and input.

Thomas

[micpool]

If you are using 5.5.6 then this may help

https://groups.google.com/g/qlab/c/gtyaChD_cgc/m/Ek_mj18lCAAJ

[tcgass]

thanks, Mic. I thought of that but they're using 5.5.8...

[tcgass]

follow up on this topic: I sent a list of all used equipment to a friend of mine who is in IT and also had a chat with the tech guy at the theatre, just to make sure, they did not change enything in the Mac's setup. He told me, that they've installed a new router a couple of weeks ago. It's obvious that the problems with the BBOD in Qlab are quite in synch with the installation of that new router...

So I asked a friend or mine advise who is in IT and sent him the list of all network involved gear. That's what he wrote back - and according to his input, I've installed a netgear gs108E today, hoping that there will no negative feedback report from the SM after tonight's performance. What do you think of all this? Does that make sense? Did you have similar situations?

Regards, Thomas

*******************

The delays and short-term system blockages that occur are certainly not related to the performance of the Mac or the cue software, but are caused by the behaviour of the current network infrastructure. The switch used (Netgear GS105) utilises an energy-saving method called Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE). This puts network ports into a power-saving sleep mode when there is little data traffic.This behaviour is not a problem for office networks, but it is unsuitable for time-critical control such as in theatre networks.

The recently installed new router has made the network significantly ‘quieter’ (less broadcast and background traffic). As a result, the switch activates its energy-saving mode more frequently. When a time-critical control command (e.g. light or audio cue) is then sent, the switch port must first ‘wake up’ again. This process can take several seconds and causes the software to appear to freeze (beach ball of death), even though there is no error. The signals are not lost, they just arrive with a delay – which is unacceptable in a show environment.

For show, lighting and audio control, a switch is required that allows energy-saving functions to be deactivated or has been implemented conservatively.
Replacing the current switch with a suitable model will reliably and permanently solve the problem.

[Daniel Perelstein Jaquette]

Does removing the multiband comp on each of your stereo outputs resolve the problem, by any chance?

Dan

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[tcgass]

Hi Dan, yes, we've tried that, but it didn't resolve the problem.
Thomas