Can Qlab control multiple PCs to advance presentations?

[Chris Dunne]

I run large Powerpoint and Keynote presentations for corporate events. Many times there are multiple screens each being fed by a separate computer running different portions of the presentation. The project I'm on now has three screens configured to create a 364 ft by 34 ft  curved screen that wraps half way around the audience. Each screen is fed by output from a primary and backup computer tied into a video system such as an E2 or Spyder.  Normally screen content for something like this might be done by a Dataton Watchout or a D3. But for various reasons we're using Powerpoint for content creation and playback on this one.

Currently all the advancing is done by hand (me pushing the space bar or arrow key on each computer). I need a way to have something like Qlab trigger these computers to advance different presentations at different times or all at once on a cued timeline.

Qlab seems like a solution to this but I'm not sure if it can do what I want. Is there a way Qlab can do this kind of multiple computer cueing?

Thanks,

Chris Dunne

[Jonathan Pearce]

You might also be interested in looking at products like the Mastercue - https://www.interspaceind.com/videos-how-to/mastercue-v6.html - 3 USB outs that can be ganged or work individually from remote wireless or local cue advance buttons.

[Chris Dunne]

Master Cue and similar products are OK if you want to advance multiple computers simultaneously. I need something that can advance presentation computers either all at once or independently depending on the cue. 

I know I could technically do this with Master Cue by "turning on and off" a PC so my one button only advances one, two or three computers. But I would have to do this repeatedly during the presentation and have some kind of written sequence I would have to follow, it would be too cumbersome.

I'm looking for a more elegant and flexible solution that would be software based. Back in my multi-projector slide show days we had the "Eagle" which would control massive amounts of slide projectors individually via software programming. I need something like that.

[Rich Walsh]

Why don’t you stick an OSC-to-keystroke or MIDI-to-keystroke utility on each slave machine and trigger them that way?

Make a group that fires all slaves, and then cues to advance each slave individually.

QLab itself would make a pretty good client on each machine, but it may get costly. You could always butcher some mice and wire them up to a MIDI-to-relay box…

Rich

[Johannes Halvorsen]

OSCulator comes to mind for mappung OSC to keystrokes in OSX. Bome MIDI translator + rtpMIDI if you use Windows.

Probably many other (possibly free) solutiobs out there.

[Chris Dunne]

Thanks. I’m going to start looking into Midi or OSC
as a solution. I appreciate all the help.

Chris Dunne.