I'll also chime in to recommend QLab. The free version is very capable for basic stereo sound cues and basic video to one external monitor/projector. It is worthwhile to download it, and experiment. If you try something with a cue that is not allowed in the free version, the software will flag the cue to let you know.
I've rented the audio version for my last three production. Current cost is $4.00/day, and it accrues towards me owning a copy. Their current plan is renting for 110 days equals buying a license. If you search youtube.com for "QLab After Dark" you'll find a series of 14 video tutorials that touch on a lot of the capabilities of this software.
Just an example of what it can do: We did
Diary of Anne Frank and I used QLab to control all sound and lights. I used an audio interface to give me 7 distinctive sources of sound - rear of house left and right speakers, left and right speakers in our orchestra pit, left and right speakers behind the set, and our main center cluster. The interface also provided MIDI connection to our ETC Element lighting console, so QLab could send MSC (MIDI Show Control) triggers to the lighting. During the bombings on Amsterdam our audience heard the planes approach from behind and to the right. Bombs fell from up high, and exploded all around them, with explosive flashes of light perfectly timed to the sound. Then the bombers flew off behind and to the left. When I initially described the effect to my student in the booth, and told her she'd be running all lights and sound for the effect, she literally started to have a panic attack at the thought of that responsibility. Then I explained QLab and she was a little more confident. Once she was hands on, it was a piece of cake. If I remember correctly, the entire effect had over 50 separate sound and light cues. And the entire bombing raid was triggered by one push of the space bar. The beauty of using QLab for the sequence meant that it was exactly the same each time, whether in rehearsal or performance. So my actors could confidently cue off of specific sounds or lights for their reactions or lines.
I also liked that I could localize other sound effects: the clock tower upstage left; street noise stage right; the burglar walking around in the downstairs (orchestra pit house left) then climbing the stairs to the attic area, and being heard outside the Annex door (upstage right). Couldn't have done it without QLab.
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Steven Pruitt
Drama Director
Westview Jr/Sr High School
Topeka IN
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-03-2018 08:03
From: Holly Thompson
Subject: QLab
Good morning,
I have seen many of you refer to QLab in your posts for sound cues and video cues too. I most recently started to investigate this and it looks really expensive--but there seems to be a free version? Will this do sound and video cues? If I can figure it out, I'd like to be able to use it for my next show in two weeks. Any good tutorials on youtube?
My district is really anti-Mac and relies on purchase orders, so if I spring for the software, it will have to be on my own dime and added to my personal computer. If I can get away with only using a free version, especially for my first time out with it, it would be a good thing.
Thanks in advance.
Holly
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Holly Thompson
Worthington OH
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