[QLab] Surround Effects

[Paul Gotch]

On Mon, Jul 09, 2007 at 11:52:13AM -0400, Steven Devino wrote:
> Why not?  this is what QLAB does. I think this is pretty easy, maybe I am
> missing something. If the panned audio is available as a multichannel
> sound file, then all you need to do is hit GO at the right time.

Say I want to pan a effect which follows an actor as he runs from the back
of the auditorium, pauses at the front of the stage then runs to the back of
the auditorium.

I don't know how long he's going to pause and I don't know exactly how fast
he's going to run until I get to the technical rehearsal.

In your senario I'd need two copies of the effect. One to cover going from
the back of the stage to the front when was then faded out and a second
started at the same time but silent and then faded in. I'd have to have them
both playing while he was at the front of the stage. If he changes the speed
he runs I'd have to go back to the DAW and change the pan time and take it
back to QLAB.

If you had a surround panner in QLab you could do it with one copy of the
effect and two hypothecial "surround pan cues" which targeted it and I could
tweak how long the pans take within Qlab without going back to the DAW.

> You could also source a single channel and program fades on the audio  
> matrix in QLAB.

Surround panning isn't just jumping from speaker A to B it's a function
which works out what to send to what speaker with what delay to make the
sound appear to move along a path in a 2D plane or even 3D space.

> Not all that clunky. You need a Mac running QLAB connected tot he  
> DM1000 via USB and a couple of MIDI commands.

And you need a DM1000. Complete mulichannel QLAB system including computer
and audio interface can be done for less than 1500 UKP. A DM1000 would cost
4500 UKP on top.
 
-p
-- 
Paul Gotch
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