[QLab] Issues I've Run into while Building a Show with QLab

Wed Mar 21 18:30:09 PDT 2007

Thanks for your replies Chris. I think a lot of this would be great  
to add to the Help section. I'll send another email to the list about  
places in the Help fiel which could be improved. Speaking of I would  
be willing to create some examples for you. But I'm not sure what is  
specialized what what is not.

As for the buffer issue here are some more details. Its pretty much  
every Q in my show. I've attached the QLab file for your own look see  
if you get a chance. (not entirely helpful I know)

The problem has happened on two different machines 1 being a 12"  
Powerbook G4 1.33GHz and 1.25GB of RAM. The other being a 15"  
Powerbook 1.25GHZ 1.25GB of RAM. All on QLab 1.1.1 with sound Q v  
1.1.1 going through a MOTU 828 with driver version 1.4.

Now this is interesting originally when we updated to QLab 1.1.1 we  
did not see the force QLab to stay awak option on either machine.  
This only appeared after I dumped my preferences and QLab rebuilt them.

I unfortunately do not have the 828 with me but when I get a hold of  
it again I'll do some more testing to see if it improved. Also  
another designer has experianced the same problem with the Enhanced  
Audio package.

Have fun,
=Matt Otto
http://mattottosound.com (work in progress)
please mail off list responses to mottosound at gmail.com
AIM: ottoman42

On Mar 21, 2007, at 7:40 PM, Christopher Ashworth wrote:

> Hi Matt,
>
> Thank you much for the feedback!  Comments and (attempts at)
> clarification below:
>
>> 1. Documentation the Help section of Qlab is minimal at best. Sure
>> it describes what each thing does, but it does not answer some
>> basic questions of functionality. Which leads me to my next issues
>
> I agree that a stronger set of help resources is important.  For
> example, I really want to offer some downloadable "demo workspaces"
> that allow people to see an example rather than try to create one on
> their own.  I also want to add a lot more step-by-step examples.
>
> Anyone who has a hankering to help in this regard, please have at it!:
>
> http://figure53.com/wiki/index.php?title=Step-by-step_examples
>
> As for the documentation, I absolutely welcome suggestions on
> particular topics that you feel are insufficiently covered!
>
>> 2. Patching in the sound cue preferences. When do they take effect?
>> After you close the preference window or does it do it on the fly?
>
> When you close the preferences window all cues are told to update
> themselves with the new assignments.
>
>> Also how does that work if I am using 3 out puts on a motu 828 do I
>> need three patches heading to the 828 device?
>
> No, you do not need three patches.  The patches represent entire
> physical devices.  So if you want a cue to go to the 828, you assign
> it the patch that is assigned to the 828.
>
> The outputs of a device are represented entirely by the output
> channels of the cue.  So to use the first three outputs of the 828
> you will need to route the audio to the first three outputs (i.e. the
> first three columns) in the sound cue levels tab.
>
>> 3. Why won't QLab remember my patch settings? I will connect an
>> 828mk1 to my laptop program a lot of cues through the day then pack
>> up, leaving my 828. When I come in the next day I get all red X's
>> in front of the cues and they will not go away until I setup my
>> patch yet again. Even though my 828 is already connected and seen
>> by OS X.
>
> QLab saves patch settings using the kAudioDevicePropertyDeviceUID
> property for each device as supplied by CoreAudio.
>
> This property is described in the CoreAudio headers as:
>
> //	a CFStringRef that contains a unique identifier for the device.
> //	This ID is persistent and can be used from run to run of a process
> //	and across boots.
>
> If a device is a properly behaved CoreAudio device, this ID will
> remain persistent.  I don't know off the top of my head if this ID
> should remain the same between sessions if a device is disconnected;
> it may not be.  But one way or another, this is the only universal ID
> that CoreAudio provides for devices, so if it disappears or changes
> between sessions there is very little I can do to compensate.
>
>> 4. Why won't the title of the cue update when I change the file of
>> said cue? For example if I have a cue called 100 lion and I update
>> the cue to be 100 lion V2 the name of the cue in the list is still
>> 100 lion. This is very confusing.
>
> Originally it did update, but a number of people requested I change
> it to the current behavior.  The reason for this is that often the
> filename will be a good default cue name to start with, but the cue
> name is often changed later so resetting the cue name when a new file
> was assigned was frequently erasing the name that people wanted.  So
> I changed it to only use the filename if the cue name was not already
> set.
>
>> 5. Why does the buffer not actually load some cues? It will say it
>> does but when the go button is pressed QLab still takes a 1/2 a
>> second or so.  The only solution found is to delete the entire cue
>> and rebuild it from scratch. (on MOTU hardware)
>
> I don't have an answer for this one--I'd need more information.  It
> may be a bug or it may be something going on with your particular
> configuration, it's hard to say.  For what it's worth this is the
> only case so far of this behavior that has been reported.  I hope
> that anyone else who has experience this will let me know so that I
> may investigate the problem.  Matt, if you would supply some more
> details of this behavior off list that will help.  e.g. Do you see
> any warning messages logged to the console, can you make it do this
> consistently with some cues and not others, are there any common
> factors when it happens, etc.
>
>> QLab is great and lit the fire under a lot of developers. So lets
>> keep the pressure on huh?
>
> For what it's worth, I'll be the first to tell you that I feel no
> lack of pressure to keep improving QLab.  :)
>
> Mr. Lee sent me a thoughtful and excellent list of suggestions today,
> I know that Leon is compiling his own extensive list, and every day
> more and more people are sending in comments and constructive
> criticism and feature requests.  And I love getting it!  QLab has
> only achieved what moderate success it has because of the excellent
> feedback I receive from you and everyone else.  I have more TODOs on
> my plate now than I have ever had.
>
> So believe you me, the "pressure" is not waning in any way.
>
> Thanks again for the feedback--it is very valuable.
>
> Cheers,
> Christopher
>
>
>
>
>
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