Calling all Theatre/ Automation Guys

[DavidDempseyFOH]

So my company has been hired for a band that is requiring backing tracks live while their playing. So I have loaded all the backing tracks to SAW. The problem is I need a way to trigger SAW Via SAC to change to the backing track of the song they are going to be playing and then to start playing. Also I will have 2 other machines running the same exact session for Lighting Control and Video. I don't know if this is the best way to do it but In my mind its the most stable. I saw the video of Lee Pepper at Harrahs doing exactly what I want to do. Any help would be appreciated.

[Bob L]

Well... you can switch to SAW and then start playback of any song in the Control Track or Show Control listbox...

Or... you could setup a small midi keyboard and label each key with a label gun for each song... which has then been setup in the Control Track or Show Control view with the proper midi note on trigger.

This way... you can stay in SAC and simply press the correct song key and midi trigger the playback.

You can also set up a pre-defined show list and use one midi global key to start playback and have each song auto stop and cue the next waiting for your global go command...

Many different ways... read the details of both the Control Track View and Show Control View in the helpfile.

Bob L

[Andy Follett]

I'm not a theator automation guy but I do this all night long every night my band plays (plays with backing tracks).

I have a show control arranged in the play order for the night. I have SAC and SAW open on the same machine and linked. It's an easy switch from SAC/SAW and back at any time with the link buttons.

Some show control entries have the wait option, some have continue. It takes about 2-3 seconds for a new show control entry (edl) to load up and start when "continuing".

I can always hit the space bar as a "panic" button to stop the track (in SAW of course) and if we decide to play something out of order I just arrow down to the song I want and press the space bar.

The same computer runs our lights and all the light scenes are triggered by midi notes coming from the control track in SAW.

[IraSeigel]

So my company has been hired for a band that is requiring backing tracks live while their playing. So I have loaded all the backing tracks to SAW. The problem is I need a way to trigger SAW Via SAC to change to the backing track of the song they are going to be playing and then to start playing. Also I will have 2 other machines running the same exact session for Lighting Control and Video. I don't know if this is the best way to do it but In my mind its the most stable. I saw the video of Lee Pepper at Harrahs doing exactly what I want to do. Any help would be appreciated.

I might be in a similar situation soon. Clear instructions would be very helpful. Microstudio - a video????

[Andy Follett]

I guess the short answer is: I don't think there is a way to directly trigger SAW to play/select something from SAC but switching between the two (linked) and selecting/starting a song from a show control is at most two mouse clicks and a space bar tap. Works great for me YMMV of course.

[mixer100]

+1 on the clear instructions/video

[RBIngraham]

SAW can fire off a scene in SAC using the Control Track in SAW. However there is no way to go the other way. SAC can not fire off anything in SAW.

What you'll need to do is create your SAW edl files. Then set up a Cue List in SAW's Show Control window. Make up a SAW F Key setting that just has only the Show Control window displayed. Then Right click on the blue RML triangle in the SAW Show Control Window. This will minimize all of the SAW window except the Show Control Window. Then what I do is find a place within the SAC window, where it isn't covering up any of my windows in SAC. This way I can see what the heck is going on in SAW's Show Control Window. Typically this becomes my main cue list. You can even create a very simple SAW edl that has nothing but a control track entry which will fire off a Scene in SAC. So I usually think of the SAW Show Control window as my Master Cue List for the show. At least when I'm only using SAW and not another audio playback application as well. If I'm using SFX and SAW (they both have several things that one will do better than the other, so it's not uncommon on musicals with lots of playback that I run both apps, SFX on one machine and SAC/SAW on the other) then SFX becomes my main cue list and I use it to trigger SAW and SAC. Although sometimes that means SFX sending MIDI to SAW which in turns fires off a scene in SAC.

The biggest thing I can tell you is plan ahead and be prepared. Yeah it sounds like a clique I know. But having been that guy that is holding up the entire tech rehearsal and been one of the people waiting on the person that is holding up the entire rehearsal, I can tell you that neither is very fun.

Lighting control would most likely best be done in your Main SAW system. I would only put together SAW Slave machines for the video playback.

Also, if you're interested, feel free to contact me off list as there are possibly other tools you may wish to consider. Particularly the video playback. SAW does a nice job with that, however it's very basic in that there is only one video layer, no editing ability, etc... It's great for some situations, but there are also a lot of other options you may wish to consider, especially if you think you may have to be ready to make any sort of modifications to the video content on the fly.

The SAC/SAW combo is a great system as long as you only need to run a single timeline at one time. That is usually all you need for a band. So it's a very good choice for what you've described.

[RBIngraham]

I have plans at making some tutorials that cover this topic as well. However paying work must come first and I am not getting into one my very busy parts of the year. So while I will probably get around to it at some point in the not too distant future, it won't be happening within the next couple of months unless I find myself really bored.

[IraSeigel]

...What you'll need to do is create your SAW edl files. ......

I'm just curious. Will all this be necessary when Bob releases the plug-in he said he's working on to do playback, similar to Loopazoid? We haven't heard about that project in quite a long while. I know I'm very much looking forward to seeing it, and I hope it's still an active project for him.

[RBIngraham]

I'm just curious. Will all this be necessary when Bob releases the plug-in he said he's working on to do playback, similar to Loopazoid? We haven't heard about that project in quite a long while. I know I'm very much looking forward to seeing it, and I hope it's still an active project for him.

Guess it depends on how complex the playback stuff is. I wouldn't think it would be as slick as SAW, otherwise, there would be less SAW sales?

Personally I would much rather see the Sequence and Control windows before a player, but I'm sure I'm in the minority in that department. I'd love to at least be able to trigger off Scenes in SAC via MIDI rather than having to set up SAW and the SAC-SAW link just so I could achieve that. And I'd love to be able to string together 2 or 3 or more Scene recalls with delay times in between, again, saving having to deal with SAW just for that.

And I've always wondered what the SMPTE Sync was ever supposed to be or may be some day?