Cue List Mode (Theater Mode)

[gilsontech]

Working with Theaters, Church's, Small Productions and even large venues, although we LOVE the software, we sometimes run into issues creating a scripted show with ShowXpress which becomes a little time consuming or "backwards" than a console ran show. So after hours of meetings and concept designs, my head tech and I can up with a solution we think will make ShowXpress ideal for ANY venue! FYI, We have used this software for automation in Car Washes, concerts, churches, productions, theaters and even out door live events. This could be icing on the cake!

Let us know your thoughts on using this as a way to run your shows. Please see attached image (that we made up).


Features List Ideas & Explanation:
1 - Cue List Tab in Live Mode - Having another option to run live shows like this could be huge!
2 - Drop Down - Just like the button tab, this drop down could have your shows in (add, delete, etc. by right clicking)
3 - Cues - Cue number list specified in Editor Mode when saved (Maybe add a cue list button/selector in editor?)
4 - Fade Up - Time it takes for cue to play (same as fade in editor)
5 - Fade Down -Time it takes to fade out cue before advancing to the next cue
6 - Follow - A time delay before advancing to the next cue without having to press the Go button (or space-bar)
7 - Link - Advances to the next cue, but out of sequence (Specified by cue number)
8 - Repeat - Number of times to repeat link cues (need an infinite option)
9 - Duration - Auto calculates Fade Up, Fade Down and Follow times (Maybe a total duration at the bottom?)
10 - Cue Label - Custom Text label for reference only.
11 - Grand Master Fader - Brings up all active DMX channels that are dimmers only (no moving/effect channels)
12 - Black Out - Brings all DMX Channels to 0 instantly when pressed
13 - Enter Cue Number - Can manually enter a cue list number and press enter or click the button to directly start the specified cue.
14 - Pause Button - By pressing the back the pause button or the back arrow the cue list will pause, and the advance in reverse each time the pause button is pressed.
15 - Go Button - By pressing the GO button or the Space Bar the cues advance to the next one in the list.

Thanks for taking time to read this and give your opinion. We really hope this could make it into the software one day!
-Josh & Jerry
Gilson Tech

[socalmagic]

I agree, a cue list would be huge for theatrical users. It almost seems that live could be re-worked to allow this. In addition to buttons, they could be formatted as lines and the space bar (or some other key that doesn't already have a function) would activate the next cue. I would also add that it would be helpful for music in timelines that are on the cue list to have the option to fade out when next cue is activated.

[tomrbland]

Exactly like that would be perfect! Each cuelist triggered from a button. I often do work which is very theatrical (ie a cuelist per song). This would make the software one step closer to being able to be used for this work. All I need then is for the software to be pallet based

[gilsontech]

Well Support? What are your thoughts? Is this something that can be added to the new features list? I'd love to have this is v7 maybe! Thanks.

[support]

First of all, thank you for these reports.
We always read carefully such suggestions (even if we do not make any post in the topic).

It looks like you are looking for a complete new application.
Similar purpose than TimeLine, but with another GUI (verticel instead of horizontal).
This is a huge job.
Moreover, the concept of fade in / fade out scenes will require to seriously modify the structure of the scenes (the software does not pratice fade out scenes).

We will see the requirement. And later, if big requirement, may be we will put this in the TODO list.

By the way, could it be possible to know from which software comes the nice screenshot with cues list (you can answer with private message) ?

[kahilzinger]

You know, this might not be a bad idea for live concerts, too. Some of the ones with pre-made set lists you could build your entire show and then do the cue function to step through each scene as it comes with each song (unless the band is on a click-track, the timing is bound to get off) and then have more play between songs or even jump to scenes after skipped songs.

I see it just like the timeline with the exception of the timing not generated from the clock for each event but a simple button press.

[tomrbland]

That's exactly how I would use it. Imagine a band that have a large light show; a Genesis tribute act for example. It's more like theatre programming than rock and roll. The show is the same set every night but tempos vary etc. Each song needs its own cue list.

If you look at Midi Show Control this is how it expects to find light scenes. If you want to fire a scene in MSC you send it this message (actually this is part of the message): "[GO] [(cue number) (cue List)]". For example, Song 4, cue 22, set list 1 would be "[GO] [(4.22) (1)]". It's how the bigger consoles work.

[Johann911]

I agree. This is such an easy to use software package, but something like this would make it perfect for theatre (and no - it's not a typo for me...) use.

@Support - Timeline is great for preset cues in a song, but to have a list of cues in front for a play would make it even better. Most of my productions are plays, so while I love using the software, it really isn't practical... And all it needs is an option to choose the standard method, or something similar to this. There is probably a huge demand for something like this, and if there isn't already, you will be creating a new market for consumers.
And it would really be great to have another option to automatically fade between scenes without having to do it manually.
Hopefully we can look forward to something exciting in future releases.

[gilsontech]

@Johann911 - Thanks for the support, I really think this needs to be implemented sooner than later. Also the fade option would exist as the "fade up" or "fade down" time would fade as the next cue is played.

[JohnRichards]

For theatre use I use timeline with a whole lot of pauses. This is effectively my cues, and it works great.