Overview
The Show Cue System (SCS) has been designed specifically for use in live theatre, and enables you to assemble all the sound and video/image cues you need in the order in which they are to be played.
Many common audio file formats are accepted, including MP3, WAV and WMA; several video file formats, including WMV, MPG and AVI; and the image formats JPG, GIF and BMP.
SCS is intended for use alongside a sound mixing console, otherwise referred to as a sound desk or sound board. Using SCS, sound cues do not have to be 'cued up' - they are instantly playable. This is a boon for tech rehearsals as well as for performances. Video/image cues can be played to a video projector or other device treated as a second screen.
Cue types
The following cue types are available:
|
|
Audio cues
|
Play audio files, with facilities to set start and end points, loop points, level (volume) and pan, fade-in and fade-out times, and output device selection.
(Available in all license levels.)
|
|
|
Video/Image cues
|
Play video files, with facilities to set start and end points, and audio level and pan. Also used for displaying still image files.
(Available in SCS Standard and higher license levels.)
|
|
|
Playlist cues
|
Play a list of audio files either consecutively or randomly. Designed primarily for pre-show and intermission music, but can be used during for other cues where you need several audio files to be played consecutively.
(Available in SCS Standard and higher license levels.)
|
|
|
Level Change cues
|
Change the level (volume) and/or pan of an earlier cue over a nominated period of time. Typically used to fade down scene change music while still keeping the music playing at a lower level. Several level change cues can be set up to move a sound around an auditorium.
(Available in SCS Standard and higher license levels.)
|
|
|
SFR cues
|
With SFR cues you can stop, fade out and stop or loop release an earlier cue or multiple cues. Additionally, a playlist cue may be hibernated using an SFR cue, which means it will be faded out and paused so that later on that same playlist may be resumed (also by an SFR cue). Hibernation enables you to use one playlist for pre-show and intermission music, with the playlist "hibernating" during the first Act.
(Available in all license levels, except for hibernation, which is not available in SCS Lite.)
|
|
|
Note cues
|
Set markers or reminders at selected points in your cue list.
(Available in SCS Standard and higher license levels.)
|
|
|
'Go To' cues
|
(Currently implemented using a specific format of Description for a Note cue.)
Jumps to a new position within a currently-playing cue.
(Available in SCS Professional and higher license levels.)
|
|
|
'Set Position' cues
|
(Currently implemented using a specific format of Description for a Note cue.)
Jumps to a nominated cue in the cue list, enabling you to set up loops of cues.
(Available in SCS Professional and higher license levels.)
|
|
|
Control Send cues
|
Send MIDI, RS232 or Telnet messages to other devices or programs such as your sound or lighting board. Various MIDI message formats are supported, including a subset of MSC (MIDI Show Control).
(MIDI and RS232 available in SCS Professional and higher license levels; Telnet available in SCS Professional Plus.)
|
A cue may have multiple sub-cues. This means that by activating one 'cue' you can cause several separate events to occur, such as commence playing an audio file, stop playing an earlier audio file, send a MIDI control message to a lighting board, and so on. The sub-cues may either all start together, or you may set relative start times. So if you want to send a MIDI control message 20 seconds after the start of playing an audio file you can do this within a single cue. You can send several MIDI control messages if required, all with their own relative start times.
Audio Drivers
SCS uses third party software for the low-level playback of audio files. There are two options available: you can use the BASS audio library which is included in your SCS setup file, or you can use SoundMan-Server (SM-S) which must be purchased separately from Richmond Sound Design. SM-S support in SCS is available in SCS Professional and higher licenses. It is also available in the demo version.
License Levels
There are several license levels available as listed below:
|
SCS Lite
|
Enables you to play WAV, MP3, WMA, OGG, and AIF audio files, provided you just need to play complete files without SCS controlled fades. Supports 2 audio output channels (eg a stereo pair). SCS Lite only supports the BASS audio driver option.
|
|
SCS Standard
|
Adds the ability to set start and end times, playlist cues, level change cues, video/image cues and note cues. Supports 4 audio output channels per production, with up to 2 devices per audio file cue or sub-cue. ASIO support is also included. SCS Standard only supports the BASS audio driver option.
|
|
SCS Professional
|
Contains all the features of SCS Standard plus support for MIDI, FLAC and APE files, as well as MIDI/RS232 control of cues, control send cues. Supports 16 audio output channels per production, with up to 8 devices per audio file cue or sub-cue. SCS Professional supports BASS and SM-S audio driver options. Track selection in audio files is supported if you are using SM-S.
|
|
SCS Professional Plus
|
Contains all the features of SCS Professional but with support for up to 32 audio output channels overall and up to 16 devices per audio file cue or sub-cue. Also supports DMX and Telnet control of cues, and Telnet support for control send cues. SCS Professional Plus supports BASS and SM-S audio driver options.
|
|
SCS Platinum
|
Contains all the features of SCS Professional Plus but with support for as many audio output channels overall as your SM-S license permits. SCS Platinum only supports the SM-S audio driver option. If a connection to SM-S cannot be established then the license level drops back to SCS Professional Plus for that session, which enables you to use BASS but prevents you from using any outputs beyond the range of SCS Professional Plus.
|
Please note that throughout this document, wherever a feature is stated to be dependant on a SCS Professional license then that feature is also available with SCS Professional Plus and higher license levels.
To use SCS with SoundMan-Server you will need a SoundMan-Server license and dongle (except for the demo mode of SM-S). The number of outputs supported will be the lesser of your SCS license level and your SM-S license level. So if you have an SM-S license that supports 64 outputs then you need an SCS Platinum license to use more than 32 of those outputs. The maximum number of outputs currently supported by SM-S and SCS Platinum is 512.
Your SM-S license also determines the number of playback channels available, which is generally twice the number of outputs. SCS will use as many playback channels as your SM-S license provides, regardless of your SCS license level. IE, your SCS license level will not limit the number of playback channels.
A table showing the features available with each license level is given under Feature Comparison.
|
The demo version of SCS has a session time limit of 30 minutes. After 30 minutes you will need to close and restart the program to continue. There is also a limit of 25 cues per cue file, and a 30-day trial period. At the end of the 30-day trial period the session time limit is reduced to 5 minutes. To remove these restrictions, please register as explained under Registering the Show Cue System.
SCS is provided at low cost especially to assist amateur and low-budget theatre groups to put on quality productions. However, the features included and the stability of the product have also attracted many professional users.
|