De hard-core command-line users kunnen nog steeds hier terecht…

• you have an unmanned setup
• the timing of your show is critical
• you want to explore the time code possibilities of your light console
• …

As the technical manager for RSB, I am in charge of the design and implementation of our new production : Umbrya. Due to the complexity of  the show (50+ audio tracks in 1:40h) and the limited time on-site with full lighting setup we are using a 3D visualizer (Capture Polar) to program our Martin Maxxyz Compact light console. We chose Maxxyz because of its ease of use and the fact that we can count on the support of an experienced Maxxyz and Maxedia operator.

Enough for the introduction, let’s get behind the keyboard. Oh right, one more thing. This guide assumes you are using a Windows PC. Nevertheless I assume the working method is more or less the same on a Mac. Probably the only thing you need to do is find an OS-X compatible alternative for the Nero Platinum suite.

Step 1: Check if your light console supports SMPTE time code

…otherwise: stop reading this article because it will be of little use to you.

How do you find it? It’s easy: RTFM or in plain English: Read The F*cking Manual. Most brands advertise this sales feature a lot, while nearly no-one uses it. Because most automated setups (e.g.  theme parks) use a dedicated and mostly specifically designed (PLC-like) controller.

Step 2: Generate the SMPTE time code

If you don’t know what SMPTE is, have a look at Wikipedia SMPTE, Wikipedia LTC or on Philip Rees’ website.

Basically it is a continuous stream of bits (1 or 0) saved in an audio file. The bit stream is build up so that it is unique at a given position. This means that if you feed your console a signal which in the middle of a generated time code of 1 hour, after synchronisation (= reading the stream for a few seconds ) it will recognize the position and tell you it finds itself at for example 0:20:15:07 (0 hours, 20 minutes, 15 seconds and 07 frames). So it is much more than a simple metronome or click track.

I found that searching the web for a ready-made timecode turns out to be quite a frustrating job. This is because a 1 hour file can become quite large (ca. 620Mb in .wav file format) so chances that you find an actual file are slim. By the way the story is the same if you start looking for “SMPTE time code generator”. So spare yourself 2 days of searching and use this sample file (right click the link and select download – 34Mb)

The easiest way that I found (but suggestions are welcome!) is to use the SMPTE Generator integrated in the full version (sorry no Elements or Studio) of Steinberg Cubase. Yep, I know: at €610 not exactly a bargain… (for this article I use Cubase 5)

1. Start Cubase
2. New Project: default
3. From the (shortcut) menu choose Project > Add Track > Audio
   
4. Click the right-hand symbol on the Inserts tab: Show Active Inserts
   
5. De-activate VintageCompressor and StudioChorus (click the  button)
6. Clik the StudioEq and choose Tools > SMPTEGenerator
   
   
7. From the menu choose Project > Project Setup (Shift + S)
8. Set the Frame Rate to 25fps (Europe) or a setting of your choice
9. Make sure the Record Format is 24 Bit (otherwise you will have trouble with Nero SoundTrax)      
10. Select the Audio track (make sure the Record Enable button is red) 
11. Make sure the position of the cursor (aka scrubber) is at 0:00:00:00 and start recording
    TIP: You want to turn down your speaker volume before hitting the red button  
12.  Click the Stop button to stop recording after the desired time
    (at least more than the duration of your soundtrack)
13. Make sure you have selected the complete track by using the triangular sliders in the ruler
14. Choose File > Export > Audio Mixdown
    
15. Tick the Audio track (in the left window)
16. Tick the Mono Export checkbox
17. Choose an appropriate file name
18. Choose Wave File as File Format
19. Click Export
    
20.  Find the file using the Windows File Explorer and cheer

Step 3: Add the time code to your soundtrack

You could feed the time code directly to your console by connecting a your computer/laptop to your console (or by burning it onto CD and connecting a CD-player) , but I assume you have some music you want to sync it to. Why else bother with time coding? So how can we ‘overlay’ this time code onto our soundtrack?

The easy way is using a 2 channel audio (Left/Right) and put your music onto one channel (e.g. Left) and the time code on the other (e.g. Right). There is a bunch of freeware tools to do this, BUT… there is one serious disadvantage: you end up with MONO audio!

For our project this is unacceptable. So instead of using one of both audio channels, we will (ab)use a third channel of a Dolby 5.1 (6 channel) audio file. We’ll use Nero Soundtrax for this (an application which is part of the Nero Platinum Suite), priced around €90.

So let us start adding the audio together:

1. Start Nero Soundtrax
2. Choose a new “5.1 surround project with discrete channels”
3.  From the menu choose Insert > Audio file and choose your soundtrackNOTE: In this example I am using a single audio file containing different tracks. Obviously you can add multiple tracks.
4. Optional: Delete the non used channels by using the close (x) button
   Since we will be using only 3 audio channels, you can delete  the empty ones. Keep Back Right!
5. Again from the menu choose Insert > Audio file and choose the generated time code
6. Drag the inserted file from the Front Left channel to the Back Right channelTIP: Make sure you place your time code track against the left stop (your time code should start counting  at 0:00:00)
7. Adjust the complete length of your time code by dragging the right edge to the left
   (in the picture my time code is much longer than the actual audio, this is a waste of disk space)
8.  From the menu choose File > Export to Audio File…
9.  Choose a file location and name, choose Dolby Digital (*.ac3) as file format  and Save

Step 4: Burn, baby, burn!

So far so good, we now have a time coded soundtrack. Now it is up to you:

• you connect your computer to your console using the Back Right output jack and connect the Front (L+R) output jack to  your amplifier (using a jack to cinch cable) or directly to your speakers.
• or you burn the Dolby Digital (.ac3) file to a DVD

In order to burn a DVD you must first create a video (audio only DVD’s won’t be accepted by most DVD players) Unfortunately most Video Editing software doesn’t allow you to import ac3 files or if they do, they flatten the file (and put the Back Right channel on the Front speakers) Unless you want to render your audience deaf this is no good…

Step 5: Connect the dots plugs

If you have read everything until here, you probably don’t need a schematic. Just to be complete, here it is:

Step 6: Program and play

Well, that’s it folks. You have everything to create a stunning automated light show. Just how stunning, depends on your programming skills.  If I find the time I try to post some samples of how to control your fixtures using time code, but I make no promises. This feature is normally well documented. Have a look at your user manual.

• Martin Controller Support
• Chamys Manuals
• GrandMA Controllers
• …

Please leave a comment if you think this is useful or you have any ideas which can be useful to others. Alternative methods are welcome as well. I spent a lot of time trying to figure things out.  Hopefully this small article saves you time and effort, so you can concentrate on the real thing: programming the cues!

Cheers,
Rudy

V2500-A5 -> 0.015 EPR

1. Kies Instellingen
2. Kies E-mail, contacten, agenda’s
3. Voeg account toe…
4. Microsoft Exchange
5. Vul bij E-mail je volledige Gmail account in (bv. joske.vermeulen@gmail.com)
6. Bij Server typ je: m.google.com
7. Domein: NIETS INVULLEN
8. Gebruikersnaam en paswoord (bv. joske.vermeulen)
9. Beschrijving naar keuze
10. Kies voor Gebruik SSL – door de slider aan te zetten (I’tje zichtbaar)
11. Gereed

Je account is nu gereed voor gebruik, zet daarom alle services aan: E-mail, Contacten & Agenda

Gebruik je meerdere kalenders in je Gmail account? Volg dan de onderstaande stapjes:

1. Op je iPhone surf naar http://m.google.com/sync
2. Je krijgt de melding ‘Apparaat wordt niet ondersteund’
3. Verander de taal naar English (US)
4. Log nu in met je Google account
5. Kies de kalenders die je wil synchroniseren

Succes!

Source: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google%20Mobile/thread?tid=297c4ec3244c4601&hl=en e.a.

(E)GPWS sound sample

Source: http://www.degraeve.com/color-palette

To import data from Excel (or any other program that can produce a text file) is very simple using the LOAD DATA command from the MySQL Command prompt.

1. Save your Excel data as a csv file (In Excel 2007 using Save As)
2. Check the saved file using a text editor such as Notepad to see what it actually looks like, i.e. what delimiter was used etc.
3. Start the MySQL Command Prompt (I’m lazy so I usually do this from the MySQL Query Browser – Tools – MySQL Command Line Client to avoid having to enter username and password etc.)
4. Enter this command:
   LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE ‘C:\\temp\\yourfile.csv’ INTO TABLE database.table FIELDS TERMINATED BY ‘;’ ENCLOSED BY ‘”‘ LINES TERMINATED BY ‘\r\n’ (field1, field2);
   [Edit: Make sure to check your single quotes (') and double quotes (") if you copy and paste this code - it seems WordPress is changing them into some similar but different characters]
5. Done!

Very quick and simple once you know it 

Some notes from my own import – may not apply to you if you run a different language version, MySQL version, Excel version etc…

• TERMINATED BY – this is why I included step 2. I thought a csv would default to comma separated but at least in my case semicolon was the deafult
• ENCLOSED BY – my data was not enclosed by anything so I left this as empty string ”
• LINES TERMINATED BY – at first I tried with only ‘\n’ but had to add the ‘\r’ to get rid of a carriage return character being imported into the database
• Also make sure that if you do not import into the primary key field/column that it has auto increment on, otherwhise only the first row will be imported

Source: http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/SafetyNotice2011012.pdf

Source: http://www.aiaa.org/pdf/student/01_Airbus_Fuel_Economy_Material.pdf