Which show control software should I look into for this project?

[Wild West Puppet Project]

Hello Control,

I joined your forum because I am beginning my venture into live theatrical productions. I have a lot to learn and look to those of you who would like to help guide me or offer advice. I am a pretty creative person and have lots of ideas and am pretty intelligent but just a novice in this area.

The show is a live action western/comedy Muppet style puppet show with a ton of special effects I would like to incorporate. There will be seven puppeteers and two people available for running the show. There is a small 200 seat local theater I will be renting to run the show but would like all my equipment / sets independent of the theater, except for the house lighting. so I can take it elsewhere at times.

The stage set will showcase a small old west town street and boardwalk with various buildings with windows and doors: a saloon, jail, general store, bank and livery, as well as a silver mine all of which are built into a desert canyon hillside. The 36'x18'; foot stage I have to work with, has no curtains and there will not be any real set changes. The town as well as the desert landscape will take up the whole space and the ground level for show will be raised, to help hide the puppeteers. Too bad I can't go below! All the buildings, desert landscaping, and props will be built/carved out of Styrofoam. Lots of it.

I would like help putting together a complete show system, hopefully all controlled by a single computer Including, lighting, sound, video and special effects.

For light I would like to have day and night scenes, lighting and rain effect and a spot. For sound, wireless head set for at least 8 performers, and of course speaker system and possible live old saloon piano as well as pre-recorded music and sound effects. For video, I would like to place LCD monitors in the windows of some of the building to have pre-recorded video playing, perhaps three to four independent videos at the same time, nothing live. Special effects should include wind, and confetti launcher as well as some kind of wireless (dmx/midi) motion triggers like solinoids or servos (lots of them ; How many are possible?) to set off thing happening like a pin that would break a fake glass or a sign being released and partially falling after a gunshot(lots of damage after a gunfight) Things breaking and having to be reset for the next show. I would also like to add a real miniature railroad, a real mine kart that rolls out of the mine like a homemade rollercoaster, and a water tower or trough leaking water. At the end of the show the mine will explode sending the silver confetti all over the audience. I would like the wind to blow tumbleweeds across the set. These are just some if my ideas I would like to incorporate.

Sounds Fun?

I would genuinely love to hear from all of you.

Rene

 

[derekleffew]

... I would like help putting together a complete show system, hopefully all controlled by a single computer Including, lighting, sound, video and special effects. ...

Buy this book:
Show Networks and Control Systems: Formerly "Control Systems for Live Entertainment" Paperback by @JohnHuntington . Read it, and start to spend your >$25,000 budget.

 

[Wild West Puppet Project]

Great, if its available on line I will start reading tonight.

 

[cpf]

Great, if its available on line I will start reading tonight.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B11PPNO/?tag=controlbooth-20 it is indeed - but it's probably worth getting the paper version from http://controlgeek.net/bookinfo/ for the physical-copy convenience (I've got the e-book, it works fine, just the layout gets jumbled a lot and you can't quickly flip between sections).

 

[Wild West Puppet Project]

Ok, i will go with Qab3.

Now, will I be able to use a mac laptop to send three different videos to three different LCD screens at the same time or will I need a tower?

I also want to hook up at least 8 wireless mics (can anyone recommend a good product), the speaker system, lights and effects.
I'm looking at the I CubeX for sensors and motion control of some simple effects.

 

[IAmLumenator]

You can certainly do that, but you're going to need something like a Matrox TripleHead2Go to split the signal for video. I believe Qlab can utilize one of those devices just fine, and it can also handle your sound as well. It would probably be easier to feed your monitors via component cables or VGA which are sometimes interchangable rather than digital cables or HDMI because they allow longer runs and it doesn't sound like the quality needs to be absolutely perfect (not that you'll even notice a quality difference). For your solenoids and such, perhaps consider using standard off the shelf stuff with DMX relay boards (not 110v relay packs, people online sell DMX based relay boards too that don't have mains wiring on them. You can safely use them to open/close a solenoid or trigger other electronic effects.)

 

[IAmLumenator]

Since you'll probably be purchasing the full version of Qlab anyways for this project, you should look in to maybe getting some small midi controllers that you can place in the performers area so that they can trigger effects themselves. Qlab is great at that kind of stuff and it's easy to run a Midi cable daisy chain so you can have multiple control surfaces on the backside of the scenery wall

 

[IAmLumenator]

Here is an example of a relay board you could include to manage your effects:

1D493 - MILFORD INSTRUMENTS 1D493 - DMX RELAY BOARD | Newark element14 US

 

[Joshualangman]

It sounds like your first step should be to hire a technical director and/or system designer. Someone who can help you out in person and will know all the details of the technology.

Having said that, a couple of tips:

QLab is a good choice here. You will also need either another piece of software or a simple lighting console to program your light cues, though once they're programmed, QLab can fire them. (LXConsole is very good for simple lighting with conventionals. Chameleon is a little more sophisticated. You can find many other higher end lighting control programs, or just get a real light board.)

If you buy a Retina MacBook Pro, you get three simultaneous video outputs without needing a TripleHead. A Mac Pro will get you up to six, I think. You should purchase a dedicated computer that you use for nothing else except running your show. (Really, you should have two of them for redundancy, as John Huntington's book will explain.)

 

[IAmLumenator]

One more thing- perhaps dmx isn't reliable enough for your purposes. Since it is inherently a one-way protocol, your software has no way of knowing if the effect fired properly. This may not be a deal breaker for you, but if there are any effects that are considered hazardous (moving heavy scenery, large kabuki drop that could potentially hit performers, etc) you'll need to look elsewhere and probably pay someone with experience in that field to ensure the safety of your performers. Dmx can glitch at any time for any reason. I have had nothing but success with it myself, but other users on this forum will be quick to tell you that you that dmx is great but sometimes unreliable.

You should consider perhaps operating these effects manually if any of this concerns you. I have seen plenty of shows where a complicated electrical system could be entirely replaced by a single individual standing upstage behind the scenery pulling chains or ropes to trigger effects.


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