sound cad in vectorworks

so ive done one or two light plots in vectorworks and im still learning the program. i was wondering if sound stuff gets put on plots to, like stage ports and aux sends. is it common to do it and will vectorworks be the right thing to use.

thank you
giovanni

I'm not sure what you mean by 'stage ports' and aux sends are a signal rather than a device, but if you have audio equipment such as mics or monitor/EFX speakers whose locations and information need to be defined then it is common to develop some form of stage layout showing the device location and type. This is probably most common for concert type performances where you are laying out the locations of multiple mics, floor monitors, backline equipment, etc. on stage or when dealing with portable systems where speaker locations and aiming may have to be identified.

I've seen such layouts done in various CAD programs but also in Visio, Word and just about anything else.

museav said:

I'm not sure what you mean by 'stage ports' and aux sends are a signal rather than a device, but if you have audio equipment such as mics or monitor/EFX speakers whose locations and information need to be defined then it is common to develop some form of stage layout showing the device location and type. This is probably most common for concert type performances where you are laying out the locations of multiple mics, floor monitors, backline equipment, etc. on stage or when dealing with portable systems where speaker locations and aiming may have to be identified.

I've seen such layouts done in various CAD programs but also in Visio, Word and just about anything else.

Click to expand...

I think he is referring to the wall plates that house the connectors for stage use such as mic inputs and return lines, for monitor wedges and the like. as far as putting it on a cad sheet I've only seen them on the building plan for the first stages of renting out a facility, as far as design their really is only a few isolated instances that i would even require specific sound setups without bringing in a completely different rig.

DuckJordan said:

I think he is referring to the wall plates that house the connectors for stage use such as mic inputs and return lines, for monitor wedges and the like.

Click to expand...

That was my first thought but those are fixed devices so their location and 'circuiting' is not really something you would normally plot for a show, thus I was not sure. Stage boxes, mics, monitor/effects speakers and other equipment whose use and locations are specific to a show that connect to those fixed devices I can see plotting for a show including where they are, what they are and what channel or 'circuit' they connect to.

To many, a sound plot would define something much more like a cue sheet. However, a stage layout is very common for bands and is often part of tech riders, there are a huge number of examples available courtesy of the Internet. You might also find similar documents for touring shows or venues without permanent systems that would show speaker locations, aiming and assignments as well as any equipment on stage. But for many shows in venues with fixed systems there indeed would not be much information to put on a physical sound layout.

sorry for not being clear. i was talking about boxes in the wall. i work at a small theatre that gets rented out and they dont have any form of cad of the stage. im almost done with the floor plan and was going to work on lights next. i thought it might be nice to put on our website. so how would i put the wall plates on a cad in vectorworks.

thank you
giovanni

Vectorworks on its own doesn't include the concept of connectivity. There is a third-party extension package called Neatworkz that adds this kind of functionality. With Neatworkz you can design system schematics, rack and room layouts in 2D and 3D, and extract cable lists, patch panel labels etc. Have a look at Welcome to Neatworkz for more details.

Conrad Preen

Just to update this thread, our product is now called 'connectCAD' and we are fully compatible with the latest Vectorworks software. Please visit our site connectcad.com for more information.

I just tried Lucidchart to do my Xmas show sound plot. Not a bad program, but a little slow. Google is connected to it somehow. Does anyone else make sound plots using Flowcharts?