Control/Dimming Chamsys MagicQ fade times

[Crash_Override]

Hi,

When I have a cue in cue stack that has a long fade. Let's say 30 sec. Then the fade actually will be like 33-34 sec long when measured with stopwatch. I can see the cues fade time freeze from time to time for a little while. The clock that's on the Magicq screen isn't freezing and is accurate.

Can anybody give me any pointers? It's hard to run a show like that.


Connected to MiniWing.
Soft: 1.7.1.0

PC:
Win 10
Intel i5
4GB RAM

 

[Technoweenie]

I've put in a bug ticket about that and the official reply was "that's the way it is...". I had some cues with 90 second fades timed to music and they were 10 seconds out. Ended up having to do a dance recital using time code trickery. The time code generator is spot on.

 

[jamesh]

As Bryan mentioned above, for accurate timing (particularly over longer periods) we would suggest using internal timecode on the cue stack as this uses the system clock to time the execution of cues.
MagicQ Fade/Delay timing on PC systems is subject to delays of your PC/Mac OS, which when taking into account other applications and processes also running on the PC which we do not have control of are likely to make this less accurate.
If you need any help in setup of the cue stack to Internal timecode do let me know.

 

[Crash_Override]

As Bryan mentioned above, for accurate timing (particularly over longer periods) we would suggest using internal timecode on the cue stack as this uses the system clock to time the execution of cues.
MagicQ Fade/Delay timing on PC systems is subject to delays of your PC/Mac OS, which when taking into account other applications and processes also running on the PC which we do not have control of are likely to make this less accurate.
If you need any help in setup of the cue stack to Internal timecode do let me know.

Tried again setting the Halt as Timecode. When I set them all to Tc, it will trigger all the cues one after another, after activating the playback. I'm new to timecode so maybe I'm doing something wrong?

 

[Tech_Geek97]

Tried again setting the Halt as Timecode. When I set them all to Tc, it will trigger all the cues one after another, after activating the playback. I'm new to timecode so maybe I'm doing something wrong?

Timecode has to be stopped and started either by an external source, manual activation, or a macro. When timecode is running the cues will trigger when the running timecode value matches the timecode value of the cue. Do not that cues only execute in order so if a higher cue number has a lower timecode value MagicQ will not jump back in the cue stack.

Chapter 15.15
Chapter 36

 

[Technoweenie]

I used time code macro commands to reset time code to 0 at start of each dance number. Subsequent cues fire from there until last one which is a halt cue.

 

[Tech_Geek97]

I used time code macro commands to reset time code to 0 at start of each dance number. Subsequent cues fire from there until last one which is a halt cue.

That sounds correct, is it working properly? I would recommend changing the hour number for each dance number in case you leave a cue stack activated so it won't start triggering.

For example:
Dance number one: 1/00/00.00
Two: 2/00/00.00
etc.

 

[Technoweenie]

That sounds correct, is it working properly? I would recommend changing the hour number for each dance number in case you leave a cue stack activated so it won't start triggering.

For example:
Dance number one: 1/00/00.00
Two: 2/00/00.00
etc.

You got it! That is what I did. Last cue would be halt, then go from there sets time code to next hour and 0.00.00, plays then halts. Bonus was that it makes minor time editing really easy. Highlight time code and adjust with scroll wheel.

Good luck and have fun!