Qlab and Audiofire 4 interface issues

[drummerboi316]

Hello all,

I am having a problem with Qlab and my Audiofire 4 interface at school. Let me give you some history and then I'll dig into the problem.

Last year our sound playback consisted of a custom PC running SFX patched via firewire into the Audiofire 4. No issues. SFX recognized the 4 outputs as separate entities.

We decided to upgrade to a Mac running Qlab (free version) to fix the stability issues with SFX. The problem is that Qlab only recognizes the Audiofire 4 as 1 output, not 4.

I have upgraded the drivers in the Audiofire. No luck. Restarted everything, no luck. We are running Mac OS X 10.6.8

Is there any advice or trouble shooting tips you can give me? I haven't contacted Echo or Figure 53 yet.

Thanks!
~Nick

 

[Robert]

I'm pretty sure that the Free or Demo version of Qlab only supports a stereo output. That's two channels. Not sure how it looks at an audio interface. When I used the free version, I just worked off the headphone jack of the computer. I do have an Audiofire8 that purchased versions of Qlab work fine on.

 

[DuckJordan]

I'm surprised you had issues with sfx, I've used it extensively what else was running on the computer?

 

[damjamkato]

Robert's correct, the free version of QLab only supports stereo output. Do the discrete outputs show up in any other programs like Logic, or under the system settings?

 

[themuzicman]

As others have said, QLab free only supports stereo output, you can get a rental license or purchase an audio-only to expand upon that.

When you say "one output" do you mean you are only seeing one output in the patch panel, or you only have one physical output in an audio cue? If it's the first follow below:

In your QLab workspace, click on "Preferences" in the top right corner. Next click on "Audio", 5th down on the left of the preferences pane. Patch 1 to your Audiofire, just click and drag. Now click on "Done" in the bottom right corner. You have just patched QLab to your interface! Yay! Now drag an audio cue into the workspace. Click on the cue and in the bottom, called the "Inspector" go to "Levels". Bring your master up, Bring Outputs 1 and 2 Up (If they are grayed out, click on them) and then go to your crosspoints and click on those as well. Yellow means Up, Purple means not up. Play your cue, you should be good!

 

[drummerboi316]

Thanks for all the responses!

I didn't know that it only supported 1 stereo output. That kind of changes things for us... but anyway...to address some questions from ya'll.

First, DuckJordan:
Nothing else was running at the time. It just had periods of crashes, which proved difficult to cope with especially during performances.

damjamkato:
I haven't tried that yet, but we don't have Logic. The only other audio program we have is Audacity. And I can't find the firewire input anywhere else on the computer. I'm a PC guy so I wouldn't know where to look to find that. Any guidance?

themuzicman:
Yes, I am only seeing one output on the patch panel.

Basically, I want to have 4 discrete outputs on the patch panel so I can have 2 mains (LR) and 2 on stage speakers for sound effects and stuff like that. I can see from your posts that using the free version of Qlab that will not be possible. Thank you all for your input, it is greatly appreciated.

The only other question I have is, if the Audiofire is only showing up as 1 output on the patch, then how is it possible to get a stereo output? Shouldn't it show up as 2 outputs?

I am very well versed with audio as I have been working for a regional production company as an A2 for 3 years now, so I know my way around digital consoles and all but this is really bugging me because it seems like such an easy problem to fix, but I just can't seem to find the way to do it.

Once again, thanks for your help. Together we will solve this issue!!

 

[cpf]

Could you post a screenshot of what you're seeing?

 

[themuzicman]

Yes, I am only seeing one output on the patch panel.

Basically, I want to have 4 discrete outputs on the patch panel so I can have 2 mains (LR) and 2 on stage speakers for sound effects and stuff like that. I can see from your posts that using the free version of Qlab that will not be possible. Thank you all for your input, it is greatly appreciated.

The only other question I have is, if the Audiofire is only showing up as 1 output on the patch, then how is it possible to get a stereo output? Shouldn't it show up as 2 outputs?

It'll always show up as one output on the patch panel, even if you have 20 outputs. It'll figure out how many outputs you have per device, so let's say you have two devices with 8 outputs each you patch 1 to 1 and 2 to 2, and then you'll have 16 outputs, with the first device going to outputs 1-8 and the second going to 9-16. Patching in that window is a hierarchy deal (among other things).

If you had the full version of QLab, you'd patch 1 to 1 and it would send 1-4 to the 4 outputs of the AudioFire (though, this could change depending on how you have the Echo Audiofire software interface configured, by default however it'd patch 1-1 for all 4).

 

[drummerboi316]

Could you post a screenshot of what you're seeing?

This is what I'm seeing. Does that help?


EDIT:
I just played around with the patching and the audiofire system settings and the settings on my presonus 24 and I got everything to work. The only thing that is still a problem for me is that I can't have more than 1 stereo output. That kind of sucks, but that's a limitation that comes with free things. Thanks for the help!

 

[philwantspro6]

No not really. Those are "Default Levels For New Audio Cues". The output matrix mixer will be found in your inspector on each particular audio cue under the "levels" tab. But if you dont have a ProAudio or ProBundle, then you simply cannot route to other outputs via the "crosspoints" matrix mixer. Try it. If you go to the "Levels" tab for an audio cue, and then try to send "1" to output "3" via the virtual rotary thingy, it will not show level on output 3. Your best bet will be to rent a ProAudio license for a dollar a day just through techs and dresses. Or get the school to go ahead and get the license. They do have educational discounts.