# Sound Cue Software



## ClintonHammond

Hey folks... Recently became the unofficial sound guy for my local community theatre group.

have about 6 gigs of sound effects.
Use Audacity when I need to 'edit' or record

Have a copy of a program called Virtual DJ that we use to run the effects, off a laptop, through our house amp and speakers.

Wondering if anyone has other software suggestions other than the obvious (winamp etc.)

Thanks!


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## gafftaper

This topic has been fairly well covered in the past and is a great opportunity for you to get to know the search function. A program called "SFX" from Stage Research is probably the best one out there, but it can be pricey depending on which version you need. There are other cheaper options as well. Do some searching and you should find just about everything you need to know. See what you find and then post some specific follow up questions.

Oh and welcome to the Booth!


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## ClintonHammond

People PAY for software????? 

Wow.....

Thanks for the welcome back
,-)


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## v75vette

http://cd-romney.com/usitt/software/index.php/Main_Page

As much of a pain in the butt as the search function is. Try it. This link was on the 2nd page. There's some pretty decent software recomendations on there.


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## ClintonHammond

Honestly, I usually do search before posting on a forum, but I'd received a "It's Been A While Since You Posted" email, so I just popped in and posted the first topic that came to mind.

The link above is a bloody good source for info... thanks!

*edit... The word d a m n is filtered, but bloody isn't??? ??????


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## TupeloTechie

ClintonHammond said:


> People PAY for software?????



Yes, somebody actually has to program them, and usually that somebody will wont some money for his/her work...

on the other hand, for freeware, I like the Cue Player, which also has a better, (Pro and Premium) version, that are pretty cheap: http://www.baxeldata.com/cueplayer.html


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## u_dakka

try searching for multiplay. i think its found on sourceforge. tis good.

andy


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## mbenonis

QLab is a free program for Mac OS X which does everything SFX does and more. Check it out at http://www.figure53.org/

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Figure 53 in any way, other than being a happy customer.


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## jkowtko

I'm a pretty happy customer of Sound Cue System. It's a reasonably priced home-grown product that has a lot of flexibility, and is actively being supported and enhanced by the author, Mike Daniell, and we are able to provide input and feedback to Mike continuously to help further improve the product. Along with Goldwave, I consider this one of my best theater sound investments.


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## ClintonHammond

"Yes, somebody actually has to program them..."

Lucky for me I live in a country where file sharing is legal then eh....

[mod]Admin's note: Please view the replies for why this statement, while technically correct, is out of context.[/mod]


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## gafftaper

ClintonHammond said:


> "Yes, somebody actually has to program them..."
> Lucky for me I live in a country where file sharing is legal then eh....



Or you could say... 
"Lucky for me I live in a country where stealing is legal"

Dude, I don't care if it's legal or not. If you are not paying for something that has a price tag on it, you are stealing. 

How would you like it if your boss decided to not pay you? You work hard to produce a product or service. You should be compensated for it. Well a programmer is working hard to write software... if you down load it without paying you are stealing. Just because your country is a few years behind in enforcing international copyright laws doesn't make it morally acceptable. 

Stepping off the soap box.


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## Bucky

gafftaper said:


> This topic has been fairly well covered in the past and is a great opportunity for you to get to know the search function. A program called "SFX" from Stage Research is probably the best one out there, but it can be pricey depending on which version you need. There are other cheaper options as well. Do some searching and you should find just about everything you need to know. See what you find and then post some specific follow up questions.
> Oh and welcome to the Booth!


That is the same program i use in My highschool and Love it and i also use Audacity i think it is one of the best Programs out there that is free to use when you need to sdie sound


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## Bucky

ClintonHammond said:


> Lucky for me I live in a country where file sharing is legal then eh....


 i also live in Canada and I HATE people who use file sharing programs, like I said before We as a Tech club Have SFX and We paid close to $600 US. for it and let me say Best 600 ever spent


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## ClintonHammond

I'm not getting into this whiney argument... The LAW says I'm within it to use a file sharing program.... 

If you don't like them, don't use them.

Don't try to force your baseless morality on me.

"Fair Use" is the wave of the future. Deal with it.


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## dvsDave

ClintonHammond said:


> I'm not getting into this whiney argument... The LAW says I'm within it to use a file sharing program....
> If you don't like them, don't use them.
> Don't try to force your baseless morality on me.
> "Fair Use" is the wave of the future. Deal with it.


First of all, let me introduce myself as the webmaster on this website. 
ClintonHammond, let me clarify the Fair Use Clause you alluded to. The Fair Use clause refers to media that has been legally purchased. The law is designed to allow you to move the media to a different format and to create a backup for personaly use, not to be distributed illegally. While Canada has ruled that the use of file-sharing programs does not imply that you are illegally trading media and software, using software without paying for it is still against the law, even in Canada. We on ControlBooth.com do NOT condone, encourage, or allow any discussion about the use, availability or swapping software with an illegally obtained license key. We've asked yourself and others in the past to not violate our rules. 

Please understand that we work very hard not to trip any content filters that a school may have put in place to protect high school students from the darker side of the 'net. We don't want to get blocked by these filters and we have very sensitive filters in place to keep our site "clean", so that the school's filter's don't have to. Now, in another post you mentioned that we don't filter the word "bloody". We don't filter that because the word may be used in conversations in the Special f/x forum. 
So, we are not imposing our "baseless morality" on you, we are asking you to abide by the rules we have set down. Thank you.


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## ClintonHammond

"protect high school students"

I couldn't care less about high school students.... There are bigger 'fish' in the sea that is the internet.

Take ye care.

(I'm file-sharing RIGHT NOW! Deal with it!)


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## dvsDave

A notice to the members of ControlBooth.com,

The user ClintonHammond has been banned for violations to the Terms of Service. High School students are our primary audience and we expect our older members to act appropriately. 

Thank you,

dvsDave


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## jonhirsh

Just my 2 cents please don’t ban me Dave  

I believe that as a creator of a piece of work you have the right to decided how it is distributed. 

Wither you agree or not the law is there. A great web site Creative Commons is a great resource for open source items. 

Check it out its a interesting way to distribute your creative works. 
JH


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## soundlight

I agree that Creative Commons is a great idea. But when it comes to software, there is usually a massive amount of R&D that goes in to it, thus the cost. I do love open source software, such as stuff from Sourceforge (SFT - simple feedback trainer is one of my faves), as well as other publicly available programs. It's amazing what student software developers and people who are fed up with the current system will do. Take, for instance, Q-lab, which was conceived when a sound cue op got fed up with his po-dunk little setup and decided to make a free program. Granted, he does have quite a few paid add-ons now, but he originally made it for what most people use it for today - a free program for theater programs that can't afford real deal sound cue software.


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## jonhirsh

Creative commons is full of software. It also contains books, music, all sorts of creative entities avalible for remix replication and non profit explotation.


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## dvsDave

Thank you for the link Jonathan,

I quite agree and even applaud Creative Common's licensed material. I really enjoy open source and will donate money to whatever projects I use on this site. However, you may notice that the forum software is not open source. This was intentional because the site was growing to the point where I needed to be able to get help with keeping the site up and running when I needed it and a lot of open source cannot provide that level of support.
I also believe that software that may benefit humankind should be open source and supported by a company with donations from citizens, corporations, and the government. I, however, I do not support efforts to illegally break and distribute said software. I would rather have the creator do that themselves. 

An exception to that viewpoint is any technologies that violate the concept of Fair Use. I don't support Digital Rights Management applied blindly to all media and distribution models. Rhapsody's encoding is acceptable, because you are only paying to stream music, not to own it. I don't support Sony's BluRay encoding, because there is no way to back up the video you bought. The right to back up your media was, interestingly enough, established in Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, 464 U.S. 417 (1984), or more commonly known as The Betamax Case. I support clear and sensible solutions that will not hinder user's legal use of the media. 

A final note on my opinion, just because I said I don't support over-reaching DRM scheme's doesn't mean I support the methods that break them. Nor will I allow discussions on the topic. 

-dvsDave


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## gafftaper

Wow I take a quick shot at a guy for pirating software and go away for two days and while I'm away he flips out and gets himself banned... 

Dave You Da Man!!! 

Young folks who are reading this thread. Listen to what Dave said there in that last post. While they have been slow in keeping up so far, the music, video, and software industries will eventually figure a way to lock us out of everything. Then we all lose our fair use rights... which is LAME!! Home CD and DVD recording technology has been around a lot longer than it has been available in this country. Why? Because the film industry blocked it for years, fearing we would just steal DVD's. And they were right. If we keep stealing software and music, the industries will make sure that the next generation of recording technology (HD-DVD or Blueray recording decks) will never be made available for home consumer use. And nobody wants that. 

Want your next generation of I-pod locked down so hard you can't transfer a CD you own onto it? Keep stealing music and it'll happen.


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## squashbucket

So, this was a thread about something useful, and it has turned into a completely different thread about something equally useful, which is cool. I think it is important to take note that royalties, copyright, fair use, and licencing are all topics where ignorance is the opposite of bliss. The more you know the better off you are. Fair use is good for trying things out, like a free sample at the grocery store. It exists so that users of the software are able to share said software with their friends so that their friends will then buy it if they like it. I wouldn't want to spend $600 dollars of my limited budget for the year on something that might very well not work. So I try, then when I find what works for me, I buy. Now when I was in college, I wasn't making any money off my work, and neither was anybody else, so not paying for software was the only way to go. But now, not only am I making money, but the producers of the show are making money, so we try first, but then when we use the software for profit, we absolutely buy. That is where I draw the line. If I am working for money, then the software is working for money. Fair is fair.

~Adam Terry
TD: PPOF


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## gafftaper

squashbucket said:


> So, this was a thread about something useful, and it has turned into a completely different thread about something equally useful, which is cool. I think it is important to take note that royalties, copyright, fair use, and licencing are all topics where ignorance is the opposite of bliss. The more you know the better off you are. Fair use is good for trying things out, like a free sample at the grocery store. It exists so that users of the software are able to share said software with their friends so that their friends will then buy it if they like it. I wouldn't want to spend $600 dollars of my limited budget for the year on something that might very well not work. So I try, then when I find what works for me, I buy. Now when I was in college, I wasn't making any money off my work, and neither was anybody else, so not paying for software was the only way to go. But now, not only am I making money, but the producers of the show are making money, so we try first, but then when we use the software for profit, we absolutely buy. That is where I draw the line. If I am working for money, then the software is working for money. Fair is fair.
> ~Adam Terry
> TD: PPOF



While I understand the point you are making, "borrowing to try" is not fair use. It's only fair use if you personally own the product and want to use it in more than one location... but NOT at the same time. So your friend can bring the software over and use it in your theater as long as it isn't being used in their home theater at the same time. What you describe is analogous to shoplifting to see if it fits and then buying it later if you like it or sneaking it back into the store if you don't. While I understand where you are coming from and it is certainly morally superior to just outright piracy, it's still not legal. 

The good thing about this mess is many software packages have a free trial version that while not fully functional gives you a really good feel for how it works. 

As for the second half of your message it sounds like you are saying if you can't afford it, it's ok to steal. I don't recall that being true when I went car shopping last year. I maintain if you can't afford it use something you can afford. 

Not trying to Flame you Squash... just want to be consistent. This is an issue that like Dave said, if we don't clean up our act and do things right the industry is going to find a way to do it for us. Blueray for example is Sony saying, "fine, if you won't play by the rules we will change to rules so you can't play at all". Nobody wants that to be the new standard of fair use.


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## BenFranske

There's a lot of misunderstanding about Fair Use. Although IANAL, I would point out that one useful application of Fair Use is that you are very much allowed to rip a CD, say a sound effects CD, and then play the sound effects off of a PC (assuming the CD includes the license for public performance) instead of directly from the CD. One of the (many) issues with DRM and other ways that fair use is avoided by copyright holders is that they can attach restrictive licensing that it is illegal to break (thanks to the DMCA) which can prevent you from playing back purchased sound effects with anything other than their player software (for example you might not be able to burn them back onto a CD for use at a venue which has no PC handy).


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## dvsDave

A very good, and very relevent example of why most DRM scheme's are flawed. At ControlBooth.com, we will support Fair Use as long as the media was purchased legally and is appropriately licensed for your intended use. Again, that is the extent of the topic that we are willing to cover. Any topics on breaking DRM scheme's even if it violates what is understood to be Fair Use, will not be tolerated on this site and it will be deleted without warning. 

I've had a private message asking for a centralized place for ControlBooth.com Policies that people can be referred to. ControlBooth.com Staff is working on updating and publishing this content and we will provide public announcements in the future to any addition, removal, and/or revision of the policies. Stay tuned (love that cliche) for further details.


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## dvsDave

Check out the ControlBooth FAQ for the first installment of the rules. More to come... I'm just really tired and need to hit the sack.


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## Chris15

Dave, those rules look quite reasonable. Just a suggestion, OK, two actually, the first is where auctions are being discussed, it refers to contacting the senior team if in doubt or something along those lines. It says to email one of the senior team, whereas elsewhere, the rules have said to PM one of the senior team. Is this something deliberate or just a little boo boo that might benefit from a change for the sake of consistency? Secondly, the forum usage FAQs on PMs refer to PM tracking, something I believe you have chosen not to implement. Is it possible for that section on PM tracking to be removed, or for PM tracking to be enabled?

You do a great job with the rest of the team, keep up the good work.
Cheers Dave.


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## dvsDave

thanks for catching that typo and we will remove the section on PM tracking. 

-David


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## Radman

TupeloTechieKid said:


> Yes, somebody actually has to program them, and usually that somebody will wont some money for his/her work...
> 
> on the other hand, for freeware, I like the Cue Player, which also has a better, (Pro and Premium) version, that are pretty cheap: http://www.baxeldata.com/cueplayer.html


I love Open Source.


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## vlaho

Hi, does someone know for portable (usb disk) sound cue software?
I want to have my sound cue software and my sound files on external HDD.
It doesn't matter Mac or PC.


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## dvsDave

hmm... unless you find a program that has U3 USB key support, the easiest thing to do is to use freeware sound cue software, and load the installer software on your USB drive, and install the software on each computer that you use. That's the easiest thing that I can think of. However, you will need to have enough user privileges on the computer to be able to install the software. Then just save your playlists... cue sheet.. whatever to your external drive. The only problem is that if the drive letter doesn't match, then the playlists won't work. I don't know how to alleviate that situation. Anybody else have a suggestion to improve upon this scheme?

-David


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## mbenonis

Sure, use QLab - you should be able to run and store everything on the drive (assuming it's big enough to hold the gigs of uncompressed audio you're using).

Does anyone have any idea what the U3 "technology" is, anyway? I've been able to run applications from my (non-U3) flash drive for years without any problems.


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## avkid

mbenonis said:


> Does anyone have any idea what the U3 "technology" is, anyway?



This might help,
http://www.u3.com/default.aspx


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## mbenonis

avkid said:


> This might help,
> http://www.u3.com/default.aspx



I still don't understand why you'd need it. It looks like all it is is a fancy program launcher thingie.


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## vlaho

Thanks for advice for QLab. I'll check.
Cue program on external HDD with 2 Gigs of files is very important for me.
It's backup if something is wrong with my mac. I can use any available to finish the show. It's good to have portable apps.


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## Peter

I've played with that U3 thing for about 10 minutes before ripping it off my drive and several friend's who have it on there. It's a neat idea, but very poorly exicuted because of the popups and stuff that it does assuming that you want their product to be front and center instead of realzing it is a utility that should just work in the background.


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## Jay Ashworth

dvsDave said:


> A notice to the members of ControlBooth.com,
> 
> The user ClintonHammond has been banned for violations to the Terms of Service. *High School students are our primary audience* and we expect our older members to act appropriately.
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> dvsDave



[emphasis mine]

For the record, Dave, I just ran across this thread, you know how long I've been here, and I had no clue at all that we had a target audience, much less that HS students were it.


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## dvsDave

Jay Ashworth said:


> [emphasis mine]
> 
> For the record, Dave, I just ran across this thread, you know how long I've been here, and I had no clue at all that we had a target audience, much less that HS students were it.



That thread is from 2007… things changed a bit in the last 7 years. 

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk


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## Jay Ashworth

I see.


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