# Sound Cue System Alternative



## Jaepwhite (Oct 16, 2012)

Hello!

I am an actor not a tech so technically very...special. Due to general rubbishness of the current in house tech for unreliability and having no budget to get another it has fallen to me as assistant director to sort out the sound for our show. On my last job we had to do our own tech and I became quite familiar with Sound Cue System which was brilliant and all of us could work easily. However the company paid for that and as this production has literally no money I can't get it. It would have been perfect as all we need is something that will fire sound effects. 

So I'm looking for a very user friendly free alternative, I've had a look about but I'll be honest, I'm completely lost and need help.

We only have PCs to run off too so Qlab is out.

Cheers!

Jae


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## cpf (Oct 16, 2012)

Multiplay gets the job done, and is free


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## deck (Oct 16, 2012)

Instead, try Qlab. They have a free version, (go to figure53.com) and download the free version. WAY better that SFX, or anything else really.


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## chausman (Oct 16, 2012)

deck said:


> Instead, try Qlab. They have a free version, (go to figure53.com) and download the free version. WAY better that SFX, or anything else really.



Not when you are limited to Windows/PC.


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## Aman121 (Oct 16, 2012)

Multiplay isint bad at all for what it is. If you aren't comfortable using new software you might just want to use iTunes or windows media player or whatever conventional media software you are familiar with. Not ideal by far, but if its a case of we need to play 5 sound cues for a show tomorrow and we don't have time to learn a new program its certainly viable.


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## deck (Oct 16, 2012)

Stay AWAY from Windows Media Player. It Crashes, and will only hurt you. If you are limited to Windows, try WINAMP, a little known software that works very very well for low budget.


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## Aman121 (Oct 16, 2012)

deck said:


> Stay AWAY from Windows Media Player. It Crashes, and will only hurt you. If you are limited to Windows, try WINAMP, a little known software that works very very well for low budget.



I don't want to argue, but I find that windows media player is a decent playback software for people not comfortable with pro software. On a clean copy of windows running on even baisic hardware it should be just fine. And besides, a operator who is comfortable with whatever software he/she is using will overall be more stable than an unskilled operator trying to use q lab for the first time. That is why I sudgested popular programs that many are familiar with.


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## cpf (Oct 16, 2012)

VLC is a very straightforward media player to consider, too, with less cruft and eye-candy than iTunes/WMP


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## DuckJordan (Oct 17, 2012)

but with windows media player it will automatically play the next file in the playlist.


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## JohnHartman (Oct 17, 2012)

I taught a 11 year old to use the basic functions of Multiplay in about 10 minutes. If you can figure out Itunes, you can work out Multiplay. And you don't have the issue of automatically running into the next cue.


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## dbaxter (Oct 26, 2012)

You may want to look at the Baxel Data Systems Cue Player family of sound cue software.


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## Gahrgoyle (Oct 29, 2012)

Jaepwhite said:


> Hello!
> 
> I am an actor not a tech so technically very...special. Due to general rubbishness of the current in house tech for unreliability and having no budget to get another it has fallen to me as assistant director to sort out the sound for our show. On my last job we had to do our own tech and I became quite familiar with Sound Cue System which was brilliant and all of us could work easily. However the company paid for that and as this production has literally no money I can't get it. It would have been perfect as all we need is something that will fire sound effects.
> 
> ...



There's a free download from Showmagic SL (Google it). It handles both lights and sound. It's fairly intuitive and easy to learn. I often use it for just sound effects. The issue with iTunes or Windows Media Player is that the operator has to stop each sound effect manually or they roll right into the next sound. At least I haven't figured out how to make either of them stop after each track. Showmagic SL allows you total control of playing one sound at a time, overlapping sounds, One sound triggering another, and so on. The program only works on PCs as far I can tell. The manuals for it are written in layman terms, so anybody can learn the program fairly quickly. The only downside with this program--and pretty much any other sound effect program--is latency from all the programs running in the background on most PCs. Actually, it's the PC's fault, not the programs. So inevitably some of the sound cues are going to be late unless you take the time to optimize your PC to eliminate as much latency as possible. That's a whole other discussion, but there's tons of info about how to optimize your PC on the web--just Google it. Hope this doesn't muddy the waters too much.


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## lwinters630 (Jan 19, 2015)

DuckJordan said:


> but with windows media player it will automatically play the next file in the playlist.


even though it is an old post. If you right click the song in the play list and then click play (not play all) it will stop at the end of that song.


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