# Playing two sound cues simultaneously?



## JLNorthGA (May 17, 2012)

I have searched the "sticky" for sound cue playback software. I have been to a couple of the sites. I have looked at a couple of the programs.

We need to play two sounds simultaneously for this production. I have a laptop with the .wav files. 

Sound Cue System Lite looks interesting. I've downloaded Multiplay. However, I haven't figured out how to make Multiplay play two .wav files at the same time.

Which software would work? Inexpensive or freeware is good. Suitable for use in a community theatre setting is good (i.e. can be run by anybody without too much effort).


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## cpf (May 17, 2012)

Mix the two wav files into 1?


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## Lyons (May 17, 2012)

Qlab is awesome if you have an old (or new) mac laying around. I just use my old g5 iMac for cue playback. Free for the basic stuff, and a pretty solid program. Figure 53 | QLab | Live Show Control for Mac OS X

SFX is a program that a theatre I was at a few years back used. Solid, not free. Not even sure what they charge these days. ..::Stage Research::..


Otherwise you could consider using 2x CD players, or two quicktime windows.


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## sk8rsdad (May 17, 2012)

I had a quick look at the Multiplay website and it seems to handle this through a different cue type from the default. I think it's done with a "play and advance" cue but a more careful search of the documentation would be needed to say for sure.


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## josh88 (May 17, 2012)

I agree the easiest way would be to do something like download audacity and mix the two together. Or if you have some type of playback software, I've used SFX but as mentioned its not free and you just double tap go and they play while overlapping.


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## JohnHartman (May 17, 2012)

I use Multiplay, and it will easily play multiple files simultaneously. Just push PLAY to start the first and then PLAY to start the next file.. STOP will stop all..

Not entirely sure if .WAV is an issue, I have not run into it. If it is just change the file to an MP3.


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## JLNorthGA (May 17, 2012)

JohnHartman said:


> I use Multiplay, and it will easily play multiple files simultaneously. Just push PLAY to start the first and then PLAY to start the next file.. STOP will stop all..
> 
> Not entirely sure if .WAV is an issue, I have not run into it. If it is just change the file to an MP3.



I "played" around with Multiplay - it will play the second file simultaneously - and equally as important, it will let me loop the first file so that it is the same or similar length to the second.


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## JLNorthGA (May 17, 2012)

Lyons said:


> Qlab is awesome if you have an old (or new) mac laying around. I just use my old g5 iMac for cue playback. Free for the basic stuff, and a pretty solid program. Figure 53 | QLab | Live Show Control for Mac OS X
> 
> SFX is a program that a theatre I was at a few years back used. Solid, not free. Not even sure what they charge these days. ..::Stage Research::..
> 
> ...



Some of us are not Mac people . Not to mention the fact that they don't sell those around here (can we say - the sticks). Not that I don't like Apple (or Macs) - one of my first computers was an Apple 2e.


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## Lambda (May 17, 2012)

I highly recommend multiplay. I've been using it a long time, and it works great. There's a lot you can do with the cues in there, including control cues that can stop or fade others, playing multiple at once, and it's totally free. 
If you program your cue list right, you can just hit "go" for every cue, just like doing lights. That's convenient if you're handling sound cues while mixing the show at the same time.


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## Lyons (May 17, 2012)

The g5 I use for qlab was a free throw away from a college. 

The g4 in the closet is the same thing. Old macs have a habit of living on longer than they are useful, but qlab does just fine with the old hardware.


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## 65535 (May 17, 2012)

JohnHartman said:


> If it is just change the file to an MP3.



I would personally recommend avoiding doing that, for one thing it does affect the sound quality, but it adds processing on the post end. I've had serious issues with mp3 files and QLab not being decoded properly. IMO always use quality recordings of Red Book quality in the proper format such as .wav or .aiff. 

The TD at our college hates being given mp3 files or other compressed formats, in order to get them to play nice with QLab I have to convert them to .aiff and note on the filename they are conversions.


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## Jekyll (May 18, 2012)

Our company (3 stages plus tours) has used both PC and Mac software. So here is my run-down for you...

SFX for PC is great. Yes, as mentioned before, not free. But definitely a good program that plays many cues out of multiple outputs. Our systems were all 12 channel sound cards and we were also able to use the show control features to run lighting or video trigger cues during complex sequences or shows (like "It's A Wonderful Life").

2 years ago, we produced a production that was massively video-heavy. Up to this point, we had been burning DVDs and letting SFX trigger the DVD player (Tascam with auto-pause) to play back the video files. But all fading in and out and any effects had to be within the DVD already. There was no way to instantly edit this information from SFX or on the DVD. So, we did a lot of research and determined that the easiest way to accomplish what we wanted was to go with the Mac based program Qlab. It not only does all the things that SFX did (wav, mp3, m4a, etc playback) but would also take video files (avi, mov, etc etc etc) and allow us to play them back, fade them in and out, change the fade times, manipulate the video itself (change its size, location on the screens, add effects like rotation etc) all within the program without reburning discs every time a change was needed.

We have, since that show, outfitted all our theatres with Macs to do all of our playback (audio and video) as well as show control on larger shows.

The other major bonus for you going with one of these two programs instead of combining them together using an audio editing program is that you can manipulate the audio files separately during the show as well. For instance, we have wind, rain, thunder etc as separate files that then allow us to play each one when we need it, fade them in and out as needed and loop as needed without having extra effects on top that we cannot alter once created as a full layered effect.

Hope this helps.

..::Stage Research::.. (for SFX)
Figure 53 | Creators of QLab, QCart, Streamers, Lockstep, and Tixato (for Qlab)

Cheers,
Darren


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## josh88 (May 19, 2012)

For what it's worth, if I had the money I'd always be all over SFX. It's a great program and easy to use and is about the simplest straight forward you can get. That being said, the free stuff probably works just as well, but if I don't have to pay for it out of pocket SFX is what I'd personally want.


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## tbean146 (May 19, 2012)

The blackbox space I work in frequently uses Show Cue System for both the triggering of sound cues, and light cues via an M-Audio UNO MIDI interface and a generic USB sound interface. We eventually plan to combine the UNO and the sound interface, but we haven't got there yet. Being a fan of Qlab and Mac products in general I was very reserved about using a windows piece of software for such a large task (we only have room for one operator, so the computer controls everything). I have to say, being the person responsible for most of the programming on this machine scared me a little, but I've fallen in love with it and if you can spare the money, you will never regret it.


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## neotrotsky (May 19, 2012)

Just spend an afternoon with a six pack of Sam Adams and Multiplay and you'll find that it's a killer app for what you need. The cue automatons are where it's at and you can easily get the end result of two cues at once. You just have to remember that the automatons are worded for AFTER the cue, not the state of the cue you are working on. Multiplay concerns itself on where the cue is going, not changing the status of the cue you are currently working on. It's a bit odd, but once you get used to it setting a show is easy. I commonly use it to quickly set up private school talent shows and recitals that get booked in my venue, and when you have over 100 kids and 45 different presentations, flexibility is the name of the game. Multiplay does that in a very simple way and it uses practically zero resources on my machine (Sony Vaio Core i5/8GB RAM).


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## dbaxter (May 21, 2012)

I will start with the disclaimer that it's my program, but please don't ignore Cue Player Premium for your needs.


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## TimmyP1955 (May 24, 2012)

I like Multiplay. And the price. Support is good as well - if I email an inquiry before bed, I usually have an answer when I get up the next morning. Two small caveats (the first of which is mentioned on the website): If you are running Vista, do not put the Multiplay folder in Program Files. Also, in Vista you (well, at least I) cannot simply drag files into the play list. On the old XP computer dragging worked. No biggie, but dragging sure was nice.


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## doctrjohn (May 25, 2012)

josh88 said:


> For what it's worth, if I had the money I'd always be all over SFX. It's a great program and easy to use and is about the simplest straight forward you can get. That being said, the free stuff probably works just as well, but if I don't have to pay for it out of pocket SFX is what I'd personally want.



For whatever it's worth, I got an Email from Stage Research the other day with a Memorial Day special; SFX 6 Deluxe for $145. It is regularly priced at $395 and the special runs through May 31st.

Best,
John


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## JeffM (Jun 10, 2012)

Multiplay can do this easily! I run lights and sound for a Community Theatre and have been using Multiplay for the last 2 years. Solid little application. 

Use a Control Cue set up as follows:

CUE ADVANCE 
Action Target
START PLAY 2nd sound

CONTROL ACTION
Action Target
CUE START 1st sound

Go on Control cue, starts both cues at the same time, and positions cursor after both sounds as MultiPlay would when executing a single cue. 

JeffM


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## 65535 (Jun 10, 2012)

I have to say that seems a little complicated.

In QLab you would drop the first cue from the finder window or desktop into the cue list, do the same for the second and drop it below the first. Select Auto continue on the first cue. That's it. Load the cue and hit spacebar.


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## 38octillionlumens (Jun 14, 2012)

I use Pd (a.k.a. Pure Data) for sound and lighting cues, as well as almost any other aspect of show control. It's free, open, _extremely_ flexible, and compatible with pretty much any platform.

However, you do open a bit of a can of worms by using it, because you sort of have to custom-build your interface from the ground up. It's like a graphical programming language, and it was originally created for computer music. But, if you're into that sort of thing (as I am) I highly recommend it.


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## JohnHartman (Jun 15, 2012)

Another way to do it in Multiplay is to change "Cue Advance" to _Action_ Start Play _Target_ Next Cue (or specify the second cue track you want playing) I think that is a bit easier than building a control cue stack. sounds similar to how QLab handles it.



65535 said:


> I have to say that seems a little complicated.
> 
> In QLab you would drop the first cue from the finder window or desktop into the cue list, do the same for the second and drop it below the first. Select Auto continue on the first cue. That's it. Load the cue and hit spacebar.


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## wturner (Oct 31, 2012)

tbean146 said:


> The blackbox space I work in frequently uses Show Cue System for both the triggering of sound cues....



I have to second the vote on SCS myself. Terrific program! While not free, the more basic versions are quite reasonable, and I've found it to be crazy flexible and extremely reliable. And you actually have a couple of choices for making two cues run together, which can be as simple as setting the second one to "autostart 0 seconds after the beginning" of the first one. Or there's a way called "sub-cues" where you can set the second one to have a "delay" of 0 seconds. Or if you need them to match with sample-accurate playback, there's a way--if they're exactly the same length--to "link" them and they are guaranteed to stay perfectly in sync. (I've used this by putting the music on the left track and the vocals on the right so we could practicing for a church play without the choir being present. When we got to final rehearsals and show time...I just disabled the vocals cues, and used the live choir.) I've had as many as four files playing together at times, with various combinations of cross-fades, loops, etc. If you have a light board, "splurge" (it's really not all that much) and get the Professional level where you can either control SCS from the light board (via MIDI), or use SCS to send MIDI commands out to control the light board. (I did our lighting on a second PC running MagicQ software with a USB/DMX dongle, and drove it's cue list via MIDI from SCS. Everything was always in sync...and all with only one operator!)


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## Dreadpoet (Nov 5, 2012)

This is a good time to use dual CD player to simplify things. I have playback software....never used it because it put too much work on the designer and not enough emphasis on the op.


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## danTt (Nov 5, 2012)

You say that, but then you get into a situation where your sequence is:

Set Mixer volume for MD1,MD2,CD1,CD2.
Go MiniDisc 1.
Go MiniDisc 2.
Fade out MD1.
Go CD1, Pause MD1, Advance to Next track. Reset Level for MD1
Go CD2, Pause MD2, Fade up Level on CD1.
ETC, ETC, ETC.

And then put in an operator who is running the playback for the first time. And a Director who refuses to stop for tech issues. See where QLab comes in handy?


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## persovik (Nov 7, 2012)

I use CombiWave for the simple stuff, and it will play two files at once using hotkeys.


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## ngricky (Nov 22, 2012)

*Re: Guild to using Multiplay*


Lambda said:


> I highly recommend multiplay. I've been using it a long time, and it works great. There's a lot you can do with the cues in there, including control cues that can stop or fade others, playing multiple at once, and it's totally free.
> If you program your cue list right, you can just hit "go" for every cue, just like doing lights. That's convenient if you're handling sound cues while mixing the show at the same time.



Hi,
Since you have experience in Multiplay software, I need your advice on this software as I am trying out with sound to light cue in exact timing.
I am doing a show where I need to sync a gunshot effect to a light cue at the same time. I downloaded Multiplay but not sure how to get it done. My lighting console is ETC Element. My purpose is to trigger the light cue when I just press the play on the audio cue.
Can you tell me step by step how you setup everything from the beginning. I also not sure how the audio and MIDI patching is done. 
What interface cable do I need to use for this to happen?
Really hope you can help with all my answers. Thank you


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## NZM (Dec 5, 2012)

*Re: Guild to using Multiplay*

This may not help the OP, but may be of assistance/interest to some researching the topic. The shows I work (musical theatre in this case) do not use many pre-recorded sound effects, so I don't have any specific tools/applications for the tasks. For a recent product of Les Miserables, I needed two effects, sometimes to be played concurrently. One was for the battle scenes so needed to be a raging gun battle that lasted up to a minute or so and could be recalled quickly for playback at three points in the show, the other was a single rifle shot that needed to be carefully timed, played about 5 times in total and sometimes over the top of the battle effect.

So I edited the battle track and made it able to loop continuously so at any time I could add it to the mix and played from an iPad (yeah, well it was handy at the time). Using a Yamaha LS9 for the mix, I recorded the single rifle shot onto a USB stick and configured a User Defined Key to the single track playback. That way I had a rifle shot any time I needed by hitting the UDK. With the playback level set appropriately, the single gunshot came in over the raging battle very well, giving me the control to time the shot from the performers visual cues and they were then able to recoil or die in a timely manner. Having the effect playback from a UDK on the LS9 is very handy as I often have my hands full with 26 radio mics and an orchestra so fader realestate becomes an issue even with careful planning of the custom fader page.

I have used the media playback from USB on the LS9 quite a bit for single effects. But of course it can only play one track at a time, so this solution is obviously specific to the need I described and not a substitute for the recommendations earlier in the thread.


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## TimmyP1955 (Dec 8, 2012)

*Re: Guild to using Multiplay*

I've used a UDK, CDs, and Multiplay. I prefer Multiplay. Just do it.


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## DarthFader (Nov 14, 2018)

dbaxter said:


> I will start with the disclaimer that it's my program, but please don't ignore Cue Player Premium for your needs.


I'll start with the disclaimer that its not my program but it can do what you want in its sleep. Recently did a show that combined four different machine sound files added one at a time as actors "started" them on stage while simultaneously playing a music accompaniment for the live singing. At the end of the music all four FX were killed and one final FX played. Took about 5 min to build the whole thing.


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