I started way back in the day of audio tape as well, but we have come along way since then. The purpose of Q Lab (besides handling all of the prerecorded media in the show) is to sync all the technical elements in the show. For instance in a show you might have a “cue” when an actor snaps her finger. At that point you want the lights to change, a prerecorded movie file to play through the projector, a sound file to play through the PA, the actor’s mic to fade out and the musician’s guitar mic to unmute. The technician would activate the cue by pressing the space bar; Q Lab would then play the movie file and send it to the projector, play the sound file and send it to Qu 16 via the USB-B interface, send a MIDI show control message to the lighting board and send a MIDI Note on command to the Qu 16 to unmute the musician’s mic. The only thing that’s missing is the ability to fade out the actor’s mic. Sure, it would be simple enough to do that manually in this simple example, but when the cues get more complex, then it is nice to have everything automated.
Craig
