Nicolaudie Architectural Forum

I have been looking for a DMX Contorller Software that will allow use in a Live Entertainment Environment. Such that if a show is running and the guitarist takes a solo - the lighting person can still change the light effects to account for the solo. In other words I would like to have the capability to trigger a scene then trigger another scene without changing the first scene. Then turn off the second scene while allowing the first to continue.

To explain another way I would like to turn as many scenes on as desired and turn them off as desired:

so pressing "r" may trigger a Red Wash of the Stage and pressing "L" will trigger lasers to the house but not change the Red Wash on the Stage.
when I press "L" again the lasers go off and I might press another trigger to change the House lighting. Or while leaving the house lighting I might press "b" to change the stage effect to a Blue Wash. Or change the stage effect to a Sound Active Macro.

Bottom line is that I need to have multiple things going on simultaneously that I can Dynamically select without turning everythong else off.

Further I need a black out feature to dim all lights between songs.

Does Sunlite Suite 2 have this type of Live Performance Capabilities?

If Yes - when will it be relatively available for live use?

Hi

Yes Suite 2 can do this. It is available in BETA now and we are due to release an official build in September at the PLASA show.

Suite 2 works with pages,scenes and switches. Each fixture type has its own page. In each page you have scenes. Although you can only have one scene activated on a page at one time, you can have as many switches as you like (as long as they don't affect the same channel type). So for example, you could have a scene whereby the lights are moving around the stage and dimming up and down, you can then make a "red wash", assign a keyboard trigger 'r', and when you hit r, the moving scene carries on, but the lights turn red.

Regarding other live features, Suite 2 has a new group window. This allows you to select some fixtures, then hit a scene, and the scene will only play on the selected fixtures. You can then select other fixtures (or groups of fixtures) and add or remove them from the live scene at any time. Most of this can be assigned to keyboard, midi and DMX triggers.

The Suite 2 software can be downloaded for free, go to http://www.nicolaudie.com/nicolaudietv for more support
-See the show & entertainment advert for a quick demo of suite 2
-See the suite 2 video tutorials, I advise you watch the first 2 headings to get you started, then watch the "Groups" tutorial for more information on live control

Let me know if you have any other questions

Thank you for your reply. I will watch this forum for notice of a stable release. Also if you can see my email address from my forum info please add me to your email list for notification when you send notice of updated beta test versions and specifically notice of a stable release that can be purchased. Thank You

I have downloaded the latest beta release to try and educate myself on the new SS2 software.

Note: I am very interested in acquiring a stable version of this software and so I am trying to document any errors
I encounter so as to help you get a stable version as quickly as possible. I will try to explain as well as I can the errors
as I find them.

My environment: Laptop running Windows XP
Sunlite Suite 2 Beta: Jul 26 2010

Here a few of the software issues I have encountered so far:

Minor Issues:
1) Throughout the software many of the words are in what I believe is French even though I selected English as my language.
Usually I can guess what the words mean. But this is something you can add to your Software Quality Assurance (SQA) to do list.

2) The first few times I started the software the graphic that shows the simulated lights in 3D more or less hijacked a large portion of my display
and it took me a while to realize I could turn it off and not have it start. It started in lower right corner then indicated it needed to update
then took over the screen.

Possibly High Issue:
3) I was unclear until your earlier post as to how the software works (ie. the analogies that a Page represents a Light Fixture and then Scenes and Switches)
Finally I was able to create a new page (fixture) for an American DJ Galaxian 3D (this was my first choice at random).
I then tried to create a Scene (and realized I had to select Button at the top of the screen to get to the window that allows Scenes to be created.
While attempting to create a Scene the program crashed and asked if I wanted to send an email dump to (I think it said Dylan).
I told it yes, and that proceeded to crash after it had told me that it created a report to send - but I couldn't find the report anywhere.

So these are my encounters so far.

Also I could use a better understanding of the start to finish procedures and the real world representations within the software.
I have read as many things as I can find and watched the videos, but I am still not grasping the concept.

For example without your earlier reply to my first post, I would not have had any idea that a Page was the software representation for a Light Fixture.
I believe I understand the concept of a Scene. But I do not understand the function of a Switch (is a switch just a trigger?).

I know you are working diligently to get this software completed. I only intend to offer this info as constructive information in hopes to help
the process. I believe this is the only software that will be able to do what I need when it is completed so I want to assist in any way that is useful.

Thanks
Jim

Hi Jim

Basically Suite2 is usable now, but our aim is to get it to the stage where it is more stable than Sunlite Suite 1 for the PLASA show in September.

Throughout the software many of the words are in what I believe is French

We have somebody to translate this but they have been busy on other projects last month, it will be sorted before PLASA.

The first few times I started the software...

There are several things we need to do to make the software more presentable on its first run. I will add the resizing and positioning of EasyView to the list.

3) I was unclear until your earlier post as to how the software works

We have a set of quickstart video tutorials which explain this. They consist of four 2 minute tutorials. http://www.nicolaudie.com/nicolaudietv

crashed and asked if I wanted to send an email dump

The dump file should be stored in the Suite 2 root directory. It is named CRASH and appended with the date and time of the crash

I have read as many things as I can find and watched the videos, but I am still not grasping the concept.

I will consider adding a new group of tutorials which actually show the setting up of a real show. The best way to do this would be for me to find a customer who has made a show and I can demonstrate the building of this. Gernot and Cedric know the software very well so if they are reading this and have a complete show that you would be happy for me to dissect then please send me a copy!

without your earlier reply to my first post, I would not have had any idea that a Page was the software representation for a Light Fixture...I believe I understand the concept of a Scene. But I do not understand the function of a Switch (is a switch just a trigger?).

I think this is made pretty clear in the quick start video tutorials, however I guess the manual could be more clear, so I have written a new introduction paragraph at the beginning of the quick start written manual.

..but I do not understand the function of a Switch (is a switch just a trigger?)

The main difference is that:
A scene is intended to trigger a combination of functions. For example lights moving around a stage and changing colour.
A switch is intended to trigger a single function, such as a color change, a dimmer change or a gobo change
Therefore, switches are useful for quick "on the fly" modification of a running scene
(p.s. I don't know if you have explored Cycles yet, this is a combination of scenes and switches, imagine you are programming a live show, you could have a cycle for a particular song, or in a club situation you could have a cycle for upbeat music)

To finish, the information given here is invaluable. We develop and test the products all the time but we are very familiar with the products so often miss things or don't realise when things aren't as clear to other users. Let me know if/when you would like to purchase the product and providing the continued contribution on the forums over the next month I an arrange a 50% discount off a Suite2-BC or Suite-2EC product.