Broken Cues
When QLab can’t play a cue properly, that cue is refered to as “Broken”. This can happen for various reasons. Perhaps the audio device the cue is supposed to use is missing. The screen output a video cue is sent to is no longer connected. Or perhaps the media file a cue target references can no longer be found because you used a jump drive which is a huge no no and you shouldn’t have done it!
There are a myriad of reasons why a cue might be broken, the question is … what do you do about it?
Any broken cue will first show up in the warnings box. If you see this icon, there exists a problem that must be fixed before all cues will play properly. Select any of these items to find the problem in the cue list.
The warnings box will display a description of the problem, or you can simply hover your mouse over the red X that identifies the broken cue.
Here, for example, is a group cue with a red X. What’s wrong with it? It says that a cue inside the group is broken. Not terribly informative, but it helped me identify that something is wrong deeper within, so let’s drill down.
Inside the group is an audio cue. Hovering over this cue helps me identify that the file this cue references cannot be found. I recognize this audio file, I moved it to my desktop, so I’ll re-apply the target by dragging the file back onto the cue.
Following this cue is a fade cue. It tells me that it doesn’t have a target. Well, that’s because I forgot to tell the fade cue what I wanted it to fade. So I’ll drag the audio cue to the fade cue. But hey! Still have a red X. Now it tells me that I have to actually choose something to fade. The cue should actually do something. Makes sense. So I’ll adjust the volume to –INF, a fade out. Now we’re good.
Finally, this last cue in the list tells me that I need a license to activate the cue. You could purchase and install a license or, for the sake of demonstrations, you could activate demo mode which will allow you test out QLab’s more advanced features.
Want to try it out yourself? Download the workspace below, identify, and fix all of the problems with the broken cues.
Assignment:
Download this workspace. Identify and fix all the broken cues.
Were You Listening?
How do you fix a broken fade cue that does not have a target?
Answer
Tell the fade cue what to fade by dragging the audio cue to the fade cue.