Rehearsal playback in Edit Mode
This workspace is the same as the previous one, but is operating in Edit Mode; the functionality is the same, I just want to expose you to various workflows.
QLab can pause, resume, fast forward, rewind, and even begin a cue mid-stream. This is incredibly helpful when working through cues or when rehearsing. If you were working through a scene with a storm in the background, this would allow you to rewind the chaos. If you’re running audio for a dance concert, this would allow you to start mid song.
My first trick however is the Preview key, which allows you to execute a cue without moving the playhead forward. This is handy when trying to adjust audio levels.
Here I have the cue selected. If I hit GO, I can hear the cue, but need to go back and re-click on the cue to adjust the levels.
Let me panic out of that.
Now if I hit “V” for PreView, I hear the cue, just as before, but my cue is still selected and audio levels are ready to adjust. It’s surprising how this small trick can help make rehearsal easier.
Here’s another one.
When a cue or sequence of cues is playing, you can observe individual cue progresses in the Active Cues tab in the sidebar.
First, most simple to use, are the playback controls at the top of this tab. The large buttons in the center are pause and resume (which looks like a play button). So let’s start this storm sequence. If the actors in this rehearsal need to hold for a second, I can simply hit pause. Once they’re ready to go I’ll hit play again. This will help me determine whether or not the timing of the storm was correct in context of the action, despite the time held.
If however the actors need to go back to the beginning of the scene, I could press the reset button (which looks like a rewind button). This will stop all the cues and bring my playhead back to the beginning of the active sequence of cues, ready for me to once again hit the GO button.
And finally, the stop button does … can you guess it? Yup. It simply stops the cues, same as hitting escape to panic the cues.
This is super handy. But it gets better. If for some reason I wanted to remove a single cue, I could hit the X in that active row.
Or if I were paused, I could resume individual cues.
These actions help me compartmentalize problems and identify individual cues from a potentially complex problem.
Are you ready ready? It gets better still. The progress meter is adjustable. I can rewind or fast forward an individual cue. If I grab a group cue, QLab will even apply the adjustment to all the child cues.
Ready for one more? I can even load an individual cue or cue sequence to a time mid cue. Go to Tools / and then Load to Time (this is only available in Edit Mode by the way). Now I can skip ahead in a cue, even in complex cue sequences. Ready? Hit go and the cues will start mid-stream.
Assignment:
Download this workspace.
Load a long ambient cue.
Fast-forward in a song.
Were You Listening?
What key allows you the preview a cue?
Answer
Hitting the “V” key.