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    C_Chauche
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Ion - Triggering cues from SMPTE can the time code skip?

Hi,

I'm preparing to do a show with an Ion where the music is all recorded.  As such there is talk among the various teams of syncing up sound/video/lighting.  It seems like the other teams are leaning towards SMPTE which I know the Ion can do with a Show Control Gateway so no problems there.

 

What I'm worried about is going through tech linking lots of our cues to the time code then having a portion of music cut or added to a song.  So lets say they cut 15 seconds out of a track, would we then have to go through and change the time code for every cue in the events list?  Can the time code be chopped up so that it just skips those 15 seconds?  If it doe jump, will the Ion possibly lag or trip up as it tries to realign with the skipped time?

Is there any reason to consider Midi Time Code instead of SMPTE?

Any help is appreciated.

 

Thanks 

  • 0

    well, the advantage of Midi Time Code would be that you don't need a show control gateway for the Ion. as for protocol pros and cons someone else will have to help.

    regarding your questions of cutting a part of the original time code and thus changing the time on a range of cues: while i never have used it before, it has come up on trainings and i'm pretty sure the syntax should work. but maybe try it in the offline editor or have someone confirm.

    something like Event 1/5 Through 10 Time - 15 Enter should deduct 15 seconds from Events 5 through 10 on event list 1.

    but please confirm this!

  • 0

    SMPTE LTC is an audio track that encodes the time - it used to be the 9th track on an 8-track tape.

    If you cut both the music and LTC track the same, the time at a given bar will still be the same.
    - And if you can't do that, then I'd be more worried about the drum track going out of sync with the horn track!

    MIDI Timecode is the same information, just sent via MIDI. Software and hardware exists to convert between the two.
    MTC may be harder to keep synced with the audio during editing as it may not be stored as an audio track.

    Timecode can stop and restart at any time.

    However, you should not have any events within the first few seconds of the timecode stream, because it takes some time for the devices to 'sync' to a new timecode stream.

    This mean you always need some "preroll" before the first event - I would suggest a minimum of 5 seconds.
    (Similar to the top of a click track used to sync live musicians to prerecorded backing.)

    It's also advisable to give yourself at least 10 seconds at the start of the "tape" so you can check that your console really is receiving good timecode before anything happens - and have time to stop and restart if it isn't!

    For example, you might have the music and event sequence start at 1-hour, and start the timecode at 00:59:50:00 or similar for ten seconds of nothing before 01:00:00:00 and the show start.

  • 0

    It's pretty easy to move events around and subtract time. You could say [Event][2][1][Thru][5][0][Time][-][1][5][0][0][Enter] to remove 15 seconds from that range of events (cues), for example.

    If the SMPTE jumps, it can take a couple of frames to re-sync, but nothing major.

    MIDI Time Code would work largely the same - the only advantage it has (besides direct Ion availability as Ueli says) is that it is a digital signal.

    Hope that helps-

    Luke

  • 0 in reply to luke.delwiche

    I tried out moving even times and it was just as you said.  Knowing that, I'm less apprehensive about moving forward with the project.  Since adjusting time on the Ion seems easy enough I don't think we will have to worry about cutting down the track time but its good to know that it would work in theory.  

    Thanks for all the help!

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