Be sure to also check out:
- Our Knowledgebase article on the subject of controlling Isadora with QLab using OSC
- More information about QLab's OSC capabilities
- QLab's OSC Dictionary
Like Isadora, QLab is a powerful cueing software tool. Often in theatrical situations, you may want to use Isadora to trigger QLab cues in order to reduce the number of operators required for a given production.
This can be easily accomplished by sending messages to QLab over OSC (Open Sound Control).
Setup
- Download our example file and User Actors for controlling QLab from the TroikaTronix Add-Ons Page.
- If you are running QLab on the same computer as Isadora, you can open the QLab File and the Isadora file on the same computer. If you are using QLab on a different computer than the one running Isadora, you will need to make sure that the computers are networked together on a local area network using ethernet cables and a network switch or router. (You'll want this to be a private network dedicated to communication between the computers. It is not advisable to use wifi for this task, and even less advisable to use a wifi network that has other traffic on it.)
- When you open up the QLab File contained in the download, you can perform the following steps to find the IP address of the computer running QLab.
- Click the gear at the bottom right --> The Settings window will appear.
- In the Settings window, click the "OSC Controls" tab at the bottom of the list along the lefthand side.
- Information about the ports that QLab uses can be found just above the "Command" section.
- Your computer's IP address can be found just above the QLab port information.
- Next, open the Isadora file and take a look at the User Actor in the top left: QLab Set Global IP & Port
- Input the IP address of your QLab computer into the "IP" input of the QLab Set Global IP & Port User Actor. (If you have QLab and Isadora running on the same computer, you can leave this as "localhost" and it should already work.)
- Below that you will find the QLab Get Global IP & Port User Actor.
- Below that, you'll see the QLab Cue Controller User Actor, which will likely be the User Actor you will be interacting with the most, as it is the User Actor that allows you to start, stop, and select cues in QLab.
- To the right of that you will find the QLab Settings User Actor, which can be used to change various QLab Settings.
Using the QLab Cue Controller User Actor
- Input the IP address of your QLab computer into the "IP" input of the QLab Set Global IP & Port User Actor. (If you have QLab and Isadora running on the same computer, you can leave this as "localhost" and it should already work.)
- Next, you can use the QLab Cue Controller to select, start, stop, pause, and resume cues.