Tracking Backup / Playback Sync with Chamsys MagicQ

[LX-Dave]

Hello All,

 

I have done a search and looked through Chamsys' manual and guides but haven't quite found the information I have been looking for...

 

For a show in a couple of months I may be potentially using MagicQ PC (Windows XP SP3) to control lighting, and was hoping to use a second computer (Macbook, OSXLion) running MagicQ as a backup in case the PC fails.

 

I will hopefully be using a PC Wing to control/output from the Windows PC, but the Macbook would have no Chamsys hardware connected (except maybe MagicDMX)

 

I would load the same showfile onto both machines and would like the macbook to follow the playback information (probably a single cue stack) from the PC.

 

Firstly can anyone confirm whether this is possible or not? - i.e. playback synchronisation between different operating systems, where only the master machine has Chamsys hardware connected.

 

Secondly, what hardware and software configuration would be required to do this? I am unlikely to have much of a hire budget (if any) so would probably use DMX out on PC Wing, and MagicDMX on mac, and swap the DMX cable in event of failure, rather than hiring a DMX Merger or using Artnet distribution) Though a DMX merge is probably easier to get hold of for me than artnet if one of these is required)

 

Many Thanks in advance,

 

David

[DonkiDonki]

I have just setup a similar system myself. I have a pcwing and added a chamsys 4port artnet box to achieve seamless backup.

 

If you dont mind swapping the DMX over then you can do it on two magicq pc/consoles. The pc version will need to to be out of demo mode on both systems for tracking backup to work.

[DonkiDonki]

I have just setup a similar system myself. I have a pcwing and added a chamsys 4port artnet box to achieve seamless backup.

 

If you dont mind swapping the DMX over then you can do it on two magicq pc/consoles. The pc version will need to to be out of demo mode on both systems for tracking backup to work.

 

Just to add that I'm not sure if when using the tracking backup facility if you can have different DMX outputs on each system, such as PCwing on one and magicdmx on the other.

As I only have one PCwing(and before I had DMX coming via artnet) I tried hot-swapping the wing between computers. One of the laptops did not like it; crashed sometimes (seemed to get confused with Enttec Pro driver) but another one was rock solid. I found that if I was using the DMX out from the wing that the output froze when I moved the wing's usb between computers and took less than 30 seconds to "pickup" on the new computer. Pretty decent for a semi-seamless backup. (when using artnet the backup kicks in as soon as the output drops from the main system, pretty cool to just unplug the ethernet cable and watch the backup step in)

 

You would still need some chamsys kit of some kind on the backup system to take it out of demo mode or it wont track your programming. (you can still copy showfiles over the network but you have to remember to do it manually. Oh yeah, and of course both systems need to be on the same network for any of this to work)