I programmed the show on the free Chamsys MagicQ PC software as a cue stack. This version of the software has a basic built-in visualiser which was ideal for this project, meaning that I knew exactly how the show would look before the kit even arrived. Each cue was set to fire from timecode, although in this case I was using the software's internal timecode, rather than using an external input (a free alternative, given that the interface costs about £650!). The internal timecode starts as soon as the cue stack is activated.
I then recorded the timecode stamps onto the cue stack using the 'Record TC' function, meaning that every time I press 'GO' in real time, the cue stack remembers the timecode stamp. There was one slight problem though - there were 347 cues in 3 mins 29 secs so I had no chance of remembering where they all went! My solution was to notate where every cue went using the Sibelius software (being a musician has its perks), so when I went to record the timecode, I simply read the music and pressed GO every time a note was shown. It did take several takes to get it all completely right!
My next conundrum was the playback: how to get the audio track and the cue stack to line up (the problem with not using an external timecode trigger). I decided to figure out the musical tempo of the song and create a click track (similar to what musicians might use to record to, or keep in time when playing live), but in this case the click track only lasted the duration of 1 bar of music before the song begins. The click track would only come through my headphones (not the main PA!) and once I had heard 4 clicks, establishing the tempo, I knew to press GO on the 5th click. The timecode took care of the rest of the show and I could go and watch!
Here's a video compilation showing the recording of the live show, as well as the pre-visualisation, the cue stack and the click track audio at the beginning:
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