Troubleshooting

Why is this cue broken? / Why is this cue showing a red X? ()

A broken cue has an incomplete or invalid parameter. You must fix the parameter before the cue will run. (Note that a Group Cue is the exception to the rule that a broken cue will not run, because a Group Cue never really runs in the first place. It just contains other cues. The non-broken cues in the group will run normally.)

If you hold your mouse over the red X of the broken cue, QLab will display a tip describing why the cue is broken. The following table lists all the reasons a cue might be broken.

	Cue Type	Ways the cue can be broken
	Group Cue	• A Group Cue is broken if any of the cues it contains are broken.
	Fade Cue	• No target cue. • The cue is an absolute fade but the target is a Group Cue. (Only relative fades may be applied to groups.)
	Goto Cue	• The cue has produced a “zero-wait loopback”. See below.
	Load Cue	• No target cue. • Requires a license to unlock.
	MIDI Cue	• Invalid output device. • Requires a license to unlock.
	MIDI String Cue	• Invalid output device. • String is empty or does not have an even length. • String contains illegal characters. • Requires a license to unlock.
	MSC Cue	• Invalid output device. • Requires a license to unlock.
	Pause Cue	• No target cue. • Requires a license to unlock.
	Reset Cue	• No target cue. • Requires a license to unlock.
	Sound Cue	• Invalid file. • Invalid output device.
	Sound Group Cue	• Contains a broken Sound Cue. • Requires a license to unlock.
	Start Cue	• No target cue. • The cue has produced a “zero-wait loopback”. See below.
	Stop Cue	• No target cue.
	Target Cue	• No target cue. • No target to assign. • Requires a license to unlock.
	Video Cue	• Invalid file. • Invalid display. • Resizable window is positioned offscreen. • Requires a license to unlock.
	Video Fade Cue	• No target cue. • The cue is an absolute fade but the target is a Group Cue. (Only relative fades may be applied to groups.) • Requires a license to unlock.
	Wait Cue	A wait cue cannot be broken.

One reason that some cues can be marked as broken is if their current settings produce a zero-wait loopback. A zero-wait loopback means that the cue produces a cue sequence which instantly fires the original cue again.

Note that it is perfectly valid to create a looping sequence that automatically fires the cue which resets the loop, as long as there is some amount of wait time introduced by at least one of the cues.

Why can’t I make a Sound Cue from this sound file?

Sometimes CoreAudio is unable to successfully open a sound file that other programs can read. CoreAudio is a younger technology than, for example, QuickTime, and is not always able to open a sound file that QuickTime can handle. If you are having trouble opening a particular sound file in QLab, try converting it using a QuickTime application to ensure that it is a valid and “clean” format.

Why doesn’t my sound play correctly?

This may be another instance in which the sound file is not being parsed successfully by CoreAudio. As with files that cannot be opened, try converting the sound using a QuickTime-based application as a “purifying” step.

I’m only getting audio out of my first two channels — what gives?

By default, a mono-channel sound file will only be routed out of the first channel of your audio device, and a stereo sound file will only go out of the first two channels.

To customize the routing for your sound, select your Sound Cue and go to the “Levels” tab in the inspection panel. Use the crosspoint knobs to route the file’s audio channels to each desired output channel of the device. The volume sliders of the active output channels — those which will actually accept a signal — are yellow, while the inactive channels are gray.

My sound is dropping out / glitching after 2 seconds.

The default audio buffer for Sound Cues is two seconds long. A dropout or glitch after two seconds usually means that the hard disk had been put to sleep by the operating system, and is not yet ready to supply more audio data by the time the two second buffer has been used up.

This can usually be fixed by changing the preference to prevent the system from putting hard disks to sleep. Go to System Preferences → Energy Saver → “Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible” and make sure this is NOT checked.

In some cases an external hard disk may not honor this setting, and put itself to sleep after a period of inactivity. In this case you may wish to put in silent “dummy” cues that are fired prior to when you need to make sure the disk is up and running at full speed. The silent cue can be any small, simple audio file with no sound that can be used to force a disk awake.

I tried to move my workspace to another computer using the working directory, but my cues are still broken!

When you move a workspace to a new computer, several parameters of the cues may need to be reset. In addition to the working directory, it is common for audio and video device patches to need assignment in the preferences panel. If you set a new working directory and the cues remain broken, it may simply be that you have fixed one parameter but another parameter remains broken. Hold your mouse over a red X and QLab will tell you why the cue is broken.

You should also make sure that you set the working directory after you move the files to the new computer. QLab rescans all the cues when the working directory is reset, so if you set the working directory first and then later copy over the files, QLab will not recognize that the files exist in the proper locations until the workspace is reopened or the working directory is again reset.

To aid in the process of moving your workspace from one machine to another, QLab offers the “Bundling” feature, available from the File menu. Read more about this feature in Bundling a Workspace.