Announcing QLab 5.3

Announcing QLab 5.3, a major update that's free for anyone using QLab 5.

Audio Level Up

The underpinnings of our audio engine have been updated to provide a solid speed boost, which you'll be able to notice in the form of more simultaneous cues and better performance with high sample rates. The audio matrix mixer now supports up to 128 cue outputs, and is flexible so that you can configure audio patches to fit the exact size that you need. Size up for bigger shows, or size down and save on processing power.

Video Power Up

The Workspace Status window gives you access to new video metrics to help you pinpoint bottlenecks and get the most out of your Mac. New feather and shape options in the Shutter effect. Improvements to the behavior of NDI, Syphon, and Blackmagic outputs. New video grids.

Show Control Broadcast

QLab can now optionally broadcast show events via MSC and OSC messages, making it easier for other systems to follow your workspace in performance.

Lots and Lots of Polish

We've made tons of small improvements across the board: better NDI defaults, improvements to keyboard navigation and focus, additions to the OSC dictionary, improvements to the warnings system, new light instrument definitions, new network devices, improvements to collaboration, and a whole lot of big fixes. Thanks for using QLab!

QLab 5.3 Release Notes

★ Stars denote major new features.

5.3

added
A larger, flexible audio matrix. QLab now supports up to 128 cue outputs and 128 device outputs. You can now define exactly how many cue outputs each audio output patch uses, between 1 and 128. Patches which use fewer cue outputs will use less processing power.

added
Improved audio playback performance.

added
The Shutter video effect now supports both feathering and elliptical shutters.

added
New video effect: drop shadow.

added
The Workspace Status window has a new tab, Video Metrics, which displays live frame rate and render time information for each video stage and video output.

added
Show control broadcast. QLab can now optionally send show control messages via OSC and MSC which correspond to basic show events such as GO, panic, reset, and cues starting and stopping. OSC messages can be requested by a client using the new /listen OSC message which has options for specifying the scope of interest. MSC messages can be sent using MIDI patches.

added
The waveform view in the Time & Loops tab of the inspector can now optionally display a specific channel of audio, rather than the sum of all channels. You can adjust which channel is displayed by using the contextual menu (right-click or option-click) in the waveform view.

added
The Hardware tab in QLab Preferences now displays more information about audio devices.

added
Cues playing to NDI video outputs can now use non-NDI audio outputs.

added
You now have an option to disable edge blending on video grids.

added
Support for RGB-formatted input using Blackmagic Designs devices.

added
Support for the new DMXKing MAX devices for USB DMX communication. These include the ultraDMX MAX, the eDMX1 MAX, the eDMX2 MAX, and the eDMX4 MAX.

added
Instrument definitions for the Beamz BAC503, BAC504, BAC509, and Panther 25.

added
Instrument definition for the Blizzard PixelStorm 240.

added
Instrument definition for the Chauvet DJ 4Bar Quad, Cubix 2.0, EZPar 64 RGBA, Mini Kinta, and Wash FX Hex.

added
Instrument definition for CrowdGlow.

added
Instrument definition for the Elation ACL 360 BAR and ACL 360i.

added
Instrument definition for the Eurolite LED PARty TCL Spot, LED PFE-100 RGBW Profile Spot, LED PLL-480 QCL Panel, LED STP-14 Sunbar, LED THA-100F (MK1, MK2, and MK3), and Stage Panel 16 HCL LED.

added
Instrument definition for the Rockville Rock Par 50, Rock Spot 260w, RockOn-7, RockPAR TRI, Rockstrip 252, and Stage Matrix 36 RGB.

added
Instrument definition for the Stairville CLB2.4 Compact LED Par System, Octagon Theater CW WW 36x1W, xBrick Quad 16x8W.

added
You can now lock the selection to the playhead on collaboration remotes. This allows remote collaborators to operate the workspace as if they were sitting at the primary computer.

added
Network cues set to 1D fade and MIDI cues set to fade can now use the linear fade curve type.

added
Network device descriptions for Dan Murfin ShowPlay, DiGiCo SD series consoles, Lightkey 4, VISCA-over-IP camera control, and Yamaha DM3.

added
QLab will now display a warning message if a workspace open cue or close cue has been set, but that cue does not exist.

added
The Timecode Status window now includes resizable, pop-out windows to display incoming and outgoing timecode streams.

added
Paste Cue Properties and batch edit support for Network cues set to 1D fade have been expanded.

added
Paste Cue Properties of fade curve shape now includes the curve's audio domain where applicable.

added
Paste Cue Properties now supports the crop parameter of Video, Camera, and Text cues.

added
Support for batch editing in the Fade cue's geometry tab.

added
Network cue OSC commands /message and /messageError.

added
OSC command /udpReplyPort for UDP clients to optionally request an alternate port for receiving reply, update, and event messages.

changed
NDI has been updated to version 5.6.0.

changed
The default size for a new NDI output is now 1920 × 1080 instead of 1280 × 720.

changed
NDI and Syphon outputs now remain running once activated, even if the workspace is panicked.

changed
Video grids have been updated to provide more information and visual indicators.

changed
Enabling or disabling a video effect no longer causes the view to scroll to the top.

changed
Light Dashboard can now be used in full screen mode.

changed
The currently-playing cue in a Playlist group no longer restarts when a playlist with second trigger action do nothing is re-triggered.

changed
Adding a Load cue to a workspace will now auto-populate that cue with the load time of the selected cue, if any.

changed
Improved error logging of invalid OSC queries.

fixed
Audio discontinuities when editing audio levels or trim on a running cue.

fixed
Audio files with incorrect file extensions can now be opened for playback in more cases.

fixed
A bug that could cause Audio cues to show a length of 0 if the cue's file target is replaced while QLab was not running.

fixed
Clicking around the audio waveform view of a cue that is playing to the audition audio patch no longer changes output back to the non-audition patch.

fixed
The audio waveform view did not update when the currently selected track changed in a Video cue with multiple audio tracks.

fixed
Audio effects on device outputs are now correctly applied in the order that they appear.

fixed
A bug that could sometimes cause Video cues to continue to count down their post-wait after being panicked.

fixed
A bug that caused Camera cues using NDI with audio output to immediately stop.

fixed
A bug that caused Syphon and Blackmagic outputs to double the alpha factor when sending to a receiver which honors alpha information.

fixed
QLab will now attempt to preserve manually-set start and end times in a cue when the cue's file target is replaced.

fixed
Auxiliary windows hidden in show mode took up space in Mission Control.

fixed
A Group cue set to auto-load will now load its grandchildren when it loads itself.

fixed
Improvements to keyboard navigation and focus when working in the Settings tab of the Network cue inspector.

fixed
The MIDI cue and Network cue inspector Send buttons and the audio waveform Preview button all now correctly audition preview when the workspace has Always Audition enabled.

fixed
Outgoing OSC /update and /reply messages now correctly respect the network output override.

fixed
OSC clients will no longer continue to receive /update messages if the passcode they used to connect to QLab has its View permission removed.

fixed
OSC /rate once again supports +/- relative setter syntax.

fixed
After fixing a broken cue, the list, cart, and/or Group which contains that cue will now immediately refresh its own status.

Download 5.3

5.3 is a previous version of QLab. You can find the latest version here.

Version
5.3
Release Date
November 7th, 2023
Requirements
macOS 11 or later