Tomated and Synchronized ; Systems in Live Performance ; by John
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Methods of System Synchronization and Interconnection for Live Performance By John Huntington A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Yale School of Drama Department of Technical Design and Production In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts in Drama From Yale University May, 1990 © John Huntington 1990 Acknowledgements Page iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people who assisted me during the writing of this thesis, and I want to thank them here, in no particular order: Glenn Birket, Founder of Kinetix - Helped define the direction of this thesis and got me access to systems at Disney. Keith Pollock, Software Engineer at Kinetix - Supplied information about Disney's Indy show. Steve Bartlett, Projectionist for Pink Floyd's Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour- Supplied information about the Pink Floyd SMPTE system and was one of my readers. Associates and Ferren - Where I used to work, and where I was introduced to SMPTE Time Code, PLC's, and many of the other concepts discussed in this thesis. Paul Lehrman, Composer/Author/Teacher - Read over the MIDI section and wrote an excellent MTC article in Keyboard. Charlie Richmond, Richmond Sound Design - Supplied information about his systems on the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, the Siegfried and Roy show, and his work on a MIDI standard. Mark Koenig, at Lone Wolf (MediaLink) - Checked over and supplied information for the MediaLink Section. Joe Fitzpatrick, at ShowNet - Supplied information about and read over the ShowNet section, and hooked me up with: Scott Cunningham, of LASER Design - Supplied me information about and access to his ShowNet-controlled systems on the Mötley Crüe Tour. Fraser Bresnahan, Visual Production Supervisor for Laurie Anderson - Supplied me information about and access to Laurie Anderson's Strange Angels tour. Jonathon Deans, Sound Designer for Siegfried and Roy - Provided me with the information covered in the S&R section. I want to thank the faculty of the Yale School of Drama for their input and guidance, and especially thank my faculty advisor: Alan Hendrickson, Associate Professor (Adjunct) of Technical Design and Production. Acknowledgements Page iv I also want to thank my readers: Steve Bartlett, Product Manager, JBL Professional Richard A. Gray, President, R.A. Gray, Inc. Steve Terry, Executive Vice President, Production Arts Lighting Finally, I want to thank my parents for giving me the freedom and the educational opportunities to pursue my own goals, whether they understood them or not. Contents Page v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES...................... vii LIST OF TABLES...................... viii PREFACE.......................... ix Scope......................... ix Audience....................... ix Possible Obsolescence.................. x INTRODUCTION......................... 1 SYNCHRONIZATION CONCEPTS................... 4 Master and Slave.................... 5 Event- or Time-Based.................. 5 Relative or Absolute.................. 6 STANDARD INTERCONNECTION METHODS............... 9 Contact Closures and PLC's................. 10 Programmable Logic Controllers............ 10 Disney/MGM Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular...... 13 System Description.................. 13 Operation....................... 15 Other Control Inputs................. 15 Sound System..................... 16 Reasons for Using Contact Closures.......... 17 SMPTE Time Code...................... 18 Description...................... 19 User Bits....................... 19 LTC.......................... 20 VITC......................... 22 Types of Time Code.................. 24 Drop Frame Time Code................. 24 European Time Code.................. 25 Standard Uses of Time Code.............. 26 Pink Floyd and SMPTE Time Code............... 29 System Description.................. 30 Associates and Ferren Automated Film Projection System 31 Time Code Scheme................... 33 Did the Use of Time Code Limit the Performance?.... 34 Expansions of the System............... 34 Problems and Backup.................. 35 Previous Sync Attempts................ 36 MIDI............................ 37 Description...................... 38 Contents Page vi Differences Between SMPTE TC and MIDI......... 38 MIDI Hardware..................... 39 MIDI Messages..................... 40 Channel Messages................... 40 System Messages.................... 42 MIDI Sync....................... 43 MIDI Time Code.................... 44 MTC Messages..................... 45 SMPTE User Bits and Set Up Messages.......... 46 Siegfried and Roy and MIDI Control............. 48 System Description.................. 48 Operation and Backup................. 50 Master Control.................... 50 Advantages of the System............... 51 Possible MIDI Expansions for Theatrical Control...... 52 LOCAL AREA NETWORKS.................... 56 Network Topologies.................. 58 Star Topology..................... 58 Bus Topology..................... 59 Ring Topology..................... 59 Problems with PC Networks for Entertainment Applications ......................... 61 ShowNet.......................... 63 Show Control Computer................. 64 CUE Software Package................. 64 Interfaces...................... 65 Mötley Crüe and ShowNet.................. 66 System Description.................. 66 Manual Operation................... 67 Other Applications.................. 68 Strand's SMX Protocol................... 69 MediaLink......................... 70 MediaLink LAN..................... 70 Datagrams....................... 71 Agents........................ 71 Operating Modes.................... 72 Routing........................ 72 MIDITap........................ 72 CONCLUSION......................... 74 The Future...................... 75 System Description.................. 76 Console Design Philosophy............... 77 Audio System..................... 78 Contents Page vii Drawbacks of the System................ 78 Conclusion...................... 79 Appendix A ANSI/SMPTE 12M-1986.................... 80 Appendix B SMPTE Recommended Practice 136-1986............ 90 Appendix C MIDI 1.0 Specification................... 97 Appendix D MIDI Time Code Specification................ 110 Bibliography........................ 122 Contact Addresses..................... 123 Contents Page viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Simplified Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular Block Diagram........................ 14 Figure 2 Bi-Phase Representation of LTC Frame 16:47:31:23.. 20 Figure 3 Bi-Phase Modulation................ 21 Figure 4 Simple SMPTE TC Synchronization Block Diagram. 26 Figure 5 Pink Floyd Momentary Lapse of Reason Block Diagram 30 Figure 6 Simple MIDI system Block Diagram......... 39 Figure 7 MIDI Interface Schematic............. 39 Figure 8 Simplified Siegfried and Roy System Block Diagram. 49 Figure 9 Star Topology................... 58 Figure 10 Bus Topology................... 59 Figure 11 Ring Topology.................. 60 Figure 12 Token Frame Structure.............. 60 Figure 13 Mötley Crüe Block Diagram............ 66 Figure 14 Simplified "Ideal" System Block Diagram..... 76 Contents Page ix LIST OF TABLES Table I Usage of LTC Bits................. 20 Table II MIDI Channel Messages............... 41 Table III MIDI System Messages............... 43 Table IV MIDI Time Code Messages.............. 46 Table V Possible MIDI SysEx Scheme for Theatrical Control . 53 Preface Page x PREFACE As a child, I often spent my time drawing complex machines. When my mother asked how they would work, I would reply, "You just press a button!" I am still, these many years later, fascinated by systems which cause a series of events to happen automatically with the press of a button. This thesis is a continuation and extension of interests I have had in entertainment control systems for quite some time. I have really enjoyed writing this, and I have learned a great deal in the process. Scope Defining the scope of this thesis has not been an easy task, and it has taken me about a year to really whittle it down to a manageable size. I have limited discussion of synchronization methods and systems to those that have applications for productions in which live performers perform for a live audience. This thesis is as an introduction, not a comprehensive guide, to some of the concepts and methods of control system synchronization and interconnection for the live performance industry. Audience In order to restrict the amount of explanation of terminology and concepts in the thesis, I have made some assumptions about my audience. If I had to provide the background information necessary to enable a layman to understand phrases such as Preface Page xi "asynchronous opto-isolated serial interface" or "16 channels of full bandwidth digital audio", this thesis would probably be 1000 pages long. Besides, those areas have been well covered in a variety of reference works. So, I'm making the following assumptions about my audience: 1) They are familiar with the technical side of the entertainment industry, and specifically have some knowledge of technical theatre. 2) They are computer literate. 3) They are familiar with basic electronics/electricity terminology and concepts. 4) They have some experience with electronic/electrical control systems. Possible Obsolescence Much of the technology discussed in this thesis, while certainly not new to better funded industries, is new to the entertainment business. As I write this in 1990, I am sure that some of the information included