Q-SYS Corner

[Steve Guttag]

9.4.0 has now hit the streets.

[Steve Guttag]

What's New in 9.4.0

Version 9.4.0 includes these new features, updates, and resolved issues.

Platform

Q-SYS Scaling Licenses for Core Nano and Core 8 Flex

Audio

Q-SYS NL Series Network Loudspeakers
Q-SYS QIO Series Audio I/O Expanders
Delay Component: Distance and Temperature

Video

NC Series: Is Moving LED

Control

Q-SYS TSC Series Gen 3
Media Display: Support for live camera preview streams in UCIs
Q-SYS QIO Series Control I/O Expanders
Color Picker
UCI Styles: Support for CSS render styles
Scripting: EzSVG support
Scripting: State Trigger control
Scripting: VSCode script editor
Scripting: Dante API

Management

Multicast TTL for camera and AV streams
Direct access to Core Manager and Peripheral Manager from Configurator
Enterprise Manager: Assets viewer enhancements

Resolved Known Issues

• Video: Stability for the USB Video Bridge "Auto Privacy" feature has been improved.
• Video: Recalling a snapshot with Manual White Balance values now applies those values right away, without having to load the snapshot a second time.
• Control: Plugins configured to accept serial control connections now receive serial commands if they are attached to a Command Buttons component.
• Management: The Core Manager > Status page no longer shows "Unavailable" immediately following a design deploy.
• Platform: Zooming in Designer now focuses on the location of the cursor rather than the selected component.
• Platform: Some peripherals no longer temporarily show as "Missing" after re-deploying a design and Dynamic Pairing is enabled.
• Platform: Designs that contain a large number of plugins now compile much faster when deploying or emulating.
• Platform: Designs that contain SSH connections (or plugins that use SSH, such as Zoom Rooms) no longer cause the Q-SYS_Designer_Trace.log file to become excessively large.

[Leo Enticknap]

What's New in 9.4.0

It made my computer throw a BSOD the first time I opened it after installation, an achievement that no earlier version has managed.

[Steve Guttag]

So far, the two computers I've loaded 9.4.0 on have been incident free. One of them is a virtual machine on an iMac running parallels. All machines are Win10Pro. I have one more to load it on.

[Leo Enticknap]

It doesn't like my home desktop (home build machine based on an MSI motherboard and Intel Core i7 CPU, running Windows 10 Pro), because it's provoked a BSOD twice. On my field laptop (Dell Inspiron somethingorother with a Core i5; doesn't state the model number on the chassis), it works fine. It has triple boot partitions for Windows 10 Pro, Windows 11 Pro, and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, and Q-Sys 9.4 runs fine on both versions of Windows. My guess is a hardware conflict on the desktop. I have a Blackmagic HD-SDI and HDMI capture card in the desktop, a cheap analog video capture card (composite, component and S-video), a fiber SFP Ethernet card, and a hardware RAID controller card. I guess one of those must be having a bad interaction with the software. All previous Q-Sys versions have run on that configuration without any problems, though.

[Steve Guttag]

Heads up. I just encountered a quirk with the DPA-Q/CX-Q amplifiers. The site uses all "K" series so DPA 4K8Q, DPA 8K8Q and DPA 2K4Q. The amps have been on for about 270-days (going into standby at night). Within days/hours of each other, they would stop outputting audio. There were no errors showing and hover-mon indicated good audio all of the way up to the amplifier. The output meters (wattage, for example) would be zero). A soft reboot via Peripheral Manager (or Configurator if you are on QDS 8.4.0 or earlier) will restore the audio. I had 6 amplifiers go into a weird "PTP version Mismatch" type error but the rest at the site didn't do that (we're talking about 36 amplifiers). Naturally, once, this was determined to not be a 1-off oddity, the rest of the amplifiers were rebooted preemptively and never showed the issue.

The versions of QDS in use at the site were 8.4.0 on one CORE 110C and 9.0.0 on a pair of CORE 510C (running in primary/backup configuration). Dual redundant networks are in use. There was no need to reboot the CORE(s) to restore stable operation...this is an amplifier issue. In talking with others, I've found that another entity has seen this issue and with the same time-frame (between 6-12 months).

[Leo Enticknap]

...and I discovered a bug in 9.4.0 Designer the hard way. I moved a component from one position in a schematic page to another, and it simply disappeared when I let go of the mouse button. File > undo did not bring it back again, and nothing else I tried would. Someone at QSC told me that it was possibly because the design had originally been created in 8.something, and I then opened it to modify it for a new project, then saved it as a 9.4 file. He advised me to start again by copying and pasting everything from the pre-existing schematic into a new 9.4 design file, recreating the inventory items, then saving. I haven't experienced this bug again after doing that.

[Steve Guttag]

Except, one cannot copy/paste snapshots! That would be a huge issue for me because I use snapshots for my formats. I hope they fix it. Note, I never go to the latest version of anybody's firmware right away. If I have a new site, I'll put my toe in the water of what is current but I always start one version back to ensure if there is a problem with the new version that I have a safe version. Even if I need to tweek a design, it is done at the older version and then a copy saved at the new version. I trust nobody.

[Leo Enticknap]

This is a new site, and my rule of thumb is to use whatever is the current version for a new site, the rationale being that this gives us the longest time possible before support ends, hardware starts to be deprecated, etc.

Yes; I had to reconstruct the snapshots, too. However, in new designs, I am trying to move away from snapshots in favor of block controller scripts wherever feasible, largely for the reason you give (block controller components can be copied and pasted between designs, but snapshot components cannot).

[Steve Guttag]

I minimize the number of snapshots I use but my pinknoise generator and format selector remain snapshot driven. On new designs, I always start 1 version back, as mentioned. I then save it in the current version as well but I always have that 1-version back copy...until the new version proves itself.

A "trick" for snapshot copy is that while one cannot directly copy a snapshot, you can copy its settings. That is you can copy from an existing snapshot to a new one and it will take those settings (presuming it is identical on what it is controlling so on say a mixer with snap shots...you recall setting 1...then copy the mixer's settings of the old one to the new one, then save the snapshot in the new one...repeat for each preset.

Another trick I use, which would be affected by your revelation is that I start with a complex that is identical in screen count or larger (with the same features) and then remove what the new site doesn't need. It greatly speeds up deployment. It also creates uniformity in the designs.

[Elia Orselli]

Yesterday 9.4.1 was released:

Version 9.4.1 is a maintenance release of the Q-SYS platform. It includes these resolved issues.
Resolved Known Issues

• Platform: Check Design no longer erroneously flags designs with 9 or more AEC channels (but consume less than 50% CAT 2 processing – as is the case with 9-12 AEC channels at 100ms tail length) as requiring a Collaboration Bundle scaling license.
• Platform: Designs that contain routing of more than 16 Q-LAN channels from an I/O-Frame are now properly flagged as invalid.
• Platform: Designs that contain routing of more than 32 network Tx or Rx streams (but not more than 128 network Tx or Rx channels) now compile properly while indicating the requirement for either the Collaboration Bundle or Commercial AV scaling license.
• Control: Plugins configured to accept serial control connections now receive serial commands if they are attached to a Command Buttons component.
• Management: An issue that caused Core Manager to display information about a previously running design has been fixed.
• Management: Functionality has been restored in Configurator that allows for viewing the IP address of a discoverable but unreachable Core or peripheral due to misconfigured network settings.

[Steve Guttag]

QDS 9.4.2 is now in release.

What's New in 9.4.2

Version 9.4.2 is a maintenance release of the Q-SYS platform. It includes these resolved issues.
Resolved Known Issues

• Platform: An issue that could cause a Q-SYS Core processor to become unresponsive due to the size of the Core Manager event log (qrcm.log) has been resolved.
• Platform: An issue that could cause a Q-SYS Core processor to report its own IP address as an "unauthorized host" in the Q-SYS log has been resolved.
• Audio: Standalone mode gain, mute, and filter settings are now properly restored after a CXD-Q network amplifier power cycle.
• Control: Core 8 Flex clock synchronization to a GPS receiver now functions properly, without a "Fault - gps_manager disconnected" error.
• Control: An issue where Block Controller System blocks would not properly show when working on designs that include TSCs has been resolved.
• Control: An issue involving snapshot save time that could inadvertently cause a Q-SYS Core processor to become unresponsive has been resolved.

In other news, QSC announced the SPA-Q series of amplifiers (2-channel and 4-channel). Each version will have 60W/Channel output, 2-channel Flex In/Out and a 6 position GPIO. In cinema, these sorts of amps could be used for lobby, restroom, VIP rooms (particularly with that Flex I/O one could drive a powered subwoofer). Like the QIO components that have just been released, the SPA-Q are single NIC devices so no network redundancy. There is no announced release date or pricing but if the QIO announcement to release is any indication, I wouldn't be surprised to see them some time this fall or early winter with supply chain issues, particularly for digital/analog audio being a prime factor.

Gen 3 touch screens are shipping (just received our first set). Among other things, Gen 3 touch screens have controllable LEDs in four quadrants (and are multicolor). Hopefully, they will not be a delicate as their predecessors (though we've only had one that came in damaged, TSC-80-G2), and another, TSC-7, that needed to be replaced.

[Elia Orselli]

Qsc released a new online training: Level 2 Cinema
https://training.qsc.com/course/view.php?id=105

There's the prerequisite of level 2 training (but only to pass the exam).

[Steve Guttag]

That is a link to the Cinema 2 Level "Bridge" course. I, honestly, know nothing about it. I attended the first Cinema Level 2...which, really, didn't have anything I'd call Level-2 in it...it was more of sales pitch, it seemed to me...they were clearly still figuring that one out. I submitted my exam but never received a certification...but did receive a jacket. I suspect that my Level-2 wouldn't be recognized by the modern system.

[Elia Orselli]

I've received the link via the newsletter today and just started the first module. It's called "bridge" because it's meant for people with standard level 2 training and that wants to take the cinema level 2 online (the in person class is available US only).
This is the newsletter message:

Already finished Standard Q-SYS Level 2 certification AND Q-SYS Cinema Level 1 certification? This new training course was developed specifically for YOU! This new on-demand course accelerates your path to Cinema Level 2 certification by skipping the parts you already learned in Standard Q-SYS Level 2 training and takes you straight to advanced Cinema concepts to fill in the gaps.

• Configure Q-SYS to implement immersive audio formats such as Dolby Atmos
• Understand and modify all elements of a functioning Q-SYS design for cinema
• Control common cinema third-party devices using Q-SYS
• Build a user control interface (UCI) designed for multiplexes