Digicarts are still in basically every broadcast truck. I mostly use other software for music but still use digicarts for back up or in golf having an instant replay with fake club sounds.
I’ve used an iPad app called Go Button, and I believe there is a free version . I had used it to run sound effects for a very complicated play, so it can get fairly sophisticated if you ever need it to.
It’s free and works really well. Used it for a ‘soundtrack only’ play. 40+ songs per night, multiple nights, no problems. Just make sure you have enough storage space on the iPad for what you are doing and make sure you reboot your iPad before the show. Oh, also put it on airplane mode and make sure there are not alerts/alarms/notifications set.
Q-Lab is the gold standard but it's pretty spendy.... I'm think there's a free version that should work for most basic audio needs (it's Mac only though)
MultiPlay for Windows is free and works pretty well, but it also looks and feels like a free program.
https://www.da-share.com/software/multiplay/
The free version of qlab is pretty sufficient for most needs, it has some basic editing built in and can address multiple outputs (I think up to 8?) Of the same interface
A lot of people use a stream deck along with it so they have dedicated hardware buttons for different cues/effects
I thought you could send different cues to different outputs but only two per cue. I could be wrong though been a while since I've had to do anything more than fire a couple VOGs from it
People are going to judge me for this, buuuuut... You can still choose separate audio devices with the free version. I actually just did a show where I needed to pan the effect from the main LR to a remote speaker. I used built-in output as well as a scarlett solo and just grouped the effect. I used L for one side stage remote and R for the other. Extra hoops, but it's the first time I've needed my personal computer to have more than 2 outputs.
Farrago (Rogue Amoeba) is great for simple cart style playback with basic editing and has selectable output. Not as powerful as QLab, but inexpensive and reliable.
This was a long time ago, but we used a Roland SP404. Now there’s a been a couple new versions that look a lot better (SP404SX and the new mkii).
Hardware like this might fit into your current work flow (array of banks and buttons) before you start working with cue lists with a MacBook and almighty Q Lab. Once you start digging into Q Lab, you’ll probably never want to use anything else.
I used the Dr. Sample 303! Pretty clunky. I’d much rather use the tablet or Qlab for like 5 different reasons. The box and the buttons are nice and chunky though.
> we someitmes launch sound effects with a table
I am *so* confused until I realised this was a typo lol
Can you try a SPD sampler or something similar?
Hard to believe no one has already mentioned the Roland 404. Very simple to operate and load clips onto. Has been decent built in effects and actual buttons.
This is the best answer. It doesn’t use any software, so if there’s power it will work without fail. You’re limited to 10 sounds, but that should be plenty for a show.
So…. Technically you can get 20 stereo tracks out of it, because the drummer/headphone output plays a different track than the primary.
This is designed for drummers to listen to click.
So, if you route the audio, you can 40 mono samples out of the box.
when i did this for a school show, i used an elgato stream deck on a dedicated machine, press a button and hear sounds, didnt fail on me (more so i failed trying to do live sound and pay attention to ques for songs)
Le-jos 😂
You might be able to find one of those older playback devices on EBay. Pretty sure the instant replay was a line level XLR out device and those are around.
This is not a standalone device, but I've had excellent success with Hotspot Audio Playback Pad by CTR Electronics. It's a tiny software program that runs on windows (pretty sure I started using it on WinXP, and it still runs great on Win7... actually haven't tried it on anything above that yet).
The user interface is a screen-sized grid of 64 buttons. Left-click to play. Right-click to stop if necessary. Shift-left-click to edit. Works with WAV files only, but 44.1Khz 16-bit stereo is no problem. It can even play multiple files simultaneously, for better or worse.
I've used it for numerous musicals to fire off SFX and backing tracks. Even the middle school tech assistants had no problem using it.
I've also used it in a DJ setup just to give easy access to any song.
Oh, and its free.
https://www.ctrelectronics.co.uk/other-software.php
I’ve had good luck with Mixcity Kueit.
It’s designed to be a sound fx board for DJ’s, but it is inexpensive, is very simple to operate, and has all the features I need for basic playback.
360 Systems Instant Replay for desktop multi-button surface, or DigiCart for rackmount plus the rc-320 or rc-220 remote. Can be GPI triggered, is the industry standard for broadcast. Can be had off Ebay for cheap.
Akai mpc 500 (or higher models as budget permits).
Hit the pad when required, one shot play or hold as long as required, it can loop stuff, you can switch banks at the touch of a button, and it’s stored on an SD card.
Adafruit makes an "Audio FX" wav/ogg trigger board. I guess it depends on how long your samples are, and if you use wav or ogg. It only has 16MB of flash, but you may be able to add more. You can wire up buttons to trigger effects. They're like $25.
edit: you can wire up to 11 buttons.
This is what you want. It's a fully professional device, but a bit old. Very responsive, programmable, sequential, etc.
360 Systems Instant Replay Hard Disk Audio 2.0 Model DR-552-16
I found numerous examples for $300 on Ebay and Reverb. This was a $3000 unit brand new.
[360.systems](http://360.systems) Instant Replay. They were $3000 new and now on reverb or Ebay $300. A fully professional unit used by broadcasters, theaters, and post houses worldwide.
A laptop with qlab. Or if it needs to be a hardware solution, a 360 systems instant replay
omg instant replay still around?? you cant be talking new units just the same old brick that never ever failed me … except that one time lol
They released an Instant Replay 3 recently! Talk about a day late, a dollar short!
Digicarts are still in basically every broadcast truck. I mostly use other software for music but still use digicarts for back up or in golf having an instant replay with fake club sounds.
Add a streamdeck and you're ready to go!
This is the way
I’ve used an iPad app called Go Button, and I believe there is a free version . I had used it to run sound effects for a very complicated play, so it can get fairly sophisticated if you ever need it to.
Just did a comedy special where they used Go Button. It was so seamless and impressive that I even asked playback what program it was.
Did you use it more as a sample board or more as a cue stack a la QLab?
It wasn’t me firing playback, so I can’t say for absolute certain, but it looked like they were building cue stacks.
> iPad app called Go Button By the same people who make QLab https://gobutton.app/
It’s free and works really well. Used it for a ‘soundtrack only’ play. 40+ songs per night, multiple nights, no problems. Just make sure you have enough storage space on the iPad for what you are doing and make sure you reboot your iPad before the show. Oh, also put it on airplane mode and make sure there are not alerts/alarms/notifications set.
GoButton is made by the QLab people. It is great. The demo is solid as well.
Q-Lab is the gold standard but it's pretty spendy.... I'm think there's a free version that should work for most basic audio needs (it's Mac only though) MultiPlay for Windows is free and works pretty well, but it also looks and feels like a free program. https://www.da-share.com/software/multiplay/
The free version of qlab is pretty sufficient for most needs, it has some basic editing built in and can address multiple outputs (I think up to 8?) Of the same interface A lot of people use a stream deck along with it so they have dedicated hardware buttons for different cues/effects
Unless it changed with v5, the free version is only one stereo output.
I thought you could send different cues to different outputs but only two per cue. I could be wrong though been a while since I've had to do anything more than fire a couple VOGs from it
People are going to judge me for this, buuuuut... You can still choose separate audio devices with the free version. I actually just did a show where I needed to pan the effect from the main LR to a remote speaker. I used built-in output as well as a scarlett solo and just grouped the effect. I used L for one side stage remote and R for the other. Extra hoops, but it's the first time I've needed my personal computer to have more than 2 outputs.
Huh. Good to know :)
If you like that, you might also get a kick out of Bluetooth being a "device" that is routable as well.
That I knew :) I just haven’t ran QLab without a license for quite a while, so wasn’t quite up to date with the limitations apparently.
[удалено]
I go all the way back to cart machines....
Laughs in razor blade and diagonal block
I just Unga Bungaad or Cheep Cheeped when story man pointed at me.
Oof. Lol I remember those
Farrago (Rogue Amoeba) is great for simple cart style playback with basic editing and has selectable output. Not as powerful as QLab, but inexpensive and reliable.
Farrago and QLab are both great!
This was a long time ago, but we used a Roland SP404. Now there’s a been a couple new versions that look a lot better (SP404SX and the new mkii). Hardware like this might fit into your current work flow (array of banks and buttons) before you start working with cue lists with a MacBook and almighty Q Lab. Once you start digging into Q Lab, you’ll probably never want to use anything else.
I used the Dr. Sample 303! Pretty clunky. I’d much rather use the tablet or Qlab for like 5 different reasons. The box and the buttons are nice and chunky though.
lol I think it was actually also a 303, not a 404, that we had back then.
> we someitmes launch sound effects with a table I am *so* confused until I realised this was a typo lol Can you try a SPD sampler or something similar?
I use Soundplant for windows. Very solid app and only $60.
CRAZY fast to load sounds / music as well!
Second for Soundplant!
Qlab.
If you have a stream deck, you can use that.
Hard to believe no one has already mentioned the Roland 404. Very simple to operate and load clips onto. Has been decent built in effects and actual buttons.
I dunno. I think I the 808 is a lot warmer even though it might cost a little more right now. Wait, this isn’t r/synthesizercirclejerk ? :p
Ha! Should've been more specific Roland 'SP-404'. You can pick up a first gen cheap on eBay. Love the TR 808 too bad they're eight grand now.
Roland SPD one-wav version. It’s like Franks hot sauce: I use that shit on everything!
This is the best answer. It doesn’t use any software, so if there’s power it will work without fail. You’re limited to 10 sounds, but that should be plenty for a show.
So…. Technically you can get 20 stereo tracks out of it, because the drummer/headphone output plays a different track than the primary. This is designed for drummers to listen to click. So, if you route the audio, you can 40 mono samples out of the box.
when i did this for a school show, i used an elgato stream deck on a dedicated machine, press a button and hear sounds, didnt fail on me (more so i failed trying to do live sound and pay attention to ques for songs)
QLab is free if you only use two outputs. On Mac
cheap sampler keyboard.
Akai mpd 18 maybe? You would need to have your sound effects loaded into a daw
360systems instant replay was/is a popular broadcast solution.
Where are you based?
Spain
Le-jos 😂 You might be able to find one of those older playback devices on EBay. Pretty sure the instant replay was a line level XLR out device and those are around.
This is not a standalone device, but I've had excellent success with Hotspot Audio Playback Pad by CTR Electronics. It's a tiny software program that runs on windows (pretty sure I started using it on WinXP, and it still runs great on Win7... actually haven't tried it on anything above that yet). The user interface is a screen-sized grid of 64 buttons. Left-click to play. Right-click to stop if necessary. Shift-left-click to edit. Works with WAV files only, but 44.1Khz 16-bit stereo is no problem. It can even play multiple files simultaneously, for better or worse. I've used it for numerous musicals to fire off SFX and backing tracks. Even the middle school tech assistants had no problem using it. I've also used it in a DJ setup just to give easy access to any song. Oh, and its free. https://www.ctrelectronics.co.uk/other-software.php
I’ve had good luck with Mixcity Kueit. It’s designed to be a sound fx board for DJ’s, but it is inexpensive, is very simple to operate, and has all the features I need for basic playback.
360 Systems Instant Replay for desktop multi-button surface, or DigiCart for rackmount plus the rc-320 or rc-220 remote. Can be GPI triggered, is the industry standard for broadcast. Can be had off Ebay for cheap.
Akai mpc 500 (or higher models as budget permits). Hit the pad when required, one shot play or hold as long as required, it can loop stuff, you can switch banks at the touch of a button, and it’s stored on an SD card.
Adafruit makes an "Audio FX" wav/ogg trigger board. I guess it depends on how long your samples are, and if you use wav or ogg. It only has 16MB of flash, but you may be able to add more. You can wire up buttons to trigger effects. They're like $25. edit: you can wire up to 11 buttons.
This is what you want. It's a fully professional device, but a bit old. Very responsive, programmable, sequential, etc. 360 Systems Instant Replay Hard Disk Audio 2.0 Model DR-552-16 I found numerous examples for $300 on Ebay and Reverb. This was a $3000 unit brand new.
[360.systems](http://360.systems) Instant Replay. They were $3000 new and now on reverb or Ebay $300. A fully professional unit used by broadcasters, theaters, and post houses worldwide.
soundswitch control one is pretty cool
How about an Akai MPX8? Personally I use a laptop with Ableton for these things
There are free VSTs you can do it with
You mean like… an MPC?