Multiplay - Basic Program Walkthrough

This article will run briefly through each feature of Multiplay. 

All of this information can be found in the help manual, but is presented from the point of view of the end user, and thus will focus more on the features that I use most often in my shows.

A blank show file in Multiplay

Above is what you will be presented with upon opening Multiplay for the first time after installing. By default, the program will open the most recently closed show file each time you start it up, which comes in handy when you're working on the one show for a long period as you don't generally need to go digging through folders to find your show each time.

Left to Right: File Menu, Edit Menu, View Menu, Tools Menu, Help Menu
Open Production, Quicksave, Edit Production Properties, General Configuration, Layout Menu, Message Centre

Menu bar and Top Toolbar

The buttons in the Menu Bar should be fairly self explanatory if you've been using windows software for any length of time.
The next bar down contains:
Open Existing Production - Allows you to pick a Multiplay show file to open.
Quicksave - Saves the current show file to its previous save location, or opens a Save As window (currently grayed out because no changes have been made yet).
Edit Production Properties - Opens a window to change the Production specific preferences.
General Configuration - Opens a window to change the program wide preferences.
Layout Menu - Dropdown menu to choose from your saved layouts.
Message Centre - Dropdown menu that shows any error or caution messages about invalid cues, broken cues, etc.

Left to Right: Stop All Cues, Fade All Cues Out and Stop, Go Next Cue,
Sychronise Cursor with Selected Cue, (Unknown), Audio Cue, Blank Audio Cue,
Playlist Cue, Control Cue, Wait Cue, Serial Cue, Midi Cue, Midi Mute Cue, MSC Cue (Not Working),
Midi Mute Cue, Midi Sequence Cue, Video Cue, Memo Cue, Telnet Cue, Launch Cue

Cue List Tool Bar
The first five buttons directly control aspects of the cue playback and are:
Stop All Cues - When pressed, immediately stops all running cues.
Fade All Out and Stop - Fades all running cues (time set in General Configuration > Cues) and stop them.
Go Next Cue - Plays the currently selected Cue.
Sychronise Cursor with Selected Cue - Binds the cursor to the currently selected cue. E.g. With it not selected, if Cue No. 1 is selected (as denoted by a green arrow next to it), when the cursor (by default the cue will be purple) is moved down to Cue No. 2 and you press space, Cue No. 1 will play.

Next are the cue insert buttons:
Audio Cue - Opens a windows explorer window to browse files and select an audio file to add as a cue.
Empty Audio Cue - Inserts an empty audio cue to which an audio file can later be added. Good for when you know where a sound cue is going but don't have the required audio file.
Play List Cue - Inserts a play list of audio files that will present as one cue in the cue list. Useful for perhaps playing a set list of songs as background music prior to a show.
Control Cue - This type of cue has various options such as: Cue Start/Stop/Pause/Resume/Change, Volume/Pan/Pitch, Fade All Previous, Exit Loop, Set Position, Stopwatch Start/Stop/Reset.
Wait Cue - Inserts cue that will wait for the selected time then play the next cue after it.
Serial Cue - Inserts a cue that will send a serial command to the selected serial output.
Midi Cue - Inserts a cue that will send a midi command to the selected midi output.
MSC Cue - (Midi Show control) This feature is not implemented in the program at current.
Midi Mute Cue - Inserts a cue that will send a midi mute command to the selected midi output.
Midi Sequence Cue - Inserts a cue that will play a midi file.
Video Cue - Inserts a cue that will play the selected video file or display the selected image. (To display an image, in the windows explorer window the file type option needs to be changed to "All files")
Memo - Inserts a cue that basically just displays text in the cuelist as a note to yourself/the operator.
Telnet Cue - Inserts a cue that will output a telnet command to the selected output.
Launch Cue - Inserts a cue that will launch an external program.

An Empty Cue List

Cue List
The Cue List displays lots of useful information about your cues. Any of these columns can be hidden or moved around as desired by the user.
Enabled - Displays a checkbox that enables a cue (by default all cues are enabled when created). Disabled cues will be skipped during playback, and will not play even if you manually select them.
Q# - Shows the Cue Number.
Hot - Shows the Hot Key associated with the cue.
Script Ref - Shows the Script Reference associated with the cue.
Description - The label of the cue (By default this is the filename of the audio file).
Duration - How long the audio file is.
Elapsed - During playback, this shows how long the cue has been playing.
Remaining - During playback, this shows how long left until the end of the cue.
Vol - Shows what level the cue is currently at. This is dynamic and changes during the playback if the volume ever changes, E.g. if you set an end fade on the cue.
Pan - Shows the current pan value of the cue.
Pitch - Shows the current pitch value of the cue.
Loops - Shows how many times the cue is set to loop through.
Advance - Shows where the cursor will advance to after the cue has been started.
Output - Shows which audio output the cue is being sent too.

Left - Default View. Right - Default plus Stop and Fade Buttons

Cue Buttons Window
This window can display several different widgets. The most basic of these are the "Go", "Stop" and "Fade" buttons which are basically hot keys for the same buttons on the Cue List Tool Bar.

The other widgets are:
Cue controls - Contains several options to control the current cue such as: pause, stop, fade out, volume, pitch, pan, restart, prev track, next track, end jump, position.
Notes - Displays the notes associated for the current cue as well the cue before and the cue after.
Advance Button - Moves the cursor forwards by one.
Clock - Displays the time (based on the system clock).
Stopwatch - Displays the stopwatch which operates as you would expect.
Elapsed Time - Shows the elapsed time of the currently running cue. This is updated each time a new cue is played.
Remaining Time - As with the Elapsed Time widget, but displays the remaining time.
Video Preview - Shows a preview of the selected video cue (Right click on cue and select preview).
Hot Buttons - Displays the Hot Buttons window. The number of buttons can be changed in the Production properties menu, but each individual button is customized by right clicking and selecting "Properties".
External Tools - Shows all of the added (General Config menu) external tools.
Previewer - The preview window allows you to navigate through folders on the computer and preview sound files through Multiplay before adding them as cues.


I hope this gives a good brief breakdown of the programs interface and that it will give you a good starting point to using Multiplay for your shows. The best way of learning how to use software, in my opinion, is to just jump in and start pressing buttons and working out what everything does. Even better if you have something specific you want to achieve, such as a sound cue list for a show, as it gives you something to work towards and perfect.

The next article in this series will go through the basics of how to add audio cues and change some of the settings.

Free Music Cue Software: Multiplay

If you have been around theatre tech for any length of time, you may have heard of "Qlab" a program used to play back music and sound effects, send out midi cues, control projections and, in the most recent version, control light fixtures using DMX512.

It is an amazing program, but presents a few problems for use in an amateur setting, the biggest of which is the cost. The second largest obstacle to it being used, is the fact that it only runs on macOS which, somewhat funnily enough, also boils down to cost. Most theatre groups are generally not able to afford splashing out for a Mac just for running tech. There are lots of free or cheaper options available on Windows, which is much more attainable with a low budget.

This all brings me to the focus of this article: Multiplay

Multiplay is a great little program given the price (It's very low, I swear!), but this glowing praise does come with a couple of cautions. Firstly, the software hasnt been in active development since late 2013, which means there is no support (that I am aware of anyway) from the developer. I've also never found any decent tutorials that really go trough the programs full capabilities. Secondly, because it is freeware, Multiplay is not without it's bugs and quirks. The biggest one of these is the reliability in relation to file types. Audio cues tend to only work with MP3 or WAV files as far as I have found so far, and even then, sometimes files of those types don't work. I think this is related to the bit-rate or some other aspect of files (I am by no means an expert on sound file types or digital audio). The other major flaw that I've come across is that the Video playback has never been particularly useful. I admit, I haven't really put any effort into testing it thoroughly, but the few times that I did try to use it, it didn't work very well if at all.

Putting those aside, in general Multiplay is a very useful program if you need to playback Music or sound cues for your show with no budget for tech. But its use extends beyond just sound. In my opinion, the second most useful feature offered is the ability to send Midi commands. With this, it is possible to control other programs, which can streamline the tech requirements for a show greatly. In fact, it is possible to (with a bit of trial and error and using other software) run an entire show via one cuelist.

I recommend that any Techies who don't have access to a big budget check out Multiplay. Give it a shot, run a show with it and see how you like it.

If you have come across any decent alternatives that are cheap or free, let me know in the comments. I'm always looking to expand my repertoire of decent software to help run shows.

Welcome

My name is Chris Keuken and I like to tech for theatre shows. This blog will document what I do and how I approach various problems and shows.

Please leave a comment if there's anything you want to know about what I do, or would like to know more about a show.