What you get

The QLab Stage Manager's Desk template is a prompt desk: a big green GO and a red STOP, keys for PAUSE, RESUME, PREV, NEXT and RESET, a PANIC bar, a lamp that lights while any key is down, and a cue sheet with a START key for each of eight cues. Every address is QLab's own, for QLab 4 and 5, and every key already sends to port 53000.

OSCAR's QLab Stage Manager's Desk template: a green GO and a red STOP on a leather pad, brass transport keys, a panic bar, and a paper cue sheet with a START key per cue.
The desk. The card on the right lists every address.

You will need

Set up QLab

Nothing. QLab listens for OSC on port 53000 out of the box. Two things to know:

Set up OSCAR

  1. File → Open project or template → QLab Stage Manager's Desk.
  2. Select every key at once and set its Ip to the Mac running QLab. On the same Mac, localhost is already set.
  3. Press Publish, then Publish in the window, and scan the QR code. GO on the phone is GO in QLab.
  4. For a desk that stays on the stage manager's table all run, use Lock editing (the padlock in the top bar): the interface keeps working on every device while only the computer running OSCAR can change it.

How the keys send

Each key sends its address bare, with no value, and only once, when it is pressed. That matters with QLab: /go with a number would be read as a cue number, and /go sent twice would go twice. In OSCAR's words it is a button with Argument type none and Value OFF left blank, so nothing is sent when the key is let go.

The addresses

KeyAddress
GO/go
STOP/stop
PAUSE, RESUME/pause /resume
PREV, NEXT/playhead/previous /playhead/next
RESET/reset
PANIC/panic
Cue START/cue/1/start to /cue/8/start, by cue number

Any other QLab address from its OSC dictionary goes into a key's Message field: a key per scene, a fade, a load.

From the phone, and from anywhere

Every device that scans the code shows the same desk and the same lamp. For a remote that works off-site, OSCAR Pro gives the interface a public link that works from anywhere, with no access to the theatre's Wi-Fi.

When a key does nothing

Click ACTIVITY in OSCAR's top bar for the network log: every message, with its address and port. If messages go out and QLab stays still, the usual causes are a passcode on the workspace, a firewall, or another QLab workspace in front.

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