SFX 5.6
WAV files only. 8, 16, 24 or 32 bit. Up to 48k sample rate. Mono or Stereo files. Audio engine depends on Windows (DirectX) to play and mix audio. Actual sample rate and settings are determined by the OS. No process to insure sync between audio tracks when linked together. SFX 5.6 on a fast system would keep tracks in sync, however there is no guarantee that they would stay in sync playing long audio files.
SFX 6.x
WAV, MP3, WMA files. 16 bit or higher (no support for 8 bit). Up to 192k sample rate. Any number of channel files (Mono, Stereo, 5.1, 7.1 or N channel files). In addition, SFX 6 can merge multiple audio files into a multi-channel interleaved audio effect on the fly to insure perfect sync between tracks.
SFX 5.6
Designed to work in “Stereo Groups”, up to 8 groups per cue list. A stereo file assigned to Group 1 will play the left channel to output 1, the right channel to output 2. Assigning more than one group to the same audio file will play audio into those groups, however SFX will have to load that file for every group it’s assigned to. Sync could be an issue. The amount of memory/resources increase for ever file used.
SFX 6.x
No longer using the “Stereo Group” model, SFX 6 create an output matrix mapped to the number of channels your sound card supports. This allows SFX to assign Audio Effect outputs to any of the sound card channels. In other words, you can now assign the Right channel of your audio file to go to Output 1 on your sound card. In addition you can assign your Audio Effect output to one or more sound card outputs without SFX having to load the file more than one time.
SFX 5.6
Depends on DirectX for all audio processing including volume changes (fades). Using a high quality audio file recorded at 44k, 16 bit stereo, DirectX automatically cuts out a couple dB of headroom to prevent clipping of audio when mixed with other audio sources. In addition the maximum quality of mixing is determined by the output of your sound card. So if the sound card supports 44k, 16 stereo, all audio is mixed in DirectX as 44k, 16 bit stereo. Even if your audio file starts out as 48k, 32 bit. Volume changes are also affected by how DirectX processes volume changes. Some users can hear a “zipper” effect when processing a volume change in SFX 5.6
SFX 6.x
Since the audio engine has been entirely rewritten and is no longer based on DirectX. (Our own internally written audio engine). The limitations on how DirectX have been removed. Regardless of what the sound card is capable of rendering, ALL audio that is played by SFX is first up mixed to 32 bit before it is mixed into the playback stream. Volume change effects are processed in our engine, so any “noise” or “zipper” effects are no longer present.
SFX 5.6
Fade processing - limited to 3 fade curves. Can produce zipper like sound when processing. Noise floor depends on how DirectX mixes audio. Fade is applied to the audio effect that it is pointing to - with one fade effect there is no way to have one channel fade in/out quicker than the other.
SFX 6.x
User draw-able fade curves. Audio quality much improved. Every cross point in the matrix can have a different volume curve associated with it. Every cross point can change volumes at a different (or same) rate depending on the curve associated with it.
SFX 5.6
Interface is blocking - to change a property of any effect a blocking dialog box pops up, takes input, then user must apply the update.
SFX 6.x
Interface is NON-blocking - to change a property, just click on the property and make the change. This non-blocking interface allows the designer to make changes while not affecting how the operator runs the show. In the Cue List, SFX 6 introduced two colored bands - Green and Orange. Any cue that is in Green will be the cue that is executed when a GO trigger is received. Cues that are in Orange are the cues that are in edit mode.
SFX 5.6
Cues are constructed using Waits and Autofollows and SFX 5.6 doesn’t know that the connection of these cue “parts” are really part of a larger cue. For example:
Cue 1: Music
Cue 1A: Wait 10
Cue 1B: Door Bell
Cue 2: More Music
Pressing GO on Cue 1 will drop the green bar down to Cue 1B which is really part of Cue 1.
SFX 6.x
Cues are constructed using “Cue Parts” however the tracking of how they are triggered are different in SFX 6. In the above example, the green bar drops down to Cue 1B where in SFX 6 it will drop down to the next actual cue or Cue 2 in the above. This cleans up how SFX handles complex cues and actually encourages designers to build cues on the fly based on the needs of the show.
This introduced a new feature in SFX 6 where cues can be collapsed. (In SFX 5.6 complex cues would be pushed into another cue list and “Trigger” effects would be placed in the main cue list.) When cues are collapsed, only the top level cue is visible and the cue list is cleaned up w/o having to resort to trigger effects. The above cue list collapsed would look like:
Cue 1: Music
Cue 2: More Music
SFX 5.6
No ability to Undo/Redo
SFX 6.x
Unlimited Undo/Redo using standard Ctrl-X and Ctrl-Y or menu Undo/Redo buttons.
SFX 5.6
Introduced the concept of having a Edit Desktop and a Play Desktop. Password can be assigned to prevent users from changing the show.
SFX 6.x
Play and Edit Desktops are still part of SFX and can be expanded by having as many desktops as needed. For example, using user defined hot keys, the designer can quickly change between different views of SFX. One view might expand the properties windows to show additional data while another view might focus on the Active Matrix for quick volume settings. Fonts and colors are also assignable per layout so the Edit Layout may be a “light” color background where the Play Layout may be a “dark” color background for show operation. Special attributes are also assignable per layout - Read-Only, Full Screen, Lock Window Locations, etc.
SFX 5.6
Implemented a “Window” interface - each Cue List has it’s own window, other windows include Cue Status, Notes, Go Button, toolbox and Sound Effects.
SFX 6.x
Still has a “Window” interface. By default, SFX 6 will display windows in a Docked interface and in Tabs - one tab per cue list. The more modern tabbed interface allows faster access to cues per cue list w/o having to minimize/maximize windows.
SFX 5.6
Timecode clock - one for the entire production.
SFX 6.x
Timecode clock - each cue list can have it’s own time code clock. 24,25,30 and 30 No Drop are supported. SFX will also lock to time code and/or free run if time code is lost. Cues will resync when time code is re-established.
SFX 5.6
When complex cues are executed (cues w/ multiple waits, auto follows and volume changes), SFX 5.6 will process each part in order. However starting the cue in the middle, SFX 5.6 will only play from that part of the cue forward. Any audio that started prior that should be playing will not auto sync to the correct location.
SFX 6.x
Seeking and/or starting cues in SFX 6.x will automatically calculate all the parts of that cue and correctly start up parts that should be playing including any volume changes that should have been performed. So when the director asks “Can we start that music cue where the door bell rings?” In SFX 5.6, you really couldn’t with starting from the beginning. In SFX 6 you just point to the Doorbell and press “GO” (or seek in the Cue Transport window to that location and press Play).
SFX 5.6
MIDI Commands - one command per Cue.
SFX 6.x
MIDI Commands are time based and can capture movements. For example, you can record a “fade” from your console directly into SFX. SFX will stamp every MIDI message with a time and when played back, will play the MIDI movement back to your console. You *could* even record a MIDI Sequence and have SFX play it back. (MIDI Sequence Effect is still available in SFX 6).
SFX 5.6
CD Playback - you can place a CD in the CD Player and have SFX start playback, however this was dependant on systems and how the CD player was patched physically in your computer.
SFX 6.x
CD Playback - OK, you got us here, we dropped CD playback in SFX 6. There were too many problems w/ CD players not doing what you’d expect them to do. Users who want to play CDs are now recommended to rip the CD to either WAV, MP3 or WAV format and play it as a Sound Effect.
SFX 5.6
A real world example - preshow music. In SFX 5.6 you would create the following to support a preshow music cue:
Cue 1: Music A
Autofollow
Music B
Autofollow
Music C
Cue 2: Fade Music A
Wait 0
Fade Music B
Wait 0
Fade Music C
SFX 6.x
The same preshow cue would start out the same, however the Volume Effect in SFX 6 can target more than one Sound Effect. For example, to create the Volume Effect, first Select every Sound Effect in Cue 1, then drag/drop the Volume Effect from the Toolbox into the Cue List. SFX 6 will automatically create the Volume Effect based on the cues that you have selected. So the above example will look like this in SFX 6:
Cue 1: Music A
Autofollow
Music B
Autofollow
Music C
Cue 2: Fade Music A, Music B, Music C
Then in collapsed view it’ll look like:
Cue 1: Music A
Cue 2: Fade Music A, Music B, Music C
Much cleaner than SFX 5.6
SFX 5.6
Cannot load SFX 6.x shows.
SFX 6.x
Can load SFX 5.6 shows and/or cue lists. Most things will translate well into SFX 6, however some of the “extended effects” will not translate (RS232) and some of the volume movements will need to be manually adjusted as you’re coming from a version that only knows Stereo to a version of SFX that has no channel limitations. Also volume changes in SFX 5 were on a scale that isn’t based on dB, where SFX 6.x is a true +5 to -160 dB scale.