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Long or short video clips in Show Buddy Active?

Long or short video clips in Show Buddy Active?

If you wish, you can create presets that only play long videos and do nothing with your lights. Then you can trigger videos and lighting independently as follows:

  • Make sure your video preset doesn’t control your lights by disabling the “Lights” option in the “Effects” tab
  • In all of your lighting presets, disable the “Effects” tab by changing “FX ON” to “FX OFF“. This will prevent your lighting presets from stopping the video
  • This of course means your lighting presets need to be designed entirely from the “Controls” tab

However, things get much more interesting if you add short video clips to your lighting presets like this:

We recommend you think of your projector as an extra intelligent fixture in your lighting rig, and think of each SBA preset as being a cohesive look, containing both DMX lighting and video content. This way, when you crossfade between SBA presets the video clips will automatically crossfade to match your lighting. When you move or copy presets on your timeline, your video content will instantly update to match. You will also be able to reuse full looks (with lighting and video content) across songs much more easily.

Some of the advanced SBA video techniques also work best with short clips. You can layer multiple clips and images into a single preset. For example, you could have an “Intro” preset which sets up your pre-show lighting, and plays a short video loop with your band logo layered on top. You can even animate video layers to match the tempo of the current audio.

Another fun technique to try out is pixelmapping – that is, sending video clips to both the projector and your DMX lights. This can make your entire DMX rig react in realtime to the video clip. Here are a couple of real examples:

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How to share or backup your Show Buddy Active data

How to share or backup your Show Buddy Active data

You can copy your Show Buddy Active data to other computers (for sharing or backup purposes) using the built-in Backup and Restore features.

A Show Buddy Active backup is a .sab file. It contains all data required to fully restore complete shows, including banks & presets, fixture definitions, fixture patching, and all images or video files used by your presets.

Backing up shows

  • Open the Show Buddy Active standalone app.
  • Select File > Backup show data… from the main menu.
  • Enter a text description for the backup file.
  • Click Backup ALL shows… OR highlight the shows you need and click Backup selected…
  • Click Yes to proceed.
  • Choose a name and location for your .sab backup file and click Save.
  • Copy the resulting .sab file to your backup drive or the other computer.

Restoring from a backup

  • Open the Show Buddy Active standalone app.
  • Select File > Restore from backup… from the main menu.
  • Click Yes to proceed.
  • Locate your .sab file and click Open.
  • Confirm that the description is correct. 
  • Click Restore all shows… OR highlight the shows you need and click Restore selected shows…
  • Click Yes to proceed.

You can now load and run the restored shows from Show > Manage shows… on the main menu.

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Channel masking – what is it?

Channel masking – what is it?

Show Buddy Active Channel Masking lets you specify which DMX channels are controlled by each preset.

Say you want a preset which only turns up a spotlight dimmer on channel 20, leaving the rest of the rig unchanged.

  • Click Macros > Channel Masks > Disable all channels.
  • All faders grey out, indicating they are not controlled by this preset.
  • Drag the dimmer on channel 20 to the desired level.
  • The channel 20 fader is no longer greyed out, meaning it is controlled by this preset. 
  • Save as a new preset called “Spotlight ON“
  • Drag channel 20 to zero, and save as a new preset called “Spotlight OFF“.

You can now load any full preset to set the entire rig, then load “Spotlight ON” and “Spotlight OFF” to control the spot independently. 

See “Channel masking” in the user manual (from the Show Buddy Active Help menu) for more details.

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Why can I not import fixtures into Show Buddy Active?

Why can I not import fixtures into Show Buddy Active?

Problem – you downloaded a fixture from the online library, but when you try to import it into Show Buddy Active (from File > Manage fixtures) you get an error, or the file cannot be selected.

The Reason

Fixtures are downloaded as .zip files. and Show Buddy Active can only import these original .zip files.

If your computer automatically opens the .zip file, you’ll end up with a folder called “DmxLibrary” that contains one or more “.dmx” files. These cannot be imported directly.

Here’s how to prevent your browser from auto-extracting zip files.

macOS Users

On a Mac, Safari and the built-in Archive Utility may automatically unzip downloads.

Stop Safari from Unzipping Files

  1. Open Safari.
  2. From the menu bar, choose Safari > Settings (or Preferences).
  3. In the General tab, uncheck:
    “Open ‘safe’ files after downloading.”

Now downloaded zip files will stay zipped.

Stop Archive Utility from Removing Zip Files

  1. Open Finder → Applications → Utilities → Archive Utility.
  2. In the top menu, select Archive Utility > Preferences.
  3. Under “After expanding”, choose “Leave archive file.”

Windows Users

On Windows, web browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc.) normally do not unzip files automatically.

If your zip files are still being unpacked, it’s usually caused by another program on your computer, such as:

  • A download manager (e.g., Internet Download Manager, Free Download Manager)
  • An archiving tool (e.g., WinRAR, 7-Zip, PeaZip)
  • Antivirus or security software

What to Do

  • Open the program’s settings and look for options like:
    • “Auto extract archives after download”
    • “Unpack files automatically”
  • Turn those options off.
  • If you’re not sure which program is doing it, try temporarily disabling or uninstalling extra download tools, then test again.

Manual Workaround

If you prefer, you can manually copy the fixtures files as follows.

  1. Locate the .dmx files (in the DmxLibrary folder of the downloaded zip file)
  2. Copy the .dmx files into your Show Buddy Active fixture library:
    • Windows : C:/Users/Public/Public Documents//db-audioware/Show Buddy Active/DmxLibrary
    • Mac : /Library/Application Support/db audioware/Show Buddy Active/DmxLibrary
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Show Buddy Active not transmitting Art-Net (macOS Sequoia or newer)

Show Buddy Active not transmitting Art-Net (macOS Sequoia or newer)

Problem: You have correctly configured Art-Net settings in Show Buddy Active, but no data is being received by your Art-Net hardware.

You have successfully used ArtNetMon to confirm that the software is transmitting Art-Net data locally.

Solution: macOS Sequoia may be blocking your Art-Net data. Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network, and make sure ‘Show Buddy Active‘ is enabled.

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How to trigger the performance buttons via MIDI

How to trigger the performance buttons via MIDI

By default, the performance buttons on the “Perform” tab can be triggered by notes sent on MIDI channel 14.

The MIDI note numbers required are displayed on the buttons. For example, here MIDI note 10 on channel 14 would trigger the “Gears” preset, and note 26 would trigger the “Graceful” preset.

If required, you can change the MIDI channel from the Preferences window:

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Playing long videos in Show Buddy Active

Playing long videos in Show Buddy Active

Problem: you want a long video to run continuously for the entire duration of a song. But when you change presets, the video playback stops.

Explanation: When you load a preset, the Effects tab stops all FX layers currently playing – including your video that was triggered by the earlier preset.

The solution is to disable the Effects engine in all subsequent presets. Edit every other preset in the song, and disable the Effects engine via the “FX OFF” button:

Important note:

This technique has an important limitation. Since the FX engine is effectively tied up performing video playback for the duration of the song, you can no longer use the “Effects” tab to program your lights in the remaining presets. For those presets, you will need program your lights from the “Controls” tab (using faders and oscillators).

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Presets are not loading and Effects tab is not working

Show Buddy Active : presets not loading and/or Effects tab is not working

Solution : Open File > Preferences > Audio/MIDI Settings and make sure a valid Input audio device is selected:

Explanation : Show Buddy Active uses the audio input as an accurate timing source, to manage crossfades and oscillators, and to process incoming MIDI data. If no input is active, then you will experience various issues with switching between presets and running effects within presets.

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Using Show Buddy Active with Logic Pro

Using Show Buddy Active with Logic Pro

Show Buddy Active can run as a VST or AudioUnit (AU) plugin directly within any compatible DAW. This lets you visually program synchronised light shows alongside your audio tracks.

This article shows the quickest way to program lights in Logic Pro using the Show Buddy Active AU plugin.

    First, open your Logic song and choose [Track > New tracks…] from the main menu.

    This takes you to the “Create New Track” window.

    • Highlight Software Instrument in the MIDI box
    • In the Instrument popup menu, select AU MIDI-controlled Effects > db audioware > Show Buddy Active > Mono
    • Set Multi-timbral = 2 parts
    • Click the Create button.

    This will add two new tracks to your arrangement. We will use the first track to program our SBA bank changes, and the second track to program our SBA preset changes.

    • Rename the tracks to SBA Banks and SBA Presets.
    • Under the Track inspector panel, set MIDI Out channel for the tracks to 15 and 16. (MIDI channel 15 switches SBA banks, and track 16 switches SBA presets)

    At this stage, the Show Buddy Active AU has been added to your project, and you are ready to start programming some lighting changes!

    Simply add MIDI regions and notes as required, wherever you need an SBA bank or preset change. For example, here we have a MIDI region on the Bank track that triggers the first bank at bar 1 (using Note C-2), and the second bank at bar 2 (using note C#2).

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    Fixture Profiles and Visualiser Icons Explained

    Fixture Profiles and Visualiser Icons Explained

    You may find that when you load a fixture into Show Buddy Active, it displays too many icons, or not enough icons on the visualiser, or doesn’t display colours correctly. This indicates that the fixture needs some tweaking to work with SBA.

    SBA examines each fixture to find the “heads”, and each head is displayed on the visualiser as a separate icon. For example, an RGB parcan has one head, an 8-channel dimmer pack has 8 heads, an LED strip with 6 RGBAW sections has 6 heads.

    SBA creates heads according to these rules:

    • If there is at least one Dimmer channel, and no RGBAW channels, create a head for each Dimmer channel;
    • If there is at least one RGB/RGBA/RGBW/RGBAW block, create a head for each block;
    • Otherwise, create a single head.

    In addition:

    • RGBAW and Dimmer channels must be defined as type “D” in the fixture file.
    • RGBAW must be named “red”, “Red”, “R”, “green”, “Green”, “G” etc in the fixture file.

    These simple rules will cover most popular fixtures. However, the more fiddly fixtures present a problem – not just for SBA, but for every DMX visualiser out there. I’m thinking of those ‘adventurous’ fixtures that try to combine a laser, two moonflowers, a toaster oven and an electric toothbrush on one convenient t-bar.

    For those more complex fixtures, it’s usually best to split it into several fixture files , one for each logical section of fixtures.