Is it possible to connect two computers?

Chat about Show Buddy Setlist show control software.
davep2000
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2015 11:49 pm

Is it possible to connect two computers?

Post by davep2000 »

Dave,

I watched this video on Youtube and had a thought

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws4dtEQtXqw

Is it possible to run Showbuddy on one computer and Showbuddy active on another?

Showbuddy controlling the lyric screen and music playback on one computer and the other running Showbuddy Active for the lightshow
Both computers linked by either wireless or Ethernet and synchronised by MIDI

My main idea is reduced CPU load per computer, hopefully no glitches and crashes that I've encountered

Dave
cgrafx
Posts: 176
Joined: Sat May 28, 2016 8:52 pm

Re: Is it possible to connect two computers?

Post by cgrafx »

davep2000 wrote: Fri Feb 15, 2019 6:02 pm Dave,

I watched this video on Youtube and had a thought

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws4dtEQtXqw

Is it possible to run Showbuddy on one computer and Showbuddy active on another?

Showbuddy controlling the lyric screen and music playback on one computer and the other running Showbuddy Active for the lightshow
Both computers linked by either wireless or Ethernet and synchronised by MIDI

My main idea is reduced CPU load per computer, hopefully no glitches and crashes that I've encountered

Dave
Showbuddy and Showbuddy active shouldn't be putting significant load on your computer.
davep2000
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2015 11:49 pm

Re: Is it possible to connect two computers?

Post by davep2000 »

[/quote]

Showbuddy and Showbuddy active shouldn't be putting significant load on your computer.
[/quote]

I know. But it has glitched or crashed in rehearsal.
I've also upgraded to Showbuddy Active
I've taken the opportunity to start again with the set list and lightshow
I'm guessing that the CPU has more to do now with the upgrade
And Ethernet is the way the pros do it
I see laptops all over the stage with roadcrew monitoring them at shows

Just a thought thats all
Ethernet is more stable for communications
And CPU loading will be lessened
cgrafx
Posts: 176
Joined: Sat May 28, 2016 8:52 pm

Re: Is it possible to connect two computers?

Post by cgrafx »

If your system is glitching and crashing then your just as likely to have the same issue with two computers made even more complex by now having to deal with the added complexity of the network.

You really need to figure out why your current system is behaving badly and fix that.

There may very well be legitimate reasons to split work across multiple systems, but I wouldn't start there.

I would be really surprised if CPU load was the issue unless you've got something other than Show Buddy and Show Buddy Active running.

Other plugins perhaps?

I'd also look at your specific system configuration. What OS and machine specs. Are you using SSD drives or spinners, etc. etc.
davep2000
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2015 11:49 pm

Re: Is it possible to connect two computers?

Post by davep2000 »

HP Envy Notebook

AMD A10-8700P Radeon R6, 10 compute cores 4C+6G 1.80 GHz

8 GB RAM (7.47 GB usable) (I could add 8 GB more if this would help)

64 bit OS

Windows 10 Home

HDD (I could migrate to SSD if that helps)

no plug ins, no unnecessary programs installed, I use this PC for Show Buddy and Show Buddy active only

Any more info needed? :)
cgrafx
Posts: 176
Joined: Sat May 28, 2016 8:52 pm

Re: Is it possible to connect two computers?

Post by cgrafx »

take a look at the task manager while you run your shows as see what your cpu load is.

My guess is you won't see a significant load on the system, but it should give you a baseline to work from.

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-iden ... windows-10

Not sure if an SSD will help your specific issue or not, but it will definitely improve the general performance of your system as SSDs are going to have significantly faster data transfer times over 5400 rpm drives.

Same is going to be true of adding extra RAM. In general more RAM will improve system performance. You should be able to see the RAM usage in the task manager. If your getting close to maxing out the available memory, then adding extra RAM should help. Otherwise it really won't matter.

Beyond that I don't know if I can offer any additional advice other than to report crashes and bugs. The more detail you have about what steps you took to create the crashes and the more repeatable the events are the better.
davep2000
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2015 11:49 pm

Re: Is it possible to connect two computers?

Post by davep2000 »

Thanks,

I'll price up the SDD and RAM
I'm looking to improve system performance, start up tasks, unwanted apps, programs etc
Trouble is Win 10 updates and throws unwanted software back in again
Google has produced some good suggestions to get the laptop moving quicker

Show Buddy music playback stuttered again tonight, but I noticed the Hard Drive was being accessed at the time
And I'm watching the visualiser only, no lights plugged in at all, if that makes a difference
But I did have WIFI on, usually I turn everything I can off and just run Show Buddy

Dave
cgrafx
Posts: 176
Joined: Sat May 28, 2016 8:52 pm

Re: Is it possible to connect two computers?

Post by cgrafx »

davep2000 wrote: Mon Feb 18, 2019 8:42 pm Thanks,

Show Buddy music playback stuttered again tonight, but I noticed the Hard Drive was being accessed at the time
And I'm watching the visualiser only, no lights plugged in at all, if that makes a difference
But I did have WIFI on, usually I turn everything I can off and just run Show Buddy

Dave
I'd expect the SSD to help a lot with the music playback. Adding extra memory may also help depending on overall memory usage and how much stuff Show Buddy loads into RAM at a time.
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