grandMA2 / grandMA3 XML

LTCast exports the cue times of the active song as a grandMA2 or grandMA3 timecode XML file. Imported into the console's Timecode pool, it holds one event per cue that fires a sequence cue at that time. It is a list of timed events that point at sequences and cues; it does not create the sequences or the cues on the console.

Showing the export items

The console exports sit in the File menu in the title bar, but only once you reveal them: choose View → Exports → grandMA2 / MA3 export (that one switch covers all five console exports), or apply the Lighting or Full role preset (View menu & role presets). Then the File menu offers Export to grandMA2 XML… and Export to grandMA3 XML…. The two formats differ; use the one that matches your console.

The export works on the active song only, and that song needs at least one marker. Otherwise LTCast says there are no markers to export, or asks you to load a song first.

Export options

Before the file is saved, an options dialog appears:

• Trigger token — the command each event sends. For grandMA3 the choices are Go+ (the default), Goto and Go-; for grandMA2 they are Goto (the default), Go and Goback. The dialog notes that only Goto has been verified on real consoles; the others are valid but untested.
• Start sequence number — the console sequence to target, from 1 to 9999 (default 1).

What the file contains

• Times are relative to the song: time 00:00:00:00 is the start of the song, not the song's timecode address.
• One track per department. Cues with no department go on the first track, which targets the start sequence. Each department then gets its own track on the next sequence numbers, in the standard department order. A cue with several departments appears on each of their tracks.
• Cue numbers are counted by the file — 1, 2, 3 … in time order within each track — and each event fires that cue number of its sequence. LTCast's own cue numbers, colours and notes are not exported.
• Names: the grandMA2 file carries each marker's label as the cue name. The grandMA3 timecode format has no place for cue names or colours, so the grandMA3 file does not carry them.

Because the file only points at sequences and cues, create the sequence and its cues on the console first, in the same order as the markers, and then import the XML. The files are verified for importing on grandMA2 and grandMA3 onPC for a single sequence; the multi-sequence (per-department) layout follows the same structure but has been less tested.