We’ve been talking a lot about control these days. Q-SYS Control provides the tools to make the job of the programmer that much easier. Well, we’ve got a new tool for you – Q-SYS Designer Asset Manager, which was added to the latest firmware release of Q-SYS Designer Software (v7.1 or higher).
Since I’ve been at QSC our users have told me they want an easy way to share programming content.
Presenting – Q-SYS Designer Asset Manager
We started with the idea of a repository, a place where customers could download code snippets. But, we quickly realized it needed to be more. What customers really need is a tool to share their own design assets on a platform that could evolve over time (yes – just like Q-SYS!).
As of today, the asset manager is a tool meant to collect and offer programming content created by QSC, other manufacturers, and programmers in a well-formatted, easy-to-use platform.
Plugins – Did You Say More Plugins?
Designer Asset Manager provides a web-hosted “feed” of all QSC authored and moderated plugins from within the Q-SYS Designer Software, enabling users to quickly install, update, and manage these files with (usually) a single click.
With the asset manager, we can now release new plugins as soon as they are complete, rather than waiting for the next version of Q-SYS Designer Software to become available. For me, this is huge! We’ve created a team here in our Boulder office that is dedicated to churning out new Q-SYS assets (including plugins), not to mention the community of independent programmers and third-party manufacturers that are working on plugins. The more we grow our asset library, the more options you’ll have to make system design less painful.
Designer Asset Manager includes an “Updates” tab, which is a quick view of plugins installed in your system. It includes firmware information and allows you to update your asset to the latest version just as easily as you installed it – with a click.
The upside for QSC? It allows us to be more responsive to bug reports or API updates.
What’s in a Name?
You may be wondering, why is it called an “asset manager” when it only manages plugins? Well, shhh…don’t tell anyone, but we plan to expand the scope of the Designer Asset Manager with future versions of Q-SYS Designer Software.
Some features you can expect in the future:
- Support for multiple “feeds” – Third-party manufacturers or programmers will be able to host their plugins, etc. using the Designer Asset Manager infrastructure. This will provide them easier access to their plugin and allow them to upload new versions or any new content related to the plugin. All directly in Q-SYS Designer Software.
- Private feeds – Organizations will be able to share examples, templates or company-written plugins for use across any of their Q-SYS projects. These feeds can be set up for authorized users only.
- UCI resources – We plan to introduce Q-SYS touch screen templates, image files, and more. We’ve been getting this request for years and we’re excited to roll this one out.
- Additional Example Designs – With the launch of the new Block Controller component, users are now able to develop sophisticated scripts with a simple-to-use visual programming tool. We plan to offer design examples of some of the most common commands to help make design time even quicker.
This list only represents a small portion of what we have planned for this new feature of Q-SYS Designer Software, and I’ll be here to keep you updated on the latest and greatest. In the meantime, let us know if you have any questions or would like to see any specific features. Let’s Continue the conversation.