Release Notes

This topic covers pertinent release information for Q-SYS Designer 7.0.1. For a complete list of fixes and enhancements, see the Change Log on the QSC website. For a list of known issues, including issues discovered after the latest release, see Known Issues.

IMPORTANT: If you are upgrading from a release prior to version 6.2.0, see the Upgrading Q-SYS Designer section for instructions.

What's New – Version 7.0.1

Version 7.0.1 is a maintenance release of the Q-SYS platform. It includes fixes to issues found after the initial 7.0 release, including:

Design Files: Opening a design file that contains either an empty Container or a Container with multiple panels no longer produces an "Object reference not set" error.
Design Files: Emulating or running a User Control Interface design containing a graphic file grouped within a Group Box element no longer produces an "Error Extracting Design" error.
Design Files: Older designs with high CPU usage now compile successfully when deployed to a Core 110f.
User Control Interface: Older UCI designs displayed on a TSC-3 touchscreen no longer have issues with visual alignment and scaling of images.
Lua: For security reasons, three additional commands were removed. See Removed Commands.

What's New – Version 7.0

Feature Licensing

Q-SYS Core 110 and 510 models manufactured with Q-SYS firmware version 7.0 and above now require activating a license to deploy some features to a Core:

Q-SYS Scripting Engine components, including Block Controller, Control Script, Scriptable Controls, and plugins.
Deployment of a User Control Interface (UCI) to QSC devices, including QSC touchscreen controllers.

NOTE: It is not possible to downgrade a Q-SYS Core 110 or Core 510 manufactured with version 7.0 to a previous version. Q-SYS Cores manufactured prior to the introduction of Q-SYS Software Licensing (and the release of Q-SYS 7.0) already include licenses for UCI Deployment and the Q-SYS Scripting Engine. Additional licensed features, such as Multi-Track Player expansion or any new feature, may require the purchase of software licenses.

It's easy to activate a feature license using the new Licensing Manager, accessible via your Core's IP address in a web browser or within Q-SYS Configurator. For instructions, as well as links to Q-SYS Training videos, see Feature Licensing.

Inventory Components

Core 110c

The Core 110c provides:

8 Mic/Line inputs
8 Mic/Line outputs
8 Flex channels (can be used as mic/line in or line out),
16 GPIO inputs, 16 GPIO outputs
POTS support
16 USB channels for audio streaming between the Core and a PC/Mac.

Refer to the Core 110f / Core 110c User Manual for a complete description of the hardware. Refer to the individual topics for information about the Core 110c components.

For more information, see Q-SYS Core.

DCIO / DCIO-H Digital Cinema I/O

Added the DCIO and the DCIO-H (HDMI) to the Inventory under Peripherals. The DCIO and DCIO-H are 1 RU Digital Cinema I/O Device providing Analog I/O, 16 AES / EBU Digital Inputs, Dual Ethernet Ports, and GPIO. The DCIO-H also provides HDMI Audio Input.

DCIO is a cinema-specific interface that serves as the audio I/O for each screen in a Q-SYS™ enabled cinema complex. The DCIO along with Q‑SYS Core 110c, DPA-Q amplifiers and DCS loudspeakers – provides a cost-effective way to realize the full benefits of a Q-SYS enabled cinema for every room in a multiplex, by delivering a full-system approach to cinema audio design. Using Q-SYS Designer and custom UCIs, touch panels, and mobile apps, the user can configure, control, and monitor their theater audio equipment through a seamless system view.

For more information, see DCIO Status Component.

TSC-55-G2, TSC-80-G2, and TSC-116-G2

Added three new G2 Capacitive Touchscreen controllers to the Inventory under Peripherals. These new touchscreens, along with the TSC-47-G2 (released earlier), give you a wide range of sizes (4.7", 5.5", 8.0", and 11.6") to select the right one for your application. Each touchscreen has a dedicated Inventory component that is not interchangeable with any other touchscreen.

For more information, see Touchscreen Status / Control.

Schematic Components

Block Controller

The new Block Controller component allows you to easily declare a number of controls and their connections, and then build the Lua script associated with those controls using a visual block interface. The visual interface allows for more efficient and less error-prone control of third-party devices and user control interfaces.

This component is available within the new Scripting Components category of the Schematic Elements library.

NEC MultiSync Display Plugin

The new NEC MultiSync Display plugin allows you to control an NEC MultiSync P404, MultiSync V404, MultiSync P484, MultiSync V484, MultiSync P554, or MultiSync V554 display via Ethernet or serial interfaces.

User Control Interface

The User Control Interface editor includes new font selection for text.
NOTE: Because version 7.0 uses new fonts, you should check your existing UCI designs and adjust fonts and spacing as needed.
Fonts are now displayed uniformly across Q-SYS devices.
Create buttons with custom graphics for active, inactive, and pressed states.
New page and layer navigation makes it easier to manipulate complex UCIs.

I/O USB Bridge

A new USB Transfer Mode property was added. Skype for Business users should select Isochronous mode for the most compatibility with that application.

Help Viewer

The embedded Help Viewer has been upgraded to include new styling, search functionality, and HTML5 responsiveness and scaling.

Support for Legacy Cores

Q-SYS Core 1000, Core 3000, and Core 4000 models cannot be upgraded to version 7.0 or later. However, QSC will provide 6.2.x maintenance releases for these legacy cores, as needed.

Lua Scripting

Removed Commands

For security and stability reasons, the following commands were removed from the Emulator and Q-SYS Core Lua Runtime Engine. Note that the parent libraries (and other supported commands within those libraries) have not been removed.

dofile()
io.popen()¹
loadfile()
os.execute()¹
os.exit()
os.remove()
os.rename()
os.setlocale()
os.tmpname()¹
package.loadlib()
package.load()

1. Removed in version 7.0.1.

New Commands

An alternative method for creating a timer, Timer.CallAfter(), allows the creation of a simple timer without the need to issue a :Stop() command to halt repetition.
New Directory commands allow you to list folders and files, create folders, and delete folders within the media/ and design/ locations on the file system:
- dir.get(path)
- dir.create(path)
- dir.remove(path)
NOTE: Beginning with version 7.0, and for security and stability reasons, the media/ and design/ folders (and their subfolders) are the only locations within the file system accessible by the Lua libraries. Any path argument must begin with either media/ or design/.
New Qlib.base64 commands allow you to encode ASCII text strings to Base64 text and then decode back to ASCII. These commands were added in support of Base64 string handling in some modern API protocols:
- Qlib.base64_enc(“string_to_encode”)
- Qlib.base64_dec(“base64_string”)

Upgrading Q-SYS Designer

IMPORTANT: Before upgrading, be sure to create backup copies of your Q-SYS design files for both the current version and older versions. Make backup copies of all media on your Core. To avoid overwriting backups, do not open backup copies with the newly-installed version of Q-SYS Designer. A design saved in a previous version and then opened and saved in a new version may no longer be usable in the previous version.

Note the following requirements when upgrading to release 7.0:

If you are upgrading from a version earlier than 4.2, you must first upgrade to version 4.2. See the version 4.2 Release Notes for upgrade requirements for that version.
If you are upgrading from version 5.0.x, you must first upgrade to version 6.0.0 before upgrading to version 7.0. See the version 6.0.0 Release Notes for upgrade requirements for that version.

Software Requirements

For software and firmware updates, see the QSC Software and Firmware page.

Operating System

Windows 7 PRO 64-bit
Windows 8.1 PRO 64-bit
Windows 10 PRO 64-bit
NOTE: Windows 32-bit operating systems and Windows 8.0 PRO 64-bit are no longer supported.

Bundled Components

The Q-SYS Designer installation program automatically installs:

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. (Internet access required.)
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2 Client Profile
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2 Extended
Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Runtime

Q-SYS Designer / Design File Compatibility

Q-SYS Designer release numbering convention is a three-level system – major release.minor release.build number (2.2.100). Larger numbers indicate a newer release. If the "major.minor” release number of a design file and Q-SYS Designer software are the same, the "build" number doesn't matter. You will have to upgrade/downgrade your hardware to the same "build" number as the Q-SYS Designer software to Run the design on the Core.

You cannot open a design file with a newer "major.minor" release number than the Q-SYS Designer software. For example, you cannot open a 4.2.nnn design file with 3.3.nnn Q-SYS Designer software.

You can open a design file with an older "major.minor" release number than the Q-SYS Designer software. For example, you can open a 3.3.nnn design file with Release 4.2.nnn Q-SYS Designer software. If you save the file with the newer software, you cannot save it back to an older release.

IMPORTANT: Make sure your design files are backed up using your current release before starting the upgrade to a newer release.

Qualified Ethernet Switches

Occasionally, between releases of Q-SYS Designer, new switches are qualified, and some disqualified. See the QSC website for the latest information.

QSC recommends that you disable EEE (Energy Efficient Ethernet), a.k.a. IEEE 802.3az on switches that offer this feature. Some switch manufacturers offer their own version of a power saving mode or energy optimization mode, but the concepts are generally the same as those for the IEEE standard. These mechanisms attempt to reduce the drive current or wake time for a given LAN port by detecting the strength of the link partner and/or by detecting the length of the attached network cable and/or by detecting rest or idle periods between packet deliveries and placing the port into sleep or quiescent mode.