rec.arts.theatre.stagecraft

That's SMPTE. ( /wiki/SMPTE_time_code). So that
two "playbacks" are synced to a very specific timeline, such that
everything is always predictable. pretty much anything that plays back
an audio or video track that the rest of the action is timed to can
take advantage of smpte.

Many consoles do use MIDI for the purpose of syncing. for example two
consoles; one for moving lights and one for conventionals. they can be
slaved together via midi to play back cues at the same time. this
generally only works when the cue numbers match exactly.

You can also assign the midi control channels to trigger pretty much
any type of event that a console will allow.
what I don't understand is whether or not midi control channels can
exhibit sensitivity in a lighting control surface.
>
> I always thought that midi was for timing the start/stop of events, such as
> co-ordination with music, rather than controlling *how* the scene change
> took place.
>
> --
> Jonathan Walker
>
> "The IT industry landscape is littered with the dead
> dreams of people who once trusted Microsoft."