About GinormoTime

GinormoTime Main Window

GinormoTime is free Show Control software for Windows written in C#. Its original purpose was to display the time from Winamp in a really big window, but it now does quite a lot more:

Feature Overview

• Displays playback time from Winamp really big.
• Transmits timecode over LAN to other GinormoTime clients.
• Standalone playback without Winamp using NAudio.
• Generates real-time Linear Timecode (LTC) using your PC's soundcard:
  • from media playback (Winamp or NAudio source).
  • from the system clock.
  • using internal time source.
• Cues and Notes for the playback timeline, to cue different stations (eg. Lights, Sound, Vision, Pyro).
• Automatic triggering of defined Cues for Martin LightJockey 2 sequences.

• Click here to see the full list of features

History

GinormoTime 1.0

GinormoTime was originally written by Graeme Yeo for use on the Birmingham University Dance Society (BUDS) dance show. We needed a way for the lighting, vision and pyro operators to easily read the time from Winamp in order to trigger their cues. The very first version simply read the time from Winamp using the Winamp API and displayed it on the screen in a massive font. It also sent broadcast packets over the LAN so that other GinormoTime clients could display the time too.

GinormoTime 2.0

Some years later, Adam Mummery-Smith added the timeline display and visual cues which made it much easier for operators to keep track of their cues were in each dance. Only the master (server) station could edit the timeline.

In 2023, the show team switched to using Linear Timecode (LTC) to automate the lighting and vision cues. The LTC was baked into the music tracks and this process was both onerous and also meant that the LTC signal was only output when the track was running, which caused challenges during programming.

Linear Timecode Generator

In 2024, we added a realtime Linear Timecode Generator, which can output LTC continuously, even when the playhead is not moving. This greatly aids programming since scrubbing the playhead and switching tracks now keeps all the stations in sync. We also switched the network protocol from broadcast to multicast.

Since the LTC Generator required the use of the powerful NAudio library, it was a short step to incorporate media playback directly into GinormoTime, allowing it to be used fully standalone without the use of Winamp, though this is still fully supported.

More recently, the ability for GinormoTime Clients to control the Server via the Permissions system was added, which allows client stations to edit the cuelist information and remotely control GinormoTime during programming sessions.

Should I Use GinormoTime?

GinormoTime is provided as-is, for free. Whether you should use it instead of the many alternatives is really up to you. GinormoTime is available here simply on the basis that it exists and might possibly be of use to others.

If you just simply want to use GinormoTime to, for example, generate real-time Linear Timecode, you can.

Credits