When you export a firing system script from Finale 3D, you produce a script file that contains a list of events, or triggers, at specific times. Timecode provides a mechanism for synchronizing these events to music in a production you control yourself, or to music or other elements of a production controlled by other people.
Synchronizing events to music in a production you control yourself is essentially just an automated equivalent to the manual task of “press play on the soundtrack player and press start on the firing system at exactly the same time.” The automated equivalent involves combining a timecode signal as one channel of the sound track with music as the other channel or channels of the same soundtrack, ensuring the timecode signal and the music play in perfect synchronization when the soundtrack is played. While the music channels are routed to speakers for people to hear, the timecode channel is routed into the firing system, which is configured to fire the script events according to the times in the timecode. The details and specific instructions for this process are described in Synchronizing events to music in a production you control.
Synchronizing events to music or other elements of a production controlled by other people is essentially an agreement between the parties involved in a production about what timecode ranges correspond to what elements of a production. Consider a concert in which the performer will perform 10 to 15 songs. The pyro production company, lighting company, and possibly other special effects companies may all have contributions to the production that are designed specifically for each of the songs. The timecode agreement is simply a list of songs and the timecode range that each song corresponds to. The agreement typically allocates a one-hour range of timecode in a 24 hour “day” for each song, making the list very simple for everyone. At the time of the concert, the songs can be performed in any order. At the onset of each song, the production operator will start playing the timecode range corresponding to that song, which will trigger the pyro, lights, and special effects to play along in synch with the song. The details and specific instructions for this process are described in Synchronizing events to music in a production controlled by others.