When you finish preparing your show file, it is essential to test it. I recently spoke with a friend who spent a few days preparing a show file, with some actual pre-programming as well. He went to load the show into a console only to find the copy he had was corrupt. After a bit of a panic he created another copy from his computer. A quick test proved this copy would work. Had he gone to the gig with the bad version, he would have lost all his prep work. So remember to always make backups and confirm that they are valid before heading to the gig.
—Brad Schiller, from “Feeding the Machines,” PLSN, Oct. 2008
