Davidmk

So, yesterday's gig was busier than expected and I didn't get a lot of time to spend on this but I did try it. First up, I used macros to trigger the playbacks - as in I recorded a macro for each playback and then called those from my chase steps. I have a feeling that wasn't what Edward meant but lack of time stopped me from using the playback trigger instead. With macros, the results were mixed. It does work if the Tap Tempo is slow but I think latency is a problem because, if you speed it up, it seems to miss steps out. Snag is that, when it is running fast, it is difficult to be sure about that and I can't see the actual fixtures from the desk (I have to go down a floor and out into the auditorium) so I can't increase the speed gradually and look for a breakdown point. Back in theatre next Friday, I'll give it another go then. Watch this space.

The actual line in the manual is "All consoles can store a total of 10,000 cues across the playbacks."

I expect Edward or Jon will come back to you soon but, in the meantime, check the online manual here.

Thanks both. Release seems to be the missing factor in all this. I'll have a play Thursday when I'm in the theatre next and report back. In addition to lots of playbacks, I'll have a go with multiple cues in one playback (unless you can tell me for sure it won't work - it would be easier to manage).

Thanks Kevin. I did wonder about using release. I don't think you can release a particular step/cue though, so step 2 can't release step 1, etc. If you release the whole playback then of course it stops running. Using a number of playbacks is an interesting way round that though. It might even be possible to use one playback with multiple cues as I recall macros run at the end of the step (so each step of the chase could release the playback before triggering the next cue in the playback) but that's probably getting too ambitious to start with. Let's see what Edward thinks. PS. I've done a modified sparkle in the past where it didn't alter the existing colour but, sadly, I haven't got it in my current showfile. It's not what I want here though, you can't use tap tempo on effects.

I have been trying to record a particular colour chase on LEDs and failed. Obviously I'm missing something - can anyone help? What I want is to set each fixture in turn to white (as in R, G, B & W at 100%) but return to whatever colour it was before (as set by another, current, cue) when the next step runs. This should give the effect of a white light running through all the fixtures. I've tried recording the steps as cue only with smart tag off and being very careful to manually tag all the colour values. I've cleared the programmer after each step. The chase I get sets each fixture to white in turn but leaves it white as all the other steps execute until they are all white. I admit I am a few versions behind but I suspect its down to me doing it wrong rather than there being something that has been fixed in a newer version. Anyone ever made a chase like this work? One which sets the fixture back to a specific colour would not be what I'm after but any other suggestion would be most welcome.

See Special Playback Functions in the manual. Never tried it but the manual does say "there’s nothing special or different about the Master Playback compared to the other playbacks" You should also be able to set it up as an inhibit master if there are channels (like your house lights) that you don't want it to control.

I generally set lease time to the maximum available. If there's a down side to this (in the context of a lighting network), then someone please tell me because I haven't found it for myself yet.

If you aren't using your second universe and if your splitters work when not cascaded then you could send U1 on both outputs, one to each splitter.

That's a point. I'll try and make the desk is connected to power before anything else. I don't think I had a fixed order, can't remember, its been so long

Everything Edward says is, of course, correct. I would add another reason which is that many dimmers remember their last state until they get a new DMX signal. From this it follows that the last state on the desk should be all intensities to zero with the desk turned off last. That said, in our venue, the main power switches for the dimmers are in the dimmer room, nearer the stage door than the desk position (I pass it on the way in while dragging my desk behind me) so I turn them on first, then its the desk, power to the DMX fixtures and lamp-on to the moving heads (when I'm ready to use them). Been doing it that way for 20yrs, along with the other lampies with no issues (and still on the original dimmers). While the above is best some justifiable variations might be possible depending on the rig.

Oops, sorry. Got carried away there

Check out Cue Triggers in the manual here

If you want to know the colour values of a fixture or the palette they come from then there's always the parameter information on the output window... See the manual at https://zero88.com/manuals/zeros/desktops-windows/output-window if you think that might help.

That's brilliant. I'd look at doing something similar except I regularly have to carry my desk up a spiral staircase so I have to keep it down to something I can lift with one hand.

And that sticks OK? I'm impressed! Have you got a link to the film you used?

Absolutely!!!

Ah, now I've been trying OHP film with the buttons and labels printed onto it with a cut out plastic frame underneath. It works but I think I need a precision cut frame. I print the OHP in reverse and then turn it over so the ink is protected - especially useful if I wanted to put traditional LX tape labels on top and I attach it to the frame (and the frame to the Launch) with double sided tape. I'm happy with that part of it. In trying to make the frame a precise match I printed the button layout onto an A4 label and stuck that to my sheet of 1.5mm plastic but my cutting out with a Stanley knife left a lot to be desired. I only cut out the outside, not the little bits in between the buttons, but it was still too rough and I snapped the frame in one place. It worked though - I was afraid that pressing a button might trigger one of the adjacent buttons but that didn't seem to be a problem so the principle seems sound. I have been toying with buying a cnc cutter as it could open up some possibilities in other projects. Making frames in a precise and repeatable way may just be the excuse I need and if it works out I'll be able to make as many as I want with very little effort.

On a parallel note... If you must put a date in a file name then using international standard date format (year month day) will keep your versions in order (when sorted by file name). So rather than "morely dance sept 2020 r1" call your file "morely dance 2020 09 r1" Just a suggestion of course.

Thanks Edward.

A number of people have had similar issues, take a look in this topic - in particular to Edward-88 's post of 24th September.

I think it's more a matter of not having a choice, those controllers with buttons you can't use because they only send CCs. Enabling both CCs and notes would mean you could fire a given pb with either the note or CC with the equivalent value. You'd still only get the first 128 playbacks maximum. (From here I assume you have chosen to use as many midi controls as possible, references to 128 would, of course, be less if you only have a few controls on your chosen midi device.) Yes, we do. It still means reserving the first 128 playbacks, mostly doing nothing themselves, just redirecting to macros to do things with other playbacks. It is worth noting that you don't actually have to have a recorded macro if all you want to do is trigger a cue in another playback - there's syntax you can type into the advanced option of the cues macro setup. I discovered this too late but, actually, I quite like having a recorded macro so I've kept it that way. Firing the 1st 128 macros direct from midi removes a step from the setup along with the related "opportunity" to call the wrong one. It frees up those 128 playbacks (nearly half of them) returning the flexibility to run from whichever page you want and pushes all your midi stuff into the background where you are less likely to record over it or delete it. Finally, and this is an obsession born from 45 years of programming computers, it's just right - it is the obvious thing that should be triggered by an external input because it effectively makes that input do whatever you want it to. Finally... If you could choose your own start point for notes and CCs then you could have pbs 1 to 128 controlled by notes and 129 to 256 controlled by CCs (except you couldn't because there's only 240 pbs but you get the idea).

Thanks Edward. Glad to hear you do get time off, enjoy

That ought be enough to shut all of us up on the midi front, what are the odds it could happen?

One thing to remember is that even you have midi notes and/or CC assigned to playbacks you can still operate them through the desk so, while the number of controls you can use through midi is limited by the midi specification, which are actually controlled by midi depends on which notes/CCs you choose to send. I think! Mapping midi notes to macros would let you trigger any 127 (or 128) things. I presume "things" could be cues, playback, buttons or whatever you can put together a macro for (e.g. something silly like select group, apply position & beam pallettes and select colour with the macro then use colour picker to pick a range of colours manually) if that is what takes your fancy. Am I right Edward?