Chases
Chase Settings
Like all playbacks, chases have various settings available to you. To access the settings of a chase, hold Setup and tap the chase's button. This will take you straight to the chase tab of the playback's settings. You can name your chase from the chase settings by tapping Advanced.
The first button in the Chase's settings, is Revert From Chase Clicking this allows you to revert your chase back into a normal cue stack, and the remaining options in the chase's settings tab are hidden. This button then becomes Turn into Chase, meaning that any playback can be turned into a chase, by opening the playback's settings, and tapping Chase -> Turn into Chase. This is the reason that cue fade times are shown for chases. These timings are not used by the chase itself, but are used as cue times if reverted from a chase.
Find out about the following Chase Settings...
Chase Direction
This option determines which order the cues are output when the chase is run:
Forward – The steps are output in increasing numerical order (eg 1,2,3,4,5).
Backward – The steps are output in reverse order (eg 5,4,3,2,1).
Bounce – Alternates between forwards and backwards (eg 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1).
Random – The steps are output in a random order.
Intensity
Intensities in a chase can be set to Cross Fade, Ramp Up or Ramp Down. Ramp Up will fade up the intensity, and then snap it off, whereas Ramp Down will snap on the intensity, and then fade it down. The default option is Cross Fade. After choosing the intensity option, you can then configure the intensity fade percentage, explained below.
Attribute fade percentages
Individual fade percentages can be set for each attribute. Assuming the chase speed is set to 12 Beats Per Minute (meaning 1 step every 5 seconds), a fade percentage of 20% means that attribute will fade for 1 seconds (20% of 5 seconds), and then remain on for the other 4 seconds (80% of 5 seconds).
A fade percentage of 0% is equivalent of a snap, and a fade percentage of 100% is the equivalent of a cross fade.
Chase Speed
The speed option determines how fast the chase runs.
The chase runs at the corresponding number of beats per minute (BPM). All the fade and delay times that are programmed in the cues are ignored and the transition between each cue is determined by the “Intensity” and “Attribute fade percentages” options above.
By default, chases will run at 60BPM. The default button function for chases is "Tap Tempo", meaning the console can calculate the BPM required by tapping the chase's button. Tapping a tempo for the chase using the playback's button will overwrite the BPM entered into the chase speed field. Therefore if you require a chase to run at a given speed by entering a speed in BPM, it is a good idea to then change the chase's button function to become flash for example, to stop the custom speed being overwritten. To change the button function from the chase settings tap General -> Flash
Alternatively, Use Global BPM can be selected. This allows multiple chases to all use the same BPM. The Global BPM speed can be controlled by pressing the Z button and changing the “Global BPM” wheel, or by holding Setup and pressing the Playback Button of an empty playback, and selecting Global Tap Tempo . The central encoder button or playback button will now work as a Tap Tempo, and the encoder/fader will speed up/slow down the Global BPM.
Shots
This options determines how many times the chase will run after being triggered. When Shots is set to zero, the chase runs continuously. When Shots is set to a value between 1 and 255, the chase runs the specified number of times and then stops on the last step. Note – If the Direction modifier is set to Random, then one “shot” is defined as outputting N steps, where N is the total number of cues in the cue stack.
Sound-to-light
When enabled, each step is triggered by a bass beat on the audio input on the desk rather than the BPM set above. It is a good idea to send the console a bass filtered signal which has volume control, such as a feed from a sound mixer. This gives you the greatest control over what will trigger the chase.