ETC Express 24/48, Express 48/96, Express 72/144 User Manual

Express

24/48, 48/96, 72/144 Lighting control system

Version 3.03

Part Number: 4110M1006

Released: March 1999

Declaration of Conformity

Express two scene preset User Manual iii

Limited warranty

Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc. (ETC) warrants to the original owner or retail customer that for a period of two years from date of delivery of a portable system or energization of a permanently installed system its products will be free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and service.

Warranty does not cover any product or part of a product subject to accident, negligence, alteration, abuse or misuse, or any accessories or parts not supplied by ETC. Warranty does not cover “consumable” parts such as fuses, lamps, color media or components warranted directly to the owner by the original manufacturer. ETC’s warranty does not extend to items not manufactured by us. Freight terms on warranty repairs are FOB ETC factory or designated repair facility. Collect shipments or freight allowances will not be accepted.

ETC’s sole responsibility under this warranty shall be to repair or replace at ETC’s option such parts as shall be determined to be defective on ETC’s inspection. ETC will not assume any responsibility for any labor expended or materials used to repair any equipment without ETC’s prior written authorization. ETC shall not be responsible for any incidental, general or consequential damages, damages to property, damages for loss of use, time, profits or income, or any other damages.

The owner's obligations during the warranty period under this warranty are to notify ETC at ETC's address within one week of any suspected defect, and to return the goods prepaid to ETC at their factory or authorized service center.

THIS WARRANTY IS CONTINGENT ON THE CUSTOMER’S FULL AND TIMELY COMPLIANCE WITH THE TERMS OF PAYMENT SET FORTH IN THE “TERMS AND CONDITIONS.” THIS WARRANTY IS EXPRESSLY IN LIEU OF ANY AND ALL OTHER WARRANTIES EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND OF OTHER OBLIGATIONS AND LIABILITIES ON OUR PART. THE OWNER ACKNOWLEDGES THAT NO OTHER REPRESENTATIONS WERE MADE TO HIM OR RELIED UPON HIM WITH RESPECT TO THE QUALITY AND FUNCTION OF THE GOODS SOLD.

This written warranty is intended as a complete and exclusive statement of the terms thereof. Prior dealings or trade usage shall not be relevant to modify, explain or vary this warranty. Acceptance of, or acquiescing in, a course of performance under this warranty shall not modify the meaning of this agreement even though either party has knowledge of the performance and a chance to object.

Terms and Conditions

The following terms and conditions, and those on the face hereof, shall control as to any order accepted by Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc. (ETC), notwithstanding any terms and conditions that may be contained in any purchase order or other document of Customer, and ETC’s acceptance of any order is expressly made conditional on Customer’s assent to such terms and conditions. Such terms and conditions will constitute the entire agreement between the parties as to any order and will supersede any prior understandings, agreements, representations, or warranties. Such terms and conditions will not be modified, added to, superseded or otherwise altered except by written document signed by an authorized representative of ETC, notwithstanding any terms and conditions contained in the purchase order or other document of Customer. ETC’s commencement of performance and/or delivery shall not constitute a waiver of such terms and conditions or any acceptance of any terms and conditions contained in the Customer’s order or other documents. Acceptance of any product or service by the Customer will be construed as acceptance of ETC’s terms and conditions. Any dispute or questions of construction with respect to any order placed with ETC shall be governed by the laws of the State of Wisconsin.

All prices are in US Dollars, FOB ETC’s factory or warehouse. Prices, models and specifications are subject to change without notice. Orders must be in writing. Phone orders will be accepted from established accounts when followed by written confirmation. The acceptance of any order does not imply conformance with plans and specifications unless the plans and specifications accompany the order and are accepted as binding by ETC.

iv Limited warranty

Equipment ordered which differs in any way from our standard catalog items will require drawings approved in writing by the Customer. When drawings are approved, they shall take precedence over all other written or verbal instructions. Orders are effective only when accepted and acknowledged by the factory. Minimum order is $25.00 net, exclusive of freight.

Price protection will be given on orders entered for immediate shipment and for project orders entered before the effective date of a price increase. All other orders will be billed at price at time of shipment. Quotations for custom products are valid for thirty (30) days.

ETC shall not be liable for late delivery and/or inability to perform due to unforeseen circumstances or conditions, including our ability to obtain supplies and raw materials, government regulations, labor stoppages, casualties, fire, and other causes beyond our control. When such circumstances or conditions have been remedied, ETC will make and Customer will accept delivery/performance. Equipment is shipped at the Customer’s risk and our obligation to deliver equipment is discharged upon their delivery in good condition to the carrier. Shipments are FOB ETC factory or warehouse. ETC prepay and bill freight on UPS shipments. Freight and air are sent collect unless specifically quoted otherwise. Unless specifically prohibited, partial shipments will be made. Federal, state and/or local taxes, duties and other charges are the responsibility of the purchaser.

If purchaser cancels any portion of a Purchase Order prior to shipment, Purchaser shall be liable to ETC for a cancellation charge equal to ETC's actual costs incurred in connection with that portion of the Purchase Order that is cancelled, including, without limitation, labor and materials.

Payment terms are net 30 days after date of invoice. All payments are applied to the oldest outstanding invoice. Accounts over thirty (30) days are subject to a 1 1/2% (one and one-half percent) per month late payment penalty. ETC will have the option of withholding performance under any and all orders from the Customer if an invoice remains unpaid after 30 days. All disputes otherwise unresolved between ETC and Customer shall be resolved in a court of competent jurisdiction for the location of ETC's offices, Dane County, Wisconsin. If suit or action is instituted by ETC to enforce payment or performance by the Customer, the Customer agrees to pay all costs and attorney's fees incurred.

Claims for shortage or damaged must be made within ten (10) days. Equipment is carefully packed and delivered in good condition to the carrier. All claims for loss or damage in transit must be made by the consignee directly to the carrier. ETC will render every aid and assistance in the presentation and enforcement of such claims without waiver of our rights to have compliance with the terms of payment of our invoices.

Equipment returned without ETC’s written permission will not be accepted. Equipment returned for credit must be in accordance with established RMA procedures. Equipment must be unused, in original cartons and in saleable condition, subject to ETC’s quality control and test inspection. Restocking charges of $25.00 or 25% (whichever is greater) plus any repacking or reconditioning costs will be deducted. Returns for warranty work will be via warranty procedures. In no case will permission be granted to return specially-modified or custom equipment, or merchandise invoiced more than six (6) months prior to date of Customer’s return request.

Express two scene preset User Manual v

Table of Contents

Declaration of Conformity Limited warranty

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Chapter 1 Introduction

Using this manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Keyboard Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Text conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Navigation and visual feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Output level conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Moving light concepts and terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The Only command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Using the trackpad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Electronic backup maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

How to reach ETC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Setting up the console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

New users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

HTP channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

LTP Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Enabling LTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Working with LTP channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Fixtures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Fixture attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Personalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

When working with fixtures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

When updating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

When recalling channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Trackpad notes: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Chapter 2 Monitor displays

Colors in displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Display features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Flexichannel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Patch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Express two scene preset User Manual vii

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Channel numbers/Standard patch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Channel numbers/Fixture patch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Channel output levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Changing pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Blind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Fader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Updating Flexichannel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Chapter 3 System settings

Setting the number of dimmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Setting the number of channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Setting default fade times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Setting default Level key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Setting default fader clear time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Setting default sneak time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Enable / disable Blackout key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Enable / disable Flexichannel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Set grandmaster type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Set channels / submasters 1-to-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Record lockout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Enable / disable bump buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Scene mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Setting the clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Clock functions display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Daylight Savings Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Set time/date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

12/24 hour clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Latitude, longitude, time zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

About Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Chapter 4 Patching channels

Selecting one-to-one patch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Creating a custom patch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Proportional patching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Unpatching individual dimmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Show labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Dimmer profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Pre-defined profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Assigning a profile to a dimmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Profiles display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Creating or editing a profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Copying to another profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Clear All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Clear to End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Fill Between . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Resetting a profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Captured channels in Patch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Dimmer check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

About Dimmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

About Dimmer with ETCLink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Setting dimmers to Dimmer Doubling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Patching to a Strand CD80 dimmer rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

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Chapter 5 Setting channel levels

Channel modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Selected channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Captured channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Recorded channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Moving channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

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viii Table of Contents

Tracked channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Channel Attributes display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Editing in the Channel Attributes display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Independent channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Flipped channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Channel data type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Channel convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Selecting channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Selecting channels in Flexichannel mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Setting channel levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Channel sliders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Trackpad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Full . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Level key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Sneak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Channel check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

About Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Features of the display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Chapter 6 Adding moving lights to the show

Moving Light Functions menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Personality Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Go to the Personality Setup display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Loading personalities into the console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Viewing a personality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Deleting personalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Resetting defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Patching moving lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Go to the Fixture Patch display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Patching one fixture or a fixture range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Editing the fixture list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Attribute Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Go to the Attribute Setup display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Encoder Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Go to the Encoder Setup display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Changing assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Working with moving lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Moving lights displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Go to the Fixture Box window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Working with fixtures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Setting levels in the Fixture Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Fixture focus with Solo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Chapter 7 Cues

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Cue types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Recording functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Viewing cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Express two scene preset User Manual ix

Crossfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Allfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Blocking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Subroutine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

The oversized show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Creating the oversized show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Playing back an oversized show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Working with cues in Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Recording a cue in Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Working with cues in Blind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Recording a cue in Blind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Recording a cue with a single fade time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Recording a cue with split fade times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Recording a cue with a wait time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Recording cues with Link and Follow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Follow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Create playback loops with Link and Follow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Linking a macro to a cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Recording a cue using Solo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Labeling cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Modifying a recorded cue live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Modifying channels in a cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Modifying cue attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Updating cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Using Update to modify fade rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Deleting cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Copying cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Inserting cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Chapter 8 Track

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Track record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Using record to create tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Recording modified cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Inserting cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Blackout cues and tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Chapter 9 Multipart cues

Recording a multipart cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Converting a standard cue to a multipart cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Wait times in multipart cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Editing a multipart cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Deleting a part from a multipart cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Adding, deleting and modifying channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Using Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Modifying fade and wait times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Chapter 10 Playing back cues

Fader keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Clear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Cue List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Fader Status display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Selecting cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

x Table of Contents

Playing a cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Go to a different cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Controlling fades manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Manual override . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Rate override . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Quickstep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Chapter 11 Groups

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Creating groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Creating a group in Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Creating a group from a look on stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Creating a group using Solo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Working with groups in Blind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Group mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Group Editing mode in Blind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Working with groups in Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Displaying a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Modifying a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Updating groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Labeling groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Deleting groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Copying groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Using cues and submasters as groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Modifying cues or submasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Chapter 12 Focus points

Creating a focus point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Working with focus points in Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Editing a focus point in Blind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Labeling focus points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Deleting focus points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Copying focus points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Setting levels with focus points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Creating a focus point in Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Creating a focus point from a look on stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Creating a focus point using Solo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Placing a focus point on stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Modifying a focus point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Updating focus points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Chapter 13 Submasters

Submaster types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Changing type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Submaster pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Submaster bump buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Submaster LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Recording submasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Pile-on submaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Inhibitive submaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Effect submaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Bump button status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Fade and dwell times for submasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Express two scene preset User Manual xi

Adding a rate to a submaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Specifying a submaster’s page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Using Except to record a submaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Inhibitive submasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Creating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Adding channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Deleting channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Modifying submasters in Blind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Modifying submasters in Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Re-recording submasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Updating submasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Live control of a submaster’s rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Controlling submaster fades manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Labeling submasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Copying submasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Loading cues or groups to submasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Copying cues or groups to submasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Clearing submasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Chapter 14 Lists and spreadsheets

Cue List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Editing cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Submaster List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Editing submasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Deleting submasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Group List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Labeling a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Deleting a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Focus Point List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Labeling a focus point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Deleting a focus point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Working in spreadsheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Cue spreadsheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Submaster spreadsheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Group spreadsheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Focus point spreadsheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Chapter 15 Park

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Using the Park display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Parking dimmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Unparking dimmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Parking channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Unparking channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Parking recorded channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Unparking recorded channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Parking fixtures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

xii Table of Contents

Unparking one dimmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Unparking all dimmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Using the keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Parking at a focus point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Unparking one channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Unparking all channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

After setting attribute levels from the keypad . . . . . . . . . . . 195

After setting attribute levels at a focus point . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Unparking fixtures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Chapter 16 Effects

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Blind Effects display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Effects in Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Creating an effect in Blind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Notes on working with steps in Blind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Adding channels directly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Adding groups or focus points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Adding grouped channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Creating an effect in Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Notes on working with steps in Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Adding channels directly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Adding groups or focus points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Adding grouped channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Modifying the effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Using Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Editing channel levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Adding channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Deleting channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Inserting steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Deleting steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Modifying effect attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Modifying step timing and levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Effect fade times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Changing upfade, dwell and downfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Changing upfade only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Changing downfade only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Changing dwell only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Resetting hold dwell time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Setting a random effect rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Running an effect cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Using an effect submaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Chapter 17 Subroutines

Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Cue steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Style steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Subroutine attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Creating subroutines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Editing a subroutine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Deleting a step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Inserting a step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Chapter 18 Macros

Creating macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Express two scene preset User Manual xiii

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Using Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Using Macro Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Macro wait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Linking macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Using submasters in macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Playing macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Canceling a macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Powerup macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Modifying macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Clearing macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Copying macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Sample macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Chapter 19 Link lists

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Link List overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Setting up a link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Inserting a link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Moving a link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Merging two links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Deleting a link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Using a link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Chapter 20 Diskette functions

Diskette management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Formatting diskettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Contents of the showfile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Writing to diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Reading from diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Read show and configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Read show components only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Read system configuration components only . . . . . . . . . . . 247

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Chapter 21 Printing

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Printer options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Printing procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Printouts available . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Moving lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Chapter 22 Clear functions

Clear functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Clear and reset procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Clear and reset options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Chapter 23 Two scene preset

Enabling two scene mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Express 24/48 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Express 48/96 and 72/144 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

The two scene faders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Two scene status display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Manual crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Flash a scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Timed crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Pause a timed crossfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

xiv Table of Contents

Chapter 24 Dimmer monitoring

ETCLink functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Enabling ETCLink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Error messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

How to enable / disable ETCLink error messages . . . . . . . . 266

ETCLink displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Dimming system status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Dimmer rack status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Dimmer status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Monitoring dimmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Load Management display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Record Loads procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Load Check procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Clear Loads procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Setting and unsetting dimmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Setting a dimmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Unsetting a dimmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Working with Sensor backup looks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Recording a backup look . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Playing a backup look . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Chapter 25 Control interfaces

MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

ETC MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

MIDI Show Control (MSC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Real time programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Go to the Real Time Programs display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Enabling / disabling real time programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Creating real time programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Editing real time programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Deleting real time programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Inserting real time programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Copying real time programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Moving real time programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Sorting real time programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Time Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Creating time code programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Reset loop time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Editing time code programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Deleting time code events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Inserting time code events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Copying time code events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Moving time code events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Editing events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Setting time code frame rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Running a time code program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Remote macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Remote trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Express two scene preset User Manual xv

Chapter 26 Accessories

Remote Focus Unit (RFU) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Alphanumeric keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Console lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Expression Off-Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Appendix A Installation

Console’s back panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Installing the console and monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Installing ETCNet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Connecting dimmers to console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Configuring DMX512 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Installing remote interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Installing an alphanumeric keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Installing a printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Installing Remote Focus Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Installing MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Installing console lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Installing remote macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Upgrading software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

External device fuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

VGA monitor connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Port starting DMX512 numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Setting the port to Dimmer Doubling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Setting DMX512 speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Installing jumpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Remote Interface Unit (RIU) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Remote Video Interface (RVI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Installing remote video monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Wiring remote macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Console software upgrades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Upgrading remote unit software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Appendix B Error messages

Diskette error messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Other error messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

ETCLink errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Fatal messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Secondary Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Appendix C Showfile

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Show contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Configuration contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Appendix D Softkeys

xvi Table of Contents

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Blind/Cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Blind/Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Blind/Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Blind/Submaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Blind/Submaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Blind/Cue/Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Blind/(Cue or Sub)/Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Blind/Submaster/Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Blind/Subroutine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Stage/Fader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Stage/Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Patch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Setup - System Settings (1), Output Config (2) and Clear (4) . . . 341

Setup - Print (5) and Options (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Setup - Macro Editing (8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Setup - ETC Link Functions (9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Setup - ETC Link Functions (9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Setup - Profiles (10), Channel Attributes (11) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Setup - Real Time Programs (12) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Setup - Time Code (13) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Setup - Moving Light Functions (15) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Appendix E Time and location

United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Outside the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Appendix F Specifications

Index

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Express two scene preset User Manual xvii

xviii Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction

This manual covers the installation and operation of lighting systems containing ETC’s Express 24/48, Express 48/96 and Express 72/144 control consoles operating with version 3.03 system software. The differences between these consoles is shown under

Specifications

referred to as Express unless a distinction is necessary.

Chapter one includes information to orient you to the console and the manual

• Using this manual

• Using Help

• Text conventions

• Navigation and visual feedback

• Output level conventions

• Moving light concepts and terms

• The Only command

• Using the trackpad

• Electronic backup maintenance

• Troubleshooting

, page 347. Throughout the manual, all three consoles are

It includes the following sections:

Appendix F

Express two scene preset User Manual 1

Using this manual

This manual provides instructions for using the console’s features and optional accessories.

Setting up the console

If you are setting up the system for the first time, see

Installation

information about setting up your system. If the system is already in place, you may not need to refer to these chapters.

, page 311, and

New users

If you are new to lighting systems or to ETC’s consoles, read chapters 4 through 13 for instructions about patching conventional lights and moving light fixtures, setting levels and using cues, groups, and submasters. These are the building blocks for creating and running any show. Once you are comfortable with these functions, chapters 16 through 19 provide more advanced information on effects, subroutines, macros and link lists.

Keyboard Help

Chapter 3 System settings

Appendix A

, page 21, for

Help screens are available for all console keys, including softkeys and wheels console.

To display help screens, press [Help], then press any key on the

Text conventions

In this manual, console keys and softkeys are indicated by square brackets, such as [Enter] and [S1] display are printed in boldface, such as Select channel other sections of the manual are printed in italics, such as

Introduction

Messages appearing on a console

References to

Chapter 1

2 Chapter 1 Introduction

Navigation and visual feedback

Move through console menus and displays in the ways that work best for you. The console offers alternative navigational techniques and visual feedback that confirms your choices all along the way.

Note how navigation and feedback information is collected in the table below. Tables like this are used throughout this User Manual to help you use console displays. When alternative navigational techniques perform the same function, examples in the text illustrate the technique that many find the most convenient or efficient to use.

Navigation and Feedback - Console menus

Select a menu item XXX Highlighted characters Item selected

In these Navigation and Feedback tables,

564

represents the keypad,

represents the softkeys,

[S]

564

[S] ±

represent the up and down keyboard arrows,

represent the right and left keyboard arrows, and

represent the plus and minus keys.

Express two scene preset User Manual 3

Output level conventions

The console uses both a highest level, or pile-on, convention and a last action convention to determine levels for channels affected by more than one control

HTP channels

The behavior of a pile-on channel is defined by the Highest Takes Precedence (HTP) rule. The console reads all output levels it receives for an HTP channel and sets that channel to the highest of them controlled by a submaster always obeys the HTP rule, but the Blackout key, Grandmaster control and parked channels all have priority over levels set from the keypad.

Channels may be defined to operate with either convention.

A channel

For example, if an HTP channel is included in both a submaster that has played back and is in a fader, the console sets the channel at the higher of the two levels. Or, you may use the keypad to select that channel and set it to any level, regardless of the levels set either by the cue or the submaster.

HTP channels in the console are called “normal” channels.

LTP Channels

Channels may also be defined in the console to follow the Latest Takes Precedence (LTP) rule. An LTP channel obeys the latest command to set its level. When the command is to fade to a level, an LTP channel can fade either in a physical fader (in the foreground) or in a background fader. Each LTP channel has its own background fader.

An LTP channel fades in the foreground if its level moves to a new level in the next cue. When a channel is fading in the foreground and no change in that channel is commanded by the next cue, the fade continues in the background. A cue stops running in the background when the last of its channels stops fading in the background. Up to 600 cues may run in the background at once.

For example, consider three cues recorded for channels Chan 1, Chan 2 and Chan 3, all of which are set as LTP channels. The cues contain percentage levels for these three channels as follows:

• When Cue 1 starts, channel Chan 1 starts fading to level 25 with Cue 1 timing.

• If Cue 2 starts before Cue 1 ends, channel Chan 1 continues fading in the background with Cue 1 timing and channel Chan 2 starts fading in the foreground to level 50 with Cue 2 timing.

• If Cue 3 starts before Cue 2 ends, channels Chan 1 and Chan 3 start fading in the foreground to level 50 with Cue 3 timing; channel Chan 2 continues fading in the background with Cue 2 timing.

Chan 1 Chan 2 Chan 3 Cue 1 25 0 0 Cue 2 25 50 0 Cue 3 50 50 50

and a cue

4 Chapter 1 Introduction

Enabling LTP

You can set a channel’s status to LTP or HTP as long as the channel is not used in Fixture Patch. If the channel is patched to a fixture, the personality controls the HTP/LTP status. All attributes (channels) are set to LTP by a personality except the intensity attribute. All channels not patched to a fixture default to HTP (considered “normal”).

Set channels to HTP or LTP, either singly or in ranges, in the Channel Attributes display using the following procedures.

Keystrokes:

1. Press [Setup] [1][1] [Enter].

2. Press [1] [Thru] [1][0] [Enter].

3. Press [ → ] [ → ] [ → ] [ →].

4. Press [1].

Working with LTP channels

Background overrides

Cues running in the background can be stopped, adjusted or otherwise controlled with background overrides. shown in the table below.

Background Override Operations

1. Clear Cue(s)

2. Cancel Cue(s)

3. Finish Cue(s)

4. Master Cue(s)

on X-Wheel

5. Alter Rate of Cue(s) on X-Wheel

Action:

Selects the channel attributes display Specifies channels 1 through 10

Move to LTP field Sets channels to LTP

There are five override options, as

Clears cue levels. Stops the fade or effect. Takes cue channels to their completed

levels immediately. Takes proportional control of cue

levels immediately. Adjusts cue timing.

Control background overrides as follows:

Keystrokes: Action:

1. Press [Stage] [S3], Background Overrides.

2. Press [5] [Enter].

3. Press [#] [Enter].

a. Press [0] in this step to apply an override operation to all cues.

Identify which cue contains a particular channel from the About Channel display, covered under About Channel, page 60.

Express two scene preset User Manual 5

Selects the Background Overrides list

Specifies cue 5

Specifies the override operation you want performed

Effects

LTP channels may be used to preserve an effect in certain channels regardless of levels in the effect. Also, multiple effects can run simultaneously, and other looks can be provided concurrently with effects.

These features are available in the console when you use LTP channels. When an effect cue is sandwiched between two other cues, LTP channel levels in the effect cue are ignored when determining which control takes precedence. A cue that runs after an effect skips over the previous effect cue to determine what happens to levels. If there is a move in the current cue with respect to the same channel in the cue before the effect, the channel fades in the current cue and is “stolen” from the effect. If no move, the channel continues in the effect.

Blocking cue

A cue running in the background ends when its last fading channel has finished or a background override ends the cue prematurely. Sometimes, however, you would like to end a background cue prematurely.

The way to do that is to follow the background cue with a blocking cue. A blocking cue does to timing what an allfade cue does to level. As soon as an allfade cue is started, all unused channels are forced to zero. Similarly, when a blocking cue starts, all channels running in background cues are faded to completion in the blocking cue’s timing. A blocking cue ends all background cues.

Aside from its initial effect on background cues, the blocking cue runs from that point on just like any other cue, including the possibility that it could be forced to the background itself by the next cue.

6 Chapter 1 Introduction

Moving light concepts and terms

Fixtures

Conventional lights, sometimes called fixtures, are single attribute devices whose intensity can be controlled by a console connected to a dimmer. In this User Manual, however, the term refer to multi-attribute devices such as moving lights to distinguish them from conventional lights. The programming methods in this manual apply to any multi-attribute device controlled by DMX512 as to moving lights.

Fixture attributes

Every fixture has a set of attributes that you use to control it. For instance, a basic moving light might have only three attributes: intensity, pan and tilt. You control the fixture’s brightness by adjusting the level of a DMX512 channel that controls a dimmer assigned to the fixture. Similarly, you control the fixture’s horizontal and vertical movements by adjusting the levels of DMX512 channels assigned to the fixture’s pan and tilt attributes. This simple fixture would require three channels to fully control it. Other, more complicated fixtures could have additional attributes such as color, focus or gobo, and each additional attribute would require an additional DMX512 channel to control it.

In contrast, a standard ellipsoidal spotlight needs only one DMX512 channel to fully control it, namely the one that controls the dimmer assigned to the spotlight. Only the spotlight’s intensity can be controlled by changing the channel level. It has no other attributes.

fixture

is often used to

ETC Express 24/48, Express 48/96, Express 72/144 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual