Tracking vs. Cue-Only

[icewolf08]

Originally Posted by derekleffew

Tell us how you really feel Icewolf08, no need to be guarded around us. I bet you'd hate having to "clear the programmer."

Ok, starting this poll because I really want to know why people like their Cue-Only consoles. And I felt like a tracking rant.

Frankly, I think that if everyone took 5 minutes to learn it they could understand tracking, and they would probably never go back. Especially with the rise of MLs in many venues, it seems that living in Cue-Only land would just make your like harder. This is the biggest reason that I don't understand consoles like the Congo. RPN i could deal with, but why make a console designed for controlling MLs a Cue-Only native console?

One of the designer's that I work with insists on using Cue-only mode for his shows. Then I have to take time and go back through the show to lean up all the wacky ML live moves because they want to go back to home instead of tracking. So as the fixture fades out it is moving all over. It is a waste of time to have to fix things like that.

Or then there are the times when you want to change something, maybe the director wants the cyc brighter in the first scene. So on the tracking desk you just hit: chan# [@] level [ENTER] [UPDATE] [CUE] 2 [ENTER] and the entire first scene is changed, as opposed to going through ever cue on the cue-only desk and changing the level 15 times.

So, I want to know what you all think and why.

[fredthe]

I have to agree that tracking makes the most sense... but then again, I learned on the ultimate tracking "console"... 36 dimmer autotransformer (3 people to run... some cues were run by one person moving the master handle up or down, with the other two unlocking individual dimers from the master at various points along the way.)
Though for a recent small show I did (in a church hall, with a total of 12 dimmers) with only a couple dozen cues, the que-only board (which we got for free) was perfectly OK.
(Then there's the "tracking" automated fly system I sometimes use... but that belongs in a different forum...)

[punktech]

i haven't learned tracking yet, my school has an ETC Express and Expression (i can't remember the precise versions though, sorry!). if anyone knows these boards and/or knows a good book or website to learn tracking from do tell me, i would like to learn it.

[Charc]

In certain circumstances it can be a lot better:

Without proper tech time, and working with people who don't understand tracking, using tracking can become counter-productive.

Example:

Working with my dept head on shows, there is no tech time, I set levels whenever. Then she decides to step in and alter my work by calling out levels on headset during performances. If (as I have done) I set things to tracking, my changes track around everywhere, and she doesn't understand how she's altering the show.

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by punktech

i haven't learned tracking yet, my school has an ETC Express and Expression (i can't remember the precise versions though, sorry!). if anyone knows these boards and/or knows a good book or website to learn tracking from do tell me, i would like to learn it.

See the CB Glossary. "Cue tracking."

See also the Expression3 User's Manual, titled "ETCexpn31.pdf" (free download from ETC's site), Chapter 8, pp. 107-116.

I'm sure it's in the Express User's Manual also, but I've never looked.

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by charcoaldabs

...Example:

Working with my dept head on shows, there is no tech time, I set levels whenever. Then she decides to step in and alter my work by calling out levels on headset during performances. If (as I have done) I set things to tracking, my changes track around everywhere, and she doesn't understand how she's altering the show.

Does your Strand 300 have a <Q-only> key? And have you ever used it?

[Charc]

Originally Posted by derekleffew

Does your Strand 300 have a <Q-only> key? And have you ever used it?

I'm not sure if we do. I don't think I can set the board to Cue Only, but I don't know.

I could just set every cue as a block cue. I accidentally did that to one of my shows (pre-CB) and it worked out well!

[punktech]

thanks derek! i actually have the manual on my hard drive, but i never read that section of it (i dl-ed it for my intro lighting tech course 2 years ago)

[icewolf08]

Originally Posted by charcoaldabs

I'm not sure if we do. I don't think I can set the board to Cue Only, but I don't know.
I could just set every cue as a block cue. I accidentally did that to one of my shows (pre-CB) and it worked out well!

Well, you can set the 300 to Cue-Only, it is in "Show Setup" I believe (which is in report>adv. setup>show setup as opposed to just hitting setup). The 300 should also have a Q-only key, though it may say "Track/Q-only" (it does the opposite of the mode the console is in).

[soundlight]

If the "Both, depending on the console or situation" option had been there when I voted, I would've picked that one.

I usually cue dance concerts in cue-only mode, because I don't use all that many cues per piece, and each cue has almost all different levels from the last cue. However, in theatre, tracking is totally sweet, and I do use it.