Control/Dimming - Ion questions

[mbandgeek]

I got to play around with an ION today for about 2 hours and i have a couple questions for you guys. I wasn't able to hook the anything to the console, I was just trying to get a feel for the command structure.

I remember seeing on previous ETC boards that you could jump from cue to cue without having to see the transition happen. On the express 48/96 all you would have to do is run the playback faders up and down after pressing the go button. Is this possible on an ION? It was rather annoying trying to program a sequence and having to wait 5 seconds for each cue to run. I do understand that there is a "go to cue" button, but i still have to wait the 5 seconds to see the look.

Also, with moving lights, when i change the pan and tilt from cue to cue, is there a way to show the progress on the screen when running the cue? Or at the very least to show said degrees of the fixture on the current cue? If not, i think it's a really good idea that would make quite a few board ops happy. (I expect royalties from this idea, or at the very least a new ETC Source 4 36 degree ellipsoidal and a t-shirt)

I have one more question based on the ION. How do i save show files to a flash drive?

Now for a question about moving lights, which direction clockwise/counterclockwise is negative degrees? Or does this change from manufacturer to manufacturer or fixture to fixture?

I will undoubtedly have more questions as time goes on...
Thanks,
Kevin

[sk8rsdad]

First things first. You should visit the Ion forum over at ETC and pick up a copy of the manual from their Ion downloads area.

Once you've got a copy of the manual you can get more info on these scant answers to youur questions. There are people on this forum that can correct my errors.

[Time Disable] softkey of [Fader Controls] for quickly stepping through cues.

Save files to flash by using either "Save as...", "Export" or the backup functions from the maintenance console. You probably want to use "Save as..."

I expect ML direction CW/CCW would be consistent with the orientation of the fixture. Fixtures may be reversed, or inverted relative to each other leading to inconsistent results. [Flip] would also influence the rotation direction.

[Les]

The cue to cue feature is called Quickstep on the Express(ion). I am not sure what Ion calls it.

[Footer]

There is not a cut button? Thats no fun.

[bdkdesigns]

The timing disabled button is a pain to use on the ION (much easier on the EOS). You have to hit the Fader Control button (and hold it down), then hit the Timing Disabled soft key (you can let go of the timing disabled button, but you still need to keep your finger down on the fader control button). After that, you have to then select the load button on whatever you are using to run the cue (aka are you using the setup on the console, or are you running your cues off of the fader wing).

So in order to do the sequence, you have to press down the Fader Control button and keep holding it down for this sequence: to your right, you have to hit the Timing Disabled soft key, and then to your left of the Fader Control button you have to hit the load button. It's a two hand job or careful planning one handed job. In other words, I made that sequence a macro so I just have to click on my Timing Disabled direct select since it is much easier/faster. I also delete the macro before handing over the console to my board op.

[thommyboy]

Originally Posted by mbandgeek

Also, with moving lights, when i change the pan and tilt from cue to cue, is there a way to show the progress on the screen when running the cue? Or at the very least to show said degrees of the fixture on the current cue?

I am the VERY proud owner of an ION. I THINK what you are asking about is looking in the table view. You would get to it by pressing the format button in the upper right side of the console. The one caveat is that you would likely need to expand the NP (in this case beam) you want to see.

And I believe that if you have the correct encoder page selected you will see the change in the LCD above the encoders.

[mbandgeek]

Thanks to all that have replied so far. I will try the fader controls thing today or tomorrow if i can get into the lab and work with the console. I am really dying to hook some movers to it. I have never operated a mover before, and I think that i can with great success on the ION console.

I have tried to access my flash drive, but it keeps on wanting the CD drive in my virtual console and it won't show anything on the actual console. Is there some configuration that i need to do to my drive so that it will appear in the "save as" menu?

I also have the manual for the ION and I will search in more depth today on the fader control topic. Thanks sk8rs dad for the link to the ION forum, i will drop these questions over there as well.

Thanks,
Kevin

[mstutzman]

Couldnt you just change the default time on the "GoTo" key to zero seconds?

[sclausenETC]

From the Ion manual:

Using Timing Disable
The {Time Disable} softkey, used with [Fader Controls] and [Load], causes timing data to be
ignored for any cues that are activated on the associated playback fader. When a playback fader is
in timing disable mode, you will notice “TD” in the associated fader display.
To release the playback fader from time disable mode, press [Fader Controls] {Time Disable} &
[Load] again. You can also cut the next cue in by pressing [Timing Disable] & [Go] or the last cue
by pressing [Timing Disable] & [Back].

You could also change the default Goto Cue time to zero seconds, or use the command syntax Goto Cue # Time 0 ENTER to jump to that cue as quickly as possible without changing the default Goto Cue time.

Thanks -

Sarah