1:1 patch: Do you use it?

What type of patch do you use?


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atm999

Member
I'm just checking how many people use 1:1 patch for their consoles vs puting all whites that point to downstage left, etc, on a channel. Feel free to post if you think that it will provide more insight than your vote in the poll.
 
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with like 250 dimmers only half that many lights a 1:1 patch would be way to confusing.

But in highschool i did use 1:1 patch, because there were 24 dimmers and lights. That and I had no idea what a patch was.
 
We have ~40 plugs on the bars, and only 24 channels, so we Hard Patch the plugs into our 24 channel CD80 pack.

For the next show I do, I may do some basic soft-patching(so we don't 2fer 4 lights into a 2.1Kw dimmer like we did last time :p ), but I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the school who's read the whole manual and knows what a softpatch is/how to use it.
 
I fall into a not on the list catagory. I patch my rig on the dimmers, so that the console mostly ends up being a 1-to-1 patch. I normally dont have the convenience of house dimmers.
 
In my theater I usually use a 1 to 1, because I know most of the circuit positions in my head and I end up designing and circuiting most instruments.

The last time I was in a strange auditorium I changed the patch, because I didn't know their layout as well.

Either way, I prefer to work off of submasters and groups, so often the patch doesn't matter directly.
 
In my space the other users would have no idea how to handle a patch that wasn't 1:1 as they have been using that going back to their 2 scene board.
 
How can you not? A magic sheet and a logical channel layout can cut programing time in half, and makes making changes during tech much easier.

When I got here and started making the students acutaually patch shows you would have thought I told them to jump off a bridge, but its how the real theatre world works, get used to it.

The real question is, is ch. 1 DSL, DSR, USL, or USR?
 
I use a 1:1 patch in my space becasue I run a rep plot of the course of the year, and it's easier to keep a 1:1 in my head than a rotating patch. It also helps a little in simplifing things for introductions to new techs.
 
It depends on the show, and the experience level of the LD (and I use that term generously).

In our venue, we have more control channels than fixtures so we try for independent control of all fixtures, using groups, palettes, and presets for zoning. Pure 1:1 breaks down in our space due to dimmer doubling, house lights, location of circuits, etc.

Our usual practice is to design using whatever numbering scheme suits, then patch to simplify programming or busking. Often that scheme looks like 1:1 for the majority of shows.
 
I'm just checking how many people use 1:1 patch for their consoles vs puting all whites that point to downstage left, etc, on a channel. Feel free to post if you think that it will provide more insight than your vote in the poll.

Whoops my bad. I thought it was talking about circuits -> dimmers. But if I have enough channels I use a 1:1 patch. Then use groups and subs. But why limit yourself if you don't have to?

Mike
 
My softpatch is typically one dimmer onto a handle, but it's never a direct 1=1 patch. It's some variation on:

1-9 are frontlights.
11-19 are backlights (or tops)
21-29 are sides from SR
31-39 are sides from SL
the 40s are usually colorwashes or special systems
50s, specials
60s, templates
and then other systems
and warmers and houselights on the last two channels

Kinda like Kyle/Footer was talking about. This way my channel numbers are tied to the function of an instrument (or system) rather than to the physical location of a fixture.

I rarely write subs, other than houselights on the last sub. I am starting to write groups. But that's just me, who lights high school and community theatre with half-racks and sub-100-unit plots.
 
Unfair poll.

I use a 1 to 1....after hang to check everything and make sure its working. I typicallly leave it 1 to 1 for focus as well as I believe that the less things you have to troubleshoot (i.e. the patch) during focus when a light isn't working the better.

After that I always use a show patch. Period. Channeling is a means of organizing for the designer and making the plot work for them.
 
I, too, cannot vote because I don't understand the poll. Quoting from the other thread:
First of all, I am slightly confused. When you say "1:1 patch" you mean one dimmer per channel? Because when I say "1:1 patch" I think of dimmer 1 patched to channel 1, dimmer 2 patched to dimmer 2, etc. because that terminology has been hijacked by desk manufacturers to mean the latter. ...
I wouldn't say "that terminology has been hijacked by desk manufacturers." Since the inception of Dimmer Per Circuit, consoles have had the ability to control more dimmers than channels. Often, on a 400-channel console with 512-dimmers, a 1-to-1 patch results in dimmer 401 into channel (001), along with dimmer 1, D402+D2 into (002), etc. For an average show, 17% of dimmers go unused, why have random 17% of "holes" in one's Channel Hook-Up?

...Second of all, assuming you mean the first, every designer is going to do one dimmer per channel--because that gives you greatest amount of control--unless there are some extenuating circumstances: you are only using more than one dimmer because of a power issue AND the instruments would NEVER be used separately, ie cyc lights; or you have more dimmers than you have channels, [see above] but if this were the case I would never design there again until they buy a new desk (unless you were using a LOT of DMX controlled devices--that were rented so it was not the norm--and that is where the extra "dimmers" were coming from?); or you have a LOT more dimmers than you are going to use so you just put each instrument in its own dimmer rather than 2-fering in the air. ...
Even with the same number of dimmers and channels, a softpatch allows one to put channels in a logical order that suits the show and LD, rather than how the electrical engineer happened to number the circuits--which often makes no logical sense.
One example:
channels (1-10) are frontlight, [Sub 1]
(11-20) are SR SDLT, [Sub 2]
(21-30) are SL SDLT, [Sub 3]
(31-40) are BKLT, [Sub 4]
(91-99) are cyc lights, [Sub 9=RED, Sub 10=BLU, Sub 11=GRN]
(100) is HouseLights; [Sub 12]
Everything DS of Main Curtain=[Sub13 INHB]
(501-506) are MAC500s FOH,
(531-534) are MAC500s on 3E,
(611-618) are MAC600s on 1E, etc.
[Things get tricky with 3 types of MAC2000s, but there are rules for that, too.:rolleyes:]

Even with portable racks, I don't use "dimmer 1 into channel 1," as a combination of hard-patching, pin-patching, and soft-patching allows one to balance the racks, (something usually not considered when working with installed racks).
 
We have ~40 plugs on the bars, and only 24 channels, so we Hard Patch the plugs into our 24 channel CD80 pack.

For the next show I do, I may do some basic soft-patching(so we don't 2fer 4 lights into a 2.1Kw dimmer like we did last time :p ), but I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the school who's read the whole manual and knows what a softpatch is/how to use it.

sorry, I was asking about softpatching on the console. I didn't know that people still used hardpatching. We have a Strand CD80 rack and a Strand lightboard M - both from 1987 - and we still only use soft patching.
 
Reccenty we've changed the way we've patched shows (after I complained a lot) at my venue. On our old desk (Zero 88 Illusion120), everything was patched so channel 1 was socket 1 (though technically it wasn't a 1:1, due to the way our dimmers are laid out based on phases across the grid). Whilst on the illusion it worked pretty much ok, we're now using a Avolites Pearl Tiger where you can only have 30 fixtures on each page of handles, and so to have a 1 to 1 patch, means straddling 3 pages of fixtures which is just infuriating! So now we patch ourchannels in a more logical way with the O/W wash on 1-4 etc.

Personally whenever I get the chance I try and lay out my channels on a per rig basis (which when I'm out of my normal venue and using bigger desks, Strand 500, Ion etc, is even more important).

Diarmuid
 
I do use 1:1 if i'm in a theatre that's not my own.
Sometimes when i get into a venue they don't want there system messed about with so i respect that (most of the time you can get round such things ;) )
Most of the time i'll softpatch dimmers to make my layout more 'practicle' if you know where everything is you can feel more comfortable while programming.
Saying this though Sub masters and groups are exactly for this purpose so i never softpatch more than one dimmer to a channel
 

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