ETC Express

[avilicious]

To all my fellow lighting technicians, designers, and enthusiasts!

I am designing a show, and all is going well until it is time to program the board (an ETC Express). I start setting cues and the board will only record cue 1, and none others. I try about 10 million times to re-record, restart, and reset the cues but the board keeps recording cue 1, and then keeps all the levels recorded in cue 1 into cue 2 and cue 3. At this point I thought to myself that maybe the board may be set in "tracking mode" so I search around to try and turn the tracking mode off but it still records the cues with all the levels in cue one and layers other levels. At this point I try to set a blackout, and even that doesn't work. Manually setting the chanel levels does not work either. At this point I have no idea what I should do, and to make things even better I have a rental package with moving lights and gobo rotators arriving next week that I also have the pleasure of programming into the board. Anyone have any ideas to help me understand a way to overcome this obstacle? Any help is most appreciated.

Thanks!

Avi

 

[CSCTech]

Re: ETC EXPRESS PROBLEM

I have only been using an Express console for half a year but I just programmed a whole show last night.

Just for trouble shooting, wipe the board and reload the firmware, if you have the floppy with it which is nice to have.

Make sure the board is in the correct scene mode.

Make sure that your in Stage mode aswell, not Blind (Although you can add cues in Blind, just as troubleshooting)

Set the look you want live in Stage mode.

The syntax is-
[Record] [Cue] [#] [Enter]

Also, make sure that when you hit enter the screen does not say "CUE NOT RECORDED" on the lower left corner which it does sometimes. If it does say it, hit enter again and that should do it.

And just do the same thing for the next cues

[Record] [Cue] [1] [Enter]
[Record] [Cue] [2] [Enter]
[Record] [Cue] [3] [Enter]

etc.

Also, not sure if your new or not to the Express, but I am. And I was under the impression that cues and subs couldnt be edited or made unless in stage mode and live.
But all you need to do is go into Blind mode, select Cue or Sub. Type the number you want to edit and hit enter. Adjust levels as desired with the keypad, and hit record. (Watch for the Not Recorded message during this)

Also im sure you know but you can get into your cue list by going into Blind and hitting S2 for Cue List. Here you can review your cues aswell as edit their funtions such as fade time etc.



Sorry if some of that kind of states the obvious!

Best of luck!

 

[DaveySimps]

Re: ETC EXPRESS PROBLEM

Welcome to CB Avi! I am moving this thread to the Lighting Forum, so it is posted in the appropriate place. I am sure folks there will be of assistance to you.

~Dave

 

[xander]

Welcome Avi! Please verify for us: are you saying that you cannot actually record a cue number 2 or 3, etc., or that the levels you are getting in cues 2 and 3 are the same as cue 1?

First of all, the Express does not have a tracking mode so I wouldn't rack your brain any longer trying to find that. What the board does have is a tracking edit function. This is used only when editing multiple cues to save time. You can also set individual channels to LTP, but I doubt this is your problem.

Secondly, are you writing your cues using the sliders in a single scene with submasters configuration? Or with the keypad? It sounds to me like you may have set the levels for your first cue with the sliders, but your subsequent cues with the keypad without homing your sliders. The sliders will always output their levels to stage regardless of whether they are recorded into the cue.

Please inform us of the color of the channels on your monitor while in stage display. I'm not going to try to remember which color means what exactly at the moment because I haven't looked at an Express in a while and am currently in a Strand mindset (which is seemingly completely opposite to ETC just to irritate the end users ). Anyway, if you can tell us the color of the channels, we may have more incite into the cause of your problem.

-Tim

 

[CSCTech]

Something I left out, Make sure that you aren't actually running a cue when recording as those levels won't be recorded I think. (Dont hold me too that one though)

And like Xander said, make sure that you are in Stage mode if you want to use the physical faders. Because anything you do with physcial channel faders in Blind mode won't show up on the Cue editor when in Blind.
Like I said, try recording everything in Stage just for troubleshooting.

I believe the colors are as follows-

Red-Captured via keypad
Yellow-Current, live levels
Green-A level that has been changed since the last cue
Purple-A level that has not changed since the last cue

I amy have the green and purple may be flip flopped though.

 

[Gern]

This is from the etcconnect.com wiki
KnowledgeBase: Color Scheme of Channel Assignments In The Expression/Express Family
CHANNEL NUMBERS/STANDARD PATCH:
Gray Unselected channel
White Channel is not selected by Only Function
Yellow Selected channel. Controlled by the "Y" wheel

CHANNEL NUMBERS/FIXTURE PATCH:
Gray bar Surrounds all channels of one fixture
Light Gray Low channels for 16-bit data types
Gold Channels linked through the link list or fixtures
Yellow Selected channels of selected fixtures

CHANNEL OUTPUT LEVELS:
White on Red Channel level when it is being changed
Yellow In Stage, a channel in yellow was set by a sub master
White In stage, a channel in white was set by an effect.
In Blind, a channel in white was set by a sub master, group, focus point. Or an all fade cue
Gray Channel was recorded into a multi-part cue, but not in the currently displayed part (Blind only)
Red In Stage, captured channels are in red. In Blind, channels not recorded are in red
Green Channel output levels are changed from what was in the previous cue. In Blind, channel output is lower than it was in the previous cue
Purple Channel output level is the same as it was in the previous cue (tracking)
Blue In Blind only, channel output level is higher than it was in the previous cue

 

[derekleffew]

...
Green Channel output levels are changed from what was in the previous cue. In Blind, channel output is lower than it was in the previous cue
Purple Channel output level is the same as it was in the previous cue (tracking)
Blue In Blind only, channel output level is higher than it was in the previous cue

The easy way to remember higher/lower from the previous cue colors:
Blue=sky=higher
Green=grass=lower.

 

[xander]

The easy way to remember higher/lower from the previous cue colors:
Blue=sky=higher
Green=grass=lower.

That is a good mnemonic device for remembering color coding for the Blind display of an ETC Express(ion) console. It is just a bit frustrating, and can lead to confusion, that the colors are different in Stage display than they are in Blind, and then even completely different if using a different brand. I think that it is just silly that green means a move up in Blind, but means just a move, up or down, in Stage. AND green means the opposite (green is a move down) in Strand. Purple is a tracked level in ETC and is a move up in Strand. Dark blue (in blind) is a move up in ETC but an attribute move in Strand.

I don't know which company came up with their color coding first, but it just seems like the other company was like, "well, let's do it completely different just to be a pain!"

But I digress. Any word from the OP?

 

[derekleffew]

...I don't know which company came up with their color coding first, ...

As best I can recall, ETC's colors have been consistent since the Expression I (Was that the first ETC console to use color? I think so.) in 1987.

 

[rochem]

It is just a bit frustrating, and can lead to confusion, that the colors are different in Stage display than they are in Blind, and then even completely different if using a different brand. I think that it is just silly that green means a move up in Blind, but means just a move, up or down, in Stage.

As best I can recall, ETC's colors have been consistent since the Expression I (Was that the first ETC console to use color? I think so.) in 1987.

With the Eos/Ion, they changed it slightly so Blue indicates an increase in intensity in both Live and Blind - and indicates any move for non-intensity parameters (scrollers, pan/tilt, etc.).

 

[chausman]

Something I left out, Make sure that you aren't actually running a cue when recording as those levels won't be recorded I think. (Dont hold me too that one though)

And like Xander said, make sure that you are in Stage mode if you want to use the physical faders. Because anything you do with physcial channel faders in Blind mode won't show up on the Cue editor when in Blind.
Like I said, try recording everything in Stage just for troubleshooting.

I believe the colors are as follows-

Red-Captured via keypad
Yellow-Current, live levels
Green-A level that has been changed since the last cue
Purple-A level that has not changed since the last cue

I amy have the green and purple may be flip flopped though.

When you are running a cue when you press record, it will record the levels at that moment mid-cue. The same as if you have an effect sub running, when you record it, it will only save the intensities at that moment.

Yeah, when you are in Blind the faders only control the stage look, not the cue editor.

And, I think that you are right about the colors.

I know for sure, that green and purple are correct.