From the sound of your previous posts, I get the impression that you've already advanced quite a way into pre-programming your show; and I don't know how much your preferences would match mine, but this is how I would do it:
First of all, I agree with everyone else that an actual moving light board would be the best solution. Since that is not an option, though, I think it would be easiest to run all of your intstruments off of one of the Expresses. The unfortunate thing about this (and I don't know your exact needs) is that I have no idea if you actually can. The moving lights alone are going to take up 78 control channels on the
Express (make sure your Technobeams are in 17-channel mode and not 18, unless you're using the LAD), and if you really have a dozen LEDs, those are going to take an additional 84. This only leaves you with 30 channels to patch your conventionals. Like I said, I don't know if you can get away with ganging that many instruments, but I would suggest modifying your patch any way you can to allow all lights to be run off of the one board. The fact is (which was stated previously) that the
Express'
MSC capabilities are limited solely to
cue and
macro firing, which is fine if you can program all cues and looks ahead of time with ample time to rehearse. For programming on the fly, though, you don't want to be stuck with no control.
I agree with the consensus that you should utilize the Focus Points and the "Only" command; this is a very powerful combination, and is really the only thing on an
Express that makes moving light programming bearable. Definitely program any
gobo wheels, FX prisms and standard colors that you need int Focus Points, making sure to have a
cheat sheet handy so you don't forget which is which--the labeling feature in Expression Offline is a plus, but you can't actually view the list unless you're in
Blind mode, so be sure to have pen and paper. Be careful, though: the
console only allows for 99 Focus Points, so don't get overzealous with your presets.
There is, of course, still the problem of CYM mixing. The
layout of the 48/96 allows individual
fader control for each of its first 96 channels. If you are able to fit everything on one board (and even if you're not), I would patch all of my movers in sequence starting on
channel one (ie. VL1 @ Ch1, VL2 @ Ch23, TB1 @ 45, TB2 @ 62). With this patch (and a little
board tape), you would be able to quickly find your CYM channels and adjust them as necessary via our favorite tool: faders. This is likewise for focus,
zoom,
iris and anything else you want to slightly adjust.
As far as postioning, as long as you don't bump the sensitivity buttons, I've never had a problem using the trackpad. In fact, I've always found it rather effective (not as effective as wheels and dials, but for a
conventional board it's pretty good).
If, for whatever reason, you absolutely
cannot fit everything on one board, you might think about slaving the boards in reverse. Instead of using the conventionals' board as the master, use the moving light board as the master. When it comes down to it, the moving lights are going to require alot more TLC than the conventionals will, and you'll want to have as much control of them as you can. You can use cues and macros to set
conventional looks and fire those off of the ML's board. With a maximum
cue list of 600 and up to 2,000 macros, I think you would be fine.
This is how I can see accomodating for fastest programming. You will still need to allow some time before the show (I'm hoping you have more than two hours before showtime to set up) to actually set the looks you want, but this is the way I would set up the
system if I were in this situation.
Hope this is helpful. Good luck; I look forward to haring how the show turns out.
