Control/Dimming Inhibitive Submasters - Expression3

[JaredU123]

Hi Everyone,

First post here. At my work we have an ETC expression 3. I was just trying new things out, and had never made/used an inhibitive submaster before. I set one, and the red bump LED started blinking, and after a quick google search I read that you have to move the fader up to get it to stop doing so. Tried that, it kept blinking and the submaster ended up not doing anything. On one of the monitors we have hooked up (on the submaster list) the sub was also blinking there (was submaster 19 in this case) and it said "D19" and kept flashing.

I'm kind of a noob, sorry if I didn't explain this perfectly. Any help would be appreciated, and if you need more information just ask.


Thanks!
Jared

 

[SteveB]

You may (or maybe not) be confused as to what an inhibit sub does.

It manipulates the channels in that sub in a negative fashion.

As example, if you have levels on stage in a cue, say Ch's 1 thru 5 at 70% and have those same channels in an inhibit sub and lower the sub fader, Ch's 1-5 will lower from their cue intensities. They will do so proportionally as well, so 50% of the inhibit sub will see Ch's 1-5 at 35%.

Typically you build an inhibit to have the ability to kill or lower intensities of specific channels, leaving the sub fader at 100% at other times, allowing the levels as established by other (additive) subs, or in cues, to run at those levels.

One use, as example might be channels in the front-of-house positions that you don't want to see when you lower the main curtain, thus you can create an "FOH Inhibit" that allows the console operator to "ride" the inhibit sub to prevent those FOH units from bleeding all over the curtain as it is lowered.

As to how to create an Inhibit sub ?. It's in the manual here:

ETC | Stage Lighting Solutions | Theatrical & Rigging Equipment

 

[JaredU123]

I did follow that manual when I did it. Though I had to use the [type] key rather than using the [-] key as was listed in the manual.

I understand what an inhibitive sub does, though I do appreciate the description. My question was - The inhibitive sub that I recorded didn't perform what it was supposed to do. The red bump LED (Which is supposed to display that it is an inhibitive sub afaik) just continued to flash no matter what I did. From that point on the sub became entirely useless. It wouldn't function as intended as an inhibitive sub, nor was I able to delete the sub and re-record it as something else.

The only way I could get it to once again function was by turning off the console and turning it back on.

 

[SteveB]

If you have a fader up and change it's type, from additive to inhibit, it'll flash till you reset to zero. The concept is similar to changing sub pages in that the console holds the look/status of that sub till you reset, which occurs when the fader is set to zero.


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[JaredU123]

This occured even when the fader was at zero to begin with. I even attempted pulling it up to full and then back down to zero. Nothing changed. I read about what you said online (in a thread here on CB actually) and tried it. I tried recording the inhibitive cue with the fader both up and down (at FL and 0) and no matter what I tried, the submaster simply seemed to cease functioning until I restarted the whole console.

 

[kicknargel]

Sounds like you may be experiencing a software bug. But a couple possible explanations (that are only conjecture):

Perhaps the physical slider is malfunctioning such that it's never reading a value of FL. If you change to an inhibitive sub, but are prevented from taking the sub to full to initiate the change, it may hang in that anticipatory state. Try making a standard sub on that slider and see if it will run to full on the monitor.

Do you have channels captured while recording the sub? Maybe if not you're getting some error in trying to record a blank inhibitive.

Try recording it in blind mode (with some channel levels set in blind) and see if you get a different result.

 

[JaredU123]

I will try in blind mode. I think it is a fader problem. Almost none of our submasters when at the FL position get a FL reading. They all stop at 98 or 99.

 

[SteveB]

It is more and more sounding like a hardware problem.

I'd be calling ETC tech. support. They still support this desk. Have the comments you've posted here available as they well describe the problem and the step you've taken.

800 688 4116


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[kicknargel]

Almost none of our submasters when at the FL position get a FL reading. They all stop at 98 or 99.

Bingo.

 

[kicknargel]

I'd start with some compressed air. Could get lucky. Otherwise perhaps ETC or someone here knows a good cleaning procedure. Although this just occurred to me: If they're all doing it, perhaps it's the grand master that's problematic. I think its level displays on the monitor.

 

[JaredU123]

It's not the grandmaster. On the second monitor it displays the grandmaster at 100.

Im going to talk to my boss about calling etc after trying compressed air.

 

[JChenault]

Im going to talk to my boss about calling etc after trying compressed air.

Before you try compressed air, I would first try a vacuum. ( vacuum removes. Compresses air either blows the grunge away away or pushes it in deeper )

 

[DavidNorth]

I am assuming that all of your subs top out at 98% or 99%. If so, compressed air or vacuuming will not solve the problem. Instead, you either have a drooping power supply of too much voltage drop in the power supply harness feeding the submaster board.

If you are very good with a voltmeter and screwdrivers, and are very careful around power and electronics, it is possible this can be resolved over the phone. It may also be best to have this work dine in an ETC Service Center.

David

 

[JaredU123]

I am assuming that all of your subs top out at 98% or 99%. If so, compressed air or vacuuming will not solve the problem. Instead, you either have a drooping power supply of too much voltage drop in the power supply harness feeding the submaster board.

If you are very good with a voltmeter and screwdrivers, and are very careful around power and electronics, it is possible this can be resolved over the phone. It may also be best to have this work dine in an ETC Service Center.

David

Thanks!

We're actually in the process of planning a renovation (mostly asthetic unfortunately) but I told my boss that I wanted to get both our lighting board and mixer serviced, as each has a few little quirks that it shouldn't. Hopefully we'll see some stuff get fixed

Appreciate all your help!