lighting FX problem

[kastor]

I'm using a Strand 300i Series lighting console. I'm trying to program some FX to cues, but at the end of the FX I need it to go straight into a general wash. But I am very stuck.

I attached FX 3 onto cue 3 by going "Cue 3 FX + 3" then I wanted to stop it on cue 4 and have a general wash (without it fading to black first). So i put "Cue 4 FX - 3" and the updated the cue to add the lights that i want on. But i dont get the general wash, everything just fades to black. I've tried recording the lights first then adding the FX stop, I've tried programming from submasters and manually turning on each light. But I just can not seem to get it to work.

Can someone please help me? I don't know what I'm doing wrong and am on a really tight schedule.

 

[thommyboy]

Are you running the board in the native tracking mode or in cue only?

 

[kastor]

From what I understand of Tracking, I am using Cue only (I have to record my channels for every cue)

 

[kastor]

hold on a second i'm looking at my screen now and it says "Tracking ON" so i'm honestly not sure how to tell. I'm kind of new to all this.

 

[thommyboy]

What I have usually done for that is use a 0 count <wait> cue.

This will cause the next cue to go instantly after your wash cue is initiated.

write the look you want for the wash - Q 4.
and then record cue 5 as the same look
for Q5 include the <- FX> command you need.

<Cue 4 time X wait 0 Record>

<Cue 5 FX -3 time 0 Record>

Or if that is not going to do what you want you can invert those commands, getting rid of the FX first then bringing up your wash. Though there should be little noticeable difference between the two.

 

[porkchop]

For personal education purposes I understand wanting to use the FX, but if you'4re going to loop through the effect once and then end in another cue (that's how I read the post could be wrong) why not just use follow cues?

 

[kastor]

Thank you. It worked.

I choose not to use follow cues because of the length of the FX and the timing purposes. Plus I had the FX made from a previous time.

Thanks for the help!

 

[icewolf08]

FX cues on the 500 Series consoles are LTP in that when you stop an effect it will stop in whatever state the effect is programmed to stop in. So, if you had channels in the effect that you need up in the cue where the effect goes out then those channels need to have a hard command on them in that cue. I also find that putting effect starts and stops in their own parts makes life a lot more manageable.

This of course is most apparent when you are in Tracking mode as if you had your wash up and then just started the effect on top of it, the next cue does not have any hard commands for those channels (the nature of tracking). The easiest way to fix this is: assuming that cue 4 is the FX GO and cue 5 is the FX STOP then in PREVIEW look at cue 5 and then grab the channels that make up your wash and hit [@] [CUE] [4] [ENTER]. You should see the levels for your channels turn white, effectively creating a soft block or putting a hard command on the channels. This should allow you to stop your effect and get to a look in one cue.

 

[thommyboy]

And that is why he is Ice

 

[Balo]

Another simple way of maintaining the cue 4 levels while ending the FX is to make it into a blocking cue that the tracking mode won't overwrite. Tracking mode will continue with the following cues in the stack like normal.