Martin M-pc to Martin M-1

[djsquizz]

Hi, I'm working on a show in two months at a venue that I can not get into until the day before the show. They are running a Martin M-1 console, 6 mac250's, 20 led pars, a radiance hazer, and 36 channels of conventional dimmers. I got the in house tech guy to send me a sheet with all the dmx addresses as well as a few very detailed diagrams showing where each fixture is placed. I went and downloaded Martin M-PC as I was hoping to program the show on there, save it to a memory stick, and then load it on the M-1 when I get there. I have everything patched into M-pc and am working on figuring out how to program it. I have a few questions about how this is done though.

1) martin m-pc says "maxxys" everywhere, is this normal or am I in a wrong mode?
2) are there any special steps I need to take to get the show file from the M-pc to the M-1?
3) any other advice on assigning groups and playbacks in m-pc to physical group faders and playbacks on the M-1?

(as many of you may know, the manual for the both the board and software is horrible)

Thanks,

Jon

 

[porkchop]

1) Yes that's totally normal. In fact I highly suggest using the "Virtual Console" widget that looks exactly like a Maxxyz if you decide to do any programming. The software is identical for the two consoles so it pretty much just works. Do keep in mind that if your M-PC has a newer version of the software than their console that can cause problems sometimes. If for some reason your's is older though the M-1 should convert it for you easily.
2) Keeping in mind what I said about versions in mind, no. If your versions play nice the hardest part is not loosing the flash drive. Also depending how it translates the screens you might boot into your show and see nothing but a black screen. If that happens go into Menu>System>Appearance>Load Defaults. It's been a bit since I've had to do that so that might not be the exact path, but it's something like that.
3) Use the "Virtual Console" widget when dealing with faders and playbacks, but keep in mind that the M-1 doesn't have motorized faders like the Maxxyz. It uses a LPT after you reach the current value style similar to the ETC Eos/Ion consoles.

One last piece of advice that will save you a ton of time if you are using any moving lights. When you select Pan/Tilt on the very bottom of the playback info (where it tells you what the actual values of the attributes are) there is an options pullout menu. In this menu you can adjust the resolution of the encoders, 16 is very very fine adjustment, 8 moves a long distances in a single bound. Constantly adjusting this value is the only way I could stay sane while trying to focus on an M-1. 8 or 9 is the default, 12-14 was my usual setting, and I used 16 a lot for specials. The encoders tend to suck so if you find yourself going back and forth fighting to get the fixture where you want it turn the resolution up one bit and life will be easier.

 

[cbrandt]

I like to program my large groups to the F keys along the top of the board. Can be a nice fast way to grab them during programming, and especially during a show if you need to change something on the fly.

Same thing for screen views on the F keys. Keep one for your palettes, one for your cue lists, and one for your programmer, or something along those lines for your workflow.

Take advantage of the submaster and executer section on the left side of the board. Always nice to have a few quick looks on submasters, and those faders are great for some Q-blender effects if you have the time to program them. The execute buttons are phenomenal for flashes and toggles. I often drop a lot of my strobe, iris, and similar effects down there. A few colors are great as well, if you're busking a show.

Do yourself a favor, and put your hazer up on one of the submasters, so that you can set it and forget it. Unless the venue is very on top of updates, and has the latest software on the M1, you won't have access to the park feature.

 

[djsquizz]

Thanks for the advice!

How do I know what playbacks/subs in M-pc correspond to the physical ones on the left side of the console though? The virtual console doesn't have the 12 faders and 8 buttons.

 

[cbrandt]

On MPC, if you drag up the command line, it will show you a graphic representation of your 10 primary faders. As for your subs and executes, there really isn't a good way to assign those before you get in the venue (that I know of). I would just lay them out nicely in your cuelist directory, so that when you get to the venue you can just drop them down onto the appropriate buttons quickly and easily. Press Move, the cuelist in the directory, and then the select button for the list you want it on.

There's also some syntax to do it directly from the keypad, but I rarely use it. Here's a run down copied directly from one of Paul Pelltiers' posts from the Martin controller forum.

"To record directly to a cuselist number
[RECORD] [/] [/] <cuelist number> [Enter]

To record directly to a submaster
[RECORD] [/] [/] [/] [/] <bank.submaster#> [Enter]


To record directly to a playback
[RECORD] [/] <bank.playback#> [Enter]"