Playback Bumps with ETC Ion

Hi there,
A little background on myself, I design and program lighting for those wonderful (translation: cheesy) jukebox musicals you see at theme parks, and also provide lighting for corporate events and weddings, as well as design lighting and av systems for clubs and bars, I also have a short list of television shows and indie films that I lit. I went to college for television production. Maybe I should buckle down and become really proficient in just one of those fields, but then again sometimes its fun to have ADD.

Alright here goes... When using an ETC Ion, how do you get submaster bumps to playback? I always program shows that are synced to Midi Time Code... I play the track, timecode feeds into the board, I put the board in learn mode, record all the cues as timing events, piece of cake. If I hit a sub's bump button (on the fader wing) during a learn session, I see the board records an 'on' and 'off' timing event for the bump. But when I playback the track again, the board doesn't playback those bumps, only cue changes.

I've briefly tried experimenting with the different settings you can apply to submasters, but to no avail. And of course any googling of "learn" "bump" and "Ion" leads to some simple tutorial, so I apologize if this has been answered elsewhere. Any suggestions?
 
Learn is only used to start the Macro recording process.

The sub is not a cue playback, though you can make the fader a cue playback (subs reside on faders, or not). The sub is merely a recording of a static look. The bump button can either be an instant recall of that look, or can toggle a fade up or off of that static look. You can define the fade in/out rates for a sub by pressing Sub-Sub, which brings up the Sub list. There are In/Dwell and Out fields, with the In/Out taking a time.

What I think you want to do though, is build up a cue stack (series of cues) that will fire off of Midi. You can place the cue stack on the master faders or make a wing fader a cue playback. You then link the cues to Midi using External Link. You would also have to setup the Midii system in the Setup section.

So at that point I'd be dragging out the manual to get a better feel for how Midi works, how cues link to Midi, the concept of multiple cue lists and and how to assign a cue list to a fader.

You can download the manual PLUS all the supplements (1.8 thru 1.912) here:

Lighting solutions for Theatre, Film & Television Studios and Architectural spaces : ETC

As well I'd recommend taking the time to watch the YouTube video tutorials:

Lighting solutions for Theatre, Film & Television Studios and Architectural spaces : ETC

If you download the free off-line editing program, you can build and work the software from any Mac/PC. It helps to have dual monitors on the OLE
,
 
Sorry SteveB, but Learn is also used for time code -- once engaged, it will track timecode and create events as Go is pushed (or submaster actions). Learn has to be pressed inside the Show Control List display, but at that point, it shifts functionality.

There may be an outstanding issue with playing back sub bumps from a time code list - I've encountered this before. I'll check into it and get back to you.
 
Sorry SteveB, but Learn is also used for time code -- once engaged, it will track timecode and create events as Go is pushed (or submaster actions). Learn has to be pressed inside the Show Control List display, but at that point, it shifts functionality.

There may be an outstanding issue with playing back sub bumps from a time code list - I've encountered this before. I'll check into it and get back to you.

Ah !, 'ya learn something occasionaly here on CB !. Thanks Han
 
While Hans is looking, couldn't you program a master cue stack that uses the Execute command to fire other subs/cuelists for your different effects? Then you would only need to link the timecode to the master playback and all the GO's would fire correctly from that. At least in theory...
 
Or you can do it the old hardcore way setting follow times. :twisted:
 
Okay, so I only had a few seconds today to play with this, but I was able to learn a timecode list with sub bumps and have them play back correctly. They were learning in as On/Off commands, and responded to timecode when I played it back. I tried this both with the Eos motor faders and with a fader wing. What version of software do you have? How are your subs set up?
 
Okay, so I only had a few seconds today to play with this, but I was able to learn a timecode list with sub bumps and have them play back correctly. They were learning in as On/Off commands, and responded to timecode when I played it back. I tried this both with the Eos motor faders and with a fader wing. What version of software do you have? How are your subs set up?

Sorry to leave everyone hanging, I had to take the car to get inspected today and then the park decided to drop off another 20 led fixtures which they want in the show... which opens in two days. So I spent most of the day adding new led chases to the 160-odd cues. Anyway, I have a feeling the software on this particular Ion may be a generation behind, as I don't think I've seen the option for pixel mapping, however I had this issue at the beginning of summer with an up to date ION at another park.

Anyway, as for setting up subs, I typically turn all the channels null, then un-null the fixtures I want in a sub, set those fixtures to a desired level and hit [record][x], then I label the sub and add it to the fader wing.
 
Also, HansH, what you did is exactly what I want to do. When I learn in timecode, I see the event list update itself with "Sub X ON" and "Sub X OFF", its getting those events to playback that I can never get to work.

Do you change up the settings of your subs for them to playback? I've tried toggling both the "independent" and "exclusive" options on and off just to try and chase some ghosts out of the machine, but no luck so far.
 
Could it be that you have no time assigned to those subs and they are set in the timeline to go off right immediately as they went on and thus not giving actual output?
 
I've entertained that theory as well, but the on and off events are always a couple of frames apart, also I can actually see the lights I'm bumping turn on and off when I'm recording them in learn mode. I'll be in the theater all day tomorrow, I'll log into CB and keep everyone updated. If you're very nice, I'll even attach some pics of the girls in the cast. ;)
 
So... what happened?

No cute-girl-pics? :)

[ I'm just learning the Ion now myself, so I may accidentally or on-purpose exhume some old threads ]
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back