Lots of ideas, but nothing that will be productive without some more information. Depending on the size and complexity of the install, the
system might be doing exactly what it's supposed to do according to the programming; it could also be a
bug in the software. Though the problem may be resolved by reloading the config, the cause may be more fundamental to the programming in which case the installer and/or someone at
ETC may have to open up the config in Light Designer to see where there might be any issues.
It's probably best if the guy who works there makes a phone
call to
ETC's tech support
line at 1.800.444.8825.
I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the
system is doing exactly what it's programmed to do; at my
theatre I have our Legacy
Unison system setup such that there are three buttons in the
theatre that, when pressed, lockout
house light controls on a dozen other
button stations around the
theatre. When the lockout is enabled, anyone can press all of the buttons for
house lighting control that they want and the green
LED's in the buttons will just blink at them without making any changes to the
house lighting levels.
There are some people at my
theatre who know how it works, but most do not. It's a much better that way. A handful of people can turn on anything in the rep
plot or concert shell lighting, but first there's a hidden
button you have to press to allow the
fader stations to do that. Now when Mr. Hot-Shot-Band-Director walks in and wants to turn on every light in the
theatre for his rehearsal, all he has access to turn on are
house lights, work lights, and concert shell lights for 60 minutes (at 55min, they blink once as a 5-min warning, and at 58-min they blink twice as a 2-min warning -- @ 60 min if he hasn't hit the "Shell Rehearsal"
button again to buy himself another hour, all the lights turn off).
That was a little trick I had to implement after our music directors kept turning everything on and leaving it on all day -- now they can only turn on exactly what they need and it automatically shuts off when they're done. But again -- the success of that depends on keeping them unaware of the hidden
button that gives the
fader stations full control of the
theatre.
So...uhhhh...like I was saying before I derailed myself,
Unison can be really simple and straightforward, or it can be really complex -- the only way to know for certain what's going on with that
system is for someone to hop on the phone with
ETC. It could be a
bug, but could also be deliberately programmed the way that it is.
