ETC Emphasis Lighting Control System, User Manual

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88 Emphasis Console v1.4.0 User Manual
Cues
Cues are one of the fundamental playback methods in your Emphasis Control System. A
cue is a recorded stage look that exists within a structure known as a cue list . Cues can be
played back individually or in sequential order in the A/B and C/D fader pairs (see A/B and
C/D Fader Pairs, page 144 ). Cues contain fade times, and can contain wait and follow
instructions (see Time Functions, page 98 ), links to other cues, macros or submasters (see
Link Functions, page 89 ), and can be labeled (see Label, page 103 ).
Emphasis has a 9,999 cue capacity. You can number cues from 0.1 - 999.9. Cues can be
used as groups (see Using Cues as Groups, page 93 ), and are the basic unit for
subroutines (see Subroutines, page 117 ).
Cue Types
In general, when you play back cues, you are simply fading one stage look into another.
There are five cue types that can affect how cues play back, or how cues are edited.
Crossfade
In a crossfade cue, channels that are moving to a higher level will fade in the upfade time,
and channels that are moving to a lower level will fade in the downfade time. Channels may
be tracked through crossfade cues.
Allfade
Allfade cues force all unused channels to move to zero, and create move instructions for all
tracking channels in the cue. This cue type will stop a track record from changing levels in
subsequent cues (see Tracking, page 90 ). This is a useful cue type to use at the end of
scenes or acts. An allfade cue also clears the other fader pair when played back.
Block
A block cue forces all LTP channels to fade to completion in background cue timing and
then runs in a physical fader like any other cue. Use block cues to end effects running in
the background, without having to use the [S3 - Background Overrides] command.
Effect
Instead of simply fading from one stage look to another, an effect cue runs a dynamic series
of steps at a given rate. Each step contains channels or groups at levels. An example of a
simple effect is a chase, where lights turn on and off in sequence. Complex effects can be
made as well, to emulate lightning or fire or reflections off water, for example. Effects can
also be used with moving lights. See Stage Effects, page 92 for information on creating
effect cues.
Subroutine
Subroutine cues are like effects, but instead of using channels and groups as the base
element, subroutines use cues. In a sense, a subroutine is a cue list of its own, that can run
as an automated loop, or can wait for a manual go for each step. Subroutines are very
useful for creating complex moving light effects. Subroutine cues are slightly different than
Subroutines-on-Submasters, described in Subroutines on Submasters (Subs-on-Subs),
page 152 .