SHOWTEC 50700, Product Manual

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8
Common Terms
The following are common terms used in intelligent light programming.
Blackout is a state where all lighting fixtures’ light output are set to 0 or off, usually on a temporary basis.
DMX-512
is an industry standard digital communication protocol used in entertainment lighting
equipment. For more information read Sections “DMX Primer” and “DMX Control Mode” in the Appendix.
Fixture refers to your lighting instrument or other device such as a fogger or dimmer which you can
control.
Programs are a number of scenes arranged one after another. It can be programmed as either a single
scene or multiple scenes in sequence.
Scenes are static lighting states.
Sliders are also known as faders.
Chases can also be called programs. A chase consists of a number of scenes arranged one after
another.
Scanner refers to a lighting instrument with a pan and tilt mirror; however DMX controllers can use this
term to control any DMX-512 compatible device as a generic fixture.
MIDI is a standard for representing musical information in a digital format. A MIDI input would provide
external triggering of scenes using midi devices such as a midi keyboard.
Stand Alone refers to a fixture’s ability to function independently of an external controller and usually in
sync to music, due to a built in microphone.
Fade slider is used to adjust the fade time between scenes within a chase.
Speed slider affects the amount of time a scene will hold its state. It is also considered a wait time.
Shutter is a mechanical device in the lighting fixture that allows you to block the lights path. It is often
used to lessen the intensity of the light output and to strobe.
Patching refers to the process of assigning faders to a DMX channel within a fixture.
Playbacks can be either scenes or chases that are directly called to execution by the user. A playback
can also be considered program memory that can be recalled during a show.