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You have many more options when calling scenes in preview mode. In addition to being able to select scenes
with the number switches you can also use an external keyboard, the + or – switches or the wheels to select the
page, scene number or to change the fade time. If you are using an external keyboard to select scenes, move the
cursor on the display using the left or right arrow keys to choose page, scene or fade time. You can enter numbers
from the keyboard and then use the enter key to call the scene. Currently you can only call scenes but not
presets, chases or shows using an external keyboard.
You can use the “F1 – F7” keys on an external keyboard to call the top row of function switches (fixture, fixture
group, preset, etc.)
SCENE MASTERS
The 8 faders can also be used to call scenes. In this mode the faders allow manual control of the crossfading
between scenes. To use the faders this way, the “masters” LED must be lit as well and the “scene” LED. Scenes
1 through 32 of the currently selected scene page can then be called using 4 banks of 8 faders.
To start a scene, first move the fader all the way to the bottom to reset it. If the fader is already at the bottom it
doesn’t need to be reset. The corresponding scene will be assigned to the fader as it is moved upwards. Any
chases that are part of the scene will start at this time. Channels that are set to snap at the start of a fade will also
move to the scene levels right away. Channels that are set to snap at the end of a fade will move to their scene
levels when the fader reaches the top. All channels set to crossfade will follow the movement of the fader. Using
the scene masters allows 8 scenes to be running at the same time provided they are controlling different channels.
Starting a new scene that uses some of the same channels as a scene that is already active will steal those
channels for the new scene.
NOTE:
To use the faders as scene masters, the “masters” LED must be lit and the “scene” LED must be lit. The
scene will be called from the current scene page that is shown in the page display. That scene will stay attached
to that fader until that fader is reset (moving it to the bottom position). The scene will stay with that fader even if
you change scene pages until the fader is reset.
HOW THE SCENE MASTERS WORK
The DMX Control 1024 is designed primarily for controlling moving lights so almost every function is „LTP“ or
„latest or last action takes precedence“. For those familiar with all of the controllers out there you know that
moving lights work best using this type of system rather than „HTP“ or „highest takes precedence“ which is
usually the best way to control dimmers. With LTP, whenever a new action takes place such as calling a scene
or moving a fader (the latest action), any lighting channel that is under the control of that action is changed to the
new value. Using HTP, an action only takes control of a channel when that action’s value or intensity is higher
than the current value controlling that channel. That’s great when controlling groups of dimmers with multiple
master faders but not so great when controlling moving lights that don’t really care how high the intensity of a
channel is since you are controlling things like wheels and mirrors.
There are several methods of master fader operation used by the many different brands of lighting controllers out
there. The method chosen for the DMX Control 1024 uses LTP and gives you manual control of the crossfade of
all channels within a scene. It also gives you the ability to „pull back“ the fader allowing you to move the crossfade
in both directions. Some consoles use LTP but only allow you to advance the fader towards the destination but do
nothing if you pull the fader back. To allow „pull back“ the DMX Control 1024 takes a snap shot of all channels that
are included in the scene to set the „pull back“ values. Any channels that are not part of the scene won’t be
affected. When you reset a scene master fader by moving it to the bottom then move it up past the trigger point,
which is just slightly up from the bottom, the snap shot is saved. Also any chases in the scene are started. This
means that you can move the scene master fader up and down and the lights will move between the current
values and the values of the scene assigned to the master.
This can cause problems if you are trying to operate the scene masters on the DMX Control 1024 as dimming
masters like on an HTP console. When a scene master on the DMX Control takes control of a dimmer that is
already on, it will take a snap shot of the current „on“ value and use that as the pull back value. When you pull the
master back the dimmer doesn’t go to 0, it goes to whatever the start value was. To work around this problem and
make a master fader that controls dimmers only, you must first record a scene for that master that only contains
the dimmers that you want to control. Always start building the scene by clearing all channels first. Do this by
holding down the black switch till its led goes off. This clears the scene editor. Next start adding dimmer channels
by setting their levels to full, don’t change any other channels or they will be included in the scene. Also don’t
