The Lighting Controller

Detour DJ wrote:Some day, I'd love to see first-hand how the big guys run a huge lighting rig.

It's not as complicated as you might think. It all about efficiency: why do something 400 times when you could do it once: hence pallets (should I be spelling it: Palettes?). The bigger touring shows generally have a cue list per song, embellished with flash buttons and the odd extra scene. The big skill is in the programming; fast and efficient programming = £££. This is one of the reasons why having dedicated hardware is so useful, it's much quicker and easier to press a button than it is to use your mouse to press a virtual button.

Okay...I just thought of another option, though I have no idea how easy or difficult it would be to implement. Check it out:

Add a "Sequence" button to the blank area underneath the BPM and other right-panel controls (don't call it a "Chase" button, so there's less confusion). Click it once to activate it (maybe turns yellow), then click on whatever scene buttons you want sequenced, in the order that you want them to show (they just flash in this operation to confirm the click). Click the "Sequence" button again and it starts to run the chosen sequence (maybe turns green). Click it a third time and it turns off (maybe turns red to show a sequence is loaded in memory). Maybe do a CTRL-click to clear the sequence from memory. This would be a very useful, efficient, on-the-fly way to create quick chases for fresh eye candy.

I have read in this topic that using the file insert feature in editor allowed you to stack scenes. I have the latest software and that feature does not stack scenes it only appends the inserted scene to the end of the current scene loaded. This is more of a chase than a stack as stacking refers to playing two scenes simultaneously like your macro button. My reason for reading this topic is that I am trying to create lengthy and complex moving head scenes involving two sets of grouped fixtures and tried to chase two macro buttons which did not work correctly. I also read elsewhere that the software can't chase two macros. The description of the chase function in live states that the chase will play each button in order. I can chase two macros manually simply by selecting the buttons on and off in order so I don't understand how this can not be implemented as described in the software. Any other suggestions on how to create complex moving head sequences short of spending my lifetime in the editor would be welcomed. thanks