The Lighting Controller

There needs to be an option create a blackout and assign it to a button on a midi controller. I know I can do this manually, but there should be an easier way.

Create a "one step" scene with all channels set to value "0".

Yes, I know I can do that. I guess I would like to make a feature request in Version 8. There should be a more universal way of doing it, rather than having to create and update a scene for every fixture you patch into your show. That may just be my opinion.

Tku

I would think it would be difficult for the programmers to create a "Blackout" that would suit everyone.
I prefer creating my own "Blackouts", as I would not want every dmx channel to return to 0, as this could affect positioning of moving-head fixtures that would need to be in the same position after the "Blackout".
John

I think a blackout function is one must-have feature. I do understand you, John, but I still would prefer a general blackout for all DMX Channels and you can be sure that all channels are set to 0 when you activate it (no flash button!). All the other blackouts for movers etc you can create yourself, as it´s written here before.

Lighter007

I have too many different styles of blackouts so just building a single scene single looped blackout of every channel to 0 is pretty easy to do.

Not to mention you can keyboard trigger an instant Global blackout by pressing Ctrl+Shift and a letter.

Personally I use "z" because it is close to Ctrl & Shift. And as an added bonus I also have "z" trigger a scene that homes all my moving fixtures in a 1 loop 3 minute scene. I chose 3 minutes because because my performers rarely talk more than 3 minutes between songs and the home scene will shut off somewhere in the next song. And since LTP any commands I give to my movers while "z" is still on is overidden. Plus I want the "z" triggered home scene to have timed out before I need to Ctrl+Shift+z again.

Since this was posted, I went ahead and created a scene that blacks out my lights. I edit it needed to include the lights that need to be blacked out. I also have different black outs for specific fixture groups and one black out for everything. So this part works fine.

I have also assigned blackouts to buttons on my midi controller. I have an Akai MPD16 and an Elation Midicon. It works, simply put.

...but I have noticed that the black out speed is a bit slow. When I press blackout, I want the black out to pop, not fade. I am pretty sure its not a performance issue with my computer, because I have tried it on various computers, even my new Lenovo that I just bought a couple of weeks ago.

Is this just a midi thing?

Are you sure you have your channels on 'snap' mode instead of 'fade' mode?