Clearing / "un-touching" Parameters

Hi Richard

First of all, I think it is very important to say Congo is not a Hog. It has no intention to be a Hog. It is a different concept approaching the same problems in a way more similar to, for example, the Artisan.

An important part of our development is listening to our users just like we are listening to you now. We have for example had users asking specifically for a way to be able to quickly zero all masters. If you don't need it - just don't use it.

I'll get in touch with you when I look at the definition of this chapter. Thanks.

Hello again Ulf,

Now that I'm beginning to understand what's going on in the desk, I'm really starting to warm to it -because of rather than in spite of it's differences -it really does offer a lot of powerful functionality -once you know where to look !

I think I'm getting there, it's just a case of trying things out and seeing how best to achieve what I'm trying to do.  I'm really impressed with the generic side of the desk, there's clearly a lot of thought gone into it, and I'm becoming more impressed with the moving side of things too. (for example the fact that when recording a pallete you record all parameters of that type unless you specifically mask them filled me with dread, it was great for colour, not so great for beam, but, actually, I now find it to be a really useful tool, you just have to be organised right from the start).

I mention the 'Clearing all Masters' business just because double clicking is almost instinctive and to have such a powerful function available so readily (and so easily invoked by mistake) is a little worrying ! Somebody, and it may not be me, but somebody will do this live on air. Is there an option to disable it ? or a better way to clear the playback than 'C/ALT' + 'CH/ID' ?

 And, believe me, we really do appreciate that you listen to our gripes, suggestions and idiotic comments -it's nice to feel involved.

now about that tracking option...

 Thanks again

Richard

Richard,

Try using "C/Alt" + "Playback".  This clears the playback but won't clear out the masters if you press it twice.  The real nice thing about the Congo is that there is more than one way to do almost everything!

J. R. Lidgett
Salina Community Theatre

Regarding the Tracking thing... Congo is not a tracking console by philosophy, but that's ok. Congo is (or can be) a "half tracking" system. Let me explain...

If you record attributes in Automatic mode, in other words record only changed parameters, the console plays back in a tracking style for attributes. Intensities are always recorded and played back in a preset style, however.

Congo does offer track editing functions that speed up editing within sequences. You can use UPDATE & @ LEVEL to track intensity changes forward, backward or both directions (your choice) in the sequence on the main playback. You can use UPDATE & ATTRIB to update a changed channel or channels back up the sequence on the main playback to the preset(s) that sourced the last move instruction.

At the moment, there is a limitation that you cannot use UPDATE & ATTRIB if you have recorded all parameters in all presets, since the next preset up the list will be seen as a block, however, if you choose to you can use the "Unblock Attributes" Wizard within the Sequence List to clear out those duplications of data, then use UPDATE & ATTRIB for later editing.

Make sense?

If so, please note that if you reuse presets in Congo (in sequences and on masters, or multiple times within a sequence), you may get some strange behavior if you do a lot of track editing. Care should be taken when using track editing in this case, since you are making edits to many targets at once.
 

I hope this helps -

Thanks!

Sarah
 

Hi Sarah,

 sorry for my tongue-in-ccheek comment on tracking, the points you make are fine, I was (half-jokingly) longing for an option to switch the desk into a fully-tracking mosde where Intensities track, just the same as any other parameter.

The benefits are much less bloat in your presets rather than 'unecessarily' filling your files with lots of information which doesn't change from one preset to the next !

I know there are ways you can programme round this but it would be nice to have the option to choose to work this way. -I fear I'm veering off-topic here and should maybe file this under 'Feature Requests' !

 Thanks again for all of your helpful input.

Richard

Hi Richard -

One last post to clarify Congo's editing/control concepts. I'd like to explain the differences between "Live" and "A". Instead of having a Programmer like the Hog, Congo has fields. Each field is a playback source, so you have the A field (which is the current playback levels from the sequence on the main playback), the B field (which is the pending look, but can have output when the GoInB flag is set for a dark move of parameters) and the 40 Master fields. There is also a Blind field, which can be used for editing without sending data to the rig.

The Live tab is the equivalent to the Hog Output display - it shows everything the console is currently sending out to the rig. When you select channels manually and adjust them using the level wheel, encoders, palettes or key presses those adjustments are placed in the A field and you see them in the Live tab. If you want to see only those manual changes (and whatever is in the A field from the main sequence) you can press the A key - the equivalent of the Contents display on the Hog. If you want to see what will play back next when you press the Go button, press the B key. When focussed on the B tab, you can make edits directly into the Preset in the B field. You can make adjustments to the contents of a Master (depending on the type of data in the master) by pressing MODIFY & MASTER KEY.

 You can record the contents of the A field and exclude all the content coming from active Masters by pressing RECORD & A.

There is an additional field for the playback of moving light parameters that is kind of hidden - this is the LTP field. Congo's rule for playing back moving light parameter data is very simple - last takes precedence. Parameters are not owned by any specific playback field - they live in their own. This may be where some of the "release" confusion comes from. In a Hog you can release back to whatever sourced the last move - in Congo, there is no retained knowledge of past moves, so there is nowhere to release to. We hope to improve this in a future version so that you can get the behavior you are looking for, but in a Congo way. 

Regarding the tracking vs preset nature of intensity - I understand what you are saying, however this is a "fundamental nature" issue and as such will not be changed in Congo. In reality, it's not the intensity levels that increase the size of a show file too much, it's repeated parameter information that does one in. This is why Congo's default behavior is to record only changes to parameters, not every parameter every time. Having the intensities in every Preset increases the flexibility of those presets so that they can be reused in sequences and on Masters, and essentially as groups. Since there is no requirement that presets be placed "sequentially" within any sequence, there is no inherent relationship between any two presets, so intensity tracking makes no sense in this model. Make sense? Because repeated parameter data can increase the show file size exponentially, you are given the choice of how to record that data.

Hope this helps & have a good weekend!

Sarah