Effects, Effects and more Effects (the Congo v5 Effects package in a nutshell)

Hi all -

The new effects in Congo v5 software are in addition to the existing Dynamic Effects structure and chase sequences that have been in Congo from the start. Old plays should work just fine in v5 without needing any adjustments.

That said, here's some basic info about the new Effects structure.

Effect Playbacks. There are three types - Chase, Dynamic and Content. They are selected and controlled in the same way as a device channel - [#] [EFFECT] selects an existing playback, [#] [INSERT]&[EFFECT] opens a wizard that allows you to insert a new playback and select its type. Setting an "intensity" level on an Effect Playback will cause the associated effect to run. Set that playback to 0, and that effect stops. Effect Playbacks have parameters, like device channels do, and these parameters are controlled on the U1-U3 pages.

• Chases are step-based, intensity-only effect objects that can be played back on a Chase Effect Playback. A Chase contains both the channel list and the step level and timing information all in one object. Any chase object can be played back on a single Chase Effect Playback. If you want more than one chase running simultaneously, though, you will need multiple Chase Effect Playbacks defined. Chases are designed to be "fixed" - meaning once you get the chase defined the way you want it, every time you recall or replay that chase it comes back the same way. It is not currently designed to be an "on the fly" kind of tool.

• Distribution definitions - using 5 parts and a selection of channels 1-10 in order as the example:
• Sequential = (1,2) (3,4) (5,6) (7,8) (9,10)
• Interlaced = (1,6) (2,7) (3,8) (4,9) (5,10)
• Symmetrical = (1,10) (2,9) (3,8) (4,7) (5,6)
• Inv Sequential = (10,9) (8,7) (6,5) (4,3) (2,1)
• Inv Interlaced = (10,5) (9,4) (8,3) (7,2) (6,1)
• Inv Symmetrical = (5,6) (4,7) (3,8) (2,9) (1,10)
• Random - will distribute channels evenly among parts, but in random order, so in this example you would get random pairs of channels, but always 2 channels per part.
• True Random - will distribute channels randomly (order, and quantity) among the parts.
  

• Dynamic Effect Playbacks put the existing Dynamic Effect structure into the new Effect Playback concept. The only external object required to use "New Dynamics" is a way to select channel groupings - in other words, Groups (or Channel Sets, see below). Other than that, the Effect Playback will have all the required parameters mapped to the U1-U3 encoder pages to allow any existing dynamic effect template to run on the selected group.
• Content Effect Playbacks require two types of external objects - channel groupings (Groups, Channel Sets) to determine which channels will execute the effect, and "Series" that include the steps that contain the content of the effect. Content Effects have the most parameters and are the most "on the fly" in style. You can build simple series and then just by adjusting the parameters of the playback you can create quite complex effects quickly. More details about the different content effect objects and parameters are listed below:

• Channel Set - a special group in which you can determine your own custom distribution - for example, uneven distributions, "graphic" distributions, distributions that use the same channel in multiple parts. Insert new Channel Set into the Channel Set List, then use NEXT and LAST to move from part to part and select channels using # CH, +, - and THRU to select specific channels. You can also use existing groups to select channels to be inserted into parts. (Hint - I put groups onto the direct selects or masters to be able to quickly select groups when building complex sets).

• Series - list of steps that execute specific kinds of play content or parameter settings. Each step may have 4 kinds of content - Intensity + three variable slots that can contain palettes, presets or direct parameter data. Each of those four pieces of content may have their own "Attack" (fade) time within the step.

• Part Direction and Play Mode - individual controls for the channel order and series order. Series Play Mode also contains Pause and Stop modes.

• Content Effect Modes: Continuous, Build, Break
• In a Continuous mode content effect, parts are always executing a step. In a three color Red-Green-Blue effect, all channels would be in one of those three colors all the time the effect is running.
  
• In a Build mode content effect, all parts execute step 1 before they execute step 2. Using the same series as above, all parts would become red using the step and attack times until all channels are red, then they would each step into green until all are green, then they would start stepping into blue.
  
• In a Break mode content effect, assuming you have more parts than steps, then part 1 will execute the "active" portion of the series and when done it will fade into the Background state (step 0) and wait there (take a "break") until all the other parts have executed the active steps in the series. When using Break mode, the "sustain" and "release" times on the active steps come into play - if you think about the stadium "wave" phenomenon at football matches you'll know what I mean - the active step is to "Stand up and raise your arms" and the background state is "sit down". The attack time is how long it takes you to stand up, the sustain time is how long you remain standing, and the release time is how long it takes  you to sit back down again. The background state has no timing of its own.

• Timing Options: Loop Time, TapRate, Step Time, Attack, Sustain, Release
• Loop Time - this time equals how long it takes all the parts to run through the effect once. If you lengthen this time, you will impose a gap before the next pass through the effect begins. If you shorten this time, you will cause the next pass to start before the first pass is completed.
• TapRate - use this value to scale the whole timing scheme faster or slower. Tapping the wheel key will adjust the timing of the effect to match your tapped in rate. Fade times will scale appropriately when you use tap.
• Step time - the tempo of the effect - this time determines when each step will be executed.
• Attack time - the fade time of the associated step or individual piece of content.
• Sustain and Release times - only visible in break mode effects, this time determines how long a step remains active before starting the  release to the background state. If a break mode effect has more than one active step, each step may execute a sustain and release to the background only if the step time is greater than the combined attack+sustain+decay times of the step, otherwise you will only see attack times executed until the last active step.

 Happy programming!

Sarah