Help needed On V5 dynamics

Hi there -

Please see my reply at the end of this thread - there's an overview and tutorial document covering the v5 effects concept and how to make all three types of effect. This should get you started... If you have more questions, please feel free to post them here. 

Thanks -

Sarah

There is way to do a "quick winging" with the old style dynamics.  You can still load dynamics on Masters (press # Dyn Effect & Master). Select your channel, hit the master key, then adjust the rates as before in the Effects->Dynamics subscreen.  I do like the new effects and way of dynamics for recording presets and running shows, but to quickly have a group of channels do a chase or some MLs change colors, the "old" dynamics were much quicker for on the fly shows.

You can still get the dynamic templates onto the direct selects, just use the Direct Select TYPE "Param" - this will allow you to place any device or effect playback parameter onto the direct selects - it will display the range values for that parameter. Works great for color and gobo wheels, and for effect parameters like the Dynamic effect Templates. ;-)

To get a Param defined on the direct selects, select the device or effect playback first (you need to have the encoders mapped), then use the Type and Bank keys to assign PARAM to a bank or banks of direct selects, then press the wheel key (or press the encoder down on jr) for the parameter you want to map to the direct selects. Anytime you select a device or effect playback of that type, then, the ranges will display on the direct selects.

For busking with dynamics this works a lot better than the old way because an effect playback can only ever play back one shape at a time, making transitions from shapes like circle to can can much cleaner (no left over running dynamic info on the pan parameters of channels). You can also set up a dynamic effect "blind" with the effect playback at 0%, then fade up into it quite nicely. All in all I think it makes for a much cleaner way to play back a show on the fly... I hope you find these suggestions helpful! :-)

Thanks -

Sarah

On top of that, you can also select the Effect Playback and hold down the Wheel Key for any 'discrete item' attribute, such as the Group/Set of lights that should do the dynamic, which Dynamic Template, how the Group should be divided (all together, evenly-spread..), etc

Once you have a chance to get used to it, they're actually much easier and faster to busk than the old-style ones.

I used to hate trying to run multiple dynamic effects simultaneously as it was too easy to edit the wrong one or get a few overlapping that I didn't want.

- Not to mention that busking a nice transition into or out of a dynamic was a pain.

V5 Effects make that as easy as focussing a moving light, plus you can even make Groups of Effect Playbacks and All Palettes of settings you often use and bring them back just like you put your moving lights into colours/focus positions.

I'm not arguing that the new effects work smoother or better or cleaner than the old style dynamics.  What I'm saying is that the old style dynamics were much quicker for the flash-n-trash style quick put together shows like the original post was talking about.  Say I have someone playing music on stage, in a non-rehearsal people go out onstage and you just light as you go situation, and the tempo picks up and I want my backlights to start a quick chase onstage.  With the old dynamics, you press the direct select for the autogroup backlights, then press dynamic random, and there is your chase.  Two button presses (provided you are on the right page of direct selects!)  Now, with the new system, you select your effect, select U1, then select group, then select the group you want (provided it is already recorded as a group or a set, something you didn't need to worry about with the old dynamics!), then press U2 to get to the next bank of information, select which dynamic you want, then set the intensity of the effect.  It is a lot more keystrokes. 
The biggest slowdown of the new process is having to have a group or set ready to go before the effect can be generated.  When I want to run a circle effect with all my Varilites, for instance, it sets up really quick, because I already have a group for that.  But if I just want one or two of the fixtures in the effect, I first have to record a group with just those lights before I can make the effect.  In the last show I started the show with around 30 groups, but by the time I had made all the groups needed for the effects in the show, I was closer to 50 groups.   
I'm not saying that the new effect style isn't great, and it is much cleaner to control and has a lot of advantages and I use it instead of the old style, but I am not so quick to call it faster.

Since the old style dynamic effects are still there, you can do what you suggest, with one exception: You cannot get the dynamic effects on the Direct Select buttons. However, you can type the number of the dynamic effect you want and press DYN EFFECT to activate it, which is almost as fast. Then you have the possibility to apply a dynamic effect to a channel selection on-the-fly, which I understand is important to you.

Thanks, now I see what you mean.

I call the new ones faster because it's much quicker to deal with multiple running effects, but you are right that it's slightly slower to apply a V5 effect to an arbitrary selection of lights. (Maybe I didn't notice that because I'm too fussy about setting up my groups beforehand!)

The two fastest way to apply V5 effects to an arbitrary selection of lights that are not a Group is to make them a group.

You could bang through creating a Channel Set for them instead, but that takes longer than (#) [Record]&[Group]