Life after Expression 3...to the Congo we go!

Hi there -

If you would like to work in Capture/Release mode, look at your console keypad and look up and to the right from the 9 key - there are two keys CAPTURE and RELEASE. Double-tap CAPTURE and level setting will feel pretty much exactly like your Expression. RELEASE is right below CAPTURE and works the way you think it should. :-)

One big difference between Expression and Congo, though, is that the last thing you record is played back - in other words, you are always IN the last cue (Preset, in Congo speak) you recorded. In Expression, you sit in the last cue you played back, leading to a lot of RECORD GO RELEASE action. I also switched from heavy Expression usage to Congo and except for certain situations I don't use Capture anymore, mainly because it ends up just adding key presses to my programming, which takes up time. In time you might find you don't need to release channels all the time. :-)

Congo (and your Congo jr) have tutorial movies on them to get you started. With Congo jr, you'll need external speakers or a headset to hear the audio portion, but you can find the movies in the Browser>Media>Movies, These should help you get started. And if you have specific questions, please feel free to ask them here, we are always happy to help!

(Oh, and when you get settled, I think you'll really like your Master Playback Wing - you can really put anything you want onto a master fader. To get you started, though, you can create submasters easily by selecting the channels you want to record, then press RECORD and the master key (the key closer to the LCD) and then confirming that you want to record a Preset to that master using MODIFY.)

Thanks -

Sarah

Thank you Sarah!

Yes, Ulf Videos have been great, and I wish all consoles came with built in video tutorials, I just wish there were more of them, especially for the Master wing,

it constitutes 50% of my console workspace, yet there are few to no instuctionals for it.

I will implement your tips this morning, I will spend the rest of the day practicing, for I already have a show lined up this evening ( gulp)

Oh well, trial by fire as they say.

Do you have any suggestions for the best way to set up the Master wing? I understand it can serve dual functions as a playback and quick programming shortcut, tho how to do this, I dont know it yet.

Thanks again!

Hi -

The wing is not as complicated as you think :-)

You can place most types of content onto the masters in this way  - # [content type] & Master Key

So, to put Preset 1 onto Master 20, you would type 1 PRESET & Master Key 20 (the master key being on the top in this case - closest to the LCD)

To put Groups 10 onto Master 21, you would type 10 GROUP & Master Key 21 (the master key being the ONLY key in this case as the top row does not have dedicated flash keys)

The same works for Sequences, Channels, Palettes...

Start playing with putting things like groups onto the masters, I find this makes on the fly playback easier.

Do you have moving lights, scrollers or LEDs in your rig?

Thanks-

Sarah

I was struggling until I realized that you meant that I have to HOLD the record key while selecting on my master. Haha

I did patch a few moving lights, two Robe spots, I see them in my device list, tho I also have their new LED lighting fixtures but I can't find their templates, now I gotta do that one manually I suppose. I am having trouble making them from scratch. :-(

Thanks so much, you have no idea how much I appreciate this! :-D

Obie

Obie,

Making templates really isn't that bad, unless you have the added pressure of an imminent production deadline. Grab the manual for the fixtures and decide which mode you want to use. If you have time, I would suggest starting with whatever mode uses the fewest parameters, in order to get some template-building experience under your belt. Starting small, it will be easier to find any mistakes you might make and your likely successful build will give you confindence to move on to more complicated templates.

Another tip is to take a look at existing templates, like the Robe spots you already patched. Open their template in the editor & use the entries as a guide when building for another fixture. Since you will be building for LEDs, look at an existing LED template to see how is was put together. 

The most confusing issue I experienced when building my own templates, is the large number of similar parameter function names in the template editor, Further, there's often not one that clearly matches the desired parameter in your fixture, so experimentation is sometimes necessary. Just hang in there and you'll catch on! Thankfully, ETC tech support is really helpful if you get stuck.

Best of luck,

Keith

There are two different Libraries for the fixture templates, Standard and Extended. Have you checked both?

If they aren't there, which new Robe fixtures they are and which Mode(s) will you be running them in?

I've been spending this afternoon building 20-odd templates for various new LED fixtures, including quite a few Robe ones so I may well have just built the ones you need!

There are two different Libraries for the fixture templates, Standard and Extended. Have you checked both?

If they aren't there, which new Robe fixtures they are and which Mode(s) will you be running them in?

I've been spending this afternoon building 20-odd templates for various new LED fixtures, including quite a few Robe ones so I may well have just built the ones you need!

You.

Guys.

Rock!

I have the console patched, independents up and got my spots working, but I dunno how to program them in Presets yet.

I manually added all perimiters for my Robe LEDs manually to the Masters,I could not figure out the template in time ( show opens in 30 mins, yikes!)

The instruments I am dealing with are the Robe Robin LED 600, I love the instruments, but they are pretty new and many consoles dont have templates for them yet.

Thanks so much you guys, wish me luck!

The Robe Robin 600 LEDWash is in the Extended Library for Congo v6.1.0, unless you need the SmartWhite version.

I'd recommend Mode 2 as the other modes are a bit fiddly to operate due to all the LED 'zones'.

Failing that, attached is a Congo v6.1.0 showfile containing templates for both the 'coloured' and 'SmartWhite" versions of Robin 600 LEDWash in Mode 2.

You can use Browser > Files > Import to import these templates into your existing show.

(Note that this will not load in an older version of Congo.)