Hey....
At the risk of asking a questions I really should probably know the answer to...
Could someone please explain the expected behaviour of the 'Num of Channels' value when it comes to preserving cue data?
What I've observed today:
- taking an existing show to a new venue with a different fixture type. I want to keep the old fixture cue data in case we find that fixture type again in future.
- so I set 'Num of Chans' to 3000, then copy - plus show our chans 1-8 to fixtures 2001-2008
- then I set 'Num of Chans' back to 950 because I don't want to see them.
- I check this has done what I expected by setting Num of Chans back to 3000 and yes, the cue data for all those chans is still there. So I set Num of Chans back to 950 and go about my day.
- Later on I want to cross reference something in the new fixture type to something in the old, so I set Num of Chans back to 3000. The 'old' (2001-2008) channels still exist in the patch, but they no longer have any content in any of the cues.
- In the client, I take the original showfile and do the same process of copying up to higher channel numbers again (ie. 'did I dream this worked...') and it all works as expected.
BUT:
- if I set Num of Chans to 950, then SAVE that showfile, then LOAD it, then you end up in the situation above: the 2000 range channels still exist in the patch, but they no longer have any cue data.
- I suspect the reason the data had got lost earlier is because the consoles re-synced in a session; in doing so I think they effectively load the show and so the data got lost.
This is bad on many levels:
- Data is preserved above the 'Num of Chans' value within one 'session - BUT when you save then load the show some of the data is lost.
- Curiously not all of the data is lost (ie the chans don't just disappear, you still see them in patch).
- The data that is lost is lost unexpectedly (ie. it's not caused by just lowering the channel limit) and without any warning - ie. you can check the data is there, but then later it's mysteriously gone.
- Perhaps worst, the loss can be triggered by circumstances outside of your control (ie. a remote console joining the session). And of course you may not notice until much later.
- And it's unclear at what point the data is lost - during the save (so gone), or in the load (ie. still saved into that showfile and so could potentially be recovered by clever merging).
As I say, I'm curious as to what is meant to happen?
Thanks!
