a cue, a track, and a mark question

Question

I have 3 questions in anticipation of a show I have coming up very soon. I don't write cues very often, and I've learned that the designer probably wants to run the board in cue mode. Will automark still work in this mode? If we end up programming in tracking mode, what is the best way to copy a cue? Do you have to block it, then record it as its new number with the cue only button? And final question (for the moment at least!) how does one change a marked timing? By this I mean, say a cue 1 takes 40 seconds to complete. The movers will then take 40 seconds to mark to their new positions, but I don;'t have 40 seconds between cues 1 and 2. I hazily remember something about changing the timing of the desired parameter in either the cue its going into or the cue its coming from. If someone has a moment to answer one or all of these questions, it would be divine! Thankyou!

ueliriegg · Accepted Answer

hi heather. 
 being a cue-only person myself, i can answer you this one question: yes, automark works with cue-only recording. 
 greetings from switzerland, ueli

Steve Bailey · Answer

[ 
 " Will automark still work in this mode? " 
 Yes 
 "If we end up programming in tracking mode, what is the best way to copy a cue? Do you have to block it, then record it as its new number with the cue only button? " 
 Use Copy To. If you are sitting in the cue needing to be copied, a simple press of Copy To XX Enter copies to a new cue number. If you have channel levels blocked, they will carry over to the copied cue. 
 "And final question (for the moment at least!) how does one change a marked timing? By this I mean, say a cue 1 takes 40 seconds to complete. The movers will then take 40 seconds to mark to their new positions, but I don;'t have 40 seconds between cues 1 and 2. " 
 Press the time key repeatedly until the grey box highlights the time of the parameter whose time you want to change - Focus Color and Beam. 
 
 Steve B.

jbenghiat · Answer

A couple things to add. 
 Recording cue only doesn't mean you're not creating tracks. If you're progressing forwards through building a cue list, there's no difference between working in tracking or cue only -- levels without move instructions will track and levels with move instructions will be hard (and start new tracks). Similarly, if the next cue is blocked, working cue only or tracking has the same affect. 
 As a corollary, working cue only is not the same as blocking. A block is like starting a new cue sequence and letting the console know that every level is intentional. Cue only just tells the console not to flow any changes forwards -- any tracking levels will remain as tracks and any moves will not affect the next cue. (Hope this isn't too elementary an explanation) 
 Any cue level function can be cue only or tracking: Record, Update, Copy To, Move To, Delete. If you're using Copy To a cue at the end of your cue list, there is no difference between cue only / track. If you're copying to a cue in the middle of the list, your mode determine if any moves will track and the Cue Only/Track button will invert that behavior. Blocking is a separate consideration -- if you want the cue to be protected from any future tracks, then block it after they copy. 
 Regarding mark timing, there are two ways to affect the time. One is by setting a Focus Color and Beam time for the cue where the mark takes place (the cue with the M flag). Any channel that ends up marking in that cue will adopt that timing. The other way is to set a discrete Focus Beam and Color time for a channel in its first use. In the same way that you set the color in the first-use cue but the color actually changes in the mark cue, the discrete NP time will affect the mark. Whichever way you choose just depends how you are thinking. 
 HTH. Josh