Understanding Playback

Hey Sammy,

Not a stupid question at all, the concept of playbacks can be very confusing until you wrap your head around it.

A playback is really just an association with a physical fader. A cue list doesn't have to have a playback number (which is why sometimes you will see a "- -" in the playback column in the Cue List Index display). If you have a cue list which is only executed via an external link from another cue list, it doesn't need to be loaded to a fader, thus it doesn't require a playback number.

A playback is automatically assigned to a cue list only when said cue list is loaded to a fader. A playback is likewise removed from a cue list if said cue list is removed from its fader(s). The number assigned will always be the lowest available, so:

• if you have cue list 1 loaded to Master Fader Pair the playback is assigned #0 (which paints as "Master" in the Cue List Index)
• if you then create a new cue list 11 and load it onto  fader 6, it will be assigned playback #1
• if you then create a new cue list 12 and load it onto fader 7 it will be assigned playback #2
• if you then create a new cue list 15 and load it onto fader 8 it will be assigned playback #3
• now if you remove cue list 11 from its fader the playback #1 is removed (repainted as "- -")
• and now if you create a new cue list 20 and load it onto fader 9 it will be assigned playback #1

I hope that all makes sense so far.

Because now:

• if you load cue list 12 (which is already assigned to playback #2) onto fader 10 it will be assigned playback #2 *AND* #4 (although you'll only see one number in the Cue List Index)

So you have the same cue list across multiple faders acting independently (meaning: you can be sitting in cue 12/5 on fader 7 (with playback #2) and also be sitting in cue 12/2 on fader 10 (with playback #4); also if you hit GO on fader 7 (playback #2) that will advance to cue 12/6, but only on playback #2, playback #4 (on fader 10) will not be affected and will still be sitting in cue 12/2. 

But the *real* purpose of playbacks is so that you can have multiple iterations of the same cue list synced across different faders. (For example: If you have a cue list (apart from your main list) that you want to have access to from every fader page *and* you want that list to always be in the same cue no matter which page your on and no matter which fader you hit GO from, you can assign those faders to be the same playback #.)

But for purposes of explanation let's say you want faders 4 and 8 to both have cue list 15 synced.

To do this:

Go into Setup and hit Fader Configuration on the right hand side of the CIA.

Fader 8 has the Playback Tile highlighted in gray and at the bottom it says Mapped to 3, so now you need to assign the same playback # to fader 4, so click on the Playback Tile under fader 4 and then click on the Mapped to Tile, and type 3. Click {Close} and then click {OK}.

Now when you go back to live and hit GO on fader 4 it will advance to the next cue on both faders 4 and 8.

I hope that all made sense, and I'd suggest playing around with it (if you're using offline you can open a Virtual Fader display to load cue lists onto faders), and if you have anymore questions I'd be happy to clarify.

-M

 

Thanks Chaosbob. I think my main problem was I had fader controls in my snapshots, which was really messing with how I thought playbacks work. As I was moving between different cues & playbacks I was using a snapshot to allow me to quickly get me into the cue list window but hadn't realised fader control was selected in those snapshots which meant they would change the faders and the playback numbers around. Very annoying, but problem solved and a lesson learnt to only really have exactly what's needed recorded onto a snapshot. Thanks again.