I'm an ETC Insight 2x user of 17 years who just recently switched to an Ion. I'm trying to find a way to use my new Ion to construct light cues in a way similar to how I've done it for the past 17 years.
Here's how I would do it using my Insight 2x:
I'd work area by area--so I'd start with area A, adjust the relative levels of front light, back light, etc.--achieve a terrific look for area A, then save it as a Group. Then I'd so the same for each area--achieve a good balance, a standard look, and save it as a Group. Same with color washes, cyc lights. everything.
Then, when it came time to start writing cues, I could very quickly and efficiently build them using these Groups as building blocks. It worked great.
I'm trying to find a way to use this same method on an Ion and failing. I can no longer do it with Groups because (for reasons I cannot fathom) Groups on an Ion no longer record intensity information, so I can't recall a "look," I can only recall channels.
This past show I tried using Submasters to do this (just recording and recalling them using the keypad), but that was a disaster. Cues wouldn't save properly, I found it impossible to clear out channels (Go To Cue 0 stopped working), I'd hit Enter to save a cue and random lights would pop on. Insanity. As soon as I stopped using Submasters the insanity stopped, but I had to construct cues channel by channel, intensity by intensity, and it took forever.
I only vaguely understand Intensity Palettes, but the fact that they're referenced data worries me. (I don't want to end up changing all my cues when I change just one.) Am I worried about nothing? Is this what I should be using?
It seems like there MUST be a way to do something as simple as what I want to do--save a given look to be recalled later and combined with other such saved looks to create a cue--but I'll be darned if I can figure out how.
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Peter Pauze
Denison University Theatre
