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    jwblake
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Out of focus points/ different way of recording ML effects?

So im doing your standard high school rock show, with an Expression 3. Ive got 2 ML's in the house and 4 above the stage, plus a good conventional plot.

Im programming all kinds of ballyhoos, strobing crazyness and various other effects using focus points and ive manged to use up almost all of the 100 focus points. What Im doing is recording a focus point for each step of the effect and making a multi step effect cue. Problem is, i have four 15-step effects sucking up 60 focus points, and then quite a few more five- and ten-step effects, and now I'm out of focus points.

So my question is: Is there a different way to record multi step effects that doesnt involve focus points? I feel like 100 is an incredibly small number if that is the only way of doing it.

 

Actually I have one other question as well: Since i'll be making up the lighting as the show goes, I am recording all the effects cues to submasters (Wish I had an Insight, 24 subs is not enough and I cant  switch pages since i dont have enough hands) by writing the effect as a cue in blind and then recording a sub of it. Is there a faster way to record to a sub that perhaps does not involve writing a cue first?

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  • in reply to jwblake

    Hi Jonathan!

    Back a few short months ago when I was still in high school, I had an almost identical setup that you describe, and I found myself in your position often.

    The problem with doing what you are doing with your Expression board is that it was (and still isn't) really designed for moving light capability. I am reasonably sure the ML capability was added to the firmware on the board as sort of an afterthought, if you will. I am not sure if you have had the chance to play with true moving light/effect boards, but they look considerably different and are really designed to structure cues, effect, and the like in a much more convenient manner.

    On to the reason for my post... To be completely honest I never used focus points once for any of my shows, perhaps I felt the system I had been using was good enough, so I stayed away from them opting to use groups to help me record the various steps in an effect. While you could not modify the group after effects were recorded and have the settings propagate back into the rest of the show, I did not really ever need to do this, as rock show lighting isn't usually a precise art, it's more about having all the lights available to you moving around at some point in time, and making it look good...

    I might suggest you look into using groups to help you record the steps in your effect submasters. I have used cues linked to macros to fire the subs with the effects or whatever recorded into them. In reality, the biggest constraint with that board in my opinion is the 24 sub limit. Sub Pages have good intentions, but I found almost as soon as I started using them in cued shows I could not control them with adequate flexibility and would tend to freak out during a complex live show, so I also never used the sub pages...

    As for your second question, you do not need to record a cue first in order to take it into a sub... I believe the proper key sequence is to do Blind > Sub > {sub number} > Type > 4 (if I remember the number for an effect). From that point on you can hit Record > Enter whenever you are ready to record and it will put it in the sub you specify. I can go get the offline editor and make sure of those keystrokes if I am incorrect.

    Hope this helps.

     

    ---landon

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