Two-Scene mode vs. Memories/Scenes

I was in Walla Walla (the town) earlier this week! I have worked on many spaces in and around there. Are you at a church?

I haven't used one lately either, but I think there may be a terminology confusion. Patching is usually use to mean a one time (per show) arrangement of DMX addresses to console channels. The way you wrote I think you mean a "look" or "scene" with different levels for every dimmer. If so, 2-scene preset is very limiting on a SmartFade.

What you may prefer is the "Next" function. When you press the Next button all output is locked where it is (which confuses many!) But you are in blind just as you described. When Next is released the console fades to whatever is set by the sliders (individual or memories) at the moment. That gives you unlimited presets. The timing can be adjusted, but I can't recall how at the moment. There may be a way to use the cross-faders, but I'd have to read the manual carefully to be sure.

Some folks just use the memories as scenes. Simply record a memory for every scene/song/look and then manually crossfade between them. It's less than ideal, especially when jumping pages, but it can work. Of course if you can pre-program everything then the cue stack is probably best. As I recall it holds a couple hundred cues and you could change show files at intermission.

To set the xfade time in next mode you'll have to use the weel, and then press go. I am not sure it is possible to use the cross faders.