I am very much a beginner in lighting board/software programming and truly need some practical advice. I have read the manual for the Cuelux (just purchased the software for an Amsterdam based theater research lab - DasArts) and have some very basic questions. Please excuse the simplicity of them ahead of time.
I have to program a very simple on/off installation using 32 florescent tubes. Basically I am plugging in 32 lights into 2 dimmer packs which are connected to each other and then running a DMX cable to my MacBook and using Cuelux. I am looking to assign one channel to each light and then to be able to set up a regular (most common) cue sheet to run the show.
Example:
Cue 1 - Channel 1-8 (on, 100%, 0 sec)
Cue 2 - Channel 1-8 (off, 0%, 0 sec) + Channel 9, 10, 11 (on, 100%, 0 sec)
Cue 3 - Channel 9,10,11 (off, 0%, 0 sec) + Channel 24-32 (on, 100%, 0 sec)
Cue 4 - Channel 24-32 (off, 0%, 0 sec)
Cue 5 - Channel 1 (on), after 1 second Channel 2 (on) and Channel 1 (off), after 1 second Channel 2 (on) and Channel 3 (off), etc.
So basically I am playing with different channels on and off, snapping (0 seconds fade in/fade out).
After programming all of these cues (roughly 100) I would then like to be able to just have a NEXT button assigned to one Button in Cuelux and also to have the same function (NEXT) in the iPhone or the Novation Launchpad Midi Controller.
This is the basic set up and programming for this installation.
Specific questions:
1. I connected the lights to the dimmer packs and now need to choose the fixture type in the Patch List. Which fixture do I add for each of the 32 florescent non-dimmable lights (Generic/Dimmer 1 x 32)?
2. Assuming I add Dimmer 1 in the Patch panel and add 32 of these I will have Address 1-32 for Dimmer 01x. Then for example in order to make it simpler I can group Dimmer 1-8, 9-16, 17-24, 25-32 as well as another group 1-32, or just even, or odd.
After this I think I need to start assigning cues - this is where I get confused. For example if I want Cue 1 to be Dimmer 1-8 (on, 100%, 0 sec) - I go to the grid view and select Dimmer 1-8 and in the Beam section put Dimm to 100%. Then should I go to Cue menu and select Add, and add a Cue 1 with targets of Dimmer 1-8, then press Record and then for example press the Play button of Bank 1, Channel 1? Is this correct? Will this then write Cue 1 that will turn on Dimmer 1-8 at 100%? Or am I doing this wrong? When I try this I get automatically: in the Cue list Cuelist01, Cues 0, with no Attributes or Targets, and then Cuelist02, Cue 1, with Attributes and my 1-8 dimmers as targets - why does it add Cuelist01, Cue 01 automatically?
3. If the above logic is correct then for the next cue (Cue 2) should I then preset the dimmer I want and then click again Add Cue, Click Record and then the same Play button of Bank 1, Channel 1? Will it then have 2 cues on the same Play button and so I can just keep going doing this with all my cues? Or am I going about this wrong?
4. After I write all the cues - and do the setup for the iPhone - will I then have the same Bank 1, Channel 1 button on the iPhone to be able to press and just go to the next Cue, and so on?
5. The same question goes for the Midi Controller - can I assign any button on the Novation Launchpad to be linked to the Bank 1, Channel 1 button to be able to press to go to next written cue?
Again I am very sorry for these elementary questions - but after the manual I am thoroughly lost. Thank you in advance for your help!
Ash