Imagine the following scenario: An actor is on stage reciting a monologue. Suddenly, another actor steps in front of the first and begins speaking at a much louder rate, drowning out the first. Because the first actor is no longer contributing to what is happening on stage, he simply vanishes into thin air! This concept might sound crazy, but a similar situation plays out all the time on most automated lighting consoles. Some refer to this behavior as stomping or overriding, and it can be very confusing if not understood by the console programmer or operator. Examining the Behavior
Most consoles default to a setting where unused cuelists and sequences automatically turn themselves off. This behavior has been around for a long time and mostly is in place to reduce the number of active playbacks. Let’s look at what happens when the behavior is on. Let’s say you have two playbacks with only color and dimmer information for your wash fixtures in them. When you activate the first, the lights will turn on in a green color. Next, you press the other one, and the lights will change to a blue color. However, when you play the blue playback, you will also see the green playback automatically release or off. This happened because the green playback was fully overwritten and its data was no longer contributing to the output from the console (the look on stage). Just like our actor in the example above, the green playback was seen as not needed and it disappeared.
However, this also means that if you now manually release/off the blue playback that the fixtures will blackout if there are no other playbacks playing. This might shock some programmers if they expect a playback to remain active until they tell it to turn off. For instance, if you think about the tracking concept of Latest Takes Presence, you might assume that when you turn off the blue playback that the values will revert back to the previously-active green playback.
Don’t Override Me!
There are many real-world examples of why automatic releasing/offing could be very frustrating. For instance, if you are busking, you might have several playbacks all contributing to the look on stage. You might have one that sets the position, another for the color, and a third for the intensity. Each of these cuelists could be active without affecting the other. Then you may choose to hit a flash key during a guitar riff that turns the lights white, points them at the audience, and strobes them at full intensity. When you release the flash key, you will find that the stage has blacked out and the look you had prior to pressing the key has disappeared. This is because each of the individual playbacks was released when overridden by the strobing flash key. During the guitar riff, they all were no longer contributing to the look on stage, so the desk decided you did not need them anymore!
Alas, there is a solution to help with this situation. Most consoles have cuelist or sequence options that allow you to disable the default overriding behavior. Typically, it will be labeled something like “persist on override” or “off on overwritten” or similar verbiage. When you activate this option for a cuelist/sequence then it will remain “on” in the background even if it is no longer contributing to the look on stage. Now when the overriding data is removed, the underlying data will again become active on stage. In the example with the flash key above, you would want to enable this feature on your three playbacks that created your initial look on stage. Then, when the strobe flash key was pressed, the other playbacks would remain on, but overridden. Now each would automatically restore when the flash key was let go and the strobe cuelist/sequenced released.
I Don’t Have That!
If your console does not have the option to change the override setting, don’t fret! Simply remember that playbacks will automatically release when they are completely overridden. You can always add a dummy channel or value of a parameter to the playbacks that you want to persist. Then, if the subsequent playback is missing this data, it won’t cause the original playback to release/off. For instance, in the strobe flash key example mentioned earlier, you could simply store a dummy desk channel value in each of the initial playbacks but not in the strobe flash key. Now the strobe flash key will never fully override the others!
Choose Wisely
When setting up playbacks for a show, it is important to think about how they will be used and how they will interact with each other. Only then will you know which playbacks require special attention. As always, rehearsing your playback structure is important — it will help identify which playbacks will get automatically released/offed.
Many console on-screen GUI’s and front panel LED’s will indicate in some manner when a cuelist/sequence is no longer contributing to the output. In most cases, an LED will flash or an on-screen button will change color. This is an indication that the playback is on, but not doing anything live at the moment. Alternately, there may be visual indicators if a playback is in the process of releasing/offing. It is important for programmers to know the signals from the console.
Don’t Leave Them All On
It might be tempting to just set all your playbacks to never respond to being overridden. This would avoid unexpected release/off actions and allow you to choose what gets released. However, serious repercussions can result from having too many active playbacks. First, it could just be confusing to know what is contributing to the stage at any moment. Second, your console might be limited in its abilities and it might suffer from all the active information. Third, getting back to “square one” will be very difficult as you will be unsure what to release or keep active. Of course, release-all macros or commands can assist if you do decide to run with all your playbacks in this mode.
Do Your Part
Automated lighting consoles are extremely powerful and filled with options. It is important for a programmer to understand as many as possible. The methodology as to what can cause a playback to automatically release/off might be different on different systems. As always, refer to your console’s user manual or on-line help for details and exact terminology. Don’t let unassuming playbacks get overridden and automatically released/offed. Instead, do your part to ensure that fair play is given to each! Set the cuelist/sequence options appropriately, and then have fun playing your cues without concern.
