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Playback priority

The problem

A song is running on your main cue list: fixture 5 is blue at 80%. Now you press a button for a red flash, someone is touching up fixture 5 in the programmer, and a group master is at half. Which of them does fixture 5 follow?

As soon as more than one thing can control the same light, the console needs rules for who wins. Without them, every new playback would be a gamble.

The idea: latest takes precedence, with layers

grandMA2's basic rule is LTP, latest takes precedence. For an attribute that several playbacks want, the one that most recently sent a value wins. Start a red sequence after the blue one and the light turns red; it stays red until something newer comes along.

LTP fits how people think about moving lights: "the last thing I did is what I see". It's also why Off On Overwritten exists (see Executors and pages): once a newer playback has taken over every attribute of an older one, the older one is doing nothing and can be turned off.

On top of plain LTP, each executor has a priority setting. Higher priority beats lower priority regardless of timing. Within the same level, LTP decides. From highest to lowest:

Priority Behaviour
Super above every other playback, and above the programmer
Swap intensity works LTP, with a higher priority than HTP
HTP intensity: the highest value wins; other attributes LTP
High LTP, above normal
LTP the normal priority
Low LTP, below normal

HTP: why intensity is sometimes different

HTP, highest takes precedence, comes from the dimmer-desk world: two faders both bringing up the same lamp, and the lamp shows the brighter of the two. Nothing can reduce a light by being started later.

That's useful when you combine looks by intensity, for example a general wash plus a special that both include the downstage dimmers. With LTP, pulling the special down would also take the shared dimmers down. With HTP, the wash still holds them.

HTP only applies to intensity; colour, position and so on stay LTP.

Soft LTP affects the moment one executor takes over intensity from another: with it on, the intensity fades from the old to the new value; with it off, it snaps first and then runs the new executor's fade.

Interpretation

Rule of thumb from practice: leave most executors at LTP. Put things that must always win (a "house lights" or "blackout safety" playback) at High or Super, and use HTP for intensity-only playbacks you want to pile up, such as an audience blinder on top of a song.

Where the programmer fits

The programmer takes part in the same game, and the manual isn't fully consistent about it:

  • The glossary says the programmer has "a higher priority than an executor", and Super is described as the one priority "even above the programmer".
  • The Freeze keyword says: "If Freeze is on, programmer values have a higher priority than playbacks. Only executor priority Super has a higher priority than Freeze."

The likely reading: values you set in the programmer win when you set them, but a playback that is triggered afterwards can take those attributes back (LTP). Freeze stops that, so the programmer stays on top while cues keep running.

To verify in onPC: check 1

After priority: masters and protection

Priority decides which value an attribute gets. After that, intensity is scaled by masters: the executor's own master fader, any playback master it's tied to, group masters, and finally the grand master. Group masters scale relative to the value: 50% in the cue with the group master at 50% gives 25%.

Two tools sit outside the normal rules, and both are for emergencies or special cases rather than programming:

  • Park locks the DMX output of an attribute or fixture at its current (or a given) value, whatever the playbacks say. A typical use is a light that must stay on for a camera or a work light.
  • Blackout and the grand master take everything down.
Sources Priority merge Output House lights priority Super Programmer Freeze: stays on top Audience blinder HTP · own fader Main cue list LTP · own fader Super above programmer Swap intensity LTP HTP highest intensity High LTP, above normal LTP default Low LTP, below normal per attribute: higher row wins; same row: latest value wins (HTP row: highest intensity) Group masters 50% × 50% = 25% Grand master all intensity · Blackout Park locks the DMX value DMX out
Each source enters the merge at its priority row. A higher row wins; within a row the latest value wins (in the HTP row, the highest intensity). Group masters and the grand master scale the result; Park holds the DMX value at the very end.

To verify in onPC: check 10

The output layers tell you who won

When you're unsure, the fixture sheet's output layers show the result instead of the theory. Value Exec ID shows which executor a value comes from, Value Cue ID which cue, Output the final value with masters, and DMX what leaves the console. See The programmer.

When it matters, and when not

  • One cue list, nothing else running: priority never comes up.
  • A cue list plus a few busking buttons: LTP does the right thing most of the time. Learn Off On Overwritten and the output layers.
  • Combining intensity from several playbacks: this is where HTP earns its place.
  • Skip at first: High and Super. They only matter for playbacks that must never be overridden.

Sources