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The programming workflow

The problem

Knowing what each tool does isn't the same as knowing how to work. A programming session has a rhythm: select, set, check, store, clear. If that loop is sloppy, the show fills up with stray values, missing preset links and tracking surprises, which you'll only notice weeks later.

Practice

This page describes common working practice. The individual tools are documented in the manual and linked below.

The basic loop

  1. Select with groups (and MAtricks), not with fixture numbers. The selection order is stored with the group (see Selection and groups).
  2. Set values from presets, not raw values: position, colour, beam, dimmer. Only touch encoders for what has no preset yet, and consider making one.
  3. Check what's active: the red markers in the fixture sheet, or a sheet with the Active Only mask.
  4. Store into the right place: a preset if it's a reusable ingredient, a cue if it's a moment (see below).
  5. Clear, fully, before the next look. Most "strange" behaviour starts with leftovers in the programmer (see The programmer).

Ingredient or moment: preset or cue?

Before each store, ask: will I want this again, in other looks?

  • Yes (a position, a colour, a beam look, a balanced dimmer level): store it as a preset first, apply the preset, then store the cue. A temporary store filter or a world lets you store the colour part of a finished look as a preset (see Storing only part of a look).
  • No (this specific moment): store the cue directly.

Tools that keep the loop fast

  • Highlight + Next/Prev to step through fixtures one by one, e.g. when focusing positions.
  • Program Time so changes fade in instead of snapping. You see how a change will feel, and moving lights don't jump.
  • Blind / Preview when the stage must not change (see Inspecting without live output).
  • The command line feedback window on screen. It shows what each touch actually did (see The command line).
  • Oops for the last action; hold it to step back several actions.

Keeping the show clean

  • Name things as you go: groups, presets, sequences, cues. Unnamed objects are hard to find later, and cue sheets full of numbers are hard to read.
  • Store only what changes in tracking cue lists (the default Active store does that, as long as you clear between looks).
  • Watch the tracking sheet now and then: unexpected white (blocked) values, Control attributes, or values that should come from a preset. Unblock removes redundant blocks (see Cues, sequences and tracking).
  • Fix at the source: use Update with Original content so a correction lands in the preset or the cue a value tracks from (see Store and update).
  • Save often. A double press on Backup is a quick save; each save keeps the previous ten versions. Add a short note when you save before big changes.

For a busking show, programming is more like building an instrument than writing a script; see Busking a rave.

Sources

Mostly working practice. Manual facts used: