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Worked example: a small rig

The problem

The rig: 4 LED washes (RGBW) that need full to be seen, 8 LED bars (RGB) that blind at 30%, and 4 beam movers with a colour wheel. No strobes or blinders in this example: the hits come from these fixtures. If you have strobes, or very bright pars with a strobe mode used as strobes, they're one more hit executor; the rest stays the same. The question is how many executors that becomes, and which of them get split per fixture type.

Busking intensity explains the layers in general: atmosphere balanced at the source, hits on the same fixtures at full. This page turns them into a concrete page of executors.

Split by attribute first, then by type

Look at what each scaler touches. Executor masters and playback masters scale dimmer values only. So a balance problem can only ever be an intensity problem, and only the intensity layer needs one executor per type. Colour and movement are split by what they do, not by fixture type:

Washes ×4 need 100% to be seen LED bars ×8 blind at 30% Beams ×4 cut through the haze Intensity split per type Washes dim fader · on ATMO Bars dim fader · on ATMO Beams dim fader · on ATMO Colour one layer for all Colour looks: Ice · Fire · Acid · Mono buttons · colour-only playback filter · LTP · Off On Overwritten Movement only where it moves no moving parts no moving parts Sweep · Fan · Circle buttons · position only Hits per type, plus all Washes hit Bars hit Beams hit All hit · every button: Flash · HTP · on no master Executor masters and playback masters scale dimmer only, so only intensity (and hits) need one executor per type.
The sample rig as layers. Intensity is one fader per fixture type, all on the ATMO playback master; colour looks span the whole rig; movement exists only for the beams; hits are per type plus one for all.
  • Intensity: one fader executor per type. Washes dim, Bars dim, Beams dim, all assigned to the ATMO playback master. These faders are the balance and the ride.
  • Colour: one set of looks for the whole rig. The colour looks from Colour concepts for busking (Ice, Fire, Acid, Mono) stay one sequence each, across all three types, on buttons with a colour-only playback filter. Splitting them per type would buy nothing: no master scales colour. (Base and accent looks split by role, which is a design choice, not a brightness fix.)
  • Movement: only where something moves. A few position effects for the beams (Sweep, Fan, Circle) on buttons with a position-only filter, all on the speed master.
  • Hits: per type, plus all. As in the hit layer: Flash buttons, HTP, on no playback master.

Building the intensity executors

There are two ways to get one executor per type.

One sequence per type. Select the washes and build their intensity cues; store them as their own sequence; repeat for the bars and the beams. Give each sequence a few cues as variations and step through them with Go:

Cue Washes dim Bars dim Beams dim
1 base preset Washes base preset Bars base preset Beams base
2 breathe slow dimmer effect, high = Washes base same for the bars same for the beams
3 chase dimmer chase with phase across the four odd/even with MAtricks one beam at a time

Each type runs its own variation (the bars chase while the washes breathe), and in a dark room that's what you want: different elements doing different things, few at a time. The cost is three sequences to maintain.

One sequence, three executors with worlds. Build the intensity cues once for all types, put the same sequence on three executors and give each a world as playback filter (Washes, Bars, Beams). Each executor then plays only its type, and each fader masters only its type. You edit one sequence instead of three, but all types share the same cue structure. The manual confirms that a sequence can sit on several executors: some options belong to the sequence and are "synchronized on all executors that uses the same sequence" (tracking, Release First Step), others belong to the executor, so "executors with the same sequence can have different options regarding Wrap Around". Whether each executor then steps through the cues on its own is still open.

Practice

For busking, build one sequence per type. The types rarely do the same thing at the same moment, and separate sequences let you step the bars to their chase without touching the washes. The world variant suits a rig where all types always move together, or a quick first version.

The page

Executor Content Priority Playback master Key / fader
Faders 1–3 Washes dim, Bars dim, Beams dim: intensity per type (base, breathe, chase) LTP ATMO fader = ride that type, Go = next variation
Fader 4 intensity effect for build-ups (fast pulse or strobe on all types) LTP none fade in under the build-up
Fader 5 ATMO playback master – – the whole atmosphere
Fader 6 speed master – – tempo, Learn button
Buttons 1–4 colour looks Ice, Fire, Acid, Mono (colour-only filter) LTP none Toggle, Off On Overwritten
Buttons 5–7 beam moves Sweep, Fan, Circle (position-only filter) LTP none Toggle
Buttons 8–11 hits: washes, bars, beams, all (white / strobe) HTP none Flash
Button 12 drop look High none Swop or Kill

The colour and movement buttons use playback filters so they can never change dimmer (see Executors that only do one thing).

Practice

Riding it during a set. The balance is in the base presets, so each type is either in (fader at the top, its balanced level) or out (fader down, dark). In a dark room most of them are out most of the time:

  • Groove: Bars dim in, on its chase; washes and beams out; colour Ice. One element on a dark canvas.
  • Breakdown: bars out, Washes dim in on breathe, Beams dim half up with Sweep. ATMO a little down.
  • Build-up: Go on Bars dim to its chase, bars back in, speed master doubling, the intensity-effect fader creeping up, ATMO to full.
  • Last beat: Swop one beam. Drop: All hit on the one, then the drop look (Kill), or Bars hit on the beat.
  • After the drop: back to the groove. The types you want are at the top, the rest at the bottom, ATMO at full: nothing to remember.

To verify in onPC: checks 4, 18, 23

When you need it, and when not

  • Similar fixtures only: skip the per-type split; one intensity executor and the ATMO master are enough.
  • Mixed brightness, busked: build this page once and keep it as a template for the next show.

Sources