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Building and changing a show

The problem

You open a new show, patch a few fixtures, and start making looks. An hour later you have twelve cues full of raw values, groups numbered in the order you happened to need them, and a preset pool with three random colours. It works, but every change means hunting through cues. The next show starts from scratch again.

grandMA2 is built around a specific way of working. The manual documents each tool, but never the order in which they're meant to be used. That order is what makes the "reference, don't copy" idea pay off.

Practice

This whole page is common working practice among grandMA2 (and other moving-light console) programmers, not MA documentation. It's a starting point. Adapt it once you know why each step is there.

The idea: build from the bottom up

Each layer of a show refers to the layer below it. Build them in that order and every later change has one obvious place to go:

layer, refers to the one below a change that goes into this layer 1. Patch fixtures, IDs, addresses new address, replaced or upside-down fixture 2. Groups ordered selections a fixture moves to the left half 3. Presets the palette the DJ booth moved, the blue looks too purple 4. Cues and effects built from presets a new look, a different routine 5. Executors and pages how you play it a control moves to another fader 6. Views how you see it a screen layout for a new task
The six layers, built from the bottom up; each refers to the one below. On the right, an example of a change that goes into each layer; presets are highlighted because they take the changes of the design.

1. Patch. Decide the numbering scheme first, because IDs are what everything refers to. Typical schemes: by fixture type in blocks of 100 (spots 101–112, washes 201–216, LED bars 301–324), or by position. Leave gaps so you can add fixtures later. Get the fixture type and mode right. See Fixtures and patch.

2. Groups. Build the selections you'll need again and again, with a deliberate order, before you program anything: all of each type, left and right halves, odd/even, front/back. Auto Create gives you a starting set per fixture type or layer. See Selection and groups.

3. Presets. Build the palette next: positions for each important place on stage, a set of colours, beam looks (gobos, zoom, iris), dimmer levels. Auto Create can generate global presets from the fixture types' channel sets, and colour swatches. See Presets.

4. Cues and effects. Now program with groups and presets, not with raw values. A look becomes "Spots + DJ booth + Deep blue + Breakup", and the cue stores links to those presets.

5. Executors. Put sequences where you'll want them while running the show. See Executors and pages and What goes on an executor.

6. Views. Arrange your screens for the tasks you do most. See Screens, views and layouts.

Why the order matters

  • Changing the rig only touches the patch (addresses, offsets) and maybe the position presets. Cues survive.
  • Changing the design ("warmer", "less blue", "the DJ booth moved") is one preset update, not forty cue edits.
  • Adding fixtures doesn't break anything that exists, and with good groups and global/universal presets the new fixtures are quick to program. They don't appear in existing cues by themselves, though; see Changing the rig after programming.
  • Reading the show is easier: cues show preset names, not numbers.

Doing it the other way round (looks first, structure later) is possible, but then you'll end up extracting presets from finished cues, which is exactly the work the order avoids.

Changing the show: fix it where it lives

The first version of a show is never the last. You program at home, then reality arrives: the venue is a different shape, the haze is thicker, the LED bars are brighter than expected, the DJ booth is two metres to the left, you want it "warmer". Things will change; what matters is how much work each change costs. A show built in the order above makes most changes cheap, if you make them in the right layer.

What changed Where to fix it Not here
fixtures hung differently, a fixture upside down patch: invert, pan/tilt offset position presets, cues
a fixture re-addressed or replaced patch (live patch for addresses) anything else
a target moved (DJ booth, a pillar, the dance floor) the position preset cues
a colour looks wrong (on one type, or everywhere) the colour preset, per fixture type cues, colour looks
one fixture type is too bright overall its balanced dimmer preset or the atmosphere master group masters, if hits must stay full (see Busking intensity)
one look in one moment is wrong the cue (Update, original content) the presets
a cue's feel is wrong the cue timing values

Use Update rather than Store for corrections: it writes back to the preset or cue a value comes from (see Store and update).

Work in passes (focus, colour and balance, timing, notes) rather than fixing everything at once; see Working in passes.

Adapting a show to a new venue

A new venue is where a show built on presets pays off. The patch changes under the fixture IDs, so the cues don't notice. The positions are wrong, but they live in a few position presets, not in every cue. The colours look different in the new room, but again only the colour presets need retuning. So a venue change is a short list of passes in a fixed order: patch, focus, colour and balance, safety limits, play through. Each pass fixes something the later ones rely on: focusing before the patch is right, or balancing colours before the positions hit the right surfaces, is wasted work.

If the rig is very different, start from a template show and use Partial Show Read to bring in the presets, effects, sequences and executors that still apply. The steps for both: Adapt a show to a new venue.

For a busked rave, the design side (energy levels for breakdown, groove, build-up and drop) is on Busking a rave.

Changing the rig after programming

To see what survives a rig change, you need to know what a cue refers to:

  • A cue stores values per fixture ID: "fixture 12: Color preset 4, dimmer 80%". The ID is the anchor; the DMX address is only in the patch.
  • A cue never refers to a group. The manual is explicit: groups are "merely shortcuts for selecting fixtures". Group 5 At 50 and Store put the fixtures of group 5 into the cue, so changing group 5 later changes nothing in that cue.
  • A cue can refer to a preset. Then the value lives in the preset, and the preset says what it means for each fixture (selective), each fixture type (global) or any fixture with that attribute (universal, see Presets).

From that, the three kinds of rig change behave very differently.

Same fixture, different place or address

A unit is re-addressed, hung on another truss or replaced by an identical one. This is a patch change: new address, maybe a pan/tilt invert or offset (see Fixtures and patch), and an update of the position presets if the fixture now points elsewhere. Cues refer to the ID, so they're untouched and correct.

Same ID, different model

The venue has a different wash than planned. In the patch (EditSetup) you can change the fixture type of an existing fixture; the ID, and with it every cue that uses it, stays. When colour systems differ, grandMA2 asks how to transform colours (prefer MIXColor, prefer colour wheel, or both).

What then happens to the looks depends on how they were stored:

  • Universal presets keep working: they mean the same on any fixture with the attribute.
  • Global presets have values per fixture type. The new type has none yet, so those presets need values for it (update them, or clone the old type's data to the new type in the presets).
  • Raw values and selective data belong to the fixture and have to be converted by the type change.

To verify in onPC: check 16

New fixtures

You add four LED bars to a show with 60 cues. Patch them, add them to the right groups (re-store the groups; nothing else refers to them), and the groups and presets are ready for them:

  • Universal presets work on them immediately.
  • Global presets work immediately if the new bars are the same type as bars already in the show; for a new type, see above.
  • Selective presets (typically positions) know nothing about them yet.

But the 60 cues don't contain the new fixtures. In every existing cue they stay at their default, normally dark. Nothing breaks, and nothing happens either. To bring them into the existing looks there are two ways:

Clone
The manual's tool for exactly this case: "add fixtures to the rig which suppose to behave exactly the same as existing fixtures". Clone the fixtures the new ones should copy (say the existing outer bars to the new ones), and grandMA2 adds their data to cues, presets and effects. By default it's a low priority merge: data the new fixtures already have is kept, the rest is added. With If you can limit it, for example to some sequences only. The manual's requirement: the show is programmed with presets, so the cloned cues point to presets that also make sense for the new fixtures.
Program them into the cues
Select the new fixtures, apply presets, and Update the cues that should include them. Fine for a handful of looks; tedious for 60 cues.

Practice

  • For busking shows the same applies to every look stored on an executor: a stored look only contains the fixtures it was stored with. Looks you build live from groups and presets include new fixtures as soon as they're in the groups.
  • Plan for growth where you can: groups that will get more fixtures (all washes, all bars) and global or universal presets for colour, beam and dimmer. Then adding fixtures means patch, groups, a few selective presets, and one clone.
  • Clone with a clear source. Pick source fixtures that play the same role as the new ones (same side, same layer of the look), since the new fixtures will copy exactly what the source does in every cue.

Pool layout

Plan every pool like a map with fixed coordinates: see Organising groups and presets.

Reusing the work

A well-structured show is also a template. Save a copy as a starting show for the next gig with the same rig. Partial Show Read imports groups, presets, effects, macros, sequences, executors and layouts from another show into the current one, and brings along what they depend on (a sequence brings its presets).

When it matters, and when not

  • A one-off look for a party with six pars: skip most of this. Patch, one group, a few cues.
  • Anything you'll run more than once, change, or tour: follow the order. The extra hour at the start pays back the first time something changes.
  • Every change after that: fix it in the layer where it lives, and work in passes (focus, colour and balance, timing, notes) rather than fixing everything at once.

Sources

Mostly working practice. Manual facts used: