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Selection and groups

The problem

Almost every command starts with "these lights": the front wash, all the spots on the truss, every second LED bar. Typing Fixture 101 + 103 + 105 + 107 a hundred times a night is slow and error-prone.

And it's not only which lights: for fans, chases and effects, the order matters too. "Spread the beams from left to right" only works if the console knows what left-to-right is.

The idea: selection is an ordered list

Before you can give a value, you select fixtures. The selection lives in the programmer, and it's more than a set. It's an ordered list: the order in which you selected the fixtures.

That order is used whenever something is spread across the selection:

  • a value range: Fixture 1 Thru 3 At 0 Thru 100 gives fixture 1 0%, fixture 2 50% and fixture 3 100%
  • effects, whose phase runs along the selection
  • MAtricks patterns such as "every second fixture"

So Fixture 1 + 2 is not the same selection as Fixture 2 + 1. A fan programmed one way runs backwards the other way.

Groups: stored selections

A group is a stored selection, both the fixtures and their order. Tap the group in the pool (or type Group 3) and those fixtures are selected, in that order.

The manual is explicit about one thing that surprises people:

Groups are merely shortcuts for selecting fixtures.

Group 5 At 50 followed by Store Cue 3 stores the fixtures that were in group 5 at 50%. The cue has no idea a group was involved. Change group 5 later and cue 3 is unaffected.

This is the big difference from presets. A preset is referenced by the cues that use it; a group is just a fast way to make a selection, then it's gone.

Interpretation

Why not reference groups too? A cue is a list of values per fixture, so there's nowhere to store "the group". It also keeps cues stable: adding a new fixture to your "Front" group shouldn't silently make it appear in every old cue. If you read material about other consoles (including grandMA3), check whether it applies to grandMA2 before relying on it.

Why build groups anyway

If groups aren't referenced, what do they buy you?

  • Speed and fewer mistakes: one tap instead of a fixture list.
  • The order is stored: build "Spots L→R" once and every fan and effect from that group runs left to right.
  • Names: you can call groups by name, and wildcards work. g wash* at 50 sets "Wash 1", "Wash 2" and "Wash 3" at once.
  • Group masters: a group can be put on a fader (see below).
  • A map of your rig: the group pool becomes the "menu" of your rig. Auto Create can build a basic set from the patch.

It's common to build several groups with the same fixtures in different orders: left→right, right→left, outside→in.

When the order should change on the fly: MAtricks

Sometimes you want to modify a selection without storing a new group: "every second one", "the left half", "mirrored from the centre". That's what MAtricks does. The simplest form is Next and Prev, which step through the selection one fixture at a time (handy for focusing). The MAtricks toolbar adds interleave, blocks, wings and groups, all as temporary modifications of the current selection. A separate page will cover MAtricks in depth.

Group masters: a fader per area

The problem: all your looks are programmed, and in the venue the back washes are a bit too bright everywhere in the dark room, or you want a "bars" fader to ride by feel during the night.

Assign a group to a fader executor and it becomes a group master. It limits the dimmer output of those fixtures, relative to whatever cues and programmer say: a fixture at 50% in a cue with its group master at 50% outputs 25%. Nothing in the programming changes.

There are three modes:

  • Positive: if a fixture is in several group masters, it may output light if any of them allows it.
  • Negative: the fixture is limited if any of them limits it.
  • Additive: the fader gives the fixtures intensity, even if no cue does. This is a quick way to bring up an area by hand.

When it matters, and when not

  • Always: build groups. They cost nothing and make everything else faster.
  • Order: matters as soon as you use fans, value ranges or effects. Store groups in the order you'll want the effect to run.
  • Group masters: worth it for live, by-feel shows (concerts, busking) or as a safety "area dimmer". Less needed for a fixed cue list played the same way every night.

Sources