# 1:1 patch: Do you use it?



## atm999 (Jan 16, 2009)

I'm just checking how many people use 1:1 patch for their consoles vs puting all whites that point to downstage left, etc, on a channel. Feel free to post if you think that it will provide more insight than your vote in the poll.


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## willbb123 (Jan 16, 2009)

with like 250 dimmers only half that many lights a 1:1 patch would be way to confusing. 

But in highschool i did use 1:1 patch, because there were 24 dimmers and lights. That and I had no idea what a patch was.


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## atm999 (Jan 16, 2009)

How do you guys use your subs if you already have zone patch?


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## cdub260 (Jan 16, 2009)

My main stage uses a 1 to 1 patch, my smaller stage does not. The difference? On my smaller stage, I pretty much have free reign to set up the lighting system however I like. On my main stage, I don't.


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## willbb123 (Jan 16, 2009)

atm999 said:


> How do you guys use your subs if you already have zone patch?



ok i read the OP wrong. I hardly ever put more then one dimmer on a channel. Thats what subs and groups are for. I like having the control if i need it.


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## TheDonkey (Jan 16, 2009)

We have ~40 plugs on the bars, and only 24 channels, so we Hard Patch the plugs into our 24 channel CD80 pack.

For the next show I do, I may do some basic soft-patching(so we don't 2fer 4 lights into a 2.1Kw dimmer like we did last time  ), but I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the school who's read the whole manual and knows what a softpatch is/how to use it.


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## TimMiller (Jan 16, 2009)

I fall into a not on the list catagory. I patch my rig on the dimmers, so that the console mostly ends up being a 1-to-1 patch. I normally dont have the convenience of house dimmers.


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## Sayen (Jan 16, 2009)

In my theater I usually use a 1 to 1, because I know most of the circuit positions in my head and I end up designing and circuiting most instruments.

The last time I was in a strange auditorium I changed the patch, because I didn't know their layout as well.

Either way, I prefer to work off of submasters and groups, so often the patch doesn't matter directly.


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## thommyboy (Jan 16, 2009)

In my space the other users would have no idea how to handle a patch that wasn't 1:1 as they have been using that going back to their 2 scene board.


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## Footer (Jan 16, 2009)

How can you not? A magic sheet and a logical channel layout can cut programing time in half, and makes making changes during tech much easier. 

When I got here and started making the students acutaually patch shows you would have thought I told them to jump off a bridge, but its how the real theatre world works, get used to it. 

The real question is, is ch. 1 DSL, DSR, USL, or USR?


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## Chris Chapman (Jan 16, 2009)

I use a 1:1 patch in my space becasue I run a rep plot of the course of the year, and it's easier to keep a 1:1 in my head than a rotating patch. It also helps a little in simplifing things for introductions to new techs.


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## sk8rsdad (Jan 16, 2009)

It depends on the show, and the experience level of the LD (and I use that term generously).

In our venue, we have more control channels than fixtures so we try for independent control of all fixtures, using groups, palettes, and presets for zoning. Pure 1:1 breaks down in our space due to dimmer doubling, house lights, location of circuits, etc.

Our usual practice is to design using whatever numbering scheme suits, then patch to simplify programming or busking. Often that scheme looks like 1:1 for the majority of shows.


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## xander (Jan 16, 2009)

I haven't voted, the OP is vague and I am not sure what he means.

Hard OR soft patch? (I assume, soft)

"1:1" meaning desk 1:1 of dimmer 1 -> channel 1, dim 2 -> ch 2, etc. OR just simply 1 dimmer per channel? (I can't assume here)

Thanks,
-Tim


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## Esoteric (Jan 16, 2009)

atm999 said:


> I'm just checking how many people use 1:1 patch for their consoles vs puting all whites that point to downstage left, etc, on a channel. Feel free to post if you think that it will provide more insight than your vote in the poll.



Whoops my bad. I thought it was talking about circuits -> dimmers. But if I have enough channels I use a 1:1 patch. Then use groups and subs. But why limit yourself if you don't have to?

Mike


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## waynehoskins (Jan 16, 2009)

My softpatch is typically one dimmer onto a handle, but it's never a direct 1=1 patch. It's some variation on:

1-9 are frontlights.
11-19 are backlights (or tops)
21-29 are sides from SR
31-39 are sides from SL
the 40s are usually colorwashes or special systems
50s, specials
60s, templates
and then other systems
and warmers and houselights on the last two channels

Kinda like Kyle/Footer was talking about. This way my channel numbers are tied to the function of an instrument (or system) rather than to the physical location of a fixture.

I rarely write subs, other than houselights on the last sub. I am starting to write groups. But that's just me, who lights high school and community theatre with half-racks and sub-100-unit plots.


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## Grog12 (Jan 16, 2009)

Unfair poll.

I use a 1 to 1....after hang to check everything and make sure its working. I typicallly leave it 1 to 1 for focus as well as I believe that the less things you have to troubleshoot (i.e. the patch) during focus when a light isn't working the better.

After that I always use a show patch. Period. Channeling is a means of organizing for the designer and making the plot work for them.


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## derekleffew (Jan 16, 2009)

I, too, cannot vote because I don't understand the poll. Quoting from the other thread:

xander said:


> First of all, I am slightly confused. When you say "1:1 patch" you mean one dimmer per channel? Because when I say "1:1 patch" I think of dimmer 1 patched to channel 1, dimmer 2 patched to dimmer 2, etc. because that terminology has been hijacked by desk manufacturers to mean the latter. ...


I wouldn't say "that terminology has been hijacked by desk manufacturers." Since the inception of Dimmer Per Circuit, consoles have had the ability to control more dimmers than channels. Often, on a 400-channel console with 512-dimmers, a 1-to-1 patch results in dimmer 401 into channel (001), along with dimmer 1, D402+D2 into (002), etc. For an average show, 17% of dimmers go unused, why have random 17% of "holes" in one's Channel Hook-Up?


xander said:


> ...Second of all, assuming you mean the first, every designer is going to do one dimmer per channel--because that gives you greatest amount of control--unless there are some extenuating circumstances: you are only using more than one dimmer because of a power issue AND the instruments would NEVER be used separately, ie cyc lights; or you have more dimmers than you have channels, [see above] but if this were the case I would never design there again until they buy a new desk (unless you were using a LOT of DMX controlled devices--that were rented so it was not the norm--and that is where the extra "dimmers" were coming from?); or you have a LOT more dimmers than you are going to use so you just put each instrument in its own dimmer rather than 2-fering in the air. ...


Even with the same number of dimmers and channels, a softpatch allows one to put channels in a logical order that suits the show and LD, rather than how the electrical engineer happened to number the circuits--which often makes no logical sense. 
One example: 
channels (1-10) are frontlight, [Sub 1]
(11-20) are SR SDLT, [Sub 2]
(21-30) are SL SDLT, [Sub 3]
(31-40) are BKLT, [Sub 4]
(91-99) are cyc lights, [Sub 9=RED, Sub 10=BLU, Sub 11=GRN]
(100) is HouseLights; [Sub 12]
Everything DS of Main Curtain=[Sub13 INHB]
(501-506) are MAC500s FOH, 
(531-534) are MAC500s on 3E, 
(611-618) are MAC600s on 1E, etc. 
[Things get tricky with 3 types of MAC2000s, but there are rules for that, too.]

Even with portable racks, I don't use "dimmer 1 into channel 1," as a combination of hard-patching, pin-patching, and soft-patching allows one to balance the racks, (something usually not considered when working with installed racks).


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## atm999 (Jan 16, 2009)

TheDonkey said:


> We have ~40 plugs on the bars, and only 24 channels, so we Hard Patch the plugs into our 24 channel CD80 pack.
> 
> For the next show I do, I may do some basic soft-patching(so we don't 2fer 4 lights into a 2.1Kw dimmer like we did last time  ), but I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the school who's read the whole manual and knows what a softpatch is/how to use it.



sorry, I was asking about softpatching on the console. I didn't know that people still used hardpatching. We have a Strand CD80 rack and a Strand lightboard M - both from 1987 - and we still only use soft patching.


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## Diarmuid (Jan 16, 2009)

Reccenty we've changed the way we've patched shows (after I complained a lot) at my venue. On our old desk (Zero 88 Illusion120), everything was patched so channel 1 was socket 1 (though technically it wasn't a 1:1, due to the way our dimmers are laid out based on phases across the grid). Whilst on the illusion it worked pretty much ok, we're now using a Avolites Pearl Tiger where you can only have 30 fixtures on each page of handles, and so to have a 1 to 1 patch, means straddling 3 pages of fixtures which is just infuriating! So now we patch ourchannels in a more logical way with the O/W wash on 1-4 etc.

Personally whenever I get the chance I try and lay out my channels on a per rig basis (which when I'm out of my normal venue and using bigger desks, Strand 500, Ion etc, is even more important).

Diarmuid


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## adude23 (Jan 16, 2009)

I do use 1:1 if i'm in a theatre that's not my own.
Sometimes when i get into a venue they don't want there system messed about with so i respect that (most of the time you can get round such things  )
Most of the time i'll softpatch dimmers to make my layout more 'practicle' if you know where everything is you can feel more comfortable while programming.
Saying this though Sub masters and groups are exactly for this purpose so i never softpatch more than one dimmer to a channel


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## porkchop (Jan 16, 2009)

I must agree that a little more information from the OP would have been nice. If the question is do I like a dimmer 1 > channel 1 ; dimmer 2 > channel 2 patch that is almost always a no. The only way I would like that is if I designed and numbered the space's dimmers to fit my rep plot so that I could use such a patch and have the lights grouped in a way that makes sense when programming. That is a waste of time to me and I would never do it.

If you are asking if I would program one dimmer per channel then that is an interesting question that depends highly on equipment used and the plot I'm using. If I have a plot with more fixtures than dimmers, then I will have to do some physical twofering and then I would likely have only one dimmer per channel. If I have some extra dimmers and there are lights that will only be used together I see no problem in saving some cable, plugging the lights into the easiest dimmers, and just putting both dimmers into one channel (off the top of my head par can down lights tend to be the most common use of that technique).

There have been a few people that have mentioned submasters and groups for reasons not to use more than one dimmer per channel. That ends up being totally a question of how your board handles such things and how good you are with your board. I've worked on a board that had 10 pages of 6 numbered subs so all I had to reference what a sub did was my note pad, my memory, and the try it and see what it does method. This made it easier, because of a patch that made sense to me (1 - 3 front warm, 5 - 8 front cool, etc...), to just turn on the lights I want with the necessary channels than to program and later seek out the sub to do it. On the other hand more modern boards allow you to name groups and in many cases will keep them displayed on a screen for you to access. In this case it's usually significantly easier so have one light to one dimmer (for fine tuning, lamp check, and such) and then just use the named groups when you're designing. The wild card here being the user, any combination of, organizational skills, memory, training, etc.... will cause you to lean one way over the other.


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## theatretechguy (Jan 16, 2009)

Ok, since my comment helped start this poll, let me tell you why I run a 1:1 patch for my conventionals. 

I have 120 dimmers in my building (which is a very small number considering it's a 1000-seat theater) and I'm using most of them. The plot is a rep plot that stays the same probably 80% of the time. It gets changed for the Fall and Spring productions and then gets restored. It's much easier for me to memorize one set of numbers when programming the rep plot. My movers and other DMX goodies exist in my second universe and I run a modified patch for those. 

If I need to light up downstage right, I know its dimmer/channel 23 and 14 and that system WORKS for me. The key here is find something that works for you and your space. This system obviously wouldn't work in a venue with constantly changing plots, designers and technicians/programmers, but in my situation, it works.


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## lieperjp (Jan 16, 2009)

I have 120 outlets over the stage and catwalk, but I only have 59 dimmers. In our gym we have about 80 outlets and 40 dimmers plus a Right Arm in 8-bit mode. On both areas I use a 1:1 patch. However, I plan on eventually using patching to make life easier.


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## SteveB (Jan 16, 2009)

theatretechguy said:


> Ok, since my comment helped start this poll, let me tell you why I run a 1:1 patch for my conventionals.
> 
> I have 120 dimmers in my building (which is a very small number considering it's a 1000-seat theater) and I'm using most of them. The plot is a rep plot that stays the same probably 80% of the time. It gets changed for the Fall and Spring productions and then gets restored. It's much easier for me to memorize one set of numbers when programming the rep plot. My movers and other DMX goodies exist in my second universe and I run a modified patch for those.
> 
> If I need to light up downstage right, I know its dimmer/channel 23 and 14 and that system WORKS for me. The key here is find something that works for you and your space. This system obviously wouldn't work in a venue with constantly changing plots, designers and technicians/programmers, but in my situation, it works.



If you changed the name on the post to Frank Wood, It would not surprise me in the least. Frank had (still does it for all I know) his system this way and it baffled most everybody on RATS and the Stagecraft list as to how he kept track of what is to many LD's a non-sensical method of laying out a plot. 

As a question: With the system configured this way, you obviously lose the ability to use the Thru key to bring up a system I.E. Front Warm Areas 1-15 as Ch's 1 THRU 15 at -10%. With 1:1 you are pressing the AND key endlessly. You can build groups, but it defeats your intent of simplifying, as now you have to remember the Group assignments. 

This all assumes you are using a Keypad, as opposed to a manual fader console.

The only time I do a 1:1 (on a system with 256 stage dimmers) is when I am using the entire plot as a one-off and making it up as I go - a Film or TV shoot as example.

1:1 is very common in TV studios, BTW, as it allows an LD out on deck to look up at the rig, pick out a fixture - which is almost always setup as a Unit per Dimmer rig, and call up a Ch/Dim number. Since most (every ?) console requires you to build up cues, groups and subs using channel numbers, 1:1 then makes sense. 

EVERY event I do (with the above exception) has somebodies logical channel system that has a patch that is all over the map. The ML's in house usually start at Ch 256 for two reasons: 1) In my experiences, most traveling companies using the house rig have figured out that 250 channels is the typical maximum channel capacity they need AND will encounter. 2) 256 is the first channel on the line below the line that 250 ends with, on an Express screen, with my ML's needing 24 channels, it lays out on the screen in logical order.

So not having answered the poll, as there's additional options that the poll doesn't account for, I see a channel to dimmer patch that is NOT 1:1 for every event. 

EDIT: As a thought about Rep. Plots. It seems to me that if it's your plot, assigning channels in a logical order that makes sense to you, is easier to remember then the *possibly* non-logical dimmer layout. In the end, the hookup keeps track of the numbers - dimmers included and they become background data. 

Steve B.


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## TheDonkey (Jan 16, 2009)

atm999 said:


> sorry, I was asking about softpatching on the console. I didn't know that people still used hardpatching. We have a Strand CD80 rack and a Strand lightboard M - both from 1987 - and we still only use soft patching.



Yeah, the way we've been taught, we hard-patch.

If I had everything my way, I'd soft-patch everything, but we rent the place out alot, and a bunch of different people use the space, and they've all been (Improperly) taught how to hard-patch, so if I(a student) were to start messing with stuff noone else knows about, I'll get in some doggy dodo.

And we still (stupid IT dep) don't have a proper monitor plugged into our console, so Softpatching a 4x20 LCD screen is a betch.


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## icewolf08 (Jan 16, 2009)

I have to agree with SteveB. While I understand the "I only want to learn one set of numbers [with a rep plot]" idea, using a 1-to-1 patch seems quite annoying. However, if it works for you, there is no reason to change.

Think about it this way, you are a designer that works in many theatres each year, however, when you send them your plot and paperwork you always lay out your systems the same. So, no matter what theatre you walk into, no matter what console, number of dimmers, number of circuits, etc., it doesn't matter to you because when you call channels 1-15 you know that you will get the frontlight for areas 1-15. When you call 21-35 you know that you will get the backlight for areas 1-15. However if you were patched 1-to-1 you might end up needing 15 random channel numbers to bring up those front lights, it makes no sense.

Groups and Submasters are still helpful as well. Consider how many keystrokes you save by hitting "Group X @ FULL" rather than "1-15 @ FULL." While it may seem redundant to patch your areas and such in the same channel range and then put them in a group, it still means that you always know where each channel is. This of course is besides the fact that you might record your groups with level information so that all of the areas balance intensity.

This applies to the rep plot as well though. While some people have a system memorized, that is fine, but why not a system that lays out the numbers so anyone can do it. High schools too. Just think, if channels 1-15 always controlled the area frontlights then no matter what show the theatre department is producing, the band teacher could still come in and turn on channels 1-15 and know that he is going to get frontlight for his rehearsal.

Again, to each his own (and if it ain't broke don't fix it), but softpatch has opened up worlds of possibility to simplify our lives, if you have a console that supports softpatching you should give it a shot, yo may find that you save lots of time.


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## theatretechguy (Jan 16, 2009)

With my rep plot in place, my areas are logically laid out on my subs because I do a LOT of busking. Basically using my subs the same way you would use channels. Most of my subs only have a couple of lights in them. 

The way I do things is simply because I designed in a theater that had essentially nothing. Barely 36 dimmers, a board that could only support 36 channels and had limited memory. I didn't have the the luxury of a soft patch (Your patch was the spaghetti patch located directly beneath the CD80 packs). Your lights were plugged into a circut, which then needed to be patched to a dimmer. Adding channels into the mix would just add further confusion when something decided not to work. 

I'm no longer designer for that theater and I guess you could say I still haven't adapted to doing things a new way. My job now includes building sets, designing sound and lighting has taken a backseat. 

However, because of the overwhelming response my "method" has taken, I'm going to attempt to organize my plots differently, if for nothing else, to leave something logical in the event of my incapacitation or death. 

-Chris


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## waynehoskins (Jan 16, 2009)

theatretechguy said:


> With my rep plot in place, my areas are logically laid out on my subs because I do a LOT of busking. Basically using my subs the same way you would use channels. Most of my subs only have a couple of lights in them.
> 
> The way I do things is simply because I designed in a theater that had essentially nothing. Barely 36 dimmers, a board that could only support 36 channels and had limited memory. I didn't have the the luxury of a soft patch (Your patch was the spaghetti patch located directly beneath the CD80 packs). Your lights were plugged into a circut, which then needed to be patched to a dimmer. Adding channels into the mix would just add further confusion when something decided not to work.
> 
> ...



Another big reason for adding in the channel hookup is that, in educational theatre (even at Tiny Town School District), I think what you teach your students is more important than the production. Not that the production should suffer unnecessarily, but if your students become familiar with the softpatch, they'll be better off. Heck, I wish we still had manual multi-preset boards and piano boards and patch cabinets and all for them to learn on .. not because they're better (we probably replaced them for good reason), but the more they're exposed to, the better prepared they'll be for whatever step is next.

Just my two cents as a guy who lights high school theatre, and hopefully in the process teaches the kids something.


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## Esoteric (Jan 17, 2009)

I have to be with Icewolf on this one.

When I design I send the instrument schedule to the ME with only the channel column filled in. I could care less what he does with his dimmers/circuits as long as when I call channel 1 the DSL warm front comes on.

I have some standard numbers (I like specials in the 100's, cyc stuff at 150, etc) but it can vary. For example if I have 9 front light areas in one theater (common in thrust spaces) I will have 12, 15, or 16 in some large proceniums. So my channel numbers vary slightly from place to place, but not a whole lot.

Mike


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## propmonkey (Jan 18, 2009)

throughout high school i ran a 1:1 but thats because of the circuit layout. most other spaces ive worked patch what they need. throughout high school i ignored the patch menu unless i needed a nondim but now im learning how useful it really is


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## Jeroen (Jan 18, 2009)

For smaller productions, I like to keep it simple, patching fixtures in a logical order, like front 1 - 9,... often this results in a soft 1 : 1 patch and a hardpatch of some fixtures together, depending on dimmer count. Mostly the desk has way more channels available then at the dimmer end... so keeping each dimmer or attribute under a channel gives full control... getting things under one fader or button can still be done by groups/pallettes/submasters

In larger productions, when playing with moving lights, leds and ohter nice things, I tend to 'group' fixtures in the patch. For instance, conventionals on universe 1 and movers on universe 2, or conventionals from 1 to 255 and moving lights from 256, thereafter softpatching the desk to get 'an easy to use lay-out'.

And for the other question... we use the 'coer' and 'jardin' concept for left or right (ps or ops)... channels 1 is almost always DSR warm front


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## rosebudld (Jan 18, 2009)

I didn't vote also because the question didn't make sense to me.. I use a 1 dimmer to 1 channel all the time.. then program my submasters or groups to give better individual zone control.. then I'll repatch as a soft patch if necessary on a per show basis..


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## seanandkate (Jan 18, 2009)

Footer said:


> The real question is, is ch. 1 DSL, DSR, USL, or USR?



DSR Warm Fronts. Ch 1


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## waynehoskins (Jan 18, 2009)

Channel One is always kick.

Oh wait, I'm wearing the wrong hat.

Lighting Channel One is downstage right fronts, warm or from right if there are multiple of them.


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## renegadeblack (Jan 18, 2009)

The only time that I ever patched anything was in middle school on our real old console, I don't even know what it was called as I never thought that it was something that I was really going to get very involved in. It was hardpatched with a patch board. 

In high school, everything is 1:1 except for channels 95 and 96 which are at the back left and right of the house and are hardpatched. I couldn't imagine a real need to softpatch. Everything that I want to have together are on a submaster. From what I understand, the convention for newer desks are that there isn't a slider for every channel. I have a board in which I do have a slider for every channel.

On a semi-unrelated note:
I don't understand how you could function without having a slider for every channel. It would drive me nuts.


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## TheDonkey (Jan 18, 2009)

renegadeblack said:


> The only time that I ever patched anything was in middle school on our real old console, I don't even know what it was called as I never thought that it was something that I was really going to get very involved in. It was hardpatched with a patch board.
> 
> In high school, everything is 1:1 except for channels 95 and 96 which are at the back left and right of the house and are hardpatched. I couldn't imagine a real need to softpatch. Everything that I want to have together are on a submaster. From what I understand, the convention for newer desks are that there isn't a slider for every channel. I have a board in which I do have a slider for every channel.
> 
> ...



Yeah, me neither,

If you notice a light being a little too hot for a part of the stage, it's much easier to slowly move the fader down than it is to guess at a percentage number.


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## atm999 (Jan 18, 2009)

renegadeblack said:


> On a semi-unrelated note:
> I don't understand how you could function without having a slider for every channel. It would drive me nuts.



I felt that way, but now that we are ready to buy a board without them, have stopped using ours and only using the subs and keypad. Although it takes some adjusting, I can't say that I truely MISS them, just that I have to spend slightly more though on the new system which I have not used for very long.


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## renegadeblack (Jan 18, 2009)

atm999 said:


> I felt that way, but now that we are ready to buy a board without them, have stopped using ours and only using the subs and keypad. Although it takes some adjusting, I can't say that I truely MISS them, just that I have to spend slightly more though on the new system which I have not used for very long.



On many consoles, I see a few sliders, what are those normally? Are they assigned or are they submasters?


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## SteveB (Jan 18, 2009)

renegadeblack said:


> On many consoles, I see a few sliders, what are those normally? Are they assigned or are they submasters?



Depends on the console, but most likely Submasters, which are assignable, BTW, in terms of being able record a look you want to bring up on a manual fader, as opposed to being recorded in a cue. 

The post on Is 2 Scene Dead is a good read with many wise thoughts expressed about the use of manual faders and their relevance on today's console.

And as an explanation so all you new folks understand the concepts:

- Softpatch: The ability to assign a dimmer/circuit to a console channel, done within the software of the control console. The numbers on the screen on a console (Express, Pallette, etc..) are Channels. You can bring up a Channel as a number via the Keypad, as a Fader on a console with manual faders (Express 24 or 48 2 scene), or if the Channel(s) are recorded/assigned into a Submaster - which is a manual group of channels. Consoles do not allow you to bring up the actual dimmer as a number that you can record with a value. 

- Hardpatch: If the theater has a Dimmer-per-Circuit system, then every receptacle/outlet is directly wired back to a dimmer. Some theaters still have a Patch Panel, which connects the circuit to the dimmers and which generally has more circuits then dimmers and requires you to make choices to assign specific circuits located throughout the theater to fewer dimmers. You then still have the ability to assign the dimmers to specific control channels at the consoles, to allow for better control.

SB


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## Esoteric (Jan 18, 2009)

TheDonkey said:


> Yeah, me neither,
> 
> If you notice a light being a little too hot for a part of the stage, it's much easier to slowly move the fader down than it is to guess at a percentage number.



Why not just put it on the roller? Who needs channel faders?

Mike


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## Esoteric (Jan 18, 2009)

renegadeblack said:


> The only time that I ever patched anything was in middle school on our real old console, I don't even know what it was called as I never thought that it was something that I was really going to get very involved in. It was hardpatched with a patch board.
> 
> In high school, everything is 1:1 except for channels 95 and 96 which are at the back left and right of the house and are hardpatched. I couldn't imagine a real need to softpatch. Everything that I want to have together are on a submaster. From what I understand, the convention for newer desks are that there isn't a slider for every channel. I have a board in which I do have a slider for every channel.
> 
> ...



I have never had a fader for every channel. I don't see the need.

Mike


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## icewolf08 (Jan 18, 2009)

seanandkate said:


> DSR Warm Fronts. Ch 1




waynehoskins said:


> Lighting Channel One is downstage right fronts, warm or from right if there are multiple of them.



That is interesting because almost all the designers I work with have channel 1 as DSL.


Also, I think that this thread needs clarification as many are confused, and I think that the OP is as well.

The common usage definition of a 1-to-1 patch is as follows: Channel 1 controls dimmer 1, channel 2 controls dimmer 2, etc. This is also known on some consoles as "Default Patch." 

Since most newer installs have dimmer per circuit systems, the lack of a hard patch panel has made softpatching infinitely more important. Even on touring shows that carry their own dimmers and can choose which instruments go into which dimmers sometimes you still need to softpatch as there are many reasons why you may not be able to plug units into dimmers in a logical order or you may not have your racks addressed where you want the fixtures to have channels.

It should also be noted that there has been discussion of only having one dimmer patched into each channel. This is often something that is relatively impossible. Consider some of the following situations. A designer wants to have a pair of 2kW fresnels on the same channel, all you have are 2.4kW dimmers, so you can't put them both oh the same dimmer, so you have to softpatch the two dimmers into the same channel. Or, the LD wants two lights on booms opposite sides of the stage to be on the same channel, what do you do, run cable across the stage to twofer them, or just plug them into different dimmers and patch them together?

In terms of boards that have as many handles as dimmers. In the land of memory consoles, say the ETC Express, you can still softpatch and have a handle for every channel. Just think, you can have faders 1-5 be the frontlights for the 5 downstage areas even if those units are not connected to dimmers 1-5. Doesn't that make more sense than looking for channels 8, 12, 15, 16, and 20 to bring up those 5 lights?

I think that once again (as in the thread about the death of Express) we are seeing a real resistance to change. I am not saying that anyone need change what they are doing, if you have a system that works for you, fine. Just realize that unless you are running some old analog system you have the ability on all of today's modern consoles, to lay your channels out in a logical order. You can have all the channels for every system you use sit next to eachother, be it on the screen or on physical faders.


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## Esoteric (Jan 18, 2009)

icewolf08 said:


> That is interesting because almost all the designers I work with have channel 1 as DSL.
> 
> 
> Also, I think that this thread needs clarification as many are confused, and I think that the OP is as well.
> ...



Good post. I never think of soft/hard patch in my lighting designer life because I don't care. Seeing as how I have not been an ME in some time, I guess I don't think about these things. Channel 1 has all the warm frontlight for DSR (if it is 1 light on 1 dimmer or 4 lights on 2 dimmers, as it sometimes is in my larger plots).

Yeah, I don't see why you wouldn't use soft patch to make your and your programmers life easier.

In the end, as a designer it doesn't really matter what is happening at the rack or in the console as long as what you call is what you see, right?

By the way, at least when I was an ME back in the day and down here in the South, 1:1 patch always meant hard patch or dimmer per circuit. Just an interesting thought.

Mike


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## CavezziMagnum (Jan 18, 2009)

I usually just group my lights by channel number, and then create scenes in my subs, just adusting the channel numbers as I go. Therefore: Zone Patch. However, the reason I group my channels toegether based on their area even though they are zone patched, is so it is easier to find. 

Plus: Don't you use more cable if you 1:1 patch, having to jump to certain dimmers. Or do you then rely too much on your paperwork?

Finally, it truly doesn't matter how you plug in your lights as long as they come on when you expect them to. That is why god created the soft patch.


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## Esoteric (Jan 18, 2009)

Yeah, it would be silly to run a cable so that the light that is the warm front on DSR is actually plugged into circuit 1. I could care less what dimmer/circuit it is in as long as it is in channel 1.

Mike


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## renegadeblack (Jan 19, 2009)

icewolf08 said:


> In terms of boards that have as many handles as dimmers. In the land of memory consoles, say the ETC Express, you can still softpatch and have a handle for every channel. Just think, you can have faders 1-5 be the frontlights for the 5 downstage areas even if those units are not connected to dimmers 1-5. Doesn't that make more sense than looking for channels 8, 12, 15, 16, and 20 to bring up those 5 lights?



In my opinion, that's what the submasters are for. If you'd softpatch everything, then what would you ever need submasters for?

Also, for programming, I just use the submasters to set things. I don't know if not every board allows you to do that, but that's what I do.


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## rochem (Jan 19, 2009)

Footer said:


> The real question is, is ch. 1 DSL, DSR, USL, or USR?



Channel 1 is always DSL front light for me. Works the same as instrument numbering, which also goes from SL to SR.

I always softpatch everything, but I almost never assign more than one dimmer to a channel. I just take an arbitrary dimmer number and give it an understandable channel number so it's easier to remember. But then I go and program an incomprehensible number of groups, so I'm rarely calling up individual channels except for single-unit specials. When I have time, I like to go through and play with my plot as much as I can - just bringing up colors and such to see what I can do with it. When I find something I like, I record it as a sub. While I may not actually need that in the show, it does help me to plot and design better. I also record a couple of subs before the show opens with some basic looks, so if something gets screwed up with the cues somehow, the amateur board operator will be able to quickly get light on the stage. I usually record some Inhibits for any work we might need to do while the house is open, but other than that I don't use subs nearly as much as I used to.


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## icewolf08 (Jan 19, 2009)

renegadeblack said:


> In my opinion, that's what the submasters are for. If you'd softpatch everything, then what would you ever need submasters for?
> 
> Also, for programming, I just use the submasters to set things. I don't know if not every board allows you to do that, but that's what I do.



See, but you miss the point. Yes, subs are great for brining up a group of channels at once and they don't care if they are channels 1-5 or 5, 10, 11, 13, 15. However, from a programming standpoint if you have all your systems patched to consecutive channels Then you always know where every light is without having to look it up or remember a series of random numbers.

I think I said in an earlier post, think about it this way: You have a stage that you light with 5 areas across. So you make channels 1-5 your front light, 11-15 your backlight, 21-25 side from SL, etc. Now you always know that any channel with a 1 (1, 11, 21, etc) will hit area 1, any channel with a 2 (2, 12, 22, etc) lights area 2, etc. You also know from the 10's digit what type of light you are turning on (side, front, back, etc). Then people will group all their specials together and all their practicals.

So, you might make a sub or group for each system, you also might make subs or groups for each area. So you might have a sub with channels 1-5 for all the frontlights, and you might have a sub with channels 1, 11, 21 so you can just turn on area 1.


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## sk8rsdad (Jan 19, 2009)

icewolf08 said:


> You also know from the 10's digit what type of light you are turning on (side, front, back, etc). Then people will group all their specials together and all their practicals.



The light bulb just went on about the OFFSET key in Ion and zoning. 

3[Thru]93[Offset]10 yields 3,13,23,33,43... or all the lights aimed into zone 3.

I'm not sure I'll use it but thanks for the insight.


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## Dionysus (Feb 9, 2009)

Basically never use 1:1, I re-patch for every show.
I find it much nicer to program the show with a specific patch, even with a magic sheet and plot infront of me.
Especially when I'm just the LD and not operating the console, which hasen't happened for awhile.

And why not? You can get a lot out of your console that way.


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## bwhiteford (Feb 9, 2009)

I like to organize the board in a way that I can remember things without having to look them up on a hookup every time. For example i'll put an area A front warm on channel 1, and and area A front cool on channel 11. Also, we have more dimmers than channels on our board. The board is an ETC Insight with 72 channels.


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## themuzicman (Feb 10, 2009)

In high school I used 1:1 patch, had no idea how to do patches.


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## RonaldBeal (Feb 11, 2009)

I didn't vote, because the option for me isn't listed.
Background: I do major music tours, large event television, and some corporate work professionally.
Since most of my gigs are predominantly moving lights, most fixtures are patched by type, usually from DSR to DSL working upstage.

Current tour
Movers:
VL3000 & 3500 spots: 1-16
PRG Bad Boys: 21-25
VL1000TS:31-38
VL3500 washes: 41-52
VL500s: 61-68

Conventionals:
Ministrips: 101-148
Nila lights: 151-156

LEDs:
ColorBlaze 201-272

Video Stuff:
DL-3's start at 701
2x Mbox media servers start at 801 and 901


As for numbering direction... a little history.
Early lighting used the DSL-> DSR because the controls (often resistance dimmers) were back stage. Standing at a resistance piano board and looking downstage, the natural flow of english reading goes from left to right, top to bottom, and the DSL to DSR, DS to US matches. Once control moved out into the house, many changed their numbering to match; USR to USL, Upstage to Downstage. 
I ocassionally to see plots with both of these methods of numbering, usually with traditional, conventional only theaters. 
Most of the big production shows these days tend to number according to fixture type, going DSR to DSL, downstage to upstage. They keep the console programmers left to right sequence (DSR to DSL) and start downstage to keep the key lights in the low numbers/ single digits, to make it easier to remember, and quicker to access, since these are the fixtures that often need more frequent adjustment.

Just my bit of trivia
RB


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## church (Feb 11, 2009)

I almost always work with mobile systems so I usually softpatch the board 1:1 dimmers to channels and have the dimmer racks and distributed dimmers located in in the logical positions on the rig. I select the DMX addresses on the dimmers to allow me This allows me to look at the rig and depending on the fixture position on the pipe I know the channel number on the console. Channel 1 is always FOH pipe 1 position, FOH pipe 1 position 2 is channel 2 and so on. Once I have finished the FOH positions I start at stage pipe 1 position 1. This is my preferred approach based on longstanding practice that works for me. I will always program the cues even for a one night show unless there is no opportunity to rehearse in which case I will either run of Subs or for a small choral type concert I will use a simple two preset board.

Having said all of this as a show develops I will softpatch to easily include changes and hardpatch can also be included. It depends on how developed the Director's blocking and ideas were formed at the time I did the lighting design.

The key I believe is to be flexible and do what works with the gig, the space, the equipment and the time available to make the show work.


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## x450rider156 (Nov 11, 2009)

*Patching*

Just curious, I was wondering how everyone patched there lights 1 to 1 or if not what do you soft patch. For a show im doing at my high school we have 9 areas. i was gunna basically soft patch the lights for area 1 into channels 10-19. i have 5 lights so far per area: front,sl,sr, down and back. I was leaving 1-9 open for the stairs to our stage and the two platforms that we have. 

[Edit by mod: This post has been moved here from another thread.]


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## derekleffew (Nov 11, 2009)

x450rider156 said:


> ...I was going to basically soft patch the lights for area 1 into channels 10-19. I have 5 lights so far per area: front,sl,sr, down and back. ...


I would only assign channel numbers that way if I were positive I would only be lighting one area at a time.

Far more often, the entire stage is going to be lit, and thus having the *purpose* of the lights be on consecutive channel numbers makes more sense. Icewolf explained it pretty well:

icewolf08 said:


> ...I think I said in an earlier post, think about it this way: You have a stage that you light with 5 areas across. So you make channels 1-5 your front light, 11-15 your backlight, 21-25 side from SL, etc. Now you always know that any channel with a 1 (1, 11, 21, etc) will hit area 1, any channel with a 2 (2, 12, 22, etc) lights area 2, etc. You also know from the 10's digit what type of light you are turning on (side, front, back, etc). Then people will group all their specials together and all their practicals. ...


One could do the reverse, where the tens digit determines the area, and the ones digit the angle/purpose, but as I said before, if lighting the entire stage, it's easier to take all the backlight down by typing 11>15 [-10%], than 12+22+32+42+52 [-10%]. Also it's quite forseeable that all the frontlight may be at the same level, but rare that all the lights for area one would be the same, so having consecutive channels by purpose rather than area makes initial level setting go faster.

Use of Groups helps overcome the limitations of both approaches, but you're always going to be in rehearsal searching for that *one light* that is too bright or too dim, and whatever method that allows you to remember that number is the right method for you.


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## bdkdesigns (Nov 11, 2009)

Channel 1 is DSL for me, and my channeling always starts in a _1. So if I had fifteen acting areas and two systems of front light, DSL left is 1 and 21 for instance. 

I worked in a high school last year where they required a soft and a hard patch. I just put the console into 1:1 to make the hard patch easier.


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## coldnorth57 (Nov 11, 2009)

At the theatre that I work in we have 136 circuits that are hard wired to 136 dimmers and the board has 256 channels so I soft patch dimmer 1 to channel 1 and dimmer 2 to channel 2 and so on .... And on the board I have 48 sub masters (LOOKS) and unlimited number of pages of subs so I find it easier to make subs (LOOKS) than to mess with the patch all the time. I know where the circuits/dimmers are through out the house and doing it on the subs I can but any light on what ever sub I want and of course even multiple subs

FOH 2
Circuits 1 to 24

FOH 1 
Circuits 25 to 48

Stage floor
Circuits 49 to 68

House Lights
69 70 71 76

Balconey 
72 73 74 75 

1st Ele.
Circuits 77 to 100

2nd Ele.
Circuits 101 to 112

3rd Ele.
Circuits 113 to 124

4th Ele.
Circuits 125 to 136


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## dramatech (Nov 11, 2009)

I am the ME at a fairly large community theatre. We do 10 to 12 shows a year on our main stage, and 3 to 4 in our blackbox. We use a variety of designers, from various age groups and backgrounds. Several of the older designers prefered the DSL to DSR numbering, but after several years of working with me, they are all now using the DSR to DSL numbering.
The 1 to 1 patch is useful during focus, but we now do the focus with a modified adj Dr. DMX, which works completely by dimmer number. As I wired most of the theatre, I easily have memorized every position. For our shows, we softpatch new for eavery show according to the designers plot. They always leave the dimmer number column empty, and I patch nearest dimmer to instrument.
As our lighting pipes and positions were created over many different years and a number of different dimmer racks running different areas of the theatre, the numbering of our dimmers is less than linear or logical. If we were to use a 1 to 1 patch, I would be the only person who would understand where the instrument would come up when a given channel was requested, and it would be a reach for me.
We have no roadshows coming through our house, so there is no application for a rep plot. We have 230 dimmers, but they come from one large EDI rack (120 dimmers), but all of the rest are dimmer packs or racks, I have manufactured, and range from 4 to 16 dimmers to a rack or pack. The larger ones being permanently located and the smaller ones portable. It makes for some very deversified dimmer numbering locations.


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## SteveB (Nov 11, 2009)

Some patching thoughts for newer consoles, namely an Ion - I.E. things I'm learning about channels layout:

1) On the RFR, Park mode allows multiple addresses (DMX channels/dimmers) to be called up. Thus you can focus with NO channel to dimmer patch configured if so desired, or 1:1 (You can do this on Express as well, FWIW). Using Address Next/Last screws up the syntax and button pressing as any button pressed while using Address Next/Last - such as focusing a position that has sequential addresses, turns off the address. Thus the operator, at some point, cannot use Address Next/Last but instead needs to simply use + to combine addresses. This gets tedious as it's a lot of button pressing. So, after we (I) focus the first set of units - say the first 6 in a 6 color Bax set, I have them switch to Live mode and call up channels and use RemDim. So channel patch THEN does come into play.

2) If doing a live show with no cues and using the fader wings for busking, I am slowwwly getting used to the fact that Ion/Congo fader wings are in groups of 10 faders, not 12 as on Express. Thus it makes some sense to set up channels as other then 1:1 and to plan on not breaking a color group - say Yellow DC, Y DL/R, Y UC, Y UL/R between/across 10 fader groups. Thus I will skip faders 19 and 20 as example and move stuff to fader 21 as a start for a group. This is something I have to keep in mind in Lightwright as well, as the Ch to Dim patch is generated in LW and sent to Ion. I also keep in mind the fader wing configuration when assigning channels to specials, such as our MC "pre-show speech", which I dump to Channel 40 or 80, as that's the last fader on a wing and the first thing I might activate. Ion/Eos/Element allows a quick bulk configure Ch 1 to Sub 1, etc... and Sub 1 to Fader 1, for manual channel access.

3) Ion/Eos and I assume Element has a great feature called "Patched Channels" when viewing channels on a screen. It basically only shows you the channels you have patched to dimmers or ML's/Scrollers etc... and IMMENSELY un-clutters the screen, especially if you patch/assign the ML's in an upper channel range. I tend to put mine at 251 or 301, which keeps channels 1-250 available as conventionals. This allows an import of ASCII cues from any Express console, whose maximum channel count was 250 and seemingly is highest common channel count I see. Using Ion's "Patched Channel" view sometimes allows the ML channels to be in view with upwards of 90 or so conventional channels as well.

Food for thought.

Steve Bailey
Brooklyn College


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## rochem (Nov 11, 2009)

Slightly off-topic, but I've always wondered how large touring shows handle the patch. Assuming you're using all (or almost all) touring racks, would you hard patch internally inside the rack, or would you keep it 1:1 and soft patch at the console, which also travels with you? It seems like either of these would work just as well (for conventionals anyways), but does anyone know which method is generally used?


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## highschooltech (Nov 12, 2009)

In response to Rockem:
On the occasions that I have worked with touring shows or do temporary events using portable packs we almost always hard patch by the soco run. In other words dimmers 1-6 go down saco A dimmers 7-11 go down soco B with outputs 5&6 on the soco not being used. Or pathing so that pars on the same bar can be on the same dimmer. The reason for this is that it is easier to trouble shoot and a hard patch coupled with a soft patch tends to be much easier than adding extra dimmers.


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## mstaylor (Nov 12, 2009)

What we normally do are one offs and short runs with touring racks. We hook the socos in A to A etc on the racks, then patch on top of the dimmers to group colors or ficture type. Then softpatch to subs to set cues or looks. The exact method depends on the show.


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## mixmaster (Nov 12, 2009)

Esoteric said:


> I have to be with Icewolf on this one.
> 
> When I design I send the instrument schedule to the ME with only the channel column filled in. I could care less what he does with his dimmers/circuits as long as when I call channel 1 the DSL warm front comes on.
> 
> ...



This is what we expect from our incoming shows. Our normal house hang is 1:1 since we have as many control channels as dimmers in the rack (LBX board and channels of CD80 dimmers. For simple productions, If I want to 1, 5, and 13 to grouped together, that's what subs are for. It's also easier for focusing, since you can just go down the pipe and go by what numbers on the bar rather than try to run all over focusing all the lights on one channel at once. 
For more complicated productions, we take Mike's list, fill in the dimmers that are closest to the physical location of the light, and do a quick soft patch. It's going to be different for the next show anyway....


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## DMXpro (Jul 18, 2012)

*Re: Patching house lights to board*

Well, you may actually want to do a 1:1 patch, just to "find" the house lights, and then patch them to whatever channels. Also, I'd look at the server rack to see if the DMX line goes anywhere other than your control board. Good luck!

P.S. If the board has a dimmer check function, use that. It might save a little more time than resetting the patch tables and starting from scratch.


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## DuckJordan (Jul 18, 2012)

*Re: Patching house lights to board*


xander said:


> Before I went through the trouble of going to the dimmer room, I would look at the patch and find out if the house light dimmers are patched to anything, and if so, what. There is no reason to assume the console is patched 1:1 unless you did it. Nobody in their right mind uses a 1:1 patch these days.
> 
> -Tim



are you nuts? all three of our spaces are 1:1 patched, and many shows that come through are 1:1 patch except for non rig items. Now I may not be in my right mind but I have serious doubts of the 12 ME's I've met are all not right...


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## danTt (Jul 20, 2012)

*Re: Patching house lights to board*


DuckJordan said:


> are you nuts? all three of our spaces are 1:1 patched, and many shows that come through are 1:1 patch except for non rig items. Now I may not be in my right mind but I have serious doubts of the 12 ME's I've met are all not right...




Why?

Isn't it much easier to think of your warm front light as channels 1-10, rather than channels 1,4,9,13,15,22,8,12,75,26? Even more so on a touring show, do they rewrite the show every night? Pretty much every lighting console installed in venues at this point has the ability to create soft patches, and it takes a remarkably small amount of time to do so. I just don't understand why you would make things harder on yourself.


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## BobHealey (Jul 21, 2012)

*Re: Patching house lights to board*

I tend to start every show 1:1 for hanging/focusing purposes (so that the number on the circuit matches the number on the board), and then hard/soft patch into what makes logical sense for the show once the plot is hung and focused. Some venues it makes more sense to hard patch via the patch panel at the dimmer rack, other venues its all done on the console. It tends to make easiest sense for me, and its easier for me to yell at random borrowed minion sitting at the console to bring up channel X than try and remember at the top of a genie lift where I patched the light. Once the focus is done, I patch to where its easiest for me to program.


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## DuckJordan (Jul 21, 2012)

Because that's what our subs our for. Granted your idea is good, most of our shows are one color down wash and one color front wash...


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## jglodeklights (Jul 21, 2012)

*Re: Patching house lights to board*


DuckJordan said:


> are you nuts? all three of our spaces are 1:1 patched, and many shows that come through are 1:1 patch except for non rig items. Now I may not be in my right mind but I have serious doubts of the 12 ME's I've met are all not right...



ME thinks he isn't nuts. The theater I currently work at produces 5 shows during their season with 5 different designers. Each show my patch is 70% different from the previous. Each show needs different things, and each designer channels and works in a different way. This is including the three of 6 that work together quite often. I've worked in spaces with over 600 dimmers and in spaces with only 6. 1:1 drives most designers nuts.


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## Tex (Jul 21, 2012)

*Re: Patching house lights to board*

A 1:1 patch would be a nightmare for me. I need area lighting that never moves. The first 20 channels are 4 rows of 5 areas, starting with DSL. Front warm, front cool, etc. are in groups. If someone comes in and wants a 1:1 patch, it's easy enough to start a new show and reset the patch.


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## Pie4Weebl (Jul 21, 2012)

DuckJordan said:


> Because that's what our subs our for. Granted your idea is good, most of our shows are one color down wash and one color front wash...



And I think that's the big difference is the scale of the shows. On the rare occasion I do theatre of course I'll use a proper patch, but if I am doing a wedding reception with 24 dimmers, I'll just flash through them and then make groups based on use. Taking the time to repatch everything in some sort of order would just end up being a waste of my time.


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## tk2k (Jul 21, 2012)

I honestly can't even believe this is a thread.... I have never met any professional LD who didn't patch their show. 1:1 only seems appropriate if you have absolutely no idea how to do paperwork


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## MNicolai (Jul 21, 2012)

tk2k said:


> I honestly can't even believe this is a thread.... I have never met any professional LD who didn't patch their show. 1:1 only seems appropriate if you have absolutely no idea how to do paperwork



Depends on what you're doing. Not everyone here designs for theatre with weeks to plot and program their shows. 

I use 1:1, but that's because we only have a couple shows a year that come through and spend more than one night in the room. Otherwise everyone is out just as swiftly as they arrived, and I'm usually the house lighting designer on-the-fly. A group loads in, we ask them what they would like to see, and if I'm lucky I get 90 minutes scattered throughout the day to make the changes I want to make to the lighting rig and then I get maybe 15 minutes at the console to record some groups and be ready to go.

For what I do, absolutely no part of what I'm doing would be made easier by having an elaborate patch in place. Even for our annual dance events like The Nutcracker, I've done the math and no time would be saved for me. It also helps that I'm the programmer though. Anyone who is the lighting designer but is not the programmer has to bridge the communications gap between the two of them by being able to reference fixtures quickly off the top of their head. As the programmer, it would take me longer to sift through paperwork and try to remember what I numbered those few fixtures when I can have a handle on the console for them as simple as "US FOH Warm" and "DS FOH Cool" and "MAC250's".

Like a former TD of mine used to say, "Anyone can design a show with three hundred fixtures and an endless supply of labor and time to get the show ready. It takes a real designer to operate under constraints on the number and types of fixtures they can use, the time they have to load-in and focus, and the time they have to program the show."


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## Pie4Weebl (Jul 21, 2012)

MNicolai said:


> Like a former TD of mine used to say, "Anyone can design a show with three hundred fixtures and an endless supply of labor and time to get the show ready. It takes a real designer to operate under constraints on the number and types of fixtures they can use, the time they have to load-in and focus, and the time they have to program the show."



The only people who say things like that are the people who have never had to manage 300 fixtures and a massive crew.


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## tk2k (Jul 22, 2012)

MNicolai said:


> Depends on what you're doing. Not everyone here designs for theatre with weeks to plot and program their shows.
> 
> I use 1:1, but that's because we only have a couple shows a year that come through and spend more than one night in the room. Otherwise everyone is out just as swiftly as they arrived, and I'm usually the house lighting designer on-the-fly. A group loads in, we ask them what they would like to see, and if I'm lucky I get 90 minutes scattered throughout the day to make the changes I want to make to the lighting rig and then I get maybe 15 minutes at the console to record some groups and be ready to go



See, the only world I see this as even remotely useful is one where you use every dimmer and your lighting goes sequentially.... I'm not talking about patching for every show persay but at least a house patch. Leading number is focus point trailing number is fixture number, evens come from stage left odds come from stage right, something like that at least.... So downstage left would be 11 and 12 if you just had a basic cross shot. Those two lights without a patch could easily be 6 and 23 otherwise... 

Well, to each their own I guess


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## essentials (Jul 22, 2012)

We use 1:1 patch with elaborated rep plot numbering. Circuits (being numbered 1:1 to dimmers´ addresses, thus actually the dimmer number) are spread out more with a phase load in mind than any logic, so while FOH positions have continuous numbering (FOH3 unit 1-8 being circ. 57-64, FOH2 65-72 and so on), booms are simply a mess with no logical order (17, 19, 33, 21, 35, 23...). That is why I suggested channel numbering we eventually stick with, being based on unit position rather than zone or special purpose that changes from show to show, obviously. So, FOH1 units 1-8 became channel 11-18, FOH2 channel 21-28..., boom positions became 111-119 for SR and 211-219 for SL and so on.

Our space is a black-box theatre with 96 dimmers, one (!) S4 Revolution (channel 301), two Selador Paletta LEDs (401 & 402), a strobe and some foggers and hazers.

There are usually 14-25 shows on the repertory with at least 10 new each season. Profession of a LD is not established here in Slovakia, so we stick with the rep numbering because after three years of using we know it by heart and noone ever wanted to use their own custom patch. Groups and subs are used heavily, anyway.

So, one could say we use 1:1 patch that is... not quite 1:1.


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## MNicolai (Jul 22, 2012)

tk2k said:


> See, the only world I see this as even remotely useful is one where you use every dimmer and your lighting goes sequentially.... I'm not talking about patching for every show persay but at least a house patch. Leading number is focus point trailing number is fixture number, evens come from stage left odds come from stage right, something like that at least.... So downstage left would be 11 and 12 if you just had a basic cross shot. Those two lights without a patch could easily be 6 and 23 otherwise...
> 
> Well, to each their own I guess



Nope. There's no one who benefits in our theatre from that. Then we get people coming in who need a piece of paper to cross-reference circuit numbers with channel numbers. I've found it a real PITA with a patched plot when someone calls out "Circuit 149" for that light they just added or were just troubleshooting. If the light isn't patched, I have to take the time to patch it. If I'm working on an RFU, that means running up to the console in the both. If it is, that probably still means running up into the booth because there's not a snowball's chance I'm going to remember what I patched that as. Either way, there's lost time waiting to get the light turned on, and if I'm the only one in the theatre at the time and I'm in the scissor lift, it now means as much as an extra 10-15 minutes getting the thing patched before I can turn it on and focus it.

Our rep file in the console does include a graphical light plot in it. If someone asks for the "third red fresnel on the end", I can either grab my group for Down Red and then quickly Next through it to get to my light, or I can just use the trackball on my console to arrow to that fresnel, click on it, and bring it up.

Elaborate patching systems are great for touring acts that have to worry about doing the same show on different dimmers each night. They're also great when you're console is as dumb as bricks and you need to compensate for that by having an encyclopedia's worth of useless numbering schemes logged in your head. For us, our console, and our shows, we stand only to waste time with those numbering schemes though. I know this from experience because for a few months I tried and only found it to make my life a rotating cycle of listening to people come to me and say "Why doesn't this work?" and "That's...uhhhhh...channel.....51?...61?...maybe?" and "Bollocks! I need to run up to the booth to patch that new circuit in before you can bring it up on the RFU."


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## JonasA (Jul 23, 2012)

Like most of the high school students who've replied, I'm a 1:1 user... when I've got other students around. For the sake of keeping it simple, we keep our 24/48 MaXim on 1:1 patching, but extensively hardpatch. In my school auditorium, I'll usually hardpatch _before_ I softpatch. My main reason isn't technical - I just find it easier to teach a 14-15 year old to light working on 1:1 rather than going "Ok, fixture 23 is patched into dimmer 18 which is red 6 on the desk because it's open white focused DSOP." It's just simpler, especially with only 24 dimmers. Kids like being able to see the path from fader > dimmer > patch > light, and with this setup that physically exists, which makes it much easier for them to get to grips with where power/data are going.

Personally, I'm an avid softpatch user, even when working with almost exactly the same rig in the same venue for most shows. When I know they're going to want the same locations lit but with other things going on ("Oh, they'll play in the same spot as the string quartet, but I'd like a red cyc, not blue") I usually end up making a few extra patches that are essentially multiple-fixture specials to save time. Best effort-saving trick I ever learnt was to softpatch every LED fixture in the house into three faders; master red, master green, master blue. Makes life so much easier when they just want a wash.


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## erosing (Jul 23, 2012)

I use 1:1 most of the time because I usually don't have the time to become intimate with a custom patch. I always set up groups anyways, and I learned to just rely on them instead of a custom patch for most things. A 1:1 patch also makes focus easier, so the rare times I have used a custom patch it hasn't been implanted until after focus.

The two cases I will usually use a custom patch are on older boards with lots of dumb faders (if they are there I probably will use them eventually and it just looks messy to have them out of order as I have a desire to label everything), and when I work on a smaller design (physical size of venue - black boxes and smaller found spaces usually) for a while at which point it's almost easier to use channels for me.


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## zmb (Jul 23, 2012)

I've used a 1:1 patch only when the board I'm on lacked the abillity to have a patch, a EDI 24 channel 2 scene board. Anything I'm doing is a 1-2 week run with at least a half week of tech rehearsals. I've never used groups before, even when I set them up and try to remember them.


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## Pie4Weebl (Jul 23, 2012)

zmb said:


> I've never used groups before, even when I set them up and try to remember them.



Here's a trick with group numbering, use the first number of the series. So say your front light is chan 11, 12, 14.... and your down blues are channel 21, 22, 23.... The front light would be group 11, and the blues would be group 21. This also lets you pick out individual channels in your systems easier too! The trick is just to start groups on x1, and not be afraid to have "empty" channels between the live ones.


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## tk2k (Jul 23, 2012)

Not denying what you're saying, but that's exactly why there's an ABOUT key on most consoles. Also I'm assuming you're all hardwired and no mults? 


MNicolai said:


> Nope. There's no one who benefits in our theatre from that. Then we get people coming in who need a piece of paper to cross-reference circuit numbers with channel numbers. I've found it a real PITA with a patched plot when someone calls out "Circuit 149" for that light they just added or were just troubleshooting. If the light isn't patched, I have to take the time to patch it. If I'm working on an RFU, that means running up to the console in the both. If it is, that probably still means running up into the booth because there's not a snowball's chance I'm going to remember what I patched that as. Either way, there's lost time waiting to get the light turned on, and if I'm the only one in the theatre at the time and I'm in the scissor lift, it now means as much as an extra 10-15 minutes getting the thing patched before I can turn it on and focus it.
> 
> Our rep file in the console does include a graphical light plot in it. If someone asks for the "third red fresnel on the end", I can either grab my group for Down Red and then quickly Next through it to get to my light, or I can just use the trackball on my console to arrow to that fresnel, click on it, and bring it up.
> 
> Elaborate patching systems are great for touring acts that have to worry about doing the same show on different dimmers each night. They're also great when you're console is as dumb as bricks and you need to compensate for that by having an encyclopedia's worth of useless numbering schemes logged in your head. For us, our console, and our shows, we stand only to waste time with those numbering schemes though. I know this from experience because for a few months I tried and only found it to make my life a rotating cycle of listening to people come to me and say "Why doesn't this work?" and "That's...uhhhhh...channel.....51?...61?...maybe?" and "Bollocks! I need to run up to the booth to patch that new circuit in before you can bring it up on the RFU."


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## DuckJordan (Jul 23, 2012)

We have a hard patch and mults but still a 1:1 house, about key is just another step in a process that I may have 15 mins to light a show...


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## Dovahkiin (Jul 23, 2012)

In our small proscenium space, we use 1:1 because it's about 20 lights working off of a two scene board. That said, I still usually end up running the show off of subs. In our black box, we usually have maybe a maximum of 10 lights that can be controlled by DMX so we use a little 8 channel board that I think is just meant to test lights, but we've adopted it for that space. In our courtyard we can use a 1:1, but we usually borrow the local Uni's ETC Express for those shows so it's probably a waste if we do. I've never worked on lights out there. In our auditorium, the dimmers are arranged by phase so they don't match up with circuit numbers (wastes so much time when trying to change the plot) so a 1:1 wouldn't be all that useful. In there, we usually assign each area to one channel (not my choice, director's preference). I wish I could control each light in an area independently, but most FOH circuits are paired and we don't have enough circuits to avoid using the pairs.

When I work in community theaters, I try to leave the patching alone. Most TDs are a bit wary of letting a 17 year old change too much on their boards. Some don't even allow me up on the ladder due to understandable liability issues. Usually I don't run the shows when I design for community theaters, so I leave the board op with a look sheet and let them patch it however is easiest for them.


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## danTt (Jul 23, 2012)

DuckJordan said:


> We have a hard patch and mults but still a 1:1 house, about key is just another step in a process that I may have 15 mins to light a show...



The issue that you seem to be overlooking (at least from my long distance perspective) is that time you might save in hang/focus is lost in cueing, if you need to keep looking at paperwork to find the unsequenced number for a specific light, rather than knowing (because your channeling is always the same reguardless of where the light ends up being plugged in) what number it likely is, or at the worst--it's one higher or one lower. I find that theres always more time earlier in the process, and so to me, I'd rather hang take 20 minutes longer--or focus take 10 minutes longer, than for cueing to take a cumulative 30 minutes longer.


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## hslighting (Jul 23, 2012)

Like most high schoolers, I simply use 1:1 because I havent been taught differently. I plan on soft patching when I design a new rep plot in the fallWith house lights controlled from the board it makes more sense to patch them into a single channel then have them randomly dispersed between channels. Also, with my Strand 300, I have the capability of 48 channel faders but only 24 sub faders so it would give me alot more physical faders for zones, specials, house lights, ect.


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## DuckJordan (Jul 24, 2012)

danTt said:


> The issue that you seem to be overlooking (at least from my long distance perspective) is that time you might save in hang/focus is lost in cueing, if you need to keep looking at paperwork to find the unsequenced number for a specific light, rather than knowing (because your channeling is always the same reguardless of where the light ends up being plugged in) what number it likely is, or at the worst--it's one higher or one lower. I find that theres always more time earlier in the process, and so to me, I'd rather hang take 20 minutes longer--or focus take 10 minutes longer, than for cueing to take a cumulative 30 minutes longer.




And you are overlooking that our lights stay basically the same the entire year. Sure we add one or two lights in but thats as simple as oh yeah first cat starts at 40 and goes to 60 oh 40 at full, next, next, next oh there it is (takes 5 seconds) compared to oh what did we patch that into. Oh whats the circuit number. Oh okay we will cross reference it in the patch oh... okay there it is (about 20 seconds) now see why it would take us longer to have a specialty patch?

Granted most of our stuff is thrown to submaster faders.


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## cpf (Jul 24, 2012)

Our venue is dead hung with draconian rules regarding lift use, and therefore the lights remain in a rep plot 365 days of the year ( , we do sometimes rent in stuff, but it goes on floor stands). Because of this, a 1:1 path is the best option - the average operator only knows which submasters light up which areas. When it comes time to control individual channels, the circuit numbers visible on the backs of the raceways coordinate perfectly with the channels on the board (and a cheat sheet taped to the wall). It's not a complex setup, but because of that it is very easy to explain and to use.


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## tk2k (Jul 24, 2012)

I'm honestly shocked. This would be as surprising as a sound engineer saying "I never EQ my system for the space I'm in".

In my professional opinion, if your plot never changes and you have spare circuits... patch, it'll make your life easier in the long run, and it'll take someone unfarmiliar with the space the exact same amount of time to figure out your space (looking up channels or looking up dimmers, same difference). If you're worried about untrained ops, when you bring up the submaster it shows you what channels are active, again same difference. 

How can you have multis and not patch? Unless your mulits never move, in which case why do you have multis? 

I have never seen a touring show that doesn't patch, maybe not for focus, but come cueing time they're always patched.


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## MNicolai (Jul 24, 2012)

tk2k said:


> I'm honestly shocked. This would be as surprising as a sound engineer saying "I never EQ my system for the space I'm in".



At least it my case, it's actually more like the sound guy (also me) saying "I try my darnedest to tune the system so that I can routinely have the best sound with the least EQ'ing possible."


> I have never seen a touring show that doesn't patch, maybe not for focus, but come cueing time they're always patched.



Touring shows need to make the same cues work on different dimmers each night. They also do the same show for months at a time. Of course they'll have a patch.


> The issue that you seem to be overlooking is that time you might save in hang/focus is lost in cueing, if you need to keep looking at paperwork to find the unsequenced number for a specific light.



You grossly underestimate how powerful my ETC Congo lighting console is. I _never_ have to look at paperwork. When I want _any_ fixture on stage, my console can get it for me faster than it takes the LD to tell me which light they want. It's not unusual for me to know what the LD will want before or just as they're asking for it. Before they reach the period at the end of their sentence I can have it on.

In Congo, I can have a graphical light plot shown on the monitors, grab any fixture with a trackball to select it and turn it on.

But I don't use the trackball. I don't use the trackball because as fast as it is to click on something, there are other ways I can grab any fixtures on stage without flinching -- groups of fixtures or individual ones.

There's a lot to be said for being a fluent programmer on a powerful lighting console. Believe me when I say that a patch gives me zero benefit. All it does is waste my time plugging it into the console and inevitably fat-fingering my way into some headaches later that night.


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## hslighting (Jul 24, 2012)

danTt said:


> The issue that you seem to be overlooking (at least from my long distance perspective) is that time you might save in hang/focus is lost in cueing, if you need to keep looking at paperwork to find the unsequenced number for a specific light, rather than knowing (because your channeling is always the same reguardless of where the light ends up being plugged in) what number it likely is, or at the worst--it's one higher or one lower. I find that theres always more time earlier in the process, and so to me, I'd rather hang take 20 minutes longer--or focus take 10 minutes longer, than for cueing to take a cumulative 30 minutes longer.


I think the difference is production schedule. Either way you do it you have to either spend extra time at hang patching or extra time during programming. The decision is based mainly on the schedule. If youve got alot of time for hang and then a quick tech week youll make it easy onyourself and patch. Ifyouve got a two hour hang and then two weeks of rehearsals, theres alot more time for programming and alot less for implementing a patch. 
Also, for those of us in schools where the day of a talent show you were notified of yesterday you have a kid focusing on the cat witb a crackly broken walky talky, or even worse, you are focusing and the inexperienced freshmen is behind the console, there is no confusion when the circuit number displayed is the number on the console. Just some thoughts.


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## Grog12 (Jul 24, 2012)

MNicolai said:


> You grossly underestimate how powerful my ETC Congo lighting console is. I _never_ have to look at paperwork. When I want _any_ fixture on stage, my console can get it for me faster than it takes the LD to tell me which light they want. It's not unusual for me to know what the LD will want before or just as they're asking for it. Before they reach the period at the end of their sentence I can have it on.
> 
> .



You grossly underestimate the power of a well thought out patch. I generally know what light an incoming group wants without looking at paperwork, what its plugged into or a screen on a board.

You'll notice I dont' say LD...because anytime I have an LD come into the space they repatch the system so it makes sense to them.

As an LD, anytime I go into a space that isn't/refuses to patch because of a graphical display I get exceptionally annoyed...it takes me far less time to say bring up 41 than to say bring up the Stage Right Boom 1 Shin....


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## MNicolai (Jul 24, 2012)

I don't refuse to patch if someone wants it, but nobody coming into our theatre does and so I don't.


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## Grog12 (Jul 24, 2012)

MNicolai said:


> I don't refuse to patch if someone wants it, but nobody coming into our theatre does and so I don't.



Not saying you do, but theres a theatre or two around here that does.


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## danTt (Jul 24, 2012)

hslighting said:


> I think the difference is production schedule. Either way you do it you have to either spend extra time at hang patching or extra time during programming. The decision is based mainly on the schedule. If youve got alot of time for hang and then a quick tech week youll make it easy onyourself and patch. Ifyouve got a two hour hang and then two weeks of rehearsals, theres alot more time for programming and alot less for implementing a patch.
> Also, for those of us in schools where the day of a talent show you were notified of yesterday you have a kid focusing on the cat witb a crackly broken walky talky, or even worse, you are focusing and the inexperienced freshmen is behind the console, there is no confusion when the circuit number displayed is the number on the console. Just some thoughts.



I take it a step further. All of my patching and dimmer assignment is done in the preproduction phase, when I walk into a hang call I load the show file (patched offline) and roll out the hang tapes (with circuits, unit number, and instrument type labeled on it) and away we go. My crew gets the information they need, the designer can refer to information in the way that she needs to, and I have both sets of information (thanks to the wonders of paperwork) so I can cross reference as necessary. If the designer needs to add a light, they go through me, and I'll give my electrician a circuit to plug the light into before they even go up into the catwalk. This way I can be patching it while it's being hung, and it's a seamless process. Even if I get distracted, I can always bring the light up by dimmer on any modern (or not so modern) console, and focus it that way, and then retroactively patch it. I'm not saying that there are some situations where 1-1 might not be simpler, but I don't think it in any way saves time in the big picture.


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## mstaylor (Jul 24, 2012)

In theatre I do a 1:1 for conventionals, record subs, then patch any DMX toys in the second universe accordingly. I have a feeling that may change depending on how the remodels go. We should be getting enough instruments that the theatres will be more of a rep plot. In the past every show coming in had to hang almost the entire plot. You usually only got a trained crew of two, maybe some free help so 1 to 1 is easier on the fly.


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## Vega (Nov 11, 2014)

In my venue, we run a 1-to-1 patch, since that seems to be the easiest and most efficient way for us to run our system. However, our dealer is always telling us that 1-to-1 isn't an efficient way to run a system.

So, when might you not patch 1-to-1, and why?


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## Morydd (Nov 11, 2014)

In my mind the patch is how you make it easy to remember where things are. My front lights are in dimmers 5-24. Area 1 Warm is 5, Area 2 is 7, area 3 is 9; area 4 is 6, etc. That's a pain to remember. Area 1 warm is channel 11, area 2 is 12, area 3 is 13; area 1 warm is 21, area 2 is 22, area 3 is 23, etc. I know if I want my warms, they're 11-18, Cools are all 20s, Tops are all 50's. Area 1 is 11, 21, 31, 41, 51, etc. It makes it really easy to quickly find the exact unit I need at a given time.


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## Light-n-Sound Tech (Nov 12, 2014)

Honestly it depends on the situation. If I'm not using more than 120 channels (basing it off the board we use at work) then I'll stick with 1 to 1. Anything past that I try to patch up zones or how ever I decided to patch a show up.


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## idio1tg3niou5 (Nov 14, 2014)

Let me start with I don't use movers.... (just hadn't really had the opportunity for the budget to rent). 

That being said, I hardly EVER use a 1:1 patch. When Patching I defiantly go Zone with it. 

For instance, if I was doing a stage wash with four point lighting into say nine areas, and had two colors going into each area, The first color would be something like CHN 31-40, and the second CHN41-50. I would than record them as groups three and four.. (3 for 31-40, and 4 for 41-50). I would than record those groups into subs 3 and four for fun. 

That way when I want one color wash I can bring up one sub, group, or channels 31-40. Channels 31 and 41 would be two colors, from the same angle to the same focus point. same with 32 and 42, 33 and 43 and so forth. 

Hope that Helps.


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## idio1tg3niou5 (Nov 14, 2014)

BlueSparkz said:


> Let me start with I don't use movers.... (just hadn't really had the opportunity for the budget to rent).
> 
> That being said, I hardly EVER use a 1:1 patch. When Patching I defiantly go Zone with it.
> 
> ...



...This only covers two out of the four points of the four point lighting, but you would just repeat the process for the other angles.


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## CameronLD (Nov 15, 2014)

I have only ever programmed with a 1:1 (first year as a high school LD), but I have seen it done in some spaces with a zone patch, and that is what my most likely plan of attack is for the show I will be teching in about 1 week. 

A zone patch is just what makes the most sense to me as a person who works in a space with only conventionals, and I think it will be helpful to have all the specials, cyc washes, etc. all together.


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