# What is a gold cue?



## derekleffew (May 23, 2022)

And where/when might one find or use one?


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## jtweigandt (May 23, 2022)

Well the south side of Chicago, is the baddest part of town..... 

Find out where it's at
And it's not hustlin' people strange to you
Even if you do got a two piece custom made pool cue


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## techieman33 (May 23, 2022)

It's obviously the trophy for some pool tournament.


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## JonCarter (May 23, 2022)

The kind you give yourself when you're running your own design.


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## Amiers (May 24, 2022)

I feel like I should know this but I just can’t think of it. I look forward to seeing the answer in a week.


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## TimMc (May 24, 2022)

Hint - (on 2nd thought, too revealing)...

Maybe related to "golden hour", maybe not...


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## derekleffew (May 30, 2022)

Okay, it's been a week. The only person on CB I know who knows this is @STEVETERRY , although @ship and @JChenault probably should. Several others by their profiles. One kinda has to be over sixty--there's a big clue.


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## TimMc (May 30, 2022)

Are we opening this up now?

Additional hint: golden years.


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## avkid (May 30, 2022)

A billiards table perhaps...
"Now friends, let me tell you what I mean
You got one, two, three, four, five, six pockets in a table
Pockets that mark the difference between a gentleman and a bum
With a capital "B" and that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool!"


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## SteveB (May 30, 2022)

48 years in the business, never heard of a gold cue.


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## RonHebbard (May 30, 2022)

SteveB said:


> 48 years in the business, never heard of a gold cue.


48 years and you never met a Kleigl Performer??


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## derekleffew (May 30, 2022)

I can't recall @SteveB ever writing about encountering a Kliegl Anything. Lucky fella.


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## Jay Ashworth (May 30, 2022)

I dunno either. 

First cue in the show, at curtain?


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## SteveB (May 30, 2022)

derekleffew said:


> I can't recall @SteveB ever writing about encountering a Kliegl Anything. Lucky fella.



Well, OK then. I worked a tiny little PAC in Mamaromeck, NY in the late 70's, all Kliegl ellipsoidals, plus a few of their 6" fresnels that used an odd sized lense. The ellipsodals were their first model that had the FEL lamp, though I think the fresnel also used an FEL. Step lenses, whatever their version of a 6x12 was. I also encountered many Kliegls at SUNY Purchase as a student. Having used them prior I was like the ONLY person who knew anything about them. Kliegl had won the contract for units and controls for 3 theaters, so they had a boat load of Kliegl units I recall, plus a few Performance computers. Only good thing about a Kliegl ellipsoidal was it weighed less than a 360Q as it was sheet metal vs. forged aluminum. The original Purchase theater D was a Ward Leonard install and to meet the specifications, which called for sheet metal Kliegl units, WL had Altman provide a lot of 360Q ellipsoidals made of sheet metal. I had never seen that and never saw it any where else.


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## SteveB (May 30, 2022)

RonHebbard said:


> 48 years and you never met a Kleigl Performer??


 It was the Gold button as I recall. It was like a hidden function button, you pressed it in conjunction with another button, it changed the function of the primary button. As well, I never programmed on a Performer. Dont recall a Gold Cue.


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## TimMc (May 31, 2022)

Golden cue - the last cue of the show or the last cue of ones career.


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## Jay Ashworth (May 31, 2022)

TimMc said:


> Golden cue - the last cue of the show or the last cue of ones career.


That makes more sense than my guess, yeah.


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## derekleffew (May 31, 2022)

SteveB said:


> It was the Gold button as I recall. It was like a hidden function button, you pressed it in conjunction with another button, it changed the function of the primary button.


Not exactly. What you're describing I first encountered on the Prestige--a "Function" key and F1>F8 keys that changed purpose depending on what one was doing. Performer was not near as sophisticated as that.

On Performer the gold key was used to assign and execute specific cues on specific faders. Once recorded, a "gold cue" was played back by holding the gold button and pressing a number 0-9. Thus ten "master" cues. Gold one, gold two, even gold zero. Around 1988 came a software update that allowed 34 gold cues (gold 00 thru gold 33). Since we're now dealing with two digits, One pressed and held the gold key while also pressing the first digit. Then let go of everything and press the second digit to execute.

Why fuss with gold cues at all? Usually it was to have the main cuestack on the X fader and subroutines (chases) on the Y fader, and have them start/stop simultaneously. On the Expression series, the feature was known as "AutoLoad."

I contend, without any proof whatsoever, that all this came about because Morpheus Lights chose to use a Performer to run their early moving lights, PanaSpots and PanaBeams. The control eventually morphed into the PanCommand system.


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## TimMc (May 31, 2022)

derekleffew said:


> I contend, without any proof whatsoever, that all this came about because *Morpheus* Lights chose to use a Performer to run their early moving lights, PanaSpots and PanaBeams. The control eventually *morphed* into the PanCommand system.


Atlas may shrug, but Morpheus morphs.

"... to sleep, perchance to dream..."


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## SteveB (May 31, 2022)

Fascinating Derek, I never played with a Performance. I only recall what folks told me about how it functioned. I don't recall anything like this on the larger Performer desk. But then I lived on a Multi-Q for a few years and cannot recall much about programming that either. I do remember the "Load Disk" and "Save to Disk" on Multi-Q where right next to each other, neither did a "are you sure" and you could royally dump a show if you didn't pay attention. Had a console op. do that to Tom Skelton once.


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## derekleffew (May 31, 2022)

SteveB said:


> I never played with a Performance. I only recall what folks told me about how it functioned. I don't recall anything like this on the larger Performer desk.


You have that backwards. PerformANCE was first and large; PerforMER came about two years later and was small enough to tour.
And yes, Performer is the only one I know of with an unlabeled gold button. I'm pretty sure the Performer I didn't have it, and I don't know what they did with Performer IV, but I think not. So really we're only looking at Performer II/III.

See the thread https://www.controlbooth.com/threads/1984-wont-be-like-1984-kliegl-performer.21488/
From https://www.theatrecrafts.com/bhc/equipment/kliegl-performer :

> *FROM STEVE TERRY, 3 Jan 2020:*
> "The _Performer _was the outgrowth of the TI 99000-based _Performance_--which was a Kliegl response to the Century_ Multi-Q_ from David Cunningham. _Performance _was physically huge and cost in the neighborhood of $40,000. It was the first implementation of a 16-bit on-chip microprocessor in a lighting control system. Production Arts bought one of them to run a big animated Coca-Cola sign for trade show applications. It needed a roadbox the size of a small house. _Performer _used the same processor.
> 
> _Performer _was dreamed up by Gordon and Steve Carlson. The first implementation of the hardware was executed by Precision Controls, Kliegl's electronics subcontractor. It was fairly unreliable, but still sold a lot. Production Arts ordered five of them at $15,000 each. These _Performer I _units can be identified by the red top on the enclosure. They were the first memory consoles in history suited to rental use. There was no FedEx at the time, but the frequent replacements could be shipped by Greyhound bus.
> ...




> Production Arts bought one of them to run a big animated Coca-Cola sign for trade show applications.


I remember the _Lighting Dimensions_ article on this. IIRC, the hardest part was the stripe underline.

This picture


indicates the "Gold Access Button" is also used for Dimmer Check, but I have no recollection of that.


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## JonCarter (May 31, 2022)

I like TimMc's answer better.


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## ship (Jun 1, 2022)

It's been over 30 years since the last time I did anything basic in college with that board. Thanks for making me feel young in not knowing.


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## STEVETERRY (Jun 3, 2022)

derekleffew said:


> I contend, without any proof whatsoever, that all this came about because Morpheus Lights chose to use a Performer to run their early moving lights, PanaSpots and PanaBeams. The control eventually morphed into the PanCommand system.


Probably true.


ST


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## STEVETERRY (Jun 3, 2022)

More than you wanted to know about Performer II/III operation:

PerformerII/III Manual

ST


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## derekleffew (Jun 4, 2022)

derekleffew said:


> Around 1988 came a software update that allowed 34 gold cues (gold 00 thru gold 33). Since we're now dealing with two digits, One pressed and held the gold key while also pressing the first digit. Then let go of everything and press the second digit to execute.


A colleague tells me that his Performer III at a casino in Reno/Tahoe allowed 100 (00>99) gold cues. It was serviced by Morpheus Lights. Mine in Chicago came from BASH in New Jersey.


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## Robert (Sep 12, 2022)

Late to the game......I ran and programmed a couple shows on this. As I remember, the gold cue reloaded the 10 pre-set faders where you could run your effects. It also stopped any chase cues that were running at that time.


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## ship (Sep 13, 2022)

I programmed with it... many years ago. No Manual for hearing about any such gold cue. Ah' our modern times back than Yet it worked when modern and was advanced technology. Art was made with such boards, and Art given the technology availability when it was modern should be respected.


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