# Question about tracking vs Cue Only



## soundguy99 (Sep 14, 2013)

Hi Guys,
I have a Pallate VL 64 console and I am trying to get the most out of it,
I have a question about tracking, as I have watched the Pallet training videos and read many articles on tracking vs cue only mode, and I am having a hard time understanding the advantages of a tracking console vs cue only, specifically when it deals with theatrical type shows.
We have productions that are less than a week long, using mainly conventional fixtures and only a few movers.
If were doing a cue list of 80 cues, and I want to make a change to cue 5 of 80 lets say, as I understand it in tracking mode that change in cue 5 is tracked forward until it comes to a blocking cue or until those dimmers are told to do something different. If the director is happy with those other cues, why would I want that change to apply to any other cue except for cue 5, and there for what advantage is there with the tracking mode vs cue only. I understand where if I needed to make a change to a group of cues where that would save time but other than that I am a bit confused about the benefits I have been hearing about about tracking consoles.
Also if anyone knows the pallet and knows if there is a way to set it so that MIB (move in black) is set by default that would be appreciated,
Again any help is greatly appreciated,
soundguy


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## danTt (Sep 14, 2013)

Let's say you have a practical written into a scene at 75%. You have 10 or twelve cues in the scene as people enter or exit. After a dress run, the director asks you to make the practical half as bright. With Cue-Only, you'd need to make that change in each of the 10 or 12 cues. With tracking, if you set the transition cue after the scene to a block cue, you could make the changes in the first cue and track it forward. Now, this is a simple example, but let's say the director also wants you to make the front light twice as bright, and add more color to the cyc, and maybe change the color of the side light, all for these 10 or 12 cues... starting to see where tracking comes in handy?


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## soundguy99 (Sep 15, 2013)

Somewhat, that would definitely help if youre consistently doing multiple cues per scene, where each "scene" is a block and is made up of multiple cues. The cues within that scene would then tracking, but scene to scene would be cue only, as you would`t necessarily want the changes you make in a specific scene or group of cues, to track into the next scene, if I understand this correctly.
In our case although we sometime have multiple cues per scene ie 10.1 10.2 10.3 ect. we don`t do it enough I would think to setup in blocks of cues as you were describing. Seems to me we would be spending too much time, setting up blocking cues, than just ruining the console in cue only mode, and editing things on a cue by cue basis.
Forgive the ignorance. but I know we should be doing the tracking, and even the part cues and setting the shows properly, and all that, but at the same time, as I read and try to learn how to do some of these features, I find that its taking more time and effort than the benefit's worth, especially when you have a director over your shoulder. So I am trying to see where the time saving effects come into play when I have to do more keystroke to do setup the cue blocking, and part cues and all that, vs not doing any of it, making changes on a cue to cue basis.
I am not trying to be against those features on the contrary I am trying to understand them better, in hopes I could start using them, however I don`t want to find myself spending, more time setting things up on something thats supposed to save me time if you know what I mean,
Thanks,
Again


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## zmb (Sep 15, 2013)

Tracking and Cue Only modes both have different ways causing hassles. Primarily concerning if you realize that something you programmed in needs to get turned off earlier in the cue stack, tracking lets you find the cue you want it off it and it can be taken care of once. But if you're using Cue Only, every cue between the original off cue and the new one you want will have the on value stored in it that needs to be removed. Same in reserve if you want something on.

I find that tracking makes last minute changes easier to manage, but it does take some thought sometimes to make everything look the way you want. I've gotten into cue messes before in both modes.


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## venuetech (Sep 15, 2013)

Tracking is how most things in life work. you walk into your house at night the first thing you do is to turn the kitchen light on, you head to the bathroom and turn the bathroom light on. then you head to the living room and turn the lamp on there. the status of any of those light is not going to change till you get up off the couch, go back to the switch and make them change.
The cue only version of that would be something like; first thing you do is to turn the kitchen light on, you head to the bathroom and turn the bathroom light on, (the house sensing that you are no longer in the kitchen turns off the kitchen light for you). then you head to the living room and turn the lamp on there (the house sensing that you are no longer in the bathroom turns off the bathroom light for you)
All this is my over simplified view of the process. Confusion comes when cue only is mixed with tracking, especially when the operator does not have a clear understanding of the two concepts
If i am building cues from scratch i will likely be working only in tracking mode, once its built and i am modifying cues i need to pay close attention to what mode i record the cue in.
say i need to add a pull down cue to a small table from a full stage wash, i turn off everything but two fixtures. all are to be restored in the next cue that was just a small build onto the full wash
record to track? or record cue-only? if i record to track i loose all of the full wash tracking info and will have to take time to rebuild that.
I need cue-only's ability to modify two cues with one click. with that one click it will record the pull down and move the tracking information forward into the restore cue.


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## BillConnerFASTC (Sep 15, 2013)

I won't suggest cue only or tracking is better but could be useful to recall that tracking - I think better described as move fade - came from the piano board tradition where cue only was a simple physical impossibility. It was simply necessary for early computer consoles to mimic piano board operation to be acceptable. Traditions are especially central to the performing arts.


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## JChenault (Sep 15, 2013)

BillConnerASTC said:


> I won't suggest cue only or tracking is better but could be useful to recall that tracking - I think better described as move fade - came from the piano board tradition where cue only was a simple physical impossibility. It was simply necessary for early computer consoles to mimic piano board operation to be acceptable. Traditions are especially central to the performing arts.



Bill
This is not the way I remember the development. The early computer boards copied the idea of preset consoles. Ie you had infinite presets. This was true from the first Kliegl board that never saw the light of day, through the Thorne "Qfile" series, the early PDP board that Gordon pearl man did that ran chorus line, the kliegl performance and performer. 
The first board I am aware of that introduced the idea of tracking was the original Strand Lighr Palette designed by Richard Pilbrow. This was a major step forward in console development.

For theatrical consoles with multiple cues per scene, and lots of channels, tracking is (IMHO) a much more intuitive and powerful approach than presets. It is just a tad more complex.


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## Footer (Sep 15, 2013)

Also, keep in mind a tracking console only records the channels you have on in the cue. Cue only records values for EVERY channel regardless if it is on in the cue or not. This is a massive issue for moving lights. You also run into an issue with cue only if you want to add a new light to a cue. With tracking you add the light, track it in, go to the cue you don't want it anymore, and track it out. Done. Tracking is a hard thing to wrap your head around, but it is the way every console from this point on will operate. Our rigs our getting too complex to deal with cue only desks. Every modern console that I know of tracks by default.


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## SteveB (Sep 15, 2013)

soundguy99 said:


> Hi Guys,
> I have a Pallate VL 64 console and I am trying to get the most out of it,
> I have a question about tracking, as I have watched the Pallet training videos and read many articles on tracking vs cue only mode, and I am having a hard time understanding the advantages of a tracking console vs cue only, specifically when it deals with theatrical type shows.
> We have productions that are less than a week long, using mainly conventional fixtures and only a few movers.
> ...



A good piece of advice on consoles that are designed from the get-go as "tracking" is to do the initial recording in track, then modify in cue only.

Footer pretty much describes it though that tracking desks are the future as you absolutely need this function when using anything other then basic dimmers. ML's, LED's etc... all function with far less effort when the desk is allowing the attribute(s) YOU DON"T WANT TO MOVE, to track thru the cue sequences. 

For basic On/Off dimmer cuing, sit the desk in Cue Only and don't worry about it. There's almost always a Track function in the record process to allow a move to function earlier or later in the cues, if so desired.


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## BillConnerFASTC (Sep 15, 2013)

JChenault said:


> Bill
> This is not the way I remember the development. The early computer boards copied the idea of preset consoles. Ie you had infinite presets. This was true from the first Kliegl board that never saw the light of day, through the Thorne "Qfile" series, the early PDP board that Gordon pearl man did that ran chorus line, the kliegl performance and performer.
> The first board I am aware of that introduced the idea of tracking was the original Strand Lighr Palette designed by Richard Pilbrow. This was a major step forward in console development.
> 
> For theatrical consoles with multiple cues per scene, and lots of channels, tracking is (IMHO) a much more intuitive and powerful approach than presets. It is just a tad more complex.




Well, it seemed to me that Palette was accepted by designers and predominant on B'way for quite a while and was the the console that made piano boards obsolete. Gordy certainly has been an advocate for cue only. It's that designer vs technician thing I think, with technicians seeing a cue as a bunch of values and designers seeing it as the movement or change. My point was piano boards were by necessity move fade or "tracking" and that may have been as much of why designers seemed quicker to accept tracking than cue only.

Someone else can check me but also, as I recall, lots of fast memory was not feasible, and just recording the changes took less memory and fewer read writes than recording the whole thing each cue.


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## SteveB (Sep 15, 2013)

JChenault said:


> Bill
> T
> The first board I am aware of that introduced the idea of tracking was the original Strand Lighr Palette designed by Richard Pilbrow. This was a major step forward in console development.



Just some terminology corrections. The console Pilbrow was instrumental in getting developed was called "LIghtBoard", not Light Palette. and was a Rank Strand desk. It's first application was at the National Theatre complex in London at the Olivier and Lyttelton Theatres (1976). This according to the 2nd edition of Pilbrow's book.

If memory serves, Rank did not want Strand Century, a US/Canadian subsidiary or the Rank parent company, developing their own consoles. SC went ahead anyway and developed Light Palette as well as Multi-Q and Micro-Q, with LP being a direct descendant of LightBoard.


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## jstandfast (Sep 16, 2013)

My understanding is that there was a secret code name when the original Light Pallet was under development at Strand Century, something like 8B/4E/2PS. Which referenced the control layout of a typical broadway 
musical : 8 piano boards, 4 Electricians (one guy ran two boards), 2 preset boards.


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## thirdoctive (Sep 17, 2013)

To set the console to MIB, S2 (Show Options), S10 (Cue List), Check "new cue list use MIB" at bottom .


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## phenry (Sep 18, 2013)

I have also worked at a venue that made the transition from cue only to tracking. Any fundamental change like that will require some period of adjustment. There are advantages to both tracking and cue only. I always record in tracking, and most of the time edit in tracking unless I know there will be a lot of single cue only changes needed. 
It may help you to know that on the Palette, when you go to update (or record) a cue, if you hit shift+update it will bring up a window to allow you to select cue only for that action only. Keystrokes would be: (edit level)> shift+update> s10 >enter. Or if you prefer command line: (edit level)> update> s11> enter.


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## JChenault (Sep 18, 2013)

SteveB said:


> Just some terminology corrections. The console Pilbrow was instrumental in getting developed was called "LIghtBoard", not Light Palette. and was a Rank Strand desk. It's first application was at the National Theatre complex in London at the Olivier and Lyttelton Theatres (1976). This according to the 2nd edition of Pilbrow's book.
> 
> If memory serves, Rank did not want Strand Century, a US/Canadian subsidiary or the Rank parent company, developing their own consoles. SC went ahead anyway and developed Light Palette as well as Multi-Q and Micro-Q, with LP being a direct descendant of LightBoard.


Steve 
Thanks for the correction

My memory is that the multi-Q was out there before the Light Palette. The reason Kliegl developed the Performer ( or performance, never can remember which was first ) was in response to the Multi-Q. The Light Palette was not on the market ( at least in the US) when Kliegl srarted development.


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## SteveB (Sep 18, 2013)

JChenault said:


> Steve
> Thanks for the correction
> 
> My memory is that the multi-Q was out there before the Light Palette. The reason Kliegl developed the Performer ( or performance, never can remember which was first ) was in response to the Multi-Q. The Light Palette was not on the market ( at least in the US) when Kliegl srarted development.



Not sure of the timing of Multi-Q and LP. Kleigl had marketed and sold in the US, the Thorn Q-File and Q-Level prior to developing their own desk in the Performance. I encountered one of these in what was known at the time as Theater D at SUNY Purchase. This was fall '79, with Billy Mintzer (Lighting Instructor) being instrumental in getting this spanking brand new desk installed. Within a week it had a cup of coffee spilled on it. I ran into an LP in the early fall of '78 at a dinner theater I worked at that was doing a Broadway tryout, it too was pretty new. The Multi-Q I used was installed at my space - Brooklyn College, in 1978 (I was there staring in '81), so it did indeed pre-date the LP and Performance. The Kliegl Performer was the small desk, single monitor unit (nice console actually). I seem to recall Steve Terry commenting that the Multi-Q was designed for and became the touring desk for A Chorus Line,.


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## soundguy99 (Sep 23, 2013)

Sorry guys for the delay in replying, I just finished a show the last 5 days, 15 hour days.
Thanks for all the responses,
Hopefully I will get a chance to sit down and play with it, and experiment in a bit more detail with the tracking side of things.
We always found that when we needed to make changes to a cue we were constantly having to use the cue only option, cause the changes we were making was always affecting the other cues, so to save time time using the cue only option, we just found to save time we ended up putting the entire console in cue only option globally.
I do understand that for moving lights tracking makes total sense, as its naturally continues sequences.
I will have to play with that and see how the response is both tracking forward and backwards in the cue list.
Also thanks thirdoctave for the MIB, every other option on the console had it it suppressing the MIB but not setting it up as a default. I expected to see it under show options as a global setting which is probably why I over looked it.
Again Thanks for the help guys I really appreciate it. 
soundguy


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## avalentino (Sep 25, 2013)

Hi all. Just a point to clear up. Putting a tracking desk into Cue Only mode does not make it a preset desk. Those are entirely two different things. When you enable Cue Only on a tracking desk, all you are doing is saying "please append the Cue Only command to every channel edit, record and update." The fundamental rules of what it means to be a tracking desk are still in place. The easiest example is this. Imagine you have written 10 cues. Each of those cues contains channels 1 through 10, and nothing else. Then imagine you are doing something (don't care what) but have taken channels 15 thru 20 and done something to them. And from that state, you do a selective store: 

Channels 15 thru 18 Record Cue 4.5 (or whatever syntax your desk of choice uses).
On a tracking desk, channels 15 thru 18 will be stored with their current values, and channels 1 thru 10 will track into cue 4.5 at the values they had from cue 4.
On a preset desk, channels 15 thru 18 will be stored with their current values, and there will be no information for channels 1 thru 10.

Most tracking desks will have some way to modify the results of a selective store (on Eos family products, for example, 15 thru 18 record 4.5 rem dim will drive the intensity for channels 1 thru 10 to zero and allow non-intensity information to track in). 

This is something that is often confusing to people - some of whom DO expect Preset behavior when a tracking desk is placed in Cue Only mode. But they are not at all the same. Tracking desks have a lot of additional behavior based on cue list ownership - which comes in to play in a multiple cue list environment when taking cues out of sequence. I've not worked on a preset desk in a long time (so any of you can please correct me if I'm wrong), but I don't think preset desks have that same concept. Hope that helps!!

Anne


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## Jay Ashworth (Jul 24, 2016)

A recent comment in the reheated "what desk should I buy" thread leads me to a topic I don't yet quite understand:

Why would anyone want "cue-only" on a theatre board?

What is meant by "tracking" (which, to me, amounts to "you can think like you're programming a Smartfade, but still overlap your cue playbacks") seems to be the obvious way for a light board to work, though it does make the processor work a little harder to figure out where everything should be when you Goto a cue.

But from the way cue-only was described in the Ion training vids I was watching, it seems pretty useless. To me. Though I am young, and not much traveled in these parts.


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## SteveB (Jul 25, 2016)

If you are recording in a linear fashion - I.E. starting with 1 and progressing thru the show as 2, 3, 4, etc... then tracking works well.

If you have a visiting company for the morning and they have cues on paper, where Cue's 1, 8, 10, 14, 22, & 30 are all the same look, and then 5, 11, 14, 23, 31, etc... are blackouts, etc... it makes sense to build up cue 1 then also record as all the other cues using that look, repeating this method as needed till you have the show quickly in the board. 

Tracking can screw you royally if not turn off in this scenario.


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## Jay Ashworth (Jul 25, 2016)

You seem to be suggesting, Steve, that tracking means the board calculates where dimmers should be based on *where they were when you started to record a cue*, *and records that into the new cue*... ie: it looks at record time, not at play time, based on where previous cues put them.

Since that's moronic on its face*, I have a hard time understanding how a software designer could do that.  Of course you record only the things the user enters, and calculate tracking only at playback time, backing up on each channel far enough to know where it should be, if you jump manually to a cue in mid-show. ... Right?

Did I misunderstand you, or do I misunderstand the problem domain? (Happens at least once a year...)

[ * as a new design; clearly, as Bill points out below, it's user-compatibility that drives it... ]


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## BillConnerFASTC (Jul 25, 2016)

Moronic today - possibly - but without understanding the history - you obviously don't get it. Tracking - that I think is more properly called move fade - simply recorded the changes, not every value. First, memory was expensive and it took a lot of time to read and write. Second, Broadway went from piano boards - which are inherently move fade - to computer based in very quick order - but designers still thought in terms of changes (and I'll posit the better ones today may still think about changes rather than a string of presets) so that was all that was recorded.

Historians correct me but I believe that the move fade was generally king in broadway style productions until ETC introduced the Obsession - sometimes referred to as the Concession - because it successfully incorporated a move fade mode.

Classic technician versus designer debate.


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## RonHebbard (Jul 25, 2016)

SteveB said:


> If you are recording in a linear fashion - I.E. starting with 1 and progressing thru the show as 2, 3, 4, etc... then tracking works well.
> 
> If you have a visiting company for the morning and they have cues on paper, where Cue's 1, 8, 10, 14, 22, & 30 are all the same look, and then 5, 11, 14, 23, 31, etc... are blackouts, etc... it makes sense to build up cue 1 then also record as all the other cues using that look, repeating this method as needed till you have the show quickly in the board.
> 
> Tracking can screw you royally if not turn off in this scenario.


Steve; In your example above, you've listed 14 as both a look and a blackout. Oops!
Once I understood tracking, as in original Strand Palettes, I loved it and never worked any other way. You need to understand the following and know when to use them:
- The difference between level 0 vs. no level.
- Black Outs and blocking Black Outs.
- Cues and blocking cues.
- When to use Q-Only.
- Inhibitive subs can be your friends.
- The golden rule of Strand logic: Changes made in preview are changes recorded. Every change is automatically recorded. When in preview there's no option to record, or 'Are you sure?' If you're in preview you're recording. In what's left of my mind this is how it was in full size 'furniture' Palettes, touring style Pro Palettes and early LP90's. Things may have changed since then but my mind hasn't although I also learned to deal with Light Board M's, MMS (Nodular Memory Systems) Mantrix's, Mantrix 2's, Mantrix 2S's, GSX, LBX, MX24's and MX48's. We've come a long way from the IDMQ (Instant Dimmer Memory Cue) and resistance piano boards.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.


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## Jay Ashworth (Jul 25, 2016)

I expected it might be.

And yes, as I noted, I can easily see the complexity involved in calculating all the dimmer levels on a jump, and why that was hard when CPUs were slow.

But you didn't actual address my questions, Bill. 

Well, except the mostly irrelevant personal opinions.


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## Jay Ashworth (Jul 25, 2016)

Unless I'm mistaken, then, the substance of Bill's reply is "because that's how it was always done in the past, and LDs are adapting only slower to newer easier things"?

I'm actually fine with that, "moronic" notwithstanding.  [ Edited to soften ]


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## ScottT (Jul 25, 2016)

Anne Valentino & Sarah Clausen wrote an excellent white paper on the difference between lighting control philosophies - I'd suggest giving it a read as it will clear many misconceptions up.


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## BillConnerFASTC (Jul 25, 2016)

Jay Ashworth said:


> I expected it might be.
> 
> And yes, as I noted, I can easily see the complexity involved in calculating all the dimmer levels on a jump, and why that was hard when CPUs were slow.
> 
> ...



I did explain tracking and I thought answered why people want it, two of your questions.

Perhaps I didn't answer your question of what cue only means. In Ron's useful terms - it records a level and a "level zero" in the next cue. If not cue only, then it simply tracks as "no level" (change) until some cue records it as some other level. And it's a work around or fix for boards that didn't track, which the industry clearly demanded.

I posted mostly history and background, not opinion, facts which you may consider irrelevant. Saying that your preferred way is "newer easier" is an example of opinion, not fact.

An that it is a "Classic technician versus designer debate." is also a simple fact, proven so once again.

PS: You accuse me of "irrelevant personal opinion" but it would seem that your calling these function "moronic" is really the prime example of irrelevant personal opinion in this thread.


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## BillConnerFASTC (Jul 25, 2016)

If you'd like some more views on tracking vs preset and preferences, and the desire by some for a "cue only" function, Ann Valentino's post in https://www.controlbooth.com/threads/question-about-tracking-vs-cue-only.33605/#post-293228 may be useful. _[Post#18 above. Two similar/identical threads have been merged.]_


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## Jay Ashworth (Jul 25, 2016)

"Records a zero in the next cue" was the critical element I still didn't have, and now do; thanks. That was unobvious from the ETC trainer guy's phrasing too; he sort of handwaved the whole mode as "if you want it you know what it does".

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk


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## derekleffew (Jul 25, 2016)




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## venuetech (Jul 25, 2016)

Jay Ashworth said:


> "Records a zero in the next cue" was the critical element I still didn't have, and now do; thanks. That was unobvious from the ETC trainer guy's phrasing too; he sort of handwaved the whole mode as "if you want it you know what it does".
> 
> Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk


"Records a zero in the next cue" is not accurate when modifying cues.
It restores a changed level to its previous level. 
If the previous level was zero then it will restore that to zero
If the previous level was 37% that level will be restored to 37% in the cue after (assuming that level had originally tracked into that cue)

Note that "cue only" is modifying two cues not just one.


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## essentials (Aug 28, 2016)

SteveB said:


> Tracking can screw you royally if not turn off in this scenario.



...unless you remember to force record zero or unchaged values (including non-intensity parameters) - a.k.a. Make Manual on Eos family. RonHubbard pointed it out already:


RonHebbard said:


> - The difference between level 0 vs. no level.



Then again, working with movers like this would be a major PITA. 


> Why would anyone want "cue-only" on a theatre board?



It is easier to wrap your head around it - once recorded cue looks always the same no matter what you do in other cues. Makes sense in small venues equipped with only few conventionals and simple lighting design (e.g. only one cue for each scene). It is more likely for lower end consoles to have preset recording concept (aka Q only) and higher end to be tracking consoles. In fact, there is no preset console in high end that I know of.


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## Jay Ashworth (Aug 28, 2016)

Based on your last comment I assume there is no difference between cue-only and the way that, for example, a Smartfade works. And I had thought that there still was. So I clearly don't quite get it yet.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk


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## essentials (Aug 28, 2016)

SmartFade indeed is an example of preset concept. What is the difference you see?


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## Jay Ashworth (Aug 28, 2016)

Largely, that one is called preset, and one is called cue-only. Are they in fact both the same thing simply with different names?

The implication I have gotten from the ion training videos and the manual suggest that you only is not in fact that the same thing as the preset mode I am accustomed to from the smaller boards.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk


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## essentials (Aug 28, 2016)

I see. Shortly - yes and no.

Ion is a tracking console in nature and putting it in Cue-only mode (or recording a single cue with Cue-only parameter in native tracking mode) does not turn it into a preset console. It simply allows the programmer to get his work done (mostly) in a way he is accustomed to and get the results he does expect.

Rest is terminology problem. I highly suggest reading whitepaper on this topic by Anne Valentino & Sarah Clausen that is posted in this thread, had you not done it already. That being said, manufacturers treat and implement these terms and concepts differently. Users of their products tend to adopt this terminology and find themselves slightly confused when talking to users from other group, often using same words but with (slightly) different meaning.

You refer to SmartFade as Cue-only console, meaning the way it records data is driven by what I refer to as preset (recording) concept, which are the same in this case. Setting Ion in Q-only mode is very similar to preset concept in user experience, however deffinitely not in way it actually stores data.


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## Jay Ashworth (Aug 28, 2016)

No, I called the smartfade a preset console.

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## sk8rsdad (Aug 28, 2016)

Eos family always stores move instructions, so it is always a tracking console during playback. However, it supports a _cue only_ mode during recording that prevents move instructions from tracking beyond the current cue. Does that help any?

Putting Bobblehead Fred into words:

with a move/fade (aka tracking) console, it helps to get your head around the idea that every time you set any parameter in a cue, that parameter will remain set in subsequent cues until it gets an instruction to do something else.
with a preset console, every cue is a brand new instruction and every attribute is stored in each and every cue.
Where things get fuzzy is when console manufacturers put in functionality that makes one behave like the other. In fairness, they do it to speed up programming. For instance, on a move/fade console there's the concept of a blocking attribute on cue that is essentially an implicit move instructiion such that if you add a move instruction before the blocking cue, you don't have to remember to move it back. That's why most programmers make blackouts blocking cues. Experienced programmers make them intensity blocking cues and let non-intensity parameters track through (but that's a lesson for another day).

Since you're moving to Ion, I strongly suggest you embrace the move/fade philosophy. It will save you so much time and effort in the long run. Once you get into multiple cue lists, effects, or rigs with lots of moving lights it's really the best way to work.


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## essentials (Aug 28, 2016)

Jay Ashworth said:


> No, I called the smartfade a preset console.



Sorry, my bad. I just realized I did the exact same mistake I was suspecting you of.


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## essentials (Aug 28, 2016)

sk8rsdad said:


> with a move/fade (aka tracking) console, it helps to get your head around the idea that every time you set any parameter in a cue, that parameter will remain set in subsequent cues until it gets an instruction to do something else




Erm, the way I understand this, move/fade is a concept of how the data are played back regardless of how they were recorded.


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