High End Systems Power Cue DMX manual

2217 West Braker Lan e Austin, TX 78758 US A (512) 836-2242 www.highend.co m User Manua l[...]

Power Cue DM X T M © 1999 High End Systems, Inc . Power Lin e 2217 West Braker Lan e Austin, T X 78758 US A www.highend.co m (512) 836-224 2 QCOMM/ENG/2.00A/02/9 9[...]

CONTENT S I. Introductio n II. SetU p III. Programmin g IV. Run Mod e V. Card Men u VI. Appendice s General Principle s Front Panel Layout and Functio n Rear Panel Layout and Functio n Passcode s Channel Name s Keys - Latch, Flash, Swap, Sol o Fixtures - Selecting Types, Setting DMX Addres s Groups Channel Types - HTP, LTP, Permanent - Dim, Switch [...]

© High End Systems, Inc. 1999, All Rights Reserve d Information and specifications in this document are subject to change without notice. High End Systems, Inc. assumes no responsibility o r liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this manual. The system software for Power Cue DMX described in this manua l is furnished under li[...]

Product Modification Warnin g High End Systems products are designed and manufactured to meet the requirements of United States and International safety regulations . Modifications to the product could affect safety and render the product non-compliant to relevant safety standards . Mise En Garde Contre La Modification Du Produi t Les produits High[...]

1 GENERAL PRINCIPLE S The Power Cue DMX is designed to control most types of intelligent and generic lighting tha t will be encountered in entertainment venues today. It has the following capacities : •256 DMX output channel s •512 scene s •64 chases of 64 step s •16 group s •16 intelligent fixture s •29 channels (max.) per fixtur e •[...]

looks. It may be programmed in real time by storing actual events as they happen. You may subsequently edit th e list of events and their desired run times . Memory Card The Power Cue DMX has a PCMCIA memory card slot which allows you to save all your programming to a suitable memory card. Conversely you may upload from a memory card into the Power[...]

3 may be driven by the Power Cue DMX. They may also be programmed to contain pre-define d groups of channels and subsequently during scene programming to call these groups into a scene . They may also be used as output keys. In RUN mode (playback) they are used to recall thos e effects programmed into them. In this context they may be set to latch,[...]

REAR PANEL L AYOUT AND FUNCTION S Power supply (PSU) inpu t The pin connections are shown on the rear of the unit and later in this manual in the section, “Connections”. Us e only a genuine Power Line power supply unit (PSU) . P C Card slo t The memory card is a PC Card Type 1, 512Kb SRAM. Card operations are dealt with in section V . You can u[...]

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SET UP PASSCODE S You may set passcodes to protect the Prog/Edit menu, the Setup menu and the Card menu. Th e code to the setup menu is the master and has global access. When your Power Cue DMX is delivered, it is set up with the passcode 0000 and all menu levels are open. Setting up the passcod e with anything other than 0000 invokes the security [...]

7 3. Use the numeric ke y - pad to enter the current 4-digit code. Press YES . 4 . Now you can proceed to the SetU p menu and select the passcode option . 7 . Enter the NEW passcode, using the numeric keypad, like yo u did in step 3 and press STORE . You have now looped to step 5. Protect another menu or pres s ESCAPE to go back a level . !! ! All [...]

8 1 . Press SetUp. Enter the SetUp passcode, i f active . 2 . Press ChnNam e 4 . Enter or edit the channel name as show n in step 5 . NOTE : Channels used by fixtures ar e named automatically during the setup fixtures routine. The automatically - assigned names may not be overwritten. If you are using fixtures, install them first . 5 . Use the alph[...]

9 •Press SetU p •Press ChnNam e •Scroll to a channel and press STOR E •Type a nam e •Press STOR E 3 . Scroll through the channels list, usin g the UP and DOWN buttons. Pres s STORE to select a channel.[...]

1 0 2 . Press Keys . 1. Press SetUp. Enter the passcode, if prompted . SET UP KEYS Both the push buttons and the touchkeys may be configured according to the following options. Bot h the buttons and the keys are grouped left and right over two pages. A selected attribute applies to al l keys in the group . Note these abbreviations for the various b[...]

1 1 3 . Select a group of keys to setup. Scrol l through the options to make your selection . Repeat this procedure for other groups. Pres s STORE and return to step 2 . •Press SetU p •Press Key s •Select a group of key s •Bump to th e desired option •Press STORE when finishe d These are the available functional modes. Except where the fu[...]

5 . The Power Cue DMX automatically su g - gests a DMX start address. Press STORE t o accept the suggestion or use the trackball o r numeric keypad to select a different one . Press STORE. You are now back at step no . 3. Repeat steps 3 to 5 to assign the next fixture or press ESCAPE to go backward s through the menu levels. If you choose a n addre[...]

1 3 When setting up your fixtures you will nee d to make certain DIP switch selections on th e fixture itself. Often there are two DIP switc h - es, one for the personality and one for th e DMX start address setting. The main personality setting will ofte n involve a choice between some other type o f protocol and DMX. Always choose DM X when worki[...]

When you call a group into a scene, all channels will be set at full brightness. Havin g called the group you can then change the level of individual channels by selecting cha n - nels in the scene programming menu . 1 4 1 . Press SetUp. Enter the SetUp passcode, i f prompted . 2 . Press Group . 4 . Press one of the sixteen illuminated pus h button[...]

1 5 •Press SetU p •Press Group s •Press button for Grou p •Select channels to includ e •Press STORE when finishe d 3 . Select the group to setup. NOTE : Setting up one of the 16 groups for a second time will result in the original setu p being overwritten .[...]

1 6 SET UP CHANNEL TYPE S Just as each channel may be named, it may also be given certain characteristics to determine how it wil l respond to a control signal : •what function is assigned to it . •whether the channel may be faded, switched or snapped . •whether it works HTP, LTP or is permanently on . •whether it responds to the DBO switch[...]

•OUTPU T Outputs are either LTP, HTP or PERM. A channel can only output one level at any one time. If it receive s more than one output command, which one should it choose to obey? LTP, HTP and PERM lays dow n the rules for this situation, following conventions established for various types of device . LTP channels respond to the latest command r[...]

SET UP CHANNEL TYP E 1 8 1. Press SetUp. Enter the setup menu passcode , if prompted . 2. Press ChnTyp .[...]

1 9 •Press SetU p •Press ChnTy p •Set the attribute s •Press STOR E 3 . Scroll to the desired channel and adjust th e attributes. Then press ESCAPE. See the notes opposite for an explanation of the attributes .[...]

SET UP PATCH - THE FADER PANE L The Power Cue DMX allows you to patch various types of effect to an external control device, usually with faders, so that such effects may be faded in and out or set at varying levels and not jus t switched on and off. The Power Cue DMX lets you make 16 of these patches . Power Line produces the Power Cue DMX Fader P[...]

2 1 3 . Scroll to one of the 16 available patches. Select the effect TYPE you want to use (scene, chase, et.c.) and then us e the trackball to scroll through the scene list (chase list et.c.). to select th e item to patch. Use the METHOD button to select a patch of all channels within the effec t o r just the HTP channels . Press STORE when finishe[...]

SET UP COMMS . The Power Cue DMX may be set up to communicate using MIDI or RS232, depending on the functionality required . Jumpers on the Power Cue DMX's mai n circuit board may need to be set to chang e from the factory setting of MIDI to RS232 . This procedure is illustrated in the boxes o n the right. See the options section and MIDI Appe[...]

2 3 •Press SetU p •Press Comm s •Press STOR E •Press ESCAP E Position jumpers as shown to set the Comms. mode for eithe r MIDI or RS232 . 3. Press STORE to initialise the Comm s mode . 4 . Check display to verify that th e desired Comm mode has been in i - tialised . Press ESCAPE to return to main menu .[...]

PROGRAMMING SCENES - AN OVERVIE W All output is made from the push buttons and the touchkeys. The object of programming is to creat e effects and then to load those effects on to the push buttons and the touchkeys for output. Th e basic building unit is the channel. Channels may be loaded directly on to output keys or they ma y be combined into sce[...]

2 5 •Press Prog/Edi t •Press Scen e •Select a memor y •Press Fixtur e •Continue ove r pag e previously-defined group. The scene is then further defined by giving it certain attributes to determine its appearance : •It may appear as a static scene. In this case you have the option to set fade in and fad e out times. Besides driving gener[...]

PROGRAMMING A SCENE WITH MOVING LIGHTS - CONTINUE D See notes at the end of this section for more information about 16-bit mirror fades, mirro r locks, overlay scenes and preset focu s 2 6 5 . Select the fixtures to include in th e scene, using the illuminated push buttons . During setup you allocated personalitie s and DMX addresses to fixtures 1-[...]

2 7 •Select fixture s •Adjust attribute s •Press STORE t o sav e •Continue ove r pag e The display shows the type of fixture bein g used, the attribute currently being adjuste d and the level of the channel (or two channel s in the case of XYmirror movement) , expressed as a number between 0 and 25 5 (or 0 and 65535 in the case of 16-bit mi[...]

8 . Give the scene a name . Use the alphanumeric keypad to name or re-nam e a scene, using the yellow legend. One press of th e button marked ABC will display an A above the cursor ^. A second press will display a B, a third press wil l display a C and a fourth press a 1. Move the cursor one space right by pressin g NextChar and one space left by p[...]

9 . The scene was saved in step 7. Pres s ESCAPE now to go back to step 3. and exi t to the main menu. Press STORE to go to step 4. and start pr o - gramming a scene in the next scene memory. Where there are several sequential scene s with the same name, the Power Cue DMX wil l give them a number in addition to the name . For example, if two scenes[...]

SAVEPALET EXPLAINE D SavePalet is used with moving light scene programming to enable you to repeat settings of the various attributes during later programming. You may save 16 settings of each fixture attribute . Remember that it works with any individual attribute, not whole scenes; whole scenes may b e repeated using COPY . Here is an example of [...]

What Is TRANSPARENCY? How Does OVERLAY work ? Overlay allows you to generate scenes where only the channels you choose to use are included in the scene. All other channels remain transparent. While an attribute is selected, press OVERLAY, and the corresponding channels become overla y channels. Press OVERLAY again to turn off the feature. OVERLAY w[...]

3 2 PROGRAMMING SCENES USING PRESET FOCU S Preset focuses or position memories allow you to speed up the programming of fixtures int o scenes by linking channels to a library of scenes that you have previously programmed for thi s purpose. In the Power Cue DMX this library can contain 46 scenes of the 512 available, i.e. nos . 450-495 and in the sc[...]

3 3 subsequent selection. An attempt to make a second link will produce the message in the display ‘No linkable channels’. Links cannot apply to transparent channels . If you adjust a linked channel in the client scene, the link for that channel is broken and th e link to the preset is broken completely if all linked channels are manually adjus[...]

AUTO CHEC K When you set Auto Check to on, as described in the system options section later in this manual, th e Power Cue DMX automatically checks for programming errors and corrupt data held in memories . 3 4 3. The occurrences of the error are listed , Press ESCAPE to exit , 1 . When you are programming, if you see th e arrowed message, press ST[...]

16 BIT MIRROR FADE S Where the fixture(s) you are programming support 16-bit mirror fades, the Power Cu e DMX automatically makes this feature available, giving you 65536 steps of adjustmen t instead of 256 . MIRROR LOCK S One press of the Mirror button on the alphanumeric keypad will show XY mirror in the display an d allow you to adjust both mirr[...]

REMOVING CHANNELS FROM A SCEN E During editing a channel may be removed from a scene (made transparent again) b y scrolling to it as in step 5. and then pressing ESCAPE. Do not edit the level first or th e Power Cue DMX will think you simply want to cancel the edit . 3 6 (B) PROGRAMMING CHANNELS INTO A SCENE - GENERIC LIGHTIN G 1 . Press Prog/Edi t[...]

3 7 •Press Prog/Edi t •Press Scen e •Select a memor y •Press Chans •Select channel s •Press STOR E 3 . Scroll up/down the list to find the scene you want. A previously programmed scene will have a name. You may overwrite or edit such scenes . Where there are several scenes with the same name, the Power Cue DM X will automatically give t[...]

You can add groups into a scene built from individual channels. You can equally wel l start with a group and then add or modify channels. The channels menu will always sho w the scene data in the most detail, so any final adjustments to an imported group shoul d always be made using the Chans menu . 3 8 1 . Press Prog/Edi t 2. Press Scen e 5 . Use [...]

3 9 •Press Prog/Edi t •Press Scen e •Select a memor y •Press Group •Select Group s •Select leve l •Press STOR E 3 .Scroll to the desired scene and pres s STORE. If you are editing a previously - programmed scene, you may enter the scen e number on the alphanumeric keypad, instea d of scrolling through the scene list. Enter al l three [...]

Remember that an audio input connection is not absolutely necessary. The Power Cu e DMX is equipped with an internal microphone to run audio functions. It is disabled b y inserting a jack plug into the audio socket . 4 0 SELECTING SCENE ATTRIBUTES - GENERIC LIGHTIN G 1 . Press Prog/Edit . 2 . Press Scene . 5(a) . Scroll through the options under th[...]

4 1 •Press Prog/Edi t •Press Scen e •Select a memor y •Press Attrib •Select Type and attribute s •Press STOR E 3 . Scroll to the scene to Prog/Edit an d press STORE . 4. Press Attrib . OR 5(c) . Bump through the options unde r the Typ e button. If you select STATI C SCEN E , this screen appears. You ma y choose to select FadeIn and/or F[...]

4 2 COPYING AND CLEARING SCENE MEMORIE S Existing scenes may be copied from one location to another from within the scene programming menu . Proceed as follows to copy a scene to another memory number . 1 . Press Prog/Edi t 2. Press Scen e 4(a) . Scroll to the scene to copy and pres s STORE . 5(a) . Scroll to the new location for th e copied scene [...]

4 3 •Press Prog/Edi t •Press Scen e •Press Cop y •Select the scene t o copy •Select the ne w scene memory and pres s STORE 3(a) . Press COP Y 3(b). Scroll to the scene you wish t o delete and press Clea r . 4(b) . Confirm that you wish to delete th e scene by pressing STORE . You have now looped back to step 3. Yo u may continue programmi[...]

4 4 PROGRAMMING A CHAS E Scenes made with moving lights may be programmed together into a sequence called a chase. Yo u can also make a chase with scenes of generic lighting . 1 . Press Program/Edi t 2 . Press Chas e 5 . Select attributes for this chase step : STEP - and STEP + allow you to move throug h the series of scenes you are programming int[...]

4 5 •Press Prog/Edi t •Press Chas e •Select a chase memor y •Select a scene for each step. Set step attributes •Press STORE •Name the chase Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s Bas s [...]

4 6 SCENES, CHASES, CHANNELS AND LOOKS ARE LOADED ON TO PUSH- BUTTONS OR TOUCHKEYS FOR PL AYBAC K 1 . Press Prog/Edi t 2 . Press Ke y EITHER 4 ( a ) If the key has nothing previously assigned to it, you see thi s screen. Choose an effect to assign to th e key. Then press STOR E . OR 4 ( b ) If the key has been previously programmed, you have the ch[...]

4 7 •Press Prog/Edi t •Press Ke y •Select a pushbutto n or touchke y •Select Scene, Chas e Channel or Loo k •Continue over pag e 3 . Press the pushbutton or touchpad you wish to program. Th e selected key flashes. Remember that you have available two page s of buttons and two pages of touchkeys. Select the page using th e buttons on the l[...]

5(a ) . Scroll through the scene list and pres s SELEC T to include in the keylist a zone, a sound-to-light scene or a static scene with n o fade times. Press XRE F to include a stati c scene with its associated fade times. When you select a scene, the level 255 (ful l brightness as programmed) appears by th e selection. Use the trackball to change[...]

5(c) . Scroll to any channel. A channel i s transparent until you move the trackball. I t is then selected at the level shown. Selec t one or several channels. Press STOR E when finished to go back to step 4 . 5(d) . Scroll through the look list and pres s SELECT to include a Look in the keylist. A selected look is denoted by a * next to it . Press[...]

By setting up a patch of the appropriate output key, it is possible to patch a show to a fader on the Fader Panel . 5 0 Find View Level s Captur e Adjust Adjust Adjust Adjust Adjust Adjust Adjust Adjust Adjust Adjust Adjust Adjust Spots Spots Spots Spots Spots Spots Spots Spots Spots Spots Spots Spots Recording starts on firs t Recording starts on [...]

5 1 •Press Prog/Edi t •Press Sho w •Choose a Show butto n •Press RealTim e •Record the Sho w •Press Escape to Sto p •Name the Show Choose SHOW pushbutto n Choose SHOW pushbutto n Choose SHOW pushbutto n Choose SHOW pushbutto n Choose SHOW pushbutto n Choose SHOW pushbutto n Choose SHOW pushbutto n Choose SHOW pushbutto n Choose SHOW p[...]

NOTES ON SHOW S Unlike in earlier versions the keyboard is not locked during show playback. A running show is indicate d by its output key LED remaining lit. A second press of the key turns off the show and the LED . A show may be programmed so that its last action is to call another show. Alternatively, a second sho w may be called manually while [...]

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RUN MODE - GENERA L If the Power Cue DMX is left switched on and menu timers are active, it will default to RUN MODE , as in the drawing under Step 1 below. Alternatively, from the main menu, press Run. This is the menu from which you play back the effects you have programmed, using the pushbutton s and the touchkeys. Simply push the keys you have [...]

3 . The lower list shows all the programme d scenes. The upper list shows the output key locations o f the selected scene . Press ESCAPE to return to RU N MODE . 5 5 •Press Fin d •Press Scene , Chas e etc . •Press ESC whe n finishe d[...]

5 6 VIE W View allows you to see the contents of an output key. The value of this function depends a great deal o n the extent to which you make use of the various naming functions available to you . 1. Hold VIEW pressed . 2 . Now press an output key . 1 . Press Freeze to stop all movement in the outputs. Press Freeze once again to re-co m - mence [...]

5 7 •Hold View presse d •Press the key t o vie w •Release View when finishe d 3 . The display shows the contents of the pressed key . Release VIEW to return to RUN MODE .[...]

5 8 LEVEL S Levels provides an approximate display of channel activity across a range of 20 channels . 1. Press Level s 2 . Display shows levels in any active output channels. Push bottom right softkey for next 2 0 channels; bottom left softkey for previous 20 channels .[...]

5 9 •Press Level s •Press softkey to scroll ± 20 cha n - nel s[...]

6 0 CAPTURING A LOO K A Look is a snapshot of the outputs at a particular moment in time . While in RU N MODE you might be running a combination of scenes, chases and channels an d decide that you want to save (or capture) this set of outputs to be repeate d at some later time . A Look may be stored on any empty push button or touchkey. Nothing els[...]

6 1 •Press Captur e •Choose an outpu t ke y[...]

6 2 ADJUS T Adjust allows you to change the various attributes of programmed effects such as chases or scene s while they are running in the outputs . 1. Press Adjust . 2 . Select an output key to adjust . Press Adjust to scroll through the list of availabl e adjustments . If an attribute is available for adjustment, i t becomes liv e on the trackb[...]

6 3 •Press Adjus t •Choose an outpu t ke y •Adjust the attribut e •Press Store when finishe d[...]

6 4 LIV E Live allows you to make changes to the attributes of intelligent fixtures while those fixtures ar e active. By selecting, for example, the mirror channels of moving lights, you effectively produce a fo l - low spot . 1 . Press LIVE . 2 . Select the fixture(s) to use liv e .[...]

6 5 •Press Liv e •Choose fixture(s ) •Choose an attribut e •Press Escape when finishe d 3. Select the attribute to adjust. I t becomes liv e on the trackball. Press ESCAPE to return to RU N MODE . Any changes that you made are NO T saved. If you wish to make changes an d save them during output, use ADJUS T (see page 62) .[...]

MEMORY CARD TYP E The Power Cue DMX uses a PC card, Type 1, 512Kb, SRAM. The card is used to perform the following functions : · To store the contents of the Power Cue DMX’s memory, i.e. as a backup or as longterm storage . · To update the intelligent fixtures library . · To update the operating system . USING THE CAR D All card functions are [...]

COPYING DATA FRO M THE CAR D Press Restor e . 1. 'Backup card Found ' Pres s STORE/YE S . 2. Note: DO NOT INTERRUPT CAR D TRANSFER. ' 3 . 'Card transfer complete. ' Pres s ESCAPE/N O to return to main menu . NOTES : 1.The softkeys TxPC and RxPC are inoperative on this version and may be ignored . 2. The error message ‘Car[...]

SYSTEM SUB-MEN U The Syste m sub-menu deals with : · the uploading of an updated operating syste m · the uploading of new intelligent fixture personalitie s · the clearing of all setups and stored memorie s · the setting of certain advanced system option s In the card menu press Syste m , then follow the on-screen prompts. LOADING A NEW OPERATI[...]

ERAS E Memories and set-ups may be cleared by stages, e.g. scenes, chases, et.c. 'Clear Everything ' leaves only the operating system and the fixtures library in place. 'Clear Fixtures' removes th e fixture assignments from buttons 1-16 but leaves the fixtures library in place . 1 . Press ERASE . 2 . ' REALLY CLEAR MEMORIES[...]

OPTIONS MEN U Certain configuration options are available as detailed in th e table. 1. Pres s Syste m . 2. Press Option s . 3. Scroll to the desired option and adjust using the trackball or the INC/DE C softkeys. Press ESCAP E when finished . 7 0 00. Locked on startup . Default OFF. disabled. 01. Auto Play . Default OFF. This is designed to offer [...]

7 1 14. DMX Break . Default 033. For use with DMX devices where signal elements are outside the sta n - dard tolerance . 15. Autocheck Edits . Default ON. Checks for programming errors and corrupt data held in memory . Details are displayed . 16. Blackout Total . Default OFF. Only channels of the type Shutter and Dimmer are affected by th e operati[...]

NOTES ON USING MID I To enable MIDI you must firstly setup COMMS in the SetUp menu. Note that the circuit board jumper s are set for MIDI when the Power Cue DMX leaves the factory. Unless the unit has been subsequentl y setup for RS232, no hardware adjustments are necessary. See page 20, SetUp COMMS . Use option18 to enable ‘send keys as MIDI (se[...]

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EXTERNAL CONNECTION S (A) POWER SUPP LY INPU T 180° 5-pin DIN, female . (B) DMX OUTPU T 5-pin XLR, female . (C) AUXILIARY CONTRO L INPU T 25-pin sub-D, female . (D) AUDIO INPU T ¼ inch mono Jack, female (male show n here for clarity) . 7 4[...]

(E) RS23 2 9-pin sub-D, mal e (F) MID I MIDI in, out and through . All 180° 5-pin DIN, femal e 7 5 NOTE : When connecting this product to accessories and /or another product, use only high quality shielded cables .[...]

7 6 GETTING HEL P When you contact your dealer for help, please be ready to give the following information . • Version no . • Serial no . To access this information, go to the main menu and press STORE/YES . Power Cue VX.XX N[...]

7 7 Power Line 2217 West Braker Lan e Austin, TX 78758, US A Low voltage lighting control des k Power Cue DM X September, 199 6 FCC Class B Manufacturer's Name : Manufacturer's Address : Type of Equipment : Product Name : Equipment referred to in this declaration first manufactured in : Applicable standards : The above is given for guidan[...]