Meyer Sound Documentation

A control point in CueStation is defined in a general sense as any parameter that can be adjusted manually or by the automation system. As with physical consoles, a lot of the control points are associated with faders, knobs, and switches. Some control points address signal processing parameters, such as equalization and delay, while other control points, like isolate, affect the operation of the automation system itself.

For example, Input faders have three control points: Level, Wait, and Fade. Level sets the target fader value, and Fade sets how long the fader takes to move to the target value. Wait sets the delay between recalling the cue and the start of the fader movement. This allows one to program a cue that starts a three-second fade to unity one second after recall. All three control points are contained in each Input Level subcue.

A Subcue is a collection of control points. The automation structure in CueStation is based on absolute destinations. Control points contained in subcues dictate the state the mixer once the recall of that subcue is complete, regardless of what those control points were set to when the subcue was recalled. For example, if a subcue is recalled with the information Input 10 Level: -20.0 dB Fade: 5 Wait: 0, the fader moves from its current position to -20 dB over five seconds.

Control points can be set as relative values within the subcue structure definition. For exam- ple, a subcue can be defined that increases or decreases an input level. This is achieved by entering the value using a prefix to indicate the relative increase or decrease. The prefix for specifying a relative increase is ++, and the prefix for specifying a relative decrease is --.

A Cue in CueStation refers to a list of subcues that are recalled as a group. A cue could contain many different types of subcues, or only one subcue. If a subcue has a wait time associated with it, that information is also stored as part of the cue. The same Subcue can appear multiple times in a Cue, and in multiple Cues.

A Cue List is an indexed collection of cues that are intended to be recalled in a certain order. Like a cue, a cue list does not have any control point data in itself. It merely contains references to the cues associated with it. A cue list can also have recall and timing information associated with each cue (see Building a Cue List). The same Cue can appear multiple times in a Cue List, and in multiple Cue Lists.

The Project File is the container that stores all automation data. A project file also contains the configuration of the hardware, layout information, and connection settings. Any of the data in a project file can be merged into another project; this provides a method for importing cues, cue lists, or any other automation data. Project files can be saved to a client computer's hard drive, or to the flash memory inside a D-Mitri. Projects saved to a hard drive have a dmitriProj- ect extension.

Control point settings are stored and organized through the automation editing windows. These windows support the creation and management of subcues, cues, and cue lists. Subcues contain the control data for all mixer functions and external device commands.

CueStation stores discrete states, target values, and time intervals, and calculates the continuous transformations from cue to cue on the fly. Such efficiency is essential for large configurations. The flexibility of cue automation is also critical in live performance where timing and order can not be accurately determined ahead of time.

At the top of or beside all channel, bus, and virtual group controls, CueStation offers a button labeled Select, adjoined by an arrow pointing across the channel strip columns to the right. Click this Master Select button to select all channels in the window, highlighting the channels.

Master Select Button (Inputs Window Shown)

For greater convenience in selecting large numbers or non-contiguous ranges of channels, right-click the Master Select button to open the Selects dialog, as shown below.

Selects Dialog (Input Selects Shown)

Channels can be selected from this list without having to scroll through the window to choose channel strips through mouse selection. Click a channel in the list to select it, or enter channel numbers in the text field above the list. The text field recognizes both individual channels and ranges of channels. Ranges of channels are specified by separating the first and last channels of the range with a dash.To input multiple selections, separate them using commas. For example, entering 1-7,12,24-29 selects channels 1 through 7, channel 12, and channels

24-29.

The Capture window has controls that further refine Channel Select. To show which channels are being captured, click the Use Channel Selects button. Each type of channel has a check- box that can be deselected to capture all channels instead of just the selected ones.

When a cue that uses Channel Select is captured, the new subcues that are created only con- tain information about those controls that were selected. Later, when that cue is recalled, only those selected channels are affected. All other controls continue to do whatever they were doing. If a channel is in mid-fade, it continues to fade; if at rest, it remains at rest.

It is also possible to edit channel selects from within the Capture window. This is especially useful when for selecting multiple channels from different areas (Wild Tracks, SpaceMaps, Aux, etc.).

Channel select capture logic

In most mixer windows, control points for all channels are captured if no channels are selected. For example, capturing an Input Level subcue while no Input channels are selected results in a captured subcue that includes the levels of all Input channels.

There are a few exceptions:

• If the Wild Tracks Deck subcue type is selected, but no Wild Tracks Deck is selected, then only Deck 1 on Unit 1 is captured into the cue.

• If the SpaceMap Trajectory or Position subcue type is selected, but no SpaceMap bus is selected, then the captured SpaceMap subcue contains no control points.

• If the Cue List Player subcue type is selected, but no Cue List Player is selected, then the captured Cue List Player subcue contains no control points.

Follow Channel Selects

When Mixer > Follow Channel Selects is enabled, recalling a cue that contains Channel Selects automatically selects the associated channels in the mixer windows.

Note

This function is enabled only on a per-client basis, and assists with troubleshooting programmed automation. It is recommended to leave this function off, as it can sometimes cause a cue to capture a different set of items than intended.

The Capture window has four tabs: Capture, Subcue Types, Control Point Sets, and Index Sets. The latter three tabs allow customization of the set of control points captured for a subcue, or create new subcue types. These tabs are detailed in Capture Window Tabs.

The Capture tab is the main working window for cue creation. There are five groups of controls:

Cue Selection

The Cue Selection area provides a set of controls to create new cues, update existing cues, or recall settings on which to base a new cue.

Capture Window, Cue Selection Area

The Cue Selection area contains the following controls.

Control	Function
Cue drop-down box	Shows (Create New Cue) by default. By selecting an existing cue from the drop-down box, the subcues can be updated or replaced.
Name text box	Shows the name of the selected cue. A name can be entered for the new cue, or edited for the selected cue.
Recall button,	Triggers the cue, moving its control points to their previously-saved values.
Comment text box	A place to type any comments regarding the cue. Comments are saved with the cue and are visible from the Cue Library, Cue List, and Transport.
Details button	Opens the Cue Library to show the current cue’s subcues.

Channel selection

The Channel Selection area controls the selection of channels to be included in the cue.

Capture Window, Channel Selection Area

The Channel Selection area contains the following.

Table 1.

Control	Function
Use Channel Selects	Button specifies whether the captured subcues include values for all channels, or only selected channels.
Channel Selection Range	Checkboxes appear to the right of Use Channel Selects. The channels selected via Channel Select are shown, some of these sets can be turned off to further refine the channels that are included in the subcues.
Capture Isolated Channels	Button specifies whether channels that are isolated are to be captured or not.
Share Existing Subcues	Share Existing Subcues is active by default. When inactive, new cues never use the existing subcues. Instead, a new subcue is created for every checked subcue type.
Uncheck All Subcue Types	Unchecks all subcue types in the Subcue Types Selection area below.

Capture Differences controls

This section is only active for Capture Differences or Update Subcues, and controls how the intersection between the new and old subcues is handled.

Capture Window, Capture Differences Section

The Capture Differences area contains the following.

Control	Function
Mode buttons	These buttons, Replace, Amend, and Existing, toggle between the three most fre- quently used update modes.
Capture-Operator	This box offers four options: New Control Points Only, Intersection, Union, and Old Control Points Only.
Capture-Precedence	This box offers three options: New Values Preferred, Old Values Preferred, and New Values Always.
Venn Diagram	Provides a graphical depiction of how the subcues are updated.

These controls are described in detail in Capture Differences and Update Subcues.

Subcue Types Selection

The Subcue Types Selection area controls the selection of subcue types to be included in the cue.

Capture Window, Subcue Types Selection Area

This is divided into sections by category. Each section contains:

• Category labels, such as Inputs or Trim. Clicking a label selects or deselects all the subcue check boxes within that category.

• A list of Subcue Types. Each selected subcue type is included in the cue.

The lists are grouped according to their subcue type category, as defined on the Subcue Types tab.

Capture controls

At the bottom of the Capture window are additional options that modify the behavior of the Capture operation.

Option	Function
AutoHide Window checkbox	If this checkbox is checked, then the Capture window closes automatically when the Capture button is clicked. The window can be restored by pressing the F4 key, or by selecting Windows Capture.
Persistent Subcue Select checkbox	If this checkbox is checked, then the last subcue types captured are automatically selected the next time the Capture window is opened.
Add New Cue to Cue List checkbox and a Cue Lists selector	When the checkbox is enabled, the captured cue is added to the selected cue list in addition to the cue library.
Capture Type menu	Capture New captures a new cue according to the set parameters (cue name, channel automations, and subcue types).
	Capture Differences causes new subcues of the same types included in the selected cue to be created and referenced in the cue.
	Update Subcues causes the information in existing subcues to be changed, thus allowing global changes to be made.

The Capture Differences and Update Subcue functions are described in Editing Cues.

Note

The function keys F1 through F4 open the Capture window. Each key opens the window in a different mode:

• F1 opens the Capture window in Update Subcues mode, and selects the last cue that was recalled.

• F2 opens in Capture Differences mode, with the last cue recalled selected.

• F3 opens in Capture New mode, but does not add the new cue to the cue list.

• F4 opens in Capture New mode, and adds the cue to the cue list.

When pressing the Fn key while viewing the Cue List or Cue Library window, Capture opens to the currently-selected cue. Otherwise, it opens the most recently recalled cue. Using F4 sets some of the capture controls automatically.

The Subcue Types tab lists a number of basic subcue types and custom subcue types.

Each of the standard subcue types captures a single control point set for all applicable chan- nels: the Input Level subcue captures the Input Level control set, the Aux Sends subcue cap- tures the Aux Sends control set, and so on.

Specialized subcue types can be created that capture any combination of control point settings on any number of channels. This is an advanced task, accomplished through the use of control point sets and index sets.

This tab has four main components: a set of command buttons, a list of subcue types, a list of control point sets, and a list of index sets.

Command buttons

The command buttons create or delete subcue types.

Button	Function
New	Creates a new subcue type from scratch. The subcue type can be named, its category specified, its control point sets selected, and its index sets defined.
Duplicate	Creates a new subcue type based on the selected subcue. The subcue type can be named, its category, parameter, and index sets can be fine-tuned.
Delete	Deletes the selected subcue type. Any subcues that made use of this subcue type are changed, which in turn affect all cues that use that subcue.

Subcue Types List

Click a column label to sort the entries alphabetically by the contents of that column. Click it again to sort them in reverse order. The format of the ID and Created dates are compatible with alphabetical sorting.

Column Data	Description
ID	A system-assigned number that cannot be changed.
Name	The subcue type value. The name can be changed by selecting it and typing a new name; subcues that used this subcue type also show the change.
Category	Sorts the names according to type. Right-click the entry to select from the available types, or type a new name to create a new category.
Display Order	The number determines the order in which the subcue types appear in the Capture pane of the Capture window.
Comment	This field can contain any text.
Created	Provides date of creation, and cannot be changed.
Modified	Provides modification date, and cannot be changed.
Enabled	Shows whether a subcue type has been enabled or disabled. Disabled subcue types do not appear in the Capture pane of the Capture window. Right-click the entry to toggle between enabled and disabled states.
Locked	Shows whether a subcue type is locked or unlocked.

Control Point Sets List

When a subcue type is selected, the control point sets associated with it are listed to its right.

Click the associated checkboxes to select control point sets to be included in the subcue. For control point set definitions, see The Control Point Sets tab.

Index Sets List

An index set is listed for each control point set that is selected. The column labels for this list can be clicked to sort the list alphabetically.

Right-click an Index Set entry to choose between Manual and any applicable custom index sets that have been defined.

When a Manual index set is selected, a list of channels can be typed in the Channels entry. Channels can be separated with a space or comma, ranges of channels can be selected by using a dash between numbers (1–4,6,8). To select all channels, use an asterisk (*).

The Control Point Sets tab lists the standard preset control point sets and any custom control point sets that have been designed.

The Control Point Set is used by Subcue Types to identify which CueStation mixer compo- nents are captured in a subcue. The standard control point sets cover every common combi- nation of components. Input Levels, for instance, captures the channel invert, input level, and input mute settings.

Specialized Control Point Sets can be created that capture any imaginable combination of controls.

This tab has three main components: a set of command buttons, a list of Control Point sets, and a list of mixer control points.

Command buttons

The command buttons create or delete Control Point Sets or add to or remove Address Pat- terns from selected control points.

Command	Function
New	Creates a new control point set from scratch. The new control point set can be renamed and its list of Address Patterns can be modified.
Duplicate	Creates a new control point set based on the selected subcue. The new control point set can be renamed and its list of Address Patterns can be modified.
Delete	Deletes the selected control point set.
Add Pattern	Adds a new Address Pattern to the list. Right-click the entry to select from an extensive list of common Address Patterns.
Delete Selected Patterns	Removes any selected Address Patterns from the list.

Control Point Sets List

Click a column label to sort the entries by the contents of that column. Click it again to sort them in reverse order.

Column Data	Description
ID	A system-assigned number that cannot be changed.
Name	The subcue type value. The name can be changed by selecting it and typing a new name.
Comment	This field can contain any text.
Created	Provides date of creation, and cannot be changed.
Modified	Provides modification date, and cannot be changed.
Enabled	Shows whether a shows whether a set has been enabled or disabled. Right-click the entry to toggle between enabled and disabled states.
Locked	Shows whether a set is locked or unlocked.

Control Points List

When a control point set is selected, the Address Patterns associated with it are listed to the right.

Right-click an Address Patterns entry to choose from an extensive list of commonly-used patterns.

The command buttons above this are previously described in Command buttons.

The Index Sets tab shows a list of common index sets and any custom index sets that have been designed.

The Index Set is used by Subcue Types to identify which channels of a particular Control Point Set to capture. Each of the standard Index Sets captures all channels for a particular mixer component.

Specialized Index Sets can be created that limit the subcue capture to a specific set of chan- nels for any of the CueStation mixer components.

This tab has two components: a set of command buttons and a list of Index Sets.

Command buttons

The command buttons create or delete Index Sets.

Command	Function
New	Creates a new index set from scratch. The index set can be named, and the mixer component and channels it uses can be defined.
Duplicate	Creates a new index set based on the selected subcue. The index set can be renamed, and its mixer component and channels can be fine-tuned.
Delete	Deletes the selected index set. Any subcues that made use of this index set are changed, which in turn affects all cues that use that subcue.

Index Sets List

Click a column label to sort the entries alphabetically by the contents of that column. Click it again to sort the entries in reverse alphabetical order. The format of the ID and Creation dates are compatible with alphabetical sorting.

Column Data	Description
ID	A system-assigned number that cannot be changed.
Name	The index set name, which can be changed by selecting it and typing a new name. Subcues that used this Index Set show this change.
Index Type	Right-click the box to select the mixer component used by this Index Set.
Default Indices	Type a list of channels in the box to select the default subset of channels for this Index Set. You can separate channels with a space or comma, or select a range of channels by using a dash between numbers (1-4,6,7). To select all channels, use an asterisk (*). Note that if there are any channels selected in the mixer window, those channels are used instead of the ones specified here.
Allowed Indices	Constrains the indices to a particular range. For instance, to change the Index Set to include only the first four Input channels, enter 1-4. Otherwise, use an asterisk (*). To select no channels, type None. Note that any indices that are not specified in the Allowed Indices column are not used, even if those indices have been selected manually in the mixer window.
Comment	This field can contain any text.
Created	Shows the time stamp of creation, and cannot be changed.
Modified	Shows a time stamp of modification, and cannot be changed.
Locked	Shows whether a set is locked or unlocked.

In CueStation every control point in the system is assigned a unique Control Point Address. This address unambiguously identifies that control with an intuitive, human-readable string. For example, the control point address of the first input channel’s mute control is Input 1 Mute. The fader level of the third output channel is Output 3 Level.

To find out what a given control’s address is, make sure Layout > Tooltips Enabled has been selected. When Tooltips are enabled, hovering the cursor over a control displays that control’s address.

A typical setup has thousands or even hundreds of thousands of valid control point addresses. The Capture Window has been made to be extremely flexible, and can be used to capture the current state of all controls in the system, or just a few, or any of a number of sub- sets of the controls.

When creating cues and subcues, the first problem that the Capture window must solve is which control points to capture. The Capture Window determines which control points to cap- ture (and where to save the data) using a hierarchical system consisting of Index Sets, Control Point Sets, and Subcue Types.

The simplest specifier is the Index Set. An index set is merely a convenient way to assign a name and type to a group of channel numbers. An index set contains a set of numbers and an Index Type tag that indicates what sort of system parameter is related to those numbers. The index type value is chosen from a small, predefined set of possible values. These include Inputs, Outputs, Auxes, VGroups, and a few other types.

All the index sets known to the system can be viewed by opening the Capture window and choosing the Index Sets tab.

The default index sets are sufficient for many projects, but custom index sets can be created if necessary. For example, an index set that refers to the first eight inputs in the system can be created by adding an entry in the index sets table with the cells filled out as follows:

Name: First Eight Inputs
Index Type: Input 
Default Indices: 1-8
Allowed Indices: 1-8

An index set that refers to just a few specific input indices can be created. For example, the input channels of three vocalists can be created as follows:

Name: The Three Tenors
Index Type: Input
Default Indices: 23,47,59
Allowed Indices: 23,47,59

Index sets can also be created that include specific values in addition to value ranges:

Name: Fancy Index Set 
Index Type: Input
Default Indices: 3-7,23,40,42-47,59-62
Allowed Indices: 3-7,23,40,42-47,59-62

Predefined entries in the index sets table don’t have any numeric values in their Allowed Indices field. Instead, they all have an asterisk. This asterisk indicates all valid channels of the given type in the system, as specified in the Mixer Configuration window. For example, in a 64-input, 32-output system, the asterisk in the All Channels/Input index set would be interpreted to mean 1 through 64, whereas the asterisk in the All Channels/Output index set would be interpreted to mean 1 through 32 (both inclusive).

This special logic is very useful, because otherwise it would be necessary to re-define new index sets every time the Mixer Configuration changed. This way, a single set of predefined index sets is sufficient to handle most things.

A Control Point Set specifies one or more patterns of control point addresses.

As with Index Sets, the default project comes with a number of predefined, non-editable control point sets, but custom Control Point Sets can be created. The control point sets known to the system can be viewed by opening the Capture window and choosing the Control Point Sets tab.

Each control point set consists of one or more Control Point Address Patterns, which resemble the Control Point Addresses described in Control Point Addresses except that some parts of the addresses can be left unspecified. For example, switching to the Control Point Sets tab and selecting the Input EQs control point set will show the following Control Point Address Patterns:

Input * EQ * Type Input * EQ * Level Input * EQ * Frequency Input * EQ * Q

Input * EQ * BandBypass

These patterns refer to control point addresses relevant to the EQ portion of the Input Pro- cessing window, but the numeric portions of the addresses have been replaced by asterisks. The asterisks indicate that it is up to the system to determine the variables based on the Sub- cue Type. When capturing a cue, the asterisks expand out to concrete numbers, as in this example:

Input 1-8 EQ 1-4 Type

Input 1-8 EQ 1-4 Level

Input 1-8 EQ 1-4 Frequency

Input 1-8 EQ 1-4 Q

Input 1-8 EQ 1-4 BandBypass

Subcue Types are the top-level specifiers in the Capture window. Subcue Types correlate a group of control point sets with the appropriate index sets in such a way that together there is enough information to fully specify the set of control point addresses to capture into a subcue. The default project comes with a number of predefined, read-only subcue types, but custom subcue types can be created.

Subcue Types can be viewed by opening the Capture window, choosing the Subcue Types tab, and selecting an entry. The area to the right of the list shows the contents of the selected subcue type. The center list, labeled Control Point Sets, lists the control point sets that are specified by the selected subcue type. The area on the right contains a list of index sets used by the subcue type. The column headings for this list are at the bottom of the screen: Index Type, Index Set, and Index Values. The Capture window automatically determines which types of index set are relevant to the subcue type. Many subcue types only contain a single control point set.

For example, the Matrix Levels subcue type specifies only the Matrix Levels control point set, which contains only the following Address Patterns:

Output All Channels Bus All Buses

The Capture window determines how to expand the asterisks in those patterns; one index set with IndexType=Bus, and one index set with IndexType=Output.

These items appear in the right sub-pane, in the Index Type column. The first item describes how to expand asterisks that represent buses, and the second describes how to expand asterisks that represent Outputs. In the example, they are set to All Buses and All Channels, respectively. The corresponding Index Values entries show the actual interpretation of these values: that for buses, the asterisk represents channels 1-32, and for Outputs, the asterisk represents channels 1-8.

This rather complex, detailed analysis of the address pattern is interpreted as Bus 1-32 Output 1-8 Level

The subcue captures the complete state of the Matrix. If the subcue type were editable, it could be modified to specify other index sets instead of All Buses and All Channels. To create an editable subcue type, click Duplicate (near the upper left of the Subcue Types tab), then right-click in the Index Set column of the window area on the right to choose a new index set for buses and/or outputs. Note that there is also a Manual option, which can reference indices directly instead of referencing a predefined index set.

Each subcue type has attributes called Category, Display Order, and Comment. These attri- butes can be viewed and/or edited via the table at the left-hand side of the Subcue Types tab. Note that these attributes do not affect which control point addresses are captured: the only thing they affect are how the subcue types appear on the Capture tab. In the Capture tab, each subcue type’s name appears with a checkbox next to it. Subcue types are grouped sep- arately by category—for example, in the default project all the Input subcue types get grouped together in one area of the Capture tab, and the subcue types in the outputs category get their own separate section. Custom categories can also be created. Display Order gives some measure of control over the order in which subcue types are listed within their category in the Capture tab. Subcue types with smaller Display Order values appear before subcue types with larger Display Order values. The Comment field provides a place to enter a comment about the subcue type. Comments do not appear on the Capture tab.

Cue list management is handled through the Cue List window.

Cue List Window

The Cue List area of the window shows an ordered sequence of cues. These are the cues that are recalled during show control. They are always sorted according to their Index sequence. Cues can be dragged from the Cue Library to the Cue List and new Cue List entries can be created. Right-click new entries to select a cue. Note that new cues cannot be created in the Cue List window; new Cue List entries only references cues that already exist.

The columns of the Cue List pane control a range of cue automation details. When selecting a cue in the cue list, the Subcue Library pane is displayed to the right. Selecting a subcue causes the Control Point pane to be displayed beneath the other two panes.

When starting a new project, a Defaults cue list is created automatically, and all newly cap- tured cues are added to this list. To create another cue list, click the Cue Lists button and select New Cue List.

Additional cue lists can be used to create speaker check cue lists, different versions of a show cue list for different performers, or even cues for system testing and diagnostics.

The Cue Lists drop-down menu contains commands to select, rename, duplicate, delete, or assign new IDs to Cue Lists.

CueStation's cue automation allows you to set up timed sequences of cues that recall automatically, using either autofollow or timecode. This kind of automation is particularly useful when the timing of a sequence is known and unchanging (to match video playback, for instance), and can greatly reduce the need for manual cue recalling.

Timecode in Forward-Only mode

There are two options for how cues are recalled by timecode. The TC-Fwd ONLY option matches the original design of the software: only those Timecode cues after the current cue-on-deck in the Transport window are recalled by timecode. The alternative option, labeled simply Timecode, is to allow any Timecode cues in the cue list to be recalled by timecode, regardless of whether they are listed before or after the current cue-on-deck.

AutoFollow

AutoFollow is controlled by two parameters: the identity of the cue to be recalled, and the time delay before this recall happens. The automatically-recalled cue can be Next, which allows the creation of linear sequences of cues, or it can point to any cue in the list, which allows a variety of looping and branching strategies.

Procedure. To set up a sequence of cues recalled by AutoFollow:

1. Right-click in the AutoFollow column for the first cue in the sequence. This cue can still be recalled manually.

2. Choose Next, or the index value for the cue that follows it.

3. Set a time in the Wait column. This is the time between the recall of the first cue and the second.

4. Repeat for subsequent sequential cues.

Note

To recall a sequence of cues at the same time, set an AutoFollow of 0.0 seconds for each cue in the sequence.

AutoFollow delays are cumulative because AutoFollow cues are organized in a sequential list. The time between the recall of the first cue in a sequence and the last is the sum of all the AutoFollow delays. In a sequence of five linked AutoFollow cues with 1-second delays, the final cue is recalled four seconds after the first cue.

AutoFollow techniques

AutoFollow can be used to loop a sequence of cues indefinitely by pointing the last cue in a sequence back to the first cue (or back to itself in the minimal case). This can be useful for a vamping sort of structure, where a sequence of events must repeat for an indeterminate period. It is always possible to break out of such a loop by manually recalling a cue that is not in the loop. More information about vamping in CueStation can be found in Regions, Loops, and Vamping.

AutoFollow can also be useful if you prefer to build up automation sequences in functional chunks by defining some cues as Console only, others as Matrix only, and so on. This is espe- cially true for External Command subcues, like the recall of MIDI Machine Control Locate fol- lowed by a sequence of Play commands.

Timecode

To recall a cue by timecode:

1. Right-click in the Trigger column of a cue, and choose either Timecode or TC-Fwd ONLY.

2. Enter the timecode in the Time column for the cue.

Cues recalled by timecode can be arranged into very complex and precisely timed sequences. Timecode has the advantage of much finer control over the timing of a sequence, down to a single frame. It is possible to change the timing of one cue without affecting the timing of all of the subsequent cues.

The Transport window displays the Cue List Players, and provides controls for recalling cues and navigating through the cue lists. The columns shown are exactly the same as those in the Cue List window, including the cue index, ID, name, and other details. The active cue and cue-on-deck for each cue list are shown at the top of each cue list player. At the top of the window is a timecode display and a Master Stop button. At the bottom of each cue list player are five control buttons, to stop, rewind, move to previous, move to next, and go.

The Stop button on each cue list player stops only automation and playback recalled by that cue list player. The Master Stop button stops all automation and playback, regardless of ori- gin.

Each cue list player has a cue list menu next to the transport controls. To create or edit cue lists, use the Cue List window, as described in “Building a Cue List” on page 98.

At the top of the Cue List window, the name of the active cue is displayed, along with its cue index number (reflecting its position in the cue list). Directly below it is the name of the cue-on-deck. The active cue is the cue that was most recently recalled by the Go button, timecode, auto-follow, or external control. The active cue is highlighted with a green background in the Transport window.

The cue-on-deck is the cue that is recalled when the Go button is clicked. At that point, the cue-on-deck moves to the active cue position, and the next cue in the list becomes the cue-on-deck. The cue-on-deck is highlighted with a yellow background.

The cue-on-deck can also be set by double-clicking a cue in the Transport window.

The yellow buttons at the bottom of the window change the cue-on-deck without recalling cues. Click the Rewind button to set the first cue in the cue list as the cue-on-deck. Click the Previous button to step backward by one cue button. Click the Next buttons to step forward by one cue.

If the cue has any wait or fade times associated with it, the Go button becomes a status bar, with the percent complete matching the countdown (in seconds) on the Go button. The count-down time is based on subcue durations, wait times, and autofollow wait times. Wild Tracks and SpaceMap Trajectory times are not included.

Recall Filtering

Subcue recalls can be filtered by type in the Transport window. Filtering provides fields for specifying subcue types to exclude from cue recalls. This provides the ability to mask the recall of parts of a subcue, while allowing the other control points or channels to be recalled. Subcue addresses can also be filtered.

Transport Window, Recall Filtering Section

Cues recalled by timecode are recalled automatically when the timecode marker is reached. At the top of the window is a timecode display, which shows the current time and frame rate. The Enable Time Code Triggers button toggles whether timecode is online or offline.

If the Enable Time Code Triggers button is green, and the box next to it checked, timecode is enabled and D-Mitri receives timecode normally.

If the Enable Time Code Triggers button is gray, and the box next to it not checked, timecode is disabled and D-Mitri ignores any timecode it receives.

The timecode display can be hidden by deselecting Show Time Code in the Display menu. This does not affect the online/offline state.

Disabled Cue Lists ignore external triggers, timecode triggers, and autofollows.

CueStation has a Track-From-Top function similar to that used in many lighting consoles. Track-From-Top is a powerful command that quickly skips to a different point in the cue list, while setting all of the control points as though the preceding cues had all been recalled in order.

To use Track-From-Top:

A status window shows the progress of the Track-From-Top operation, as well as the status of each DCP. When the Track-From-Top is complete, the cue that was originally selected is still the cue-on-deck, ready to be fired as needed.

Track-From-Top can be initiated from any window, but if the Cue List window is active, then Track-From-Top tracks to the cue selected in the cue list. Otherwise, Track-From-Top uses the cue-on-deck in the Transport window.

Track-From-Top: External Commands

For subcue types other than External Commands, the control point addresses act as a key so that only the last one in a sequence is used. This makes Track-From-Top more efficient: instead of recalling hundreds of input level control points at one time, only the most recent level for each channel is recalled. Commands have three different Track-From-Top settings, which are assigned default values automatically when they are created. Right-click inside the TrackFromTop column in the subcue detail section to edit the Track-From-Top settings.

Yes

The Command is set to always be recalled during Track-From-Top.

No

The Command is set to never be recalled during Track-From-Top.

Key [string]

The Command is only recalled if it is the last external with the assigned key. For example, if cues 1, 3, and 5 each have a Command that is assigned to Key: A, and cues 2 and 4 each have a Command that is assigned to Key: B, only the Commands in cues 4 and 5 are recalled.

Right-click a key and choose Reset to reset the Track-From-Top setting back to the default.

Commands saved in older projects are assigned default Track-From-Top values.

The Transport window allows for some keyboard shortcuts to select and recall cues.

The number of Cue List Players is configured in the Mixer Configuration window, just like Virtual Groups, Buses, and Bus Assigns.

Cue List Players can be captured into cues. A Cue List Player type subcue contains the value of the cue list ID, and the cue-on-deck index.

When the cue is recalled, the selected Cue List Player switches to the chosen cue list, with the chosen cue as the cue-on-deck.

The first method of editing cues uses the Capture window and requires that changes be made live to the mixer.

When updating a specific subcue using Update Subcues, all cues that reference that subcue are updated to use the new settings.

Control point values in a subcue can also be edited by changing the values listed in the Value column. See the following section for more information on editing control point values.

Using the Preview Subcue feature to edit Control Points

Preview Subcue button can be used to edit control points in a subcue.

1. Using either of the Library windows, select a subcue to edit.

2. Click the Preview Subcue button at the top of the subcue editor pane. A yellow-bordered preview window appears, displaying the contents of the subcue as a mixer window.

3. Modify the enabled controls in the yellow-bordered preview window. This updates the sub- cue, without requiring changes to the actual audio mix.

4. Close the yellow-bordered preview window to finalize the changes.

Adding control points

Control points can be added or removed from a subcue. This is a particularly useful way of creating subcues that contain combinations of control points that are not easily selected through the Capture window.

1. Click Add Entry. A new, blank control point is added at the bottom of the list.

2. Type the exact name of the control point in the Control Points column. This name must correspond to an existing name in the Control Point Sets tab of the Capture window. You can add a channel range to the name. Channels are separated with a space or comma, ranges of channels are indicated by using a dash between numbers. For example, 1– 4,6,8 indicates channels 1 through 4, plus channels 6 and 8.

3. Using either the CueStation graphical interface, or by typing values directly, set the value, wait, and fade parameters for the control point.

4. To have the changes immediately take effect, double-click the arrow to the right of the ID number.

Control points can be added using the Capture window by selecting additional channels in the mixer windows and then selecting Amend Mode.

Removing control points

To remove control points, select the control point(s) and click Delete Selected.

Control points can also be removed from a subcue when using the Capture window. When a Capture Differences is performed in Replace Mode, only those channels which are selected at the time are included in the subcue. For example, if a subcue originally contains control point values for inputs 1–4, and channels 3–6 are selected for Capture Differences, the resulting subcue contains control point values for 3–6.

Copy-On-Write

A shared subcue is a subcue that is referenced by multiple cues. Updating a shared subcue in the Subcue Library window is a global change; all cues that reference it are updated to use the new control point values. However, when updating a shared subcue within the Cue Library or Cue List, Copy-On-Write is implemented. The control points for the current cue are changed, but all other cues retain the original control point values.

Copy-On-Write effects the following changes when a subcue is updated in the Cue Library:

• A copy of the original subcue is created with a new ID number. All other cues are edited to reference the new subcue ID number.

• The original subcue (which is then no longer shared) is changed to reflect the new control point values.

Note

If the project includes External Commands that recall subcues, the subcue ID numbers stored in an External Command subcue are changed as necessary when this process occurs.

CueStation provides two commands in the Edit menu to assist in working with shared sub- cues.

Search for cues and subcues by using the Find command in the Edit menu of the Cue List, Cue Library, and Subcue Library windows. A dialog box is displayed with the following controls:

Items selected by the search have their text rendered in bold, so the selection can be changed without losing the search results. To reset the text to normal, close and reopen the window.

Control points in cues can be batch-edited to save time. For example, with a sequence of cues that include System Level subcues, follow these steps to change the level for the entire sequence to –3 dB:

One or more cues or subcues can be examined to show their contents. Examining cues and subcues displays more specific information than shown in various columns of the Cue Library and Subcue Library windows. The Examine command is also used to compare multiple Cues and Subcues and identify their differences.

Subcue Text View Window

Subcue Text Diff View Window

When Show Diffs is used with more than two items, choose the item to be shown in each pane by selecting an item from the Left column and an item from the Right column. Each number corresponds to the Cue or Subcue ID.

Additional Examine commands

Additional commands are available from Diff view.

Command	Function
Show Matching Lines	Displays lines that are identical between the two compared items.
Display	Choose Expanded to parse all control point number ranges and display a verbose listing of all control points. Choose Compact to reduce the control point display by combining ranges.

These buttons provide shortcuts to the most commonly used settings. When the Capture window is opened, Amend is selected by default.

These boxes specify how the newly captured data should be combined with the data that is already present inside subcues during Capture Differences and Update Subcues operations. These controls are not relevant during Capture New operations and are therefore disabled when Capture New (F3 or F4) is selected.

There are two sets of data, shown with a Venn diagram that visually demonstrates the result of the operation:

The Operator setting specifies which control point addresses should end up in the resulting subcue. It has four possible states.

The Precedence setting specifies what happens to control points that are present in both NEW and OLD sets. The Precedence setting has the following states.

This is an example update-subcue scenario and the results from the operation with each possible combination of Operator and Precedence settings.

A pre-existing cue contains an Input Mute subcue, containing the following data:

Input 1–6 Mute = false

To demonstrate the control point status visually, channels will by listed in order with T for True and F for False. The following represents a subcue with input mutes 1–6 as false and does not contain mutes 7–8.

OLD: [FFFFFF..]

Capture Differences is used while Channel Selects specify Input Mutes 3–8 only, and all the system’s Input Mutes are active (muted) when capture takes place. The NEW set is:

Input 3–8 Mute = true

Or graphically:

NEW: [..TTTTTT]

Since there are four possible Operator states and three Precedence states, a total of twelve operations are possible.

New Control Points Only

Operator set to New Control Points Only; Precedence set to New Values Preferred.

Set	Value	Interpretation
Old	[FFFFFF..]	Input 1–6 Mute = false
New	[..TTTTTT]	Input 3–8 Mute = true
Result	[..TTTTTT]	Input 3–8 Mute = true

Operator set to New Control Points Only; Precedence set to Old Values Preferred.

Set	Value	Interpretation
Old	[FFFFFF..]	Input 1–6 Mute = false
New	[..TTTTTT]	Input 3–8 Mute = true
Result	[..FFFFTT]	Input 3–8 Mute = false; Input 7–8 Mute = true

Operator set to New Control Points Only; Precedence set to New Values Always.

Set	Value	Interpretation
Old	[FFFFF..]	Input 1–6 Mute = false
New	[..TTTTTT]	Input 3–8 Mute = true
Result	[..TTTTTT]	Input 3–8 Mute = true

Intersection

Operator set to Intersection; Precedence set to New Values Preferred.

Set	Value	Interpretation
Old	[FFFFF..]	Input 1–6 Mute = false
New	[..TTTTTT]	Input 3–8 Mute = true
Result	[..TTTT..]	Input 3–6 Mute = true

Operator set to Intersection; Precedence set to Old Values Preferred.

Set	Value	Interpretation
Old	[FFFFF..]	Input 1–6 Mute = false
New	[..TTTTTT]	Input 3–8 Mute = true
Result	[..TTTT..]	Input 3–6 Mute = false

Operator set to Intersection; Precedence set to New Values Always.

Set	Value	Interpretation
Old	[FFFFF..]	Input 1–6 Mute = false
New	[..TTTTTT]	Input 3–8 Mute = true
Result	[..TTTT..]	Input 3–6 Mute = true

Union

Operator set to Union; Precedence set to New Values Preferred.

Set	Value	Interpretation
Old	[FFFFFF..]	Input 1–6 Mute = false
New	[..TTTTTT]	Input 3–8 Mute = true
Result	[..TTTT..]	Input 1–2 Mute = false; Input 3–6 Mute = true; Input 7–8 Mute = false

Operator set to Union; Precedence set to Old Values Preferred.

Set	Value	Interpretation
Old	[FFFFFF..]	Input 1–6 Mute = false
New	[..TTTTTT]	Input 3–8 Mute = true
Result	[FFFFFFTT]	Input 1–6 Mute = false; Input 7–8 Mute = true

Operator set to Union; Precedence set to New Values Always.

Set	Value	Interpretation
Old	[FFFFF..]	Input 1–6 Mute = false
New	[..TTTTTT]	Input 3–8 Mute = true
Result	[TTTTTTTT]	Input 1–8 Mute = true

NOTE: In this mode, control point values can be changed for channels that are not selected. For this example, we are assuming that all input channels are

muted on the mixer.

Old Control Points Only

Operator set to Old Control Points Only; Precedence set to New Values Preferred.

Set	Value	Interpretation
Old	[FFFFFF..]	Input 1–6 Mute = false
New	[..TTTTTT]	Input 3–8 Mute = true
Result	[FFTTTT..]	Input 1–2 Mute = false; Input 3–6 Mute = true

Operator set to Old Control Points Only; Precedence set to Old Values Preferred.

Set	Value	Interpretation
Old	[FFFFFF..]	Input 1–6 Mute = false
New	[..TTTTTT]	Input 3–8 Mute = true
Result	[FFFFFF..]	Input 1–6 Mute = false

Operator set to Old Control Points Only; Precedence set to New Values Always.

Set	Value	Interpretation
Old	[FFFFFF..]	Input 1–6 Mute = false
New	[..TTTTTT]	Input 3–8 Mute = true
Result	[TTTTTT..]	Input 1–6 Mute = true

The Cue Library provides access to the cues that have been captured or constructed for the project. The Cue Library window has three areas: Cue Library, Subcue, and Control Point list.

Cue Library Window

Selecting a cue shows the subcues it references, and selecting a subcue shows the control points it uses.

Cue Library area

The Cue Library area of the window, in the upper left corner, shows the set of all cues in the project. These can be sorted by any of the column headings.

Column Data	Description
ID	A unique number assigned to the cue. Show control systems recalling a cue must refer to it by its ID.
Name	The cue name. If the cue is renamed, that change is reflected in the Cue List.
Overlap	Indicates whether pending cue actions such as delayed subcues are completed (Yes) or canceled (No) when the cue is recalled. Yes is the default setting.
Refs	Shows how many times the cue is referenced by a cue list. Right-click in the Refs column to see which cue lists reference the cue.
Comment	Provides a place to type a comment.
Created	A value indicating the date and time the cue was created.
Modified	Shows the time and date that the subcue was last edited.
Enabled	Shows whether a cue is enabled or disabled. Right-click to toggle between states.
Locked	Shows whether a cue is unlocked (editable) or locked. Right-click to toggle between states.
Wild Tracks Channel Assignments	Shows which channels are used by Wild Tracks in that cue, indicated by a green background. Right-click and drag the numbers to change the channel assignments.

Subcue and Control Point list areas

When selecting a cue in the Cue Library window, the subcues are listed on the right, and the control points are listed in the lower pane of the window. For the most part, the subcue and control point areas of this window function like those of the “Editing Cues” on page 108, with the following exceptions:

• The Update All button does not change the subcue globally. If the subcue is referenced by other cues, Copy-On-Write is used instead. More information about this process can be found in “Editing Cues” on page 108.

• Update Selected works similarly to Update All, but only for the selected control points.

Building Cues

Procedure. To build cues:

1. In the Cue Library window, choose Cues > New Cue. A new blank cue is shown in the appropriate list. The cue is created with the name Cue X. However, a new name can be typed immediately after the cue is created, without having to highlight it.

2. Choose Subcues > New Subcue Entry.

3. Right-click in the ID column of the subcue entry and select a subcue from the list.

Note

Subcues can be added to a cue by right-clicking and dragging them from the Subcue Library into the Cue Library and dropping them in the Subcue List area. A cue can also be created by selecting several subcues in the Subcue Library and dropping them directly into the Cue List area.

Cues menu

The Cues menu contains commands specific to the Cue Library window.

Command	Function
Recall Cue	Recalls the selected cue.
Instant Recall Subcue	Recalls the selected cue, but ignores all wait and fade times.
New Cue	Create a new cue.
Duplicate Cue	Duplicates the selected cue (or cues).
Delete Cue	Deletes the selected cue (or cues).

Subcue Entries menu

The Subcue Entries menu contains commands specific to subcues shown in the Cue Library window.

Command	Function
Compass User Guide (xx/xx/xxxx)	Recalls the selected subcue entry.
Instant Recall Subcue Entry	Recalls the selected subcue entry, but ignores all wait and fade times.
New Subcue Entry	Create a new subcue entry.
Duplicate Subcue Entry	Duplicates the selected subcue entry (or entries).
Delete Subcue Entry	Deletes the selected subcue entry (or entries).
Capture Differences	Create a duplicate of the selected subcue, except with the current mixer val- ues.
Update Subcues	Capture the current mixer state into the selected subcue. All other cues that reference the subcue are updated to include the updated values.

The Subcue Library window provides access to all the subcues that have been captured or built manually for the project, and allows the creation of new subcues.

Subcue Library Window

Selecting a subcue shows the control point values associated with it. Control points can be added, removed, or changed as needed.

There are two major components in the Subcue Library window: the Subcue List, to the left, and the Subcue Parameters List to the right.

Subcue List Area

This area has two control areas: a subcue type selection box on top, and a subcue list beneath.

Subcue Type selection box

The Show selection box allows you to limit the types of subcues listed. You can choose All Subcue Types, which lists all known subcues, or a specific type of subcue can be chosen.

The subcue types are maintained using the Subcue Types tab of the Capture window.

Note

If a specific type of subcue is selected, Subcues > New Subcue creates a new subcue of that same type. For example, if Mixer Settings are selected as the filter, Subcues > New Subcue creates a new Mixer Settings subcue.

Subcue List

The subcues can be sorted by any of the column headings.

Column Data	Description
ID	A system-assigned number. It is user-modifiable.
Name	The subcue name. When subcues are created by capturing, they are given the same name as that of the cue, with the subcue type appended to the name. When a subcue is renamed, any cues that reference it are updated to use the new name.
Type	Identifies the subcue type. New subcue types can be created using the Capture window.

Column Data	Description
Refs	Shows how many times the subcue is used (referenced) by a cue, or by another subcue. Right-click in the Refs column to display a list of all of the cues (or other subcues) which reference it.
Comment	Provides a place to type a comment.
Created	A timestamp showing the date and time the cue was created.
Modified	A timestamp showing the last time the cue was edited.
Enabled	Shows whether the subcue is enabled or not. Disabled subcues are highlighted in pink, and are not recalled, even where they belong to cues that are recalled.
Locked	Shows whether or not the subcue is locked. Locked subcues are highlighted in gray.

Tip

If a subcue is disabled globally within the Subcue Library, it also appears as disabled within any of the cues that reference it (i.e. in the Cue Library and Cue List windows).

Subcue Parameters List area

The Subcue Parameters List area displays control points associated with any selected sub- cue. This area has two collections of controls: Command Buttons on top, and Control Point List underneath.

Tip

Subcue command types are annotated with help text, which is visible at the bottom of the Command editing area of the Subcue Library window.

Command buttons

The command buttons create, remove, update, and analyze the control points.

Command	Function
Add Entry	Adds a new, blank control point to the list. When the control point is named, that name must correspond exactly to an existing name in the Control Point Sets tab of the Capture window.
Resolve Duplicates	Enabled when one of a set of duplicated control points is selected. All dupli- cates of the selected control point are deleted, and if there are other sets of duplicate entries, only the most recently created one is saved.
Delete Selected	Deletes a control point from the list.
Update All Rows	Sets all of the subcue’s control points to the values of the graphical mixer controls.
Update Selected Rows	Sets only the selected control points to the values of the graphical mixer con- trols.
Preview Subcue	Opens a window of the selected subcue type and allows the subcue to be viewed without recalling the settings on the hardware. The window has a yel- low background. Its active controls match those that are part of the subcue, and can be used to adjust the subcue.
Display	Determines how much detail is displayed in the Control Point List. There are three options: Compact: This makes the list as short as possible by combining control points with the same type and values into one entry. Semicompact: This combines some control points of the same type and values into one entry. Expanded: This displays every control point on a separate line.
Channel Selects	Shows which channels were selected on the latest capture.
Adjust Selected Indices box	Shows a list of all subcue types used in that subcue, and it allows changes to the index for all types at the same time instead of having to edit each one by hand.

To adjust an index:

1. Select the control points to be edited.

2. Choose the control point type from the Adjust Selected Indices box.

3. For the Adjust by value, type in the difference between the current value and the desired value. For example, if the value is 4, type 2 to change the value to 6. To reduce that 6 value back to 3, type –3.

4. Click the Adjust Selected Indices button to make the changes.

NOTE: In subcues with over 10,000 control points (such as a bus assign subcue affecting all input channels), the Expanded view still shows a semi-compact

view, to improve performance. To override this setting, re-select the Expanded option to view all control points individually.

Control Point List

With the exception of the Control Points column, click a column label to sort the entries alphabetically by descending order. Click the column again to sort them in reverse order. Click Control Points to toggle between different sorting methods. The first method is the traditional way of sorting by type and then by channel; all the entries of one type display first, then all the entries of the next type, and so on. The second method sorts strictly alphabetically by channel, so types alternate in the display instead of being grouped together.

Column Data	Description
Control Points	Identifies a specific set of control points by name. These names correspond to those available in the Control Point Sets tab of the Capture window. A new name can be entered, but it is invalid if it does not exactly correspond to an existing name. Use the Capture window to create new control point sets.
Value	Sets the destination value for the control point. The values can be decibels, text labels, true/ false, and so on.
Wait	Sets the delay between recalling the subcue and the actual start of movement for the control point. This value is measured in seconds.
Fade	Sets the length of time it takes the control point to reach its destination value. This value is measured in seconds.
Enabled	Shows whether the control point is enabled or not. Disabled control points are also highlighted in pink, and is not recalled as part of the subcue recall.

Caution

Duplicate control points are highlighted in red. These conflicting control point value assignments must be resolved: two identical control points can- not be played at the same time within a subcue. The only way to resolve such a conflict is to remove one of the control points.

Creating new Subcues

1. Choose Windows > Subcue Library to open the Subcue Library window.

2. Choose Subcues > New Subcue [subcue type]. Choose a subcue type appropriate for the type of control points that are to be used. A name is automatically created for the subcue depending on the type. (For some types, control points are automatically included as well.)

3. Add and update control points as needed.

The Subcues menu contains commands specific to the Subcue Library window.

For most commands, parameters can be manually configured. These fields vary depending on the command that is specified. Beneath the parameter configuration area is the byte sequence that is transmitted, shown by a string of hexadecimal pairs.

Aliases are specified with a dollar sign, followed by the alias label. CueStation expands these aliases when recalling the commands that contain them. Alias contents are specified in the Alias tab in the CueStation Mixer Configuration window (see Aliases tab for more information).

For this example, a Multi-Media Control (MMC) compatible video machine is connected to the system by an RS-232 cable. It is to be controlled through the Transport window as part of an overall audio-visual show. Specifically, to start the video at one point in the show and stop it at another point.

Either subcue can now be added to a cue. When the cue is recalled (via the Transport, time-code, CueConsole, or other means), the MMC-aware video machine starts and stops the video. If there is an option to rewind the video to the start location, a rewind subcue can also be created to use at the start of the show during initialization.