Timing and Playback
Studio runs every cue and chase on one clock, set in BPM. Durations are counted in bars, not seconds, so a whole show speeds up or slows down with the tempo and stays in time. This page explains the units; how to set the tempo and play the show is in Playing a show.
Beats and Bars
| Unit | Length |
|---|---|
| Beat | 60 ÷ BPM seconds: 0.5 s at 120 BPM |
| Bar | 4 beats: 2 s at 120 BPM, 4 s at 60 BPM |
Cue and chase durations are whole numbers of bars. An effect's Freq counts waveform cycles per duration, so its speed follows the tempo too.
| At 120 BPM | Lasts |
|---|---|
| A scene with Duration 1 | 2 s fade |
| An effect with Duration 2 and Freq 1 | one cycle every 4 s |
| A chase with Duration 4 | 8 s per pass |
In the demo show (120 BPM): Warm wash and Sunset fade in over 1 bar, 2 s. Rainbow runs over 2 bars, one hue cycle every 4 s. Ballyhoo has Freq 2 over 2 bars: two circles in 4 s, twice as fast. The chase Story lasts 8 bars, 16 s. At 60 BPM, every one of those takes twice as long, and the cues still change on the same beats.
Starting on the Bar
When you start a chase, its Quantize decides when it actually begins: on the next bar, so chases started a little early or late still land together on the downbeat, or at once. The setting is a chase's (Chases).
How Cues End
A cue's Loop Style decides what happens at the end of its duration:
| One Shot | Loop | |
|---|---|---|
| Scene | Fades in over its duration, stops; its look stays | Stays on after its fade, until stopped |
| Effect | Runs its duration once, stops | Repeats until stopped (the default) |
A scene's Start sets where its fade begins, from 0 or from the current values: see How a scene fades.
What Plays Together
- Several cues of a group can play at once; when they set the same channel, the last one to write it wins.
- A group plays one chase at a time: starting one stops the other.
- A master row starts a chase in every group at once.
- Pausing freezes every cue and chase where it is; output keeps running.