Chases
A chase plays a group's cues on a timeline, in time with the show's tempo: a scene on the first bar, an effect over the next two, another scene at the end. Each group has its own chases, in its column of the Group Pool; a group plays one chase at a time.
Chases are how a show runs by itself: instead of clicking cues on the beat, you lay them out once, and the chase plays them in time, at whatever tempo the music is.
In the demo show: Rig's chase Story lasts 8 bars and loops. Each of the four cues has an item 2 bars long, one after the other: Warm wash, Rainbow, Ballyhoo, Sunset. Played, it tells the same story as the home page: watch it in Playing a show.
Creating a Chase
Double click an empty chase slot in a group's column of the group pool. The new chase opens in the chase view at the bottom of the screen, with a lane for each of the group's cues.
Click a chase's name in the group pool to open it later. Below is Story in the chase view.
Chase Settings
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The chase's name |
| Duration | The chase's length, in bars (1–99) |
| Color | The chase's colour in the group pool |
| Quantize | When a chase you start actually begins: 1/1 waits for the start of the next bar, None starts at once |
| Trigger | Loop plays the chase until you stop it; One Shot plays it once |
Durations are in bars, so a chase stays in time when the tempo changes: at 120 BPM, a 4-bar chase lasts 8 seconds; at 60 BPM, 16 seconds.
Note: In this release, 1/8, 1/4 and 1/2 wait 1, 2 and 3 beats rather than the fraction of a bar their name says. Use 1/1 or None (Known limitations).
The Timeline
Each lane is one of the group's cues; the ruler counts bars and beats. A cue item on a lane plays that cue from where it starts, for as long as it lasts.
- Add a cue item: double click its lane where it should start. It gets the cue's duration, or less if another item follows.
- Move it: drag its middle. Resize it: drag its right edge.
- Remove it: right click it.
- Zoom: drag up or down on the ruler; double click the ruler to reset.
- Fold cues hides the lanes that have no items.
Items on different lanes can overlap: their cues then play together. Overlaps are how you layer: put Rainbow over the second half of Warm wash and the heads keep their warm aim while their colour starts cycling, because Rainbow only moves colour channels.
When an item ends
| Cue | At the item's end |
|---|---|
| Scene | Its look stays until another item changes the same channels |
| Effect | It stops; its channels keep the value they had at that moment |
So a chase that ends on an effect leaves the lights wherever the effect was. End on a scene (as Story does with Sunset) for a clean, known look.
Deleting a Chase
With the chase open in the chase view, press Delete or Backspace. The chase is deleted at once, without a confirmation.
Playing Chases
See Playing a show.