Chapter 5: Performing Shows	Previous Chapter - - - Next Chapter
Chapter 1: Connecting to a LanBox Chapter 2: Rigging a stage Chapter 3: Control Your Lights Chapter 4a: Cues and Chases Chapter 5: Performing Shows Live shows Layer identifiers and layer locking Automated shows Action commands overview Interactive multimedia shows	Chapter 6: Fixture Definitions Chapter 7: Fast Key Commands Chapter 8: UDP networking usage Chapter 9: DMX input and MIDI usage

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Live shows

Some people think that live shows can only be done from conventional desks, well let's see. A lighting desk is just a special computer, with special DMX hardware, and with a lot of knobs. You use special DMX hardware (a LanBox), and a standard computer with screen and keys. The only difference is the human interface, the way of working, and cost

Let's say you have to do the lighting of a party with a mix of performances (a band, a speaker, a DJ). First of all, prepare your show! In this case you need many cues and chases, which can be called instant by a Go. Set-up enough layers so you can easy switch between e.g. a flash, a blackout, a static background, a wild chase, etc. Besides the bare lighting cues, it's very handy to create some shortcut control cues, like cue 3 below. It's starts a bouncing flash chase (cue 500) in layer A, and after 3 seconds, it starts a normal lighting loop (cue 100) -and- a background cue (501.4) in layers B and C:

// Cuelist 3 (8 steps), stored 02-10-2003 11:39
-- Flash3s
set layer A to chase bounce loop at 100%
go 500.1 in layer A
hold for 3.0s
-- gonormal
reset layer A
go 100.1 in layer B
go 501.4 in layer C

Each time you do the command g3zz, the flash will run for 3 seconds, and ends with 100.1 in B, and 501.4 in C, while A is cleared after the flash. We silently introduced something new; dynamic layer. The zz at the end of command g3 means create a new unlocked layer to run cue 3. As you can see in the picture cue 3 is running in a new top layer which has no identifier (no [..]), and is not locked. This type of layer will be there until the end of the cuelist 3, and will then be automatically deleted. So, it's perfect for jobs like a flash. Note: You can (must for the classic LanBox) also run a control cue in any static layer.

As cue 500 is used as a bouncing chase, we show you below that even a simple chase can be turned into a flashy wave. Note: you can copy and paste the examples into the cuelist editor and store it.

// Cuelist 500 (4 steps), stored 02-10-2003 11:15
show d01 for 0.10s
show d02 for 0.10s
show d03 for 0.10s
show d04 for 0.10s

:d01
1[255] 2[255] 3[127] 4[003] 5[003] 6[127]
7[255] 8[255]

:d02
1[255] 2[255] 3[255] 4[255] 5[127] 6[003]
7[003] 8[127]

:d03
1[003] 2[127] 3[255] 4[255] 5[255] 6[255]
7[127] 8[003]

:d04
1[127] 2[003] 3[003] 4[127] 5[255] 6[255]
7[255] 8[255]

You can image that when you have a nice collection of control cues, it's much easier to insert a flash, a wild chase, etc. at any time you need them. The g3zz command can be typed very quickly, but in the Keys chapter you will learn how to make it even shorter; just one keystroke is needed then!

Layer identifiers and layer locking

As shown in the flash example it's possible to create a new layer, even without identifier with the zz identifier. Layers are normally identified by a one or two letter combination. Allowed is from [A]-[Z] and [AA]-[BK], no identifier is also fine, but then it's impossible to refer to that layer. Normally a layer is locked, which means that even when a cuelist is ended, the layer will be kept (it's static). When a layer is not locked, it will be automatically deleted as soon as the running cuelist has ended, this happens in our flash example. This is called a dynamic layer, and is a feature of the LanBox-LCX and LCM only. -

Automated shows

Other than live shows, automated shows are running for ever after power up. These type of shows are often used in presentations, and they also often use various media like lights, sound, video, etc. at the time. Normally you need a show controller for this, but a LanBox-LCX (or even a LCM) can also be used as show controller to a certain extend.

We learned already how to make control cues, well a show control is just one step further, but we need to learn a few more action commands. We further assume that the audio or video equipment can be controlled via MIDI (on the LCX you also have digital outputs which can be used to control external equipment).

To run a multimedia show from power up, we need to create at least one special cue.
First of all this cue should contain startup steps, which startups lamps (maybe protect from hot restarts), and initializes the external equipment when needed. In order to control an audio recorder we added two MMC (Midi Machine Commands) with the "write" action.

The rest of the show control cue is just as the Flash control cue, but it is endless, and it must run in a static layer (dynamic layers do not survive a power down). Here is the same cue 3, but now made for auto run and to be saved as cue 1:

//Cuelist 1 (21 steps), stored 02-10-2003 12:11
hold for 10s
-- lamps on
go 99.1 in layer A
hold for 20s
--
001:
-- Flash3s
set layer A to chase bounce loop at 100%
go 500.1 in layer A
hold for 3.0s
-- gonormal
reset layer A
go 100.1 in layer B
go 501.4 in layer C
-- MMCplay
write F0 7F 7F to MIDI
write 06 02 F7 to MIDI
hold for 1.0m
-- MMCrew
write F0 7F 7F to MIDI
write 06 05 F7 to MIDI
go 001

If you start this cue e.g. in layer d (g1d), and immediately do a "Save LanBox Data" after this command, your show will always start with this cue, and keeps running for ever. Note: In the classic LanBox this cue -must- be stored as cue 1, and "write to midi" is not supported.

Action commands overview

Below you find the formal list of all actions. Use the action dialog to see the usage of all possible parameters.

• Shows a lighting scene for a certain time, with optional fade actions=
  • show (<scene>|previous) [for] <time>
  • show (<scene>|previous) [for] <time> [,] fading [in|out] [cr] [for] <time>
  • show (<scene>|previous) [for] <time> [,] crossfading [cr] [for] <time>
  • show (<scene>|previous) [for] <time> [,] split [fading] (in|out) [cr] [for] <time>

• Instructs a layer to Go to a certain cue (step).
  • go <cuelist>.<cuestep> [in [layer] <layer>
  • go <cuestep> in [layer] <layer>
  • go (next|prev) [in [layer] <layer>]
  • go <jumplabel>
  • go (<cuestep>|<jumplabel> if input <inputnum> (within|outside) <range>
  • go (<cuestep>|<jumplabel> if channel <channelnum> (within|outside) <range>

• Loops and holds
  • loop <count> [times] [to] <jumplabel>
  • hold [for] <time>
  • hold until switch [is] (negative|positive)

• Layer control
  • suspend [layer] <layer>]
  • resume [layer] <layer>]
  • start [layer] <layer>
  • halt [layer] <layer>
  • reset [layer] <layer>

• Layer and sequencer modes
  • set attributes [of [layer] <layer>] to (none | (fade|output|solo|and)+ )
  • set [layer] [<layer>] to (no output|copy|mix HTP|mix LTP|add)
  • set [layer] [<layer>] to mix [transparent] (at <percentage>|from <percentage> to <percentage> in <time>)
  • set [layer] [<layer>] to stop chaser
  • set [layer] [<layer>] to chase [up|down|random|bounce] [loop] (at <percentage>|from <percentage> to <percentage> in <time>

• Writes up to 5 bytes to a stream. Currently the only stream is "midi"
  • write <hexstring> [ to <stream> ]

Interactive multimedia shows

An automated show as we described before is often very useful, but what if you also want some form of interaction to change the show? As an example we create a show control cue which is capable to run two different shows depending on which push button has been pressed. Note: The push button could also have been e.g. pressure sensitive sensors, connected to the analog inputs of a LanBox-LCX. Normally interactive shows also runs from power up, so we use our previous cue 1, and modify it with interaction. From the original cue 1 we remove the startup actions, and store it as cue 5 and a copy into 6. Cue 5 and 6 are now our shows to choose from with a push button. We need to modify the original cue 1 in this way:

// Cuelist 1 (11 steps), stored 02-10-2003 13:54
hold for 10s
-- lamps on
go 99.1 in layer A
hold for 20s
-- testsw
001:
hold for 0.50s        // the sample time
go 002 if input 1 within 0 - 512
go 5.1 in layer D     // start cue 5 if button 1 is pressed, else test next input
002:
go 003 if input 2 within 0 - 512
go 6.1 in layer D     // start cue 6 if button 2 is pressed, else test next input
003:
go 001

Now run this new cue 1 in e.g. layer E. After the initial startup, this show control cue continuously test the two buttons, and start show control cue 5 or 6 depending on the button pressed.

This was just a simple example of switch testing, but many other solutions are possible. It's e.g. also possible to use certain light channels instead of inputs, or use several different cues depending on how near you come to a IR sensor. As told before the LanBox-Talk list is the way to gather and exchange more information. This was all to learn about shows, it was just a starter, but we hope it help you to shorten the learning time. The next two chapters handles how to create fixture definitions, and the magic of keys.

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-- FokkoVanDuin - 18 May 2007