First use of Inhibit? (school-boy question)

[kgallen]

Not urgent (as in a few days will be fine!).

(Simplified scenario to get to the nub of how I program this requirement).

Basically I want to be able to highlight some panto business at a stage position with a special (channel 3) but I want to check back the general cover in that area (channels 1 and 2).

Let's say channels 1 and 2 (plus others) are part of the general cover and are on stage and bright, say 90%, and they are sourced from a cue stack running on the main playback. I'll be Tracking on.

I want to program another manually-applied playback, say PB1, where I want the playback fader to take channel 3 (the special) up to full but also to take channels 1 and 2 down to (say) 50%. All intensities would be proportional to PB1 fader. If the PB1 fader is reduced to zero, I want the controlled channels (1,2,3) to release back to main playback control.

If I use this PB1 when channels 1 and 2 are currently at 0%, then I want them to stay at 0%, not come on!

How would I program this? Is this a use of Inhibit (for channels 1 and 2).

Maybe I program PB1 with 1@@, 2 AND 3@50 and then Setup PB1 as Inhibit with Release on Lower enabled. Do I need to do anything else (like set LTP?). When I run this on PB1 do I need to start pressing PB1 GO button or can I just use the fader (desired).

Thanks!

[kgallen]

I did this:

 1@@, 2 AND 3@50

and had to set PB1 to Intensity Mixing = LTP, and it worked perfectly if ch1,2 are on (and above 50%). If ch1,2 are off then they come on at 50% which is not what I want...

Setting to Inhibit didn't work at all as I expected. The PB1 fader was at 0 and the main cue was live (1,2@90). Raising PB1, it took ch1,2 to 45 (expected, this is 50% of the 90) but ch3 didn't come on at all, and when I dropped the fader, ch1,2 went out - did not release to the main playback. In the PB1 Raise and Lower, all of the Raise and Release settings were greyed out, so I couldn't disable Release on Lower.

Probably this is all as expected to Edward, but clearly I'm not understanding Inhibit very well!

 

[Davidmk]

2 hours ago, kgallen said:

I want the playback fader to take channel 3 (the special) up to full but also to take channels 1 and 2 down to (say) 50%

 

1 hour ago, kgallen said:

Setting to Inhibit didn't work at all as I expected

Inhibit sets a top limit on intensity values - like a grandmaster that only applies to certain channels. I don't think you can use it to both reduce and increase intensities. Nearest I can suggest, using inhibit, is to record chs 1 & 2 @100% on PB3 and set that to inhibit and ch 3 on PB4 @100% put PB at full and leave it there until it is needed. When the business happens, reduce PB3 and increase PB4.

It's either that or record a cue for the business and another to restore the state.

[Jon Hole]

7 hours ago, Davidmk said:

like a grandmaster that only applies to certain channels. I don't think you can use it to both reduce and increase intensities.

This is exactly right. Your suggestion of two playbacks is the only way I can think of doing this too - because the behaviour needs to change based on the status of Ch 1&2, making LTP not suitable.

[Edward Z88]

23 hours ago, kgallen said:

Basically I want to be able to highlight some panto business at a stage position with a special (channel 3) but I want to check back the general cover in that area (channels 1 and 2).

Let's say channels 1 and 2 (plus others) are part of the general cover and are on stage and bright, say 90%, and they are sourced from a cue stack running on the main playback.

There have been occasions where I've needed to do this. In these situations, I raise my special playback, and simultaneously lower my Master Playback's fader, until I've got the balance how I want it. Is there a particular reason you don't want to touch the Master Playback in this situation?

22 hours ago, kgallen said:

when I dropped the fader, ch1,2 went out - did not release to the main playback. In the PB1 Raise and Lower, all of the Raise and Release settings were greyed out, so I couldn't disable Release on Lower.

21 hours ago, Davidmk said:

Inhibit sets a top limit on intensity values - like a grandmaster that only applies to certain channels

As @Davidmk mentions, Inhibit is essentially a Grand Master for certain fixtures. You cannot "release" the Grand Master - it always governs the overall intensity output from the console. This is therefore the same behaviour of an inhibit playback - the Trigger On Raise & Release On Lower options are irrelevant, so are greyed out.

[kgallen]

On 12/17/2023 at 1:24 PM, Davidmk said:

Nearest I can suggest, using inhibit, is to record chs 1 & 2 @100% on PB3 and set that to inhibit and ch 3 on PB4 @100% put PB at full and leave it there until it is needed. When the business happens, reduce PB3 and increase PB4.

Thanks @Davidmk and @Jon Hole I think as you suggest this is the most practical solution.

8 hours ago, Edward Z88 said:

There have been occasions where I've needed to do this. In these situations, I raise my special playback, and simultaneously lower my Master Playback's fader, until I've got the balance how I want it. Is there a particular reason you don't want to touch the Master Playback in this situation?

Hi @Edward Z88, thanks! Yea I've done this in the past, but in this instance it will be just part of the lighting state I want to check back, not the whole rig.

I've watched the Inhibit video https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/cues-playbacks/playback-settings/general a couple of times to clarify this function.

Thanks all for your help! 🙂

[Edward Z88]

12 minutes ago, kgallen said:

but in this instance it will be just part of the lighting state I want to check back, not the whole rig.

Ah yep, a dedicated Inhibit is the way to go then 👍🏼