Background Scene?

[Richysun]

Hi,

is it possible to define a standard/background scene in qlc which fires if no button is selected on the virtual console?

Background info:
- i do have f.e. a simple setup: RGBW Leds, 3 scenes: All Blue, All Green, AllRed
- Virtual console with 3 Buttons in a solo frame: Blue, Green, Red - each button fires the corresponding scene.
- Under normal conditions, everything works fine: Pressing Red Button turns all lights to red, blue to blue, green to green.

And now comes the problem:
- if i press the f.e. the red button - every light turns on red, but if i press again the red button --- all lights goes off as no button on the virtual console is aktivated.

Imagine in a live situation, if you press one button twice by error, the stage is dark as no light is turned on.
In this case, if no button is activated, i like to have a standard scene kicks in to keep some lights on

Any hints are welcome!
Thanks
PS:I'm missing an option on the buttons: "If already aktive and pressed again, do nothing..."

[GGGss]

And what would this background scene look like if you only have one fixture present?
You could create a scene and set all levels to say 20%. Now you get a whiteish look on stage. Bind this scene to a button on your VC. Select it at startup.
Now (using the capabilities of HTP rules), selecting your red / blue / green solo buttons, the lights will go to red, blue etc but your base look will stay on stage...

An operator error is always possible and you cannot make this failsafe...

Your PS: " "If already aktive and pressed again, do nothing..."" is not an option because how will you be able to deactivate that button again? It brings in a lot of other problems then...

In stead of using buttons in your solo frame, you also could opt to use sliders in playback mode. Have a look https://www.qlcplus.org/docs/html_en_EN ... frame.html and try it.

[Richysun]

Thanks for your reply, let me be more precise:
1) "And what would this background scene look like if you only have one fixture present?" --> this was only an example to explain the situation. f.e an standard/backround scene should be automatically be activated if nothing else is activated on the vc.

2) "An operator error is always possible and you cannot make this failsafe..." --> yes but i will try. Our setup: We are a small band and the lights are controlled by the man who plays the keyboard as we cannot afford an light operator.
The man on the keyboard has a small midi keyboard which is connected over midi cable to a laptop where qlc is running. by pressing a key on the midi keyboard, a button is activated on the vc which plays a scene. If - by error - the same button is activated again, all lights are going down and the stage is dark. so you can imagine that this is not a goot situation when you have an uncontrolled, unwished blackout during a song.

3) "is not an option because how will you be able to deactivate that button again?" --> by pressing another button on the frame. by pressing a blackout button, etc. there are several ways to control. and it should be an option in the button definition. activated for some reason.

4) "In stead of using buttons in your solo frame, you also could opt to use sliders in playback mode." ---> will try it

[MichelSliepenbeek]

Two other options to try:

Change the color channels of your Fixtures from HTP to LTP.
Use a Chaser instead of a Solo Frame and let the midi keyboard work on Next and Previous.

If that does not work you could buy a midi foot switch and let the drummer controll the lighting.

[Richysun]

the idea with the chaser is an option but the then we do not have the freedom of the choice. we can ran only in the order of the chaser.
And: the drummer is not an option

But i have found an solution. it is a complex one, but it works.
Here is a short description how i solved the problem (hope my description isn't complex too and you could understand):

- create for each button you do have on the vc a dummy fixture with 1 channel in universe 2 (all real fixtures are in universe 1)
- define loopback between u1&u2
- the dummy fixture will be assigned as external input for the button
- create a flash button which sets the dummy fixture for the corresponding button to 255 and all other dummy fixture to 0
- hide the original button behind the flash button in order he is not seen on the vc
- create for each scene/function you want to control on the vc such as construct as described above.
- Put all in a solo frame

now, it behaves as i want: you can press the the flash button as often as you want. if the corresponding dummy fixture value is zero it will be set to 255 and activates the hidden button. if it is already on 255 --> nothing happens hence the original button will not be changed. if you press an other flash button, all other buttons will be deactivated because of the solo frame. Let the midi keyboard control the flash buttons.

I was hoping to achive it in an much easier way. but as it works for now, i'm happy. we will avoid unwanted blackouts in the future
PS: have attached my showfile in case someone want to take a look;

[MichelSliepenbeek]

The fun with QLC is that with some creativity you can always find a work around.

If you use a chaser in a Cue List, there is a way to select a specific step (of that Chaser).
On the last tab (of the Cue List) select the CrossFader option and define a loopback dimmer on that cross fader.
If your chaser has 5 steps, create 5 scenes setting this loopback dimmer to 26 (= 255 / 5 / 2), 77 (26 + (255 / 5), 128, 179 and 230.

This will do everything you want, untill ..... you add a scene to your chaser (then you have to do the math again and come up with values 21, 64, 107, 149, 191 and 233).


Now you have triggered my creativity, there is even an easier way: use Scripts.
For every scene you use, create a Script that first Stops all Scenes and then Start only the scene you want.
This way you don't need a solo frame anymore, a standard frame will do.

So if you have 3 scenes (Red, Green and Blue) your script for Red has to be:
Stop (Red)
Stop (Green)
Stop (Blue)
Start (Red)

Finaly, could it be that you are the drummer.

[GGGss]

- create for each button you do have on the vc a dummy fixture with 1 channel in universe 2 (all real fixtures are in universe 1)
- define loopback between u1&u2
- the dummy fixture will be assigned as external input for the button
- create a flash button which sets the dummy fixture for the corresponding button to 255 and all other dummy fixture to 0
- hide the original button behind the flash button in order he is not seen on the vc
- create for each scene/function you want to control on the vc such as construct as described above.
- Put all in a solo frame

A nifty solution misusing the internal trigger mechanism (if a value comes in, but is the same as before, this doesn't count as a trigger, so nothing happens).
A very good example what one can achieve with the Loopback Magic.
You explained it better than I could have - hence I didn't make this suggestion.

@all: stop pointing to the drummer, after all it's the base player who ...