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Electronic Theatre Controls Inc

Stack & Crossfader in SmartFade

The Crossfader can be used to play back the Stack with up to 199 steps, or for single-scene operation (depending on the state of the STACK and NEXT buttons).

General Crossfader Controls 

Screen Shot 2018-11-26 at 1.12.33 PM.png

The Crossfader consists of a Live (A) and Next (B) fader, plus the Crossfade transport buttons. A crossfade is done by moving the crossfaders from the down position to the up position. This can be changed, See “Crossfade faders.” 

The Crossfade transport buttons are these:

Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 1.23.37 PM.pngScreen Shot 2018-11-21 at 1.24.00 PM.png

 

Action  Console Feedback
Start a crossfade Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 1.23.37 PM.png Starts a crossfade. The button will blink during the fade.
Pause a crossfade Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 1.24.00 PM.png The current crossfade is paused. It can be resumed with GO, or reversed with PAUSE.
Go Back Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 1.24.00 PM.png and Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 1.23.37 PM.png Hold PAUSE and press GO to fade to the pre- vious step (only when STACK is active).
Go to first step
Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 12.53.52 PM.png and Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 1.23.37 PM.png
Hold CLEAR and press GO to clear the output of the Crossfader. If STACK is active it will jump to the first step of the Stack.
Note-Icon.png Note: DIPLESS: SmartFade provides dipless crossfades as long as both faders are moved in parallel. This means that active channels which remain unchanged in both scenes will not 'dip' to 50% of their level as you move the crossfaders from one scene to the next, making for much better-looking scene transitions. To create a blackout between two steps, move only the Live fader to it’s end position.

Stack functions 

By pressing STACK, the Stack is activated (lit at full) and connected to the Crossfader controls.The cue stack is loaded onto the Crossfader at step 0 (a non-existent step before step one) so that pressing GO, or starting a manual fade, will fade to step 1.

Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 1.23.15 PM.png

The LCDs will show the current state of the Stack.

Screen Shot 2018-11-26 at 1.21.10 PM.png

If STACK is off the Crossfader operates only the Single Scene Crossfading function (except when in Backup Mode). See “Single Scene Crossfading” on page 63.

If there is nothing stored in the Stack, the button will be off completely when not activated. otherwise it will be dimmed.

Jump to step

It’s possible to go directly to any step of the Stack with this function.

Action Console Feedback
Activate GOTO mode Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 1.23.15 PM.png (held)

As long as the button is held, the display will allow you to scroll to any step.

Screen Shot 2018-11-26 at 1.21.10 PM.png

Let go of STACK to transport the whole sequence to this step in Next - ready for the next crossfade.

Rate & Fade for the Stack 

The RATE button can provide Rate and Fade override for the Stack. This will affect the playback of the whole Stack temporarily. When a Rate or Fade override is cleared the original times are retained.

Fade

Activate RATE and press STACK.

xffade.png

Use the wheel to set a Fade % that will scale the fade times of the whole Stack. Fade 0% means no fade. Original fade timing is not lost and may be recovered by clearing the Fade %.

Rate

Activate RATE and press STACK. Then hold RATE.

Use the wheel to set a Rate % that will scale the total time of the whole Stack. Original timing is not lost and may be recovered by clearing the Rate %.

Reset Rate& Fade

Action Console Feedback
  1. Select Stack rate

Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 1.23.15 PM.png and Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 1.28.01 PM.png
The rate and fade settings for the Stack will be selected and shown in the display.
  1. Rate

Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 12.53.52 PM.png and Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 1.28.01 PM.png
The rate and fade settings for the currently selected stack/sequence will be reset and will default back to its original times.

Tap Mode for the Stack 

Tap Mode allows the recording of actual elapsed time for each step of the Stack by means of the GO button. It should set to OFF at all times unless a timed recording is being made.

Step 1: First record a Stack in the normal way
Step 2: Open the Sequences menu:

Menu>[Sequences]

Step 3: Use the wheel to select the Stack (XF).
Screen Shot 2018-11-26 at 1.48.35 PM.png

Press (MENU) to confirm.

Step 4: Select Tap mode

Menu>Sequences>Playback>Step Timing>[Tap mode]

Step 5: Use the wheel to set On.
Screen Shot 2018-11-26 at 1.48.44 PM.png

When TAP mode is on an asterisk is displayed in the bottom right position of the LCD.

Step 6: Press GO for each stack step at the appropriate time and the wait time is stored for subsequent playback, independently for each of the steps. Only wait times are affected by Tap mode.
Step 7: Once a recording has been timed in this way Tap mode should be turned off to play back with the recorded times.
Screen Shot 2018-11-26 at 1.48.52 PM.png

Step 8: Press EXIT to confirm and exit.

Note-Icon.png Note: You can reset all wait times set with Tap to zero. See “Global Time for all steps."

 

Single Scene Crossfading 

When STACK is off and NEXT is on, SmartFade is set up to run like a single-scene crossfading console. When Next is on the green channel bumps are lit with the levels to be output to stage on the next Crossfade, when Next is Off the lights indicate the actual stage levels. Next may be turned on and off to toggle between these two displays

Screen Shot 2018-11-26 at 1.52.18 PM.png

Action Console Feedback
1. Activate Next mode Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 1.22.42 PM.png The intensity faders no longer contribute to the live output.
2. Set intensities

     1-24.png Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 12.55.53 PM.png or 

  Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 12.56.33 PM.png Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 12.56.43 PM.png  

Set up any intensities manually with the intensity faders. They will not be output.
3.Crossfade manually Crossfaders Move the Crossfader pair from bottom to top. As soon as both crossfaders reach the end of the current fade, the intensity channels are released from the Live fader for setting the next look.

To fade endlessly between Live and Next: hold PAUSE before reaching the end of a crossfade - this will prevent the release of the intensity channels. Let go of PAUSE to terminate the crossfade.

Fade with Times

Screen Shot 2018-11-26 at 1.56.12 PM.png

You can activate set the default Up/Down times with the wheel. Press GO to execute a crossfade using these times.

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