Skip to main content
Electronic Theatre Controls Inc

Channel modes in Express consoles

The color and behavior of channels depends upon their modes.

Selected channels

Selected channels are channels over which you have immediate control with the keypad or level wheel. Their channel numbers are displayed in yellow and their levels displayed in red. You can select channels in all display modes. Press [Rel] once to release selected channels.

Captured channels

Captured channels have levels set in the Stage or Fader displays by any source except faded cues or submasters and take precedence over levels set by faded cues or submasters. For example, if you capture a channel at 50 that was faded to 100 percent, you set it to 50 percent. When one or more channels are captured, the message “Captured Channels” appears in red near the top right corner of the display.

Captured channels may be released in a particular order. If no channels are selected and you press [Rel], all dependent channels are released. If you press [Rel] a second time, all independent channels are released. If you had selected one or more channels before pressing [Rel], the first time, only those selected channels would have been released, and further presses of [Rel] would be in the same order as explained above.25

Captured channels in fixtures are released essentially the same way. If no fixtures are selected and you press [Rel], all dependent channels are released, including the dependent channels in all fixtures. If you press [Rel] again, all independent channels are released, including the independent channels in all fixtures. If you select a fixture first before you press [Rel], only the dependent channels of that selected fixture are released. Pressing [Rel] a second time releases all independent channels of that selected fixture. Pressing [Rel] on or two times again releases remaining dependent and independent channels as explained above.

Recorded channels

Recorded channels have been recorded in a cue, group, focus point or submaster. Recorded channels may be either moving or tracked in Blind mode (see below). Channel levels controlled by effects are in white in Stage or Fader displays. Channel levels controlled by submasters other than effect submasters are in yellow in Stage displays.

Moving channels

Moving channels are channel levels that change from one cue to the next. In Stage mode, all moving channels are displayed in green. In Blind, moving channels are displayed in green if they are moving down or blue if they are moving up.

Tracked channels

A tracked channel is a channel whose level is unchanged from the preceding cue. Tracked channels are displayed in purple.

25 See Channel Attributes display, for a discussion of independent and dependent channels.

  • Was this article helpful?