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Electronic Theatre Controls Inc

Effect Fade Times in Express

Each effect has an overall upfade, dwell and downfade time.

When you create an effect cue, the times default to the cue fade times in your system settings. If you have not changed the default settings, this means an upfade of zero seconds, a dwell of hold,91 and a downfade92 of zero seconds. Press [Time] to set the effect’s upfade, dwell and downfade times.

Fade times may be programmed from 0.1 seconds to 99:59 minutes. The number may be entered in normal time format or in decimal format. When entered with a decimal point, the number must be less than one minute (0.1 to 59.9 seconds) to be accepted. When entered without a decimal point, a 2-digit number will be treated as seconds if less than 60 and as a calculated value of minutes and seconds if between 60 and 99. For example, if you enter 70, the time will display as 1:10. If you enter either a 3-digit or a 4-digit number, the last two digits, up to 59, are interpreted as seconds. For example, if you enter 9930, the time will display as 99:30.

91  Dwell time is the length of time the effect runs between the upfade of the first step and the downfade of the last step. Hold assigns an infinite dwell time, meaning the effect runs until an associated [Clear], [Go] or bump button is pressed to start the downfade.
92  See Setting default fade times.

Changing upfade, dwell and downfade

Follow these steps to change the effect’s fade times:

Keystrokes: Actions:
1. Press [Blind] [Cue] [2]. Selects cue 2 in the Blind display
2. Press [Time] and enter the upfade time. Prompt reads:
Enter effect upfade time
3. Press [Time] and enter the dwell time. Prompt reads:
Enter effect dwell time
4. Press [Time] and enter the downfade time. Press [Clear] for hold dwell. Prompt reads:
Enter effect downfade time
5. Press [Enter]. Fade time entry is complete
Prompt reads:
Select step numbers

Changing upfade only

Follow these steps to change only the effect’s upfade time:

Keystrokes: Actions:
1. Press [Blind] [Cue] [2]. Selects cue 2 in the Blind display
2. Press [Time]. Prompt reads:
Enter effect upfade time
3. Enter the upfade time. Prompt reads:
Enter effect upfade time
4. Press [Enter] [Enter] [Enter]. Prompt reads:
Select step numbers

Changing downfade only

Follow these steps to change only the effect’s downfade time:

Keystrokes: Actions:
1. Press [Blind] [Cue] [2]. Selects cue 2 in the Blind display
2. Press [Time] [Time] [Time]. Prompt reads:
Enter effect downfade time
3. Enter the downfade time. Prompt reads:
Enter effect downfade time
4. Press [Enter]. Prompt reads:
Select step numbers

Changing dwell only

Follow these steps to change only the effect’s dwell time:

Keystrokes: Actions:
1. Press [Blind] [Cue] [2]. Selects cue 2 in the Blind display
2. Press [Time] [Time]. Prompt reads:
Enter effect dwell time
3. Enter the dwell time. Prompt reads:
Enter effect dwell time
4.  Press [Enter] [Enter]. Prompt reads:
Select step numbers

Resetting hold dwell time

If the dwell time is set to Hold, an effect submaster will continue to run until you press the bump button. An effect cue will continue to run until you press either [Go] or [Hold] [Hold].

To reset the dwell time to Hold follow these steps:

Keystrokes: Actions:
1. Press [Blind] [Cue] [2]. Selects cue 2 in the Blind display
2. Press [Time] [Time]. Prompt reads:
Enter effect dwell time
(Press CLEAR for hold)
3. Press [Clear]. Hold appears in the Dwell box of the cue attribute line
4. Press [Enter] [Enter]. Dwell time set to Hold
Prompt reads:
Select step numbers
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