Patching channels on Express consoles
Patching
Before you begin creating cues for a show you should first create your patch. The patch assigns individual dimmers to control channel numbers.
The console’s Patch display allows you to assign any of the dimmers available to any of the control channels your console can address. You can use the console's default one-to-one patch, or you may create a custom patch. In addition, the console's proportional patching capability allows you to set dimmer output levels and assign one of 33 output profiles to dimmers.
Before patching, make certain that your dimmer and channel settings are the way you want them. See Setting the number of dimmers, and Setting the number of channels, for information on setting the dimmer and channel counts. Setting these counts configures the Patch display for your specific needs and, when channel count is reduced, reduces memory utilization and speeds processing
Hint: If you use the same patch for several shows, create the patch, and record it on a disk before you record any cues. Label the disk Standard patch. When you start your next show, read the Standard patch show into the console, then begin writing cues to avoid reentering the patch.
The console's custom patching capability allows you to create virtually any dimmer to channel configuration you like. (Groups of dimmers may be assigned to single channels, but only one channel may be patched to a dimmer.)
Follow these steps to patch dimmers to control channels.
| Keystrokes: | Action: |
|---|---|
| 1. Press [Patch] | Selects Patch display |
| 2. Press [Dim]. (If the LED in the [Dim] key is lit, you may omit this step.) | |
| 3. Use the keypad to enter the numbers of the dimmers you want to patch. Use [And], [Thru] or [Except] for multiple selections.a | Prompt reads: Select dimmer numbers, then press ENTER to assign to a channel, or press AT to assign a proportion, or press PROFILE to assign a profile |
| 4. Press [Enter] or [Channel] | Prompt reads: To assign dimmers, select channel number, then press ENTER To delete dimmers, press UNPATCH |
| 5. Enter the channel number to which you want to patch the selected dimmers and press [Enter]. | Dimmer(s) are patched to the channel |
| 6. Repeat steps 2 through 4 to patch additional dimmers. |
a For a dimmer set to Dimmer Double, press [S2], A, or [S3], B, after entering the dimmer number. If you select a doubled dimmer without specifying A or B, the selection defaults to A.
Dimmer labels
Express allows you to show or hide labels assigned to dimmers.
Hiding labels provides additional space in the Patch display to show additional dimmers. In the Patch display, press [S8], Show/Hide Labels, to toggle between these two conditions.