larry oneill Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 i want to make a sequence using only 30 elements of my design what do i do with the extra channels. put them in the sequence but not assign them. or just leave them out? i have total of 48 channels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmoore60 Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Either works. Even if you assign them and don't plug anything in those channels no Harm No fowl. Extra channels do not hurt.Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry oneill Posted June 14, 2010 Author Share Posted June 14, 2010 so i do my regular sequence of 48 and have everything plugged up just dont assign channels to unused on that sequence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmoore60 Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 You can do them however you wish. The extra channels whether assigned to hardward channels or not will not cause any problems. Even if you do assign them to hardware channels, but don't plug elements into those channels, not harm.Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry oneill Posted June 14, 2010 Author Share Posted June 14, 2010 thanks for the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Batzdorf Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 I try very hard to leave at least one or two channels free, just in case one has an issue. Would hate to see a major item in the show dark because of a channel failure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ainsworth Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 The only down side is that when you run the verifier it will show the unused channels as a problem. Not a big deal, just be aware that it will happen.The show will still run fine in my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Well, wait, the Verifier is telling you that for a reason.You have to understand that an "off" event is not a lack of an event; rather, it really is an event. That is, when a channel is displayed as being "off", an actual command is sent to your controller telling it to turn that channel off.So if you have a channel defined in your sequence, and the entire channel is off, that's one big "off" event. When the sequence starts playing, it will cause a command to be sent to your controller telling it to turn that channel off.If you have another sequence running at the same time (for example, one sequence is in the "Musical" section of your show, and the other is in the "Background" section), and that other sequence is "really' controlling that channel, this could cause the channel to turn off at a time when you aren't expecting or wanting it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Oh, wait, I think I misunderstood what you were saying about the Verifier. You're saying it will warn that the entire channel is off. Yes, that's true, and you're right, it's not a big deal - the Verifier is telling you that just to make sure that you really didn't mean to put any effects in that channel.What I was talking about is the warning message the Verifier will give you when you have the same channel defined in two different sequences, and have your show set up so that those two different sequences can possibly be playing at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightzilla Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Leaving 1 channel per controller is a good thing. I don't, but maybe I should leave 1 channel per controller.I do however have 1 spare controller just in case of a malfunction at the junction.I guess using ever channel can be good to, that way you can say you run 300 channels or however many you have.Nonetheless leaving at least 1 channel open is a good safeguard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ainsworth Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Bob;I'm glad you "misunderstood". It seems every day I learn something new about the software. I have never run a background sequence, but I can see how that would be a problem! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErnieHorning Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 ainsworth wrote: I'm glad you "misunderstood".See what happens when you know so much, every once in a while some extra spills out and you supply extra information that you didn't know that anyone wanted to hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 bob wrote:So if you have a channel defined in your sequence, and the entire channel is off, that's one big "off" event. When the sequence starts playing, it will cause a command to be sent to your controller telling it to turn that channel off.Last year when I started un-checking "Turn used lights off at the end of each sequence" I noticed that some channels got left on after my show finished. So I made a shutdown sequence that faded all the channels off.Do I understand correctly from your post that I didn't need to put fade downs in my shutdown sequence? That all I needed to do was use an "empty" sequence with all channels off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Assuming that you just want them to turn off, and that you have the channels in the "empty" sequence set up with the proper unit IDs, circuit numbers and such, yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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