Sequencing with Tapper

[Guest guest]

My timing sequences are set at .10. However when I use the Tapper many of the timing events are reduced to .05. If you run the tapper again the reduce down any further. Is there any way to maintain the .10 spacing? I tried enabling the lock event times but it didn't help.

Thanks

[Guest guest]

Yes and no. When you use the tapper wizard, it inserts a new event when you tap (it does not snap to your existing events.) If you're having trouble with the tapper wizard destroying your previous work on the sequence, choose the "Make a particular channel toggle on and off whenever a tap occurs." This won't chop your previously drawn in timings short, but it will still insert new events at .05 if you tap at .05. Be sure to insert in a new, blank channel first to apply these taps to.

If you're really trying to get ALL the taps to fit into tenths of seconds exactly, then use the "Snap to existing events" option in the tapper wizard. If you set it for "10", I believe this will achieve your purpose. However, I have not used it like that before, so you'll have to try it out and see.

Just as a side note, you may want closer timings. I have found that tenths of a second are not always close enough to get right on the beat. So I let the tapper reduce my timings to .05 or whatever it wants to get the timing more accurate. I'd rather have accurate timing as opposed to a perfect grid. So why not take out the grid completely, and use the tapper wizard only to create your timing marks?

[Guest guest]

contactmike1 wrote:

[sNIP]Just as a side note, you may want closer timings. I have found that tenths of a second are not always close enough to get right on the beat. So I let the tapper reduce my timings to .05 or whatever it wants to get the timing more accurate. I'd rather have accurate timing as opposed to a perfect grid. So why not take out the grid completely, and use the tapper wizard only to create your timing marks?

Although it sounds like a good idea, I would keep my sequence "cluttered" with events at regular intervals. This way you do not need to add events in the future. Adding events can cause some havoc with existing light commands (in particular fades) The fades become "chopped up" when new events are added in the middle.

[Guest guest]

LightORama wrote:

contactmike1 wrote:

[sNIP]Just as a side note, you may want closer timings. I have found that tenths of a second are not always close enough to get right on the beat. So I let the tapper reduce my timings to .05 or whatever it wants to get the timing more accurate. I'd rather have accurate timing as opposed to a perfect grid. So why not take out the grid completely, and use the tapper wizard only to create your timing marks?

Although it sounds like a good idea, I would keep my sequence "cluttered" with events at regular intervals. This way you do not need to add events in the future. Adding events can cause some havoc with existing light commands (in particular fades) The fades become "chopped up" when new events are added in the middle.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the fades and other events become chopped ONLY if you insert an event or use the tapper wizard with "insert a timing event into the sequences for each tap." If you use the tapper wizard and any of the other choices like toggling a channel with your taps, your previous work will not get chopped off.

[Guest guest]

contactmike1 wrote:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the fades and other events become chopped ONLY if you insert an event or use the tapper wizard with "insert a timing event into the sequences for each tap." If you use the tapper wizard and any of the other choices like toggling a channel with your taps, your previous work will not get chopped off.

You are correct that the problem is where the insertion of timing events chops up a fade. The problem is that any of the modes can insert timing events. However, if you have pre-defined a grid and use the snap-to feature then you will not insert events and you will be okay.....

One of the reasons that I recommend that you start with a fixed grid is this problem but there are other reasons. When you try to copy/paste things from sequence to sequence you need to have a fixed grid for them to line up. And when you add channels to an existing sequence it is easier to to if you have a fixed grid in place.

[Guest guest]

LightORama wrote:

When you try to copy/paste things from sequence to sequence you need to have a fixed grid for them to line up. And when you add channels to an existing sequence it is easier to to if you have a fixed grid in place.

This is a very, very good point. I have run into the copy and paste issue which is impossible to solve, so you have to redo the work. I would personally suggest using a grid spacing smaller than .10 to improve accuracy. I'd rather have too many events than to miss a beat because none of gridlines match up close enough.

[Guest guest]

I use .10 spacing, then make adjustments of .01 if something isn't "right on" the beat. To keep the "grid" mostly intact, if I need to trim .05 then I edit 5 consecutive events to be .09 (instead of .10)