A Submaster on a Lighting Desk is a fader which can be programmed to contain either a static scene (cue) or a chase.

Brightness channels recorded in the submaster are generally mixed HTP (Highest Takes Precedence) with other submasters and with other brightness sources on the desk (e.g. preset faders and playback stacks). That is, whichever source is the one contributing the brightest level for a channel, is the one that wins.

Submasters can often be programmed with a fade time, to give a defined smooth fade when raising or lowering the fader.

Attribute channels for moving lights (colour, gobo, position etc.) are generally mixed LTP (Latest Takes Precedence) with other sources on the desk. That is, whichever source is the one that was triggered last is the one that wins. Usually the action of raising the submaster fader past a certain level causes the stored LTP parameters to be triggered (optionally with a fade time) and appear on the outputs.

Submasters are usually paged in some way, to allow more looks to be programmed than the number of physical faders available. Avolites desks use the Rolacue system for paging which provides a means for naming your submasters on each page (although if you've hired the desk, don't write on it in permanent pen...). Different programmers have different philosophies for arranging their looks across pages, one way for live band performances is to keep all the looks for each song on the same page (hence each song uses one page).

When using submasters with moving lights, it is generally preferable to set the desk's recording mode to Partial (rather than Full), so that you can sensibly mix generic effects (e.g. a parcan chase) with your moving light looks.

Some desks with MIDI inputs allow MIDI Note information to drive the submasters, so that playing notes on a remote MIDI keyboard will cause the submaster levels in the desk to be artificially raised and lowered, for some interesting sound-to-light effects.