fat frog to music

[lightingyoung]

Hi all

I am doing a panto in January and the directer has got a 10 min transformation scene which is all to music. He wants the lights to go with the music. Is it possibly on the fat frog to do this or can I run it off a laptop with DMX to usb

 

Cheers

[peter]

The Fat Frog allows you to program "Auto" trigger cues, with delay ("Dwell") times between them. Using this method you would program a sequence of cues, which would run automatically to the same timings each night. You would, of course, have to press GO for the first time correctly.

 

To program an auto memory, program as normal and then move to the Trigger column. Press the + or - keys until you select "Auto", then press Memories to move back to the No column. In the previous cue (ie the one with the "Go" trigger) set the Dwell time for how long you want to see the completed state on stage for. If the first memory has a 5 second fade time and a dwell of 3 seconds, pressing Go will fade up the first cue in 5 seconds, then delay for 3 seconds, then trigger the next cue (assuming the trigger of the second memory has been set to Auto).

 

Another option would be to look at timecoding the show, although you would need a Leap/Bull/Mambo Frog and an upgrade card for this.

 

I hope this helps.

 

 

 

 

 

Peter

[Potassium Neuf]

Depending on the type of music and the effect you want you might also like to consider chase memories which are triggered by the bass beat of the music or have the beat set manually by the operator at the appropriate time.

[Modge]

Sound to light is called sound to sh1te for a very good reason.

Whats this transision scene all about? Are there dancers on the stage or some such? Whats the Music?

I'm guessing very much here, seeing as I don't know the answere's to the above, but changing state as the mood of the music changes is always a faverate. Of course what states you can between (and whether they include chases) is very much down to the answere's to the above and more besides.

The Frog can technically run a chase in sound to light mode (I had to check in the manaul, having always avoided it! http://common.zero88.com/public/files/Frog...al_Issue_6C.pdf )

but well, rig it to a sound feed, set it up and you'll I fully expect you'll change your mind about it being an appropreate effect.

 

edit: beaten to it!

[pete LD]

hi

10 mins is a long time for a transformation scene! the usual (or the way that most pro shows would use) is to have most of the cues as manual "GO" with a few auto follow ons for really quick bits. if you program the whole lot and then just press go there is nothing the board opp can do if another element goes wrong, scenery not moving on time/to early turns forgetting to come on etc. if the music is of a cd then note the times down and press go, if its a band then the dsm should be-able to call all the changes from the music. it just seems a bit over the top to use midi or laptops for a panto of a frog!

just warm up your go finger!

HTH

Pete

[Frag_Me]

There's always the option of busking it on the submasters - I usually program in a couple of pages onto mine and play things as I feel them.

[Light Console]

Frag_Me, I like your style!

That method of using subs, is the best way to do it.

That said, I programed approx 200 (quite a few mark cues in there too) cues into a Frog that were timed so that pressing play on the MD and Go on the frog at the same time. The piece lasted 7 mins, took me 14 hours to program though, as had to start at the start each time you ran it to adjust times.

[Frag_Me]

Frag_Me, I like your style!

That method of using subs, is the best way to do it.

That said, I programed approx 200 (quite a few mark cues in there too) cues into a Frog that were timed so that pressing play on the MD and Go on the frog at the same time. The piece lasted 7 mins, took me 14 hours to program though, as had to start at the start each time you ran it to adjust times.

 

I feel your pain on that, created a visualisation sequence set to music for the last piece I did which was then displayed over several big screens. It was fairly specific stuff and due to the nature of it (MS Powerpoint :)) it took me a fair while. Nowhere near 14 hours though. Worth every second though, got it good enough so that nobody would believe it was MS powerpoint - people dont realise just how powerful that program is for a bit of budget theatre visualisation.

[Light Console]

What I didn't add in that post was I did when there was nothing else to do! By that time, I had already programed the Alphabet onto the subs, and spelt out "WELCOME TO THE CABARET LOUNGE" with various gobos in the Miniscans, set to Realtime 10mins before show time!

Ah the joys of Thomson Holiday work.....

Sad, so sad, get a life Light Console! :)

[Renny]

I find a good DSM calling the show works for this. It always has in the past.

[GreatBigHippy]

A hoy hoy!

 

2 ways I know to do this that work quite well.

 

1st step is to program a funky chase memory that won't look lame when cycled for 10 mins, even the best flashy effects become tiring after ten mins though so this, I reckon, is the hardest challenge! Try a few chases and varying intensity to lessen the optical overload!

 

1: sound to light is pretty dodgy because it can't accuratly pick up the correct frequencies to trigger, what you want is to just feed it the sound of the trigger beat. To do this run an output from your sound desk (FBs would work but use inserts if you don't have the channels, if from a CD use the left input from the cds' insert channel) Run this through either a parametric, or graphic eq. Plug this into a headphone amp or similar and filter aggressivly until you are just getting the thud of the beat you want coming though, then plug into frog.

 

2: Other option is the BEAT setting. I haven't checked my frog but I use it on the Jester and zero88 are pretty good at standards so assume it exists. Basically set the chase to beat then you tap twice with the beat of the music and it will use that for the timings until you switch to the next chase I think. Never had to use more than one chase myself. This saves the GO button from having your fingerprint permantly etched into it after ten minutes tapping! This would work the same as setting the chase speed before the show but then you have to start it dead on, with a beat match it "should" reset to fit your taps.

 

Option 3 is to do it manually with flash buttons and programmed groups. Wearing on the fingers and I wouldn't suggest for a long run, but would be a nice easy solution for a night or two!

 

Hope this helps,

 

theHippy

[matt freeman]

ill second the beat option (its actually called "beat drive" in the manual) Ive run many school discos using it, just program a load of chases onto subs, put the one you want up, tap the step button a few times at the speed you want the chase to be at, and sit back for the rest of the song.

 

Matt