adamcoppard Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 I know this is a stupidly old desk, and the chances of somebody having one lying around and doing what I'm doing is pretty remote, but here goes (I have read the manual that we have cover to cover):I can program a cue in program mode (I think it's called Master or something, but you get the idea) add a crossfade time, save it, and go to run. But, the cue number displayed in the LCD is that of the NEXT cue, which is next to pointless for me (as I'd start a show with whatever cue I finished with on the LCD). Is this the norm, or, can I change a setting somewhere to tell it to display the 'current' cue. The reason I ask this is that there is a LED next to the LCD saying 'current', and at the moment the LED saying 'next' is lit. Thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timtheenchanteruk Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Nope, the display shows what will happen next time the "GO" button is pressed, hence shows next cue by default, you can get it to show current cue, but then nothing happens on "GO" it will even show previous and go backwards!! not a fantastic desk by any means, we have one in our drama studio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamcoppard Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 Hmm, that sort of defeats the object for me! At least with the fashion show I use the cues for different colour states, but for productions that's just going to be a down-right pain!I'll have a fiddle with it over the next couple of days, unless someone has a great set of instructions on how it works (wishful thinking!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dosxuk Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Why is it a pain? It's fairly standard to want to know what will happen when you press a button, rather than what happened last time you pressed the button. According to the manual, the "CURR" LED is lit in programming mode only, to show which memory you will be recording into. In Run mode: The DISPLAY shows the next memory to be output. The crossfade time, sequence speed and attack can be adjusted using the various front panel controls. And no, the Alcora isn't an old desk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davethsparky Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Surely if you're running a show you should know what cue you are in without relying on the desk to tell you? And even then it shouldn't be too hard to work out what the current cue is when the desk is telling you what the next one is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamcoppard Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 No, it's just annoying. If I have 72 cues, then when I want to start the show I have to be at Cue 72 on the LCD when I start the show, which just get's annoying after a while!Let's take another example. Cue 1 = All Lights on White, Cue 2 = Add a bit of red, Cue 3 = All Lights White, Cue 4 = Add another colour, it quickly gets confusing! But, as I right it down on my script, I write down what I can see (as it is with the sound desks), so, for the first brace I would have cue '72', and for the second 'cue 2', until I ended up with Cue '1'. Now, my Maths may be letting me down, and I may have the numbers around the wrong way, but you get the idea! Ahh, and the v1 Alcora with our ancient manual leads me to believe that our's is a very old desk (I'll grab a pic, it looks as if it's come from the 1980's!), even the manual on the Zero 88 site is from 1998, which is 'old', but not as 'old' as equipment could be found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davethsparky Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 No, it's just annoying. If I have 72 cues, then when I want to start the show I have to be at Cue 72 on the LCD when I start the show, which just get's annoying after a while!Let's take another example. Cue 1 = All Lights on White, Cue 2 = Add a bit of red, Cue 3 = All Lights White, Cue 4 = Add another colour, it quickly gets confusing! But, as I right it down on my script, I write down what I can see (as it is with the sound desks), so, for the first brace I would have cue '72', and for the second 'cue 2', until I ended up with Cue '1'. Now, my Maths may be letting me down, and I may have the numbers around the wrong way, but you get the idea! Ahh, and the v1 Alcora with our ancient manual leads me to believe that our's is a very old desk (I'll grab a pic, it looks as if it's come from the 1980's!), even the manual on the Zero 88 site is from 1998, which is 'old', but not as 'old' as equipment could be found. Suely to start the show you would be at cue 1 on the lcd as it would be the next cue to go? If you had 72 on the lcd then you would be running the last cue of the show when you press go not the first. I may be remembering wrongly but I though it showed the current cue when plotting? So surely you'd still be writeing the correct number down in the script. when recalling a cue out of sequence you don't want the desk to be telling you what cue you are currently in but rather the cue you are going to. If it is really causing you problems then run it as a manual two preset desk. You can have the current and next cues displayed infront of you and with the exact level of each channel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuson Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Adam I don't think you've really got how it works. As an example Cue 1 would be your Preset, Houselights whatever you want for audience coming in, Cue 2 a Blackout, Cue 3 your first state, Cue 4 your next and so on. Just before the house opens you use the Memory + and - keys keys to select Cue 1 and press Go Next. Your now in Cue 1 and the display will show your next cue is Cue 2 which would be the next cue marked on your script which would be when you get house clearance for example. Unless I'm missing something and V1 of the software was different to the Alcoras I've used, this is the way it works and the way nearly all desks work. You can also jump around in the cue stack so say your currently outputting Cue 14 and you want to jump to Cue 31 just pree the Memory + cue until the display shows Cue 31 and then press Go Next, the display will then show Cue 32 which is the next cue in the stack. EDIT As James says, the Alcora is not an old desk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamcoppard Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 Hmm, will bring it out it's box at the end of the week for a play, but, I swear the last time I sat down at the desk it worked as I described, unless someone completely managed to mess it up, actually, that's a good point, I may do a factory default setting thingy! E2A: I seem to remember that our memory + and memory - buttons have no effect, which is why I am in the predicement I am in, I seem to recall you need to press one of them (or one of the Step keys) to enter the master mode, so, they just have no effect in run. Goes off to Zero 88 site and downloads copy of manual, and reads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuson Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 I seem to recall you need to press one of them (or one of the Step keys) to enter the master mode, so, they just have no effect in run.I'm not sure what you mean by master mode, the only modes are Preset, Run, Program and Super User. You need to press the Step + and - keys for 1 second to get into Super User mode but this mode has nothing to do with recording and playing back. I'm also fairly sure you can only get to Super User whilst in Program mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamcoppard Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 Yes, you are correct about the super user mode, and that was what I was refering too with master mode. As already mentioned, it is with the Step + and - key's and I seem to remember that it did have to be from the program mode like you point out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuson Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Well if you meant master mode was Super User, you said you were programming cues in master mode so it's not surprising it's not performing how you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davethsparky Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 You need to be in program mode to program your show, run mode to run your show, and super user to delete your show and do other things which could have a disasterous effect when used by people who don't know what they're doing. preset mode is for manual operation as a two preset desk The alcora is a relatively recent desk, it was still in production until a couple of years ago. It was the first memory desk I ever used and I always found it to be damn near perfect at its job. But I guess that opinion was partly due to the fact that I was amaxed at the way I no longer needed to set 48 little faders in the short time between cues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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