------------------------ HOWTO - zero88 FROG Andy Bennett, 14/11/2001 ------------------------ Contents -------- 1. Introduction 2. Basic Channel Operations - Bump Buttons - Crossfading Between Scenes - Build Fades 3. Advanced Channel Operations - Addressing all 48 Channels - Addressing Channels 25->48 with the Bump Buttons 4. Submasters - Programming Scenes - Viewing Scenes - Clearing Submasters - Displaying / Changing Contents of a Submaster 5. Cues and Memories - Creating Chases - Advanced Chases 1. Introduction --------------- This document attempts to explain how to use the zero88 FROG lighting controller. You should be able to read any section or subsection on its own, although if you are "new" to the desk then I would recommend working your way through from the beginning. Others are welcome to update / amend this document. - Please send a copy to me at andyjpb@bigfoot.com 2. Basic Channel Operations --------------------------- The desk can address up to 48 channels, although in normal operation, only the first 24 are available. Before you being, check the controls in the top right hand corner of the board: The "blackout" and "wide" lights should be off. - If they are not, press their respective buttons. The crossfade knob should be in the "manual" position. The "A Master", "B Master" and "Grand Master" sliders should all be in the "up" position. i.e. A at 10, B at 0 and Grand Master at 10. Now, press the "Output" button which is located to the left of the LCD. There are two banks of faders across the top of the board. - Orange for "Scene A" and green for "Scene B". The faders are ordered from left to right and control channels 1->24. First, consider the orange faders; Slide the faders to the required level: The exact levels will be shown on the monitor underneath the channel number. The studio lights will come on. Another scene can now be set up on the green "Scene B" sliders, however, no information will appear on the monitor and the studio lights will not be affected. In order to transfer this scene to the studio, move the "A Master" and "B Master" sliders to the bottom position. i.e. A=0, B=10. The next scene can now be set up on the orange A sliders without affecting the studio. All the lights can be switched off by pressing the "Blackout" button in the top right hand corner or by moving the Grand Master to 0. Bump Buttons ------------ Underneath the "Scene B" sliders is a "Bump" button for each channel. Ensure that the "Shift" button is set to 1->24 and the "Flash FN" button is set to "Flash". - These are located to the right of the bump buttons. Pressing a bump button will bring the respective channel to 100% (FF) except if the Grand Master is at 0 or if the "Blackout" function is active. If "Flash FN" is set to "Solo", pressing a bump button will temporarily switch off all other lights. Crossfading Between Scenes -------------------------- Previously a manual crossfade was performed between Scenes A and B. The crossfade was dependent upon the speed at which the master sliders were moved. If the "Crossfade" knob (Top right hand corner) is moved clockwise to a specific time, a fade will be performed at the selected speed when the master sliders are moved and any speed. The "Fading" light (Next to the "Crossfade" knob) will blink while the fade is in progress. Build Fades ----------- A build fade is when lights are added to a scene, but none are removed. Build fades can be implemented by setting up the extra lights on the B sliders (if A is active) and then moving on the "B Master" slider (i.e. leave "A Master" where it is.) Now both A and B will be active. - If the same light is set to different levels on both banks of faders, the largest value "wins". 3. Advanced Channel Operations ------------------------------ Addressing All 48 Channels -------------------------- The Frog can address the first 48 DMX channels. Ensure that "A Master" and "B Master" are both in the "top" position. Now press the "Wide" button. (Top right hand corner.) To the left of the "Wide" button is another button marked "Preset Control". Ensure that this is set to "A Faders, B Stored". The orange sliders now address channels 1->24 (left to right) and the green B sliders address channels 25->48 (left to right) Set up the "A" Scene. - This will appear in the studio. Now press the "Preset Control" button and set up the "B" scene. - This will appear in the studio when the "A Master" and "B Master" sliders are moved to the bottom position. The old scene can be retrieved by crossfading back to it. However, a new "A" Scene can be defined by pressing "Preset Control" - the old "A" Scene is now lost and a new one must be set up on the channel sliders. Addressing channels 25->48 with the Bump Buttons ------------------------------------------------ Press the "Shift" button (underneath the A & B master sliders.) until 25->48 is selected. 4. Submasters ------------- Programming Scenes ------------------ In the bottom left hand corner of the board is a selection of 12 sliders called "Submasters". Combinations of lights (Scenes) can be programmed onto the these and then the entire scene can be recalled with a single Bump Button or slider. - The Bump Buttons behave in the same way as the channel Bump Buttons and they are under the control of the "Flash FN" button. (middle right of board.) There are 9 pages of submasters. Ensure that all the Submaster sliders are in the "down" position. - i.e. at 0. Then, select a page with the controls on the left of the sliders. - i.e. Page 1. Set up your scene as before (either in wide mode or not), but ensure that the lights are actually coming on. - i.e. they show up on the monitor. If they do not, check the "A Master", "B Master" and "Grand Master" sliders. When the scene is set up, press the "Submasters" button. (To the left of the LCD.) The monitor now shows the current page of Submasters. - Find an empty one and press its bump button. Now press the red "Program" button. If you choose a non-empty Submaster you will be prompted to overwrite. - Press the white "Enter" button to confirm or press the minus button (below the LCD) to select "NO" and then press the white "Enter" button. It is advisable to give the submaster a description by pressing the "F2" button (Very top right of board.) and then pressing the Submaster's Bump Button. Type the name in using the keyboard and press Enter. If you make a mistake, press the up arrow key to move backwards. If there is no keyboard connected, use the "+" and "-" keys to select a letter (below the LCD) and the down arrow to move to the next character. (Below the LCD). Press the white Enter key when you are done. Viewing Scenes on Submasters ---------------------------- Select "Outputs" (Left hand side of LCD.) and then move the Submaster fader or use the bump buttons If you have Submasters on more than one page, fade the Submaster on the current page to the required level and then change page. Submasters that are not at zero will not change page until they return to zero. - It may help to look at the blue bar near the bottom of the monitor; each Submaster is shown along with its current page. Clearing Submasters ------------------- Switch to "Submasters" view. (Left of LCD.) Select the appropriate page and Bump Button (Or use the arrows and "+" & "-" below the LCD.) and then hold down the "Clear" button (Right of LCD, between "Program" and "Enter" until it is shown as "EMPTY" on the monitor. (About1.5 seconds.) Displaying / changing Contents of a Submaster --------------------------------------------- To check the contents of a Submaster, it can be faded up while in "Outputs" mode or, enter "Submasters" mode, (Left of LCD) select the submaster with the bump button or "+" & "-" keys below the LCD and then press the "Preview" button. (Left of LCD.) Press "Preview" again to return to the "Submasters" display. In order to edit the contents of a Submaster, select the Submaster as before and then press the "Edit" button. (Above the white "Enter" button.) Channels can be selected with the arrow keys below the LCD, and the values can be changed with the "+" and "-" keys. (Also below the LCD.) Press the "Edit" button to exit. If prompted to save changes, use the "+" and "-" keys to select "YES" or "NO" and then press the white "Enter" key. 5. Cues and Memories -------------------- A series of scenes can be set up in order and then the board can be programmed to fade between these scenes either automatically or each time the blue Go button is pressed. (Middle bottom of board.) Press Memories - The monitor will now show a list of scenes in memory. The currently active scene is shown in green and the currently selected scene is shown in yellow. Use the + and - buttons to select a scene. (+ to go down, - to go up. + is physically above - so watch out!) Set up the scene using the channel faders or submasters. - It may help to briefly switch into Outputs mode. When the scene is set up, ensure that you are in Memories mode, select the destination scene with the + and - buttons and then press the red program button. The new scene will become active. Press F2 (Very top right.), then Memories, then press Enter and give it a description. When you are done, press Enter again. The red highlight shows the currently selected field. Use the up and down arrow keys (below LCD.) to change which field is selected. Begin by pressing down once. Enter the number of minutes to spend fading up with + and - and then press the down arrow key again. Now select the number of seconds with + and -. Press the down arrow key and select the number of milliseconds. Repeat for the fade down time. Dwell is the number of seconds that will elapse before the cue will automatically run after the previous cue has finished. - If you wish to use this option, set the Trig field to Auto. If Auto is set then the cue will automatically be called, but the next cue will not be called until Go is pressed or Dwell has elapsed and the next cue is also set to Auto. Care must be taken when defining multiple cues because the previously defined cue is active. Therefore, all channels in the previous cue will be included in the current cue. To avoid this, ensure that the Playback master slider (above the blue go button.) is in the bottom (0) position. The fade up / down times can be overridden by using the override know above the blue Go button. Move this knob to the central position to use the pre-programmed values. (it will "click" into this position.) Cues will run consecutively unless the + and - keys are used to select another cue. Cues can be edited in the same way as submasters. Cue number "--" is a completely blank cue. Creating Chases --------------- Chases can be constructed that light up a sequence of scenes. The speed, etc can be synchronized to music, etc. To create a chase, enter Memories mode, (left of LCD.) move to an empty memory location with the +, - keys (below LCD.) and hold down the "Mem Type" button (Right of the red Program button.) until the "Edit Chase" dialog is displayed on the screen. Ensure that the Playback Master slider (above the blue go button.) is in the bottom position (0). Set up the first state using the channel sliders or the submasters and then press the red Program button. Set up the next state and press the red Program button again. Repeat until you have defined all the stated and then press the white Enter button. Change to "Outputs" mode and bring up the Playback Master slider. (above the Go button.) The chase should now be running. The chase can be run as a cue and / or it can be transferred to a submaster. To do this, select "Memories" mode and then select the chase with the +, - keys. Now press the "Transfer With Time" button. (between the blue Go button and the +, - buttons.) Select a page and submaster using either the +, - button or the submaster bump and submaster page buttons. Press the white Enter key. It is necessary to press Memories or Outputs to regain control of the system. The chase cue can now be deleted if required. When the appropriate submaster is faded up, or its bump button is pressed, the chase will run. The speed of all chases is controlled by the speed knob in the bottom right hand corner of the board. Advanced Chases --------------- Chases can be edited by selecting Submasters or Memories mode (depending upon where it is stored), selecting the chase and pressing Edit. Press Enter to confirm the dialog that appears. Now use the +, - keys to select the state to edit and the press the Edit button again. When you are done editing the state, press the edit button again. Press Enter to save your changes or use the - key to select No, then press Enter. When you have finished editing all the states, press the white Enter button. While in Edit mode, the direction of the chase can be defined by pressing the direction button (Bottom right of board.) and the fade type can be changed by pressing the Attack button. (below the Direction button.) The Drive button (below Attack) selects when the chase steps through its states. The options are as follows; Auto - Controlled by speed knob. (bottom right.) Vari - Do not know yet! Bass - Probably sound input. Man - Changes to the next state when step is pressed. (Bottom left for submasters, Right of blue button for cues.) If more than one manual submaster is faded up, they will all change state when the "Step" button is pressed. (Bottom left of board.)