Really awesome info!! Question, have you ever thought of running an A/B setup? Basically, just like DJing, you have your A side and B side. While one is playing, or "active", you are working in your next song (or choosing your next cue, color(s), etc.). Both sides are completely controllable all the time and all you need to switch sides is moving a fader, MUCH like how you alternate the On/Off for your effects generation in the vlog. Wanted your opinion on it. Keep the vlogs coming!
the_merican_matt easy select what you need with the Cristhian Jackson configuration then clic store with long press an store in a fader the you have your b side
great tutorial. the possibilities of ma2 seem to be endless. nice to see different people use different methods to get to the result. As a former grandma1 user I'm happy to see ma still uses the same flexible approach. I am thinking about getting an onpc wing, only downside to me is the amount of faders.
It appears Im about 3 years behind the video but I got Covid bored and decided to try this out . Everything is fine except my hi/lo color cue stacks wont change blindly when the active fixture is off via the macro. It's always live and remains in one of the colors until changed. Anyway, if someones floating around with an answer, go for it. Thanks
Clear out everything Store an empty group Copy the "FIXTURE ON" macro to a new macro slot Change the Group line in the new macro to the empty group number Hope that helps
After 5 hours, I'm done! This also taught me what macros are :D. Thanks so much for this! My church is however upgrading to MA3 soon, so will need to practice with that :D
Great Video! How do you get the temp fader to control the 5 effects? I am able to get the effect to run, but it is not releasing when I bring the temp fader down.
Hi Christian! You're such a inspiration!!! Keep up doing videos and lighting! But how can I use this "groups-cue" for not just one effect? I want to press a macro, then choose an effect and then the amount of groups. Is that possible? :D
You guys are doing incredible job! What would you recommend for users who want to start exploring the world of lighting? The task is to sync simple lights setup with backing tracks on mac (by midi or other timecode) without spending $4000 on console.
Thank you so much for sharing! You're blowing my mind with your macro skills and the way you think about them. The only issue I'm having is when I turn the effects back into template effects through the empty selection store, the "color gen go" temp fader is taking over intensity. And to get the intensity back I have to lower that fader.
I figured out a work-around that I wrote a command line into the on/off macro that toggles the position of the temp fader. However, Do you have a work-around for if you: 1. Have your "ColorGenGO" fader up and you turn off a group of lights in the color generator. 2. Pull that "ColorGenGO" fader down. 3. re-active that group of lights you originally turned off - They behave as if the temp fader (ColorGenGo) was still @ full.
Hey Chrstian! Thanks for spending your time sharing your knowledge...! Me and more people like me, really appreciate what you do. I just discovered this video, it´s great.,but, there´s something I dont get, so here´s my question, how works the macro for adding fixtures? I mean... When you´re adding fixtures to the "Take Selection", is not actually the same FX for all, so, how can I do to make all of the FX look like a solid one to have continuity on it? So the thing is, I got on a Rig some LED pixel bars with some Washes bettween, and sometimes, I would like run the fx just on the LED, or Wahs, or all togeder... but having continuity on it... I don´t know if I explain myself correctly... sorry if not and I got another one... How is the command to take fixtures out from the FX? Thanks in advance, best regards
Love the videos, Area I'm stuck at is the effect generator go fader. I can see the rest of the effect section working but I can't seem to be able to connect the dots on the fader part. love some guidance.
+Christian Jackson First off, LOVE the tutorials, keep'em comin! My only question is: How do you get fader executor to control all five effects? Thanks!
Think I figured it out: Store the first running effect to an executor as a cue, then merge the remaining effects to the same cue. Assign executor as a TempFader. Seems to work well so far!
Hi Christian, thanks so much for sharing these tricks and tips. Re: your color layout/color generator. I understand about storing a sequence (i.e. All White, or VL3ks Red, etc) and then writing a Macro to reference the sequence. What I don't get, and have not been able to figure out on my own, is HOW did you lay it out so you have your colored squares and labels in your Layout View... can a brother get a little help here??? lol Thx!
Thanks for sharing, got to try this out... I only have one question: You explained how to the "Turning On"-Macro works, but how do you get the effect to be a template again, when turning it off, cause that's the only thing I do not understand...
He means no fixtures are saved into the effects. A template can work on any fixture, with matching parameters. Selective makes only the fixtures saved to that effect or palette work.
Someone else posted it a few comments below this one: Assign Form 3 $generatedeffects (where 3 is the number of your waveform, i.e. 4 for PWM and 8 for Sine)
But you hav to do it by extra macro.... so you add a macro with the commandline "Assign Form 4 at $generatedeffects" . And then you have to add at the commandline in the executor, the command "Go Macro x" (this X is the place where you put the first macro)
hey everybody. a few months ago i tried it out and it worked very well. as a next exercise i wanted to create the same thing for movement effects. so is started to do so. i thought it's more copy paste, but i try this now the whole day an i'm stucked. i wanted to make three faders (spots, wash, beam), every single with 4 cues which are triggering macros (off, pan, tilt, circle). for that i created 3 effects for every "fixturetype". pan, tilt, circle movement for spots, wash, beams. my macros are triggering these effects, or better making them selective. now i got the problem, that when i store the selective effects to my "generator" temp fader i can't control all effects. Mostly i only got the circle effect on it, or sometimes the pan and tilt move. it seems like the console got a problem with storing multiple effects merged together in one cue??? maybe someone can help me out with that. or @Christian Jackson makes a tutorial out of this :)
Hi, i dont understand 1thing, how did u connect the selectedexec with the variable $generatedeffects for have the only fader to push ? sorry for my bad english
Hey @christianjackson. I’ve got all of this work but I’m having one issue. I don’t know how to put all the generated effects on one fader? Pls help haha
Hey Christian, I've got an idea for the next tutorial. You could show the procedure like what a DJ should do when there are few djs sharing the same decks like on a festival. Like, what to do when it's your turn to jump in and also what to do when there is a dj right after you. Awesome tutorials btw, helped me a lot! Thanks!
Almost every festival uses CDJ's. With them it's really simple: When you come on stage you plug in your USB Stick (with all your music on it). When there is a DJ Change it can be done in 10sec
I think it's more than just that. Like, when you are ending your set and the last track is being played, how do you pull out your usb without interrupting the track? Sometimes there are 4 cdjs, in which one should you put your usb? Do you have to do any wiring? I would like to know everything from start to finish :)
+koka nidja Just let the track end (or you fade out) and then just pull it out. The next DJ can plug his USB in even if you are still playing. It doesn't matter which CDJ you use and you don't have to do any wiring at all. You know that you have to use recordbox, right? (Just want to make shure)
What about the rule that you should step away from the decks and pull out your headphones and usb when your last track starts playing so you give the time the next dj to prepare and mix in? I've heard that your last track should be on a CD because of that. Also I don't use recordbox, nor laptop.
Christian Jackson Hi Christian, thanks for the awesome vids. I understand MA's concepts and possibilities a whole lot better because of your videos. But I have a problem with the high and low values in the FX. When i copy a preset to my "template presets"(4.100 and 4.101 in your case) it won't go live until i hit go or pull the temp fader down and push it back up again. It just stay the "old" color until I restart the fx or do as said. Any idea what this could be?
Yes, I did. You need to store your effect as a temp-fader, so a cue, where you store all of your fixtures active in your effect, you're interacting with. You need to store all your fixtures with the effect, as the Template doesn't listen to the Selection of the effect. Your effect will be only shown by those fixtures, which you gave the selection in the effect even if you store all your fixtures on the Template cue. Sorry, bad englisch -german dude. Any questions?
Hey ich habe das mit dem Tempfader nicht verstanden. Also bei mir sieht jetzt alles so ähnlich wie im Video aus. Nur das Starten der Effekte mit dem Tmp Fader geht nicht. Wenn ich einen Cue mit Go $generatedeffects oder auch Go (alle einzelne effekte) als Tmp-Fader habe, dann gehen sie zwar an, aber das einfach prompt und und kann sie auch nicht aus machen. Kannst du mir da helfen? LG Joel
Der Trick ist, den Temp Fader so zu storen, dass er die Effekte stompt. Christian verrät bewusst nicht, wie er das macht, es gibt aber youtube-tutorials, in denen es erklärt wird. ich glaube auf ma-share mittlerweile auch. kommentare lesen hilft auch immer viel (hinthint)
I understand almost everything, but there is a one thing that I have a problem/quastion : What syntax macro you save or assign in this temp fader that you allow to create this var "$generatedeffects", I created a macro that create this variable and assigns this to effects and assign them to the fader but after switching this fader on, in command line pops up error "variable not exist" .. looks strange. I forgot something?
so Ok. That's finally works. I made some other mistake, but I stil can't get start and stop this whole syntax by temp fader. It's working but I can't stop it. Variables and other thinks works good.
@falconWeird what do you mean by record ex's into temp fader? assigning ex's to the fader or writing a CMD in the fader don't work, really couldn't find a way out
Hi ! I want to ask you something about store setting. I want to store on every fader .and after that do go my first fader so automatically should be select. Please tell me about it Thanks & regard Shankar Kumar
Very useful function, thanks for sharing! Thank you! Thanks to the brother of knowledge sharing, I have been concerned about. Have the opportunity to travel to China, then I would like to invite you to eat and drink.
hi awesome video as always .I have just one little problem. My temp fader even if its full and i run all effects in all groups when i switch off one of the groups, that specific group will turn full black but all the others are still runing and if i pull down the temp fader it fades back to the original color and after that everything is work well. (sorry for my english :d )
Thanks so much for this MA2 lesson, Christian. I'm a bit stuck on how to get these various "Wash Active, LED Active, etc onto the Temp Fader. What is the syntax? My ADHD is making this hard to get my head around. I followed your video step by step but I'm just one or two command lines away from getting it to work properly. Can you help a brother out??? lol
And where do you get "$generatedeffects"? I can't even find anything under the Help Menu... I'm experimenting and trying but I can't seem to figure out how "[fixture] Active" ON/OFF is linked to the Temp Fader to run the FX Generator... can anyone help me out here?
Ok, I figured it out! It took awhile and stressed me the hell out but I managed to figure out the syntax by using "Help" and reading the info on ACT Lighting support. Thanks again Christian! I can't wait to use this FX Gen on my next gig...
@@stiltz1966 here is my answer "[fixture] Active On/Off Is Linked To The Temp Fader To Run FX Generator I Assign Template Effect To The Fader made it Temp Fader i put the syntax SetVar $generatedeffects = "Effect 1.40.1 Thry 1.40.3 Via Macro Spots On And Are Taking And Removing Selection From The Effect But It's not linked with Temp Fader Please help me to figure it out
Is it possible to create an Effect e.g. chase or sine doesnt matter between 3 colors? I am just able to do 2 colors, as we just have low value and high value. I also tried by creating two color chasers with different values but of course the other effect will be overwritten. Any suggestions?
I think to do this you would have to build a similar FX generator and then create a chaser that used CMD in the cues to change the FX HI/LO to your third colour and back. An easier way might be to play with the FX size and keep some of the base value colour showing Either way it's a lot of effort
can you someone explain what the ON and OFF executor buttons are exactly? and how they override the temp fader to execute the effect for each fixture? Im definitely missing something but close. Thanks!
They change the selection of the effects. If you store a group of nothing to the effect, it no longer runs. If you store a group to the effect, it will then effect those fixtures
@Christian Jackson - I have some temp execs where fixtures flash white then fade back. Although they don’t work while colour generator is running. Is there a way to make them do so??
Hey fellow techies, I'm looking to buy a laptop to do some basic lighting shows on using dot2 and MAonpc, I don't want to go above 1800$ AUD and want touchscreen, suggestions?
$ Generatedeffects this command in the end which is the folder, I read it again only see cmd above show Effect x Thru Effect x ..... how do i want to create generatedsffects this thing :( Assign Effect 21 Thru 23 / wings=2 Can work but~~Assigning 21 Thru 23 / Form = pwm 4 Why not work?
Copy Spot on Macro to the Macro Underneath. Remove Group selection line Put this in the effect line: Copy Effect 1.x.1 Thru 1.x.5 At 1.x.1 Thru 1.x.5 /o Might be a easier way but this is how i figured it out
I guess just deleting the group line is enough, turns the selective to template at least. Yet the problem never ends, this time couldn't manage to record the effects to the fader. Tried "assign the $generatedeffects" while they're at selective mode, or simply store a cue and wrote a CMD like "go $generatedeffects" but no, didn't work...
How does your goto cue macro works, if i simply use the keyword goto in a macro it will propose the cues of the currently selected sequence. I can't manage to make it write "goto" in the CLI as the goto hardware button does
Hey! I'm trying to make the variable $generatedeffects, but I can't seem to get it right. In my macro, the syntax is SetVar $generatedeffects = "Effect 100 Thru 103" but when I try to use it in one of my executors, it says that the variable cannot be found when I check the Command Line Feedback. Any thoughts on why this could be?
I know i'm late but maybe try 1.100.1 thru 1.100.x + 1.101.1 thru 1.101.x and so on where x is the number of lines in your effect, so then it assigns the value to all of the lines in the effect and doesn't try to assign an entire effect.
I am relatively new to grandMA 2 and trying to make this effect generator and I'm almost done. I just wonder how the Spots active, Wash active work. Do you write something in the CMD section of the cues or do you save data in the cues? would really appreciate some help.
You just run the effects, you can only do that when they have a QTY, then you press store on your fader and press merge, do this 3 times on the same fader for all your effects
How do you get your user variables to transfer console to console? I tried exporting my original user profile from on PC and importing it on a full size but it seems they do not go with the user profile.
When I store a empty selection on that effect in my off macro, then there is no Output anymore after running the off macro. my dimmer and my color sequence is still running. When i put my Fade down the values from the dimmer and color sequences comes back. Also when i fade my fader up it kills the color sequence of the active fixture. what did i wrong? thanks for the help
+Dominik I found a fix. You can assign all the Effects to a executor on a page that you don't use. Then assign a dummy dimmer (Inverted) fixture to act as a DMX remote for all those effect faders. and that dummy fixture is assigned to the "ColorGenFX Activator" executor.
Good Morning. Sorry for bothering with this question. I understand the whole concept that surrounds the system. Plus this inverted dimmer always confuse me with my question for you and. I can reverse or create a channel for this task?
@@christianjackson thanks for quick respons! I still dont get it to work with the form. It works with everything else (Dir, Blocks, Wings and groups) but not Form. I used "Assign $GENERATEDEFFECTS /Form=8" and it did not work, "Assign $GENERATEDEFFECTS /groups=3" did work for the group part. Any other ide what my issue can be?
I applied part of this to my position effects. The Wings, groups, waveform etc. however, have individual executor buttons for pan, tilt, circle effects for my different groups, rather then the blind edit abs selective macro and effects on a fader (as you can’t assign pan, tilt and both pan and tilt effects to one executor). I tried the low high attribute for predefined position however, I found that keeping the effects selective with -45 low 45 high more effective. Also this allows for assigning a stomp effect on faders for the groups to control effect size, which I find to be more effective. I also applied similar concepts to dim, zoom, iris and prism effects. Sorry for the long reply but hopefully it helps with your own programming.
Is there a way to view and delete set variables? I've somehow attached my variable to 'EnableVideoCodecs' Fuck knows how.. but that's what the command line replaces my $BeamFX with..
sorry mate, after watched this video few time still not really know what is the $generatedeffects why can link up to your fader is that base on you fader name or somethink?
Chan waiwah $generatedeffects is a user variable. You need to set it yourself. So type in SetVar $generatedeffects=“Effect X thru Y” where X and Y are your effect numbers.
What I couldn't figure out was how to set the low fx and the high fx to a Standart number without it changing the color Or binding low/ high fx to a color group... Any help Thx in advance (not a pro)
HELLO Christian Jackson I HAVE A CONSULTATION, HOW CAN I MAKE A MEMORY OR CUE WITH MA TRICKS, AND OTHER WINGS ECT BLOCKS FOR FASTER PROGRAMS MY APPARATUS
hi Christian thx a lot for your tutorial, it's really helpfull I'm a french guy, so sorry for my english if i write $generatedeffects in CMD line there is no effects listed like you... Color 1 & 2 are working, active and unactive also (i think i make a mistake on unactive because the cue stay-on cue 2)... but for form, blocks, wings, nothing works i think it's something around $generated effects. Thx for your help if you can understand me.....:-)
"$generatedeffects" is christian jacksons specific user variable for the specific effects he stores used by his color picker. Its not an actual type of effect just a way to categorize effects. Think of it almost like a subfolder. $generatedeffects is merely a custom name to organize workflow. It is a reference that MA recognizes when his command cues trigger. He created the user variable by typing the following in the command line... SetVar $generatedeffects="effect X thru X" Where "X" is the effect pool number. So if he put...... SetVar $generatedeffects="effect 401 thru 420" anytime he tells the MA to change his "$generatedeffects" it will apply the changes to effects 401-420. Because thats how he told the MA to organize and recognize the data. It doesn't have to be $generatedeffects either. You can even change the name to whatever you want. Like the following example... SetVar $ipoopandpeecoloreffects="effect 69 thru 420" Then all your effects from 69-420 are also referenced as"$ipoopandpeecoloreffects" =) Hope this helps! =)
Very useful function, thanks for sharing! Thank you! Thanks to the brother of knowledge sharing, I have been concerned about. Have the opportunity to travel to China, then I would like to invite you to eat and drink.