A couple of questions (Master Fade, MIDI & Submasters)

[merccat]

Greetings All,

I've been experimenting with Freestyler (and DMX in general) for a couple of months now. I have a fairly small setup that I use for shows with a local band. As far as the lighting piece, it consists of only 4 par cans, 2 intimidator 2.0 scanners, and 2 Chavet Color Splash Jr.'s.

I am using Enttec's OpenDMX to control the lights and a BCR2000 that makes designing scenes and running the show 1000x's easier for me (not a mouse fan).

There are a few issues which I just have not been able to figure out what I'm doing wrong I categorized them below:

Random:
* I have the over-ride buttons assigned to a few of the buttons on the BCR (which is essentially the same as a BCF). The assigned over-ride buttons are set to flash. When using them, if I hold them down or press, the button seems to lock down (although it will no longer display active, the lights will continue to strobe after release). I am perplexed.
* Random issues with lights no longer responding (After some reading this is probably due to the OpenDMX... I might bite the bullet and go pro).

MIDI:
* Love it, want more of it... hope to someday see more MIDI to DMX channels available (but it's not urgent)
* I found the toggle blackout assignment (super cool)... I can't seem to locate the pause assignment (am I overlooking it or is it not there) EDIT: Found it... It's called Freeze not pause... now I feel dumb.

Master Fade:
* Super cool... but having some trouble with my Color Splash Jr's. These little guys share the intensity channel with the strobe channel. i don't have the exact figures here but it's something like 0-128 = off and various strobe speeds, while the remaining are for intensity. I checked the fixture creator and the intensity range is properly entered. However, whenever I use the master fade, it takes the Jr's below the minimum intensity level and causes them to start strobing. Am I doing something wrong or is FS ignoring the minimum intensity setting? Moved this question to another topic....

Finally Submasters:
* I've read that several people think these are the way to go. Maybe it's just my small rig, I can't see it. Anyone have an example of these in action? At what point to these become useful for design? Currently I am writing sequences for each song that I load into cue's for that song. The sequences are designed to match specific places in the music. It's very time consuming and when running the show I have to be spot on. Am I making things too difficult on myself?

Anyone with any insight into these things, I appreciate your help.

Thank You!
-Ryan