Support Forum

hello

i've been getting to grips with Freestyler for the past month or two within a live music venue, mainly for bands. given this, i have to make the lights react pretty quick to the music. here are some suggestions which i think would help a great deal to others in this situation...

[*] keyboard shortcuts to select a certain fixture(s). i.e. 'L' would select all of the LEDs

[*] keyboard shortcuts for the cue list. numbers would be most effective i reckon. it might also be a good idea to have the cue list numbered if this was implemented?

[*] i've programmed a few sequences in and added them to the cue sheet. i figure it would be good to be able to have two or three cue's going at once if you have assigned different actions for certain lights. hopefully that makes sense?

there might be some more i've forgotton right now but those are the ones which spring to mind

many thanks

I use FreeStyler to run lighting for a band, as well. I use a Belkin Nostromo n52 game controller for the majority of my cue changes. Using the configuration software, I've assigned keys to the controller, like "q" for the top left key, "w" for the next one to the right, etc. Then I went into Setup>FreeStyler Setup>External Control>Keyboard shortcuts and assigned "Toggle cuelist 1" to "q", and so on.

Pretty much every function can be attached to a key. I can run any of 16 cuelists and I can switch to the other tabs with one hand. That's 96 presets without moving away from the controller. Plus, I don't have to try to "mouse" around the screens.

It's a big help as my attention is usually divided between running the house light board, FreeStyler, and trying to figure out what part of the club our singer has dashed off to, this time.

Hope this has been helpful.

drunkenmind wrote:keyboard shortcuts to select a certain fixture(s). i.e. 'L' would select all of the LEDs

Done - Already implemented as long as I remember

keyboard shortcuts for the cue list. numbers would be most effective i reckon. it might also be a good idea to have the cue list numbered if this was implemented?

Done You can use the keyboard shortcuts for the cuelist buttons (remember to use the beta version of FS so you can activate ("load cuelist only")

i've programmed a few sequences in and added them to the cue sheet. i figure it would be good to be able to have two or three cue's going at once if you have assigned different actions for certain lights. hopefully that makes sense?

You can use the cuelist buttons for this but then you can't use them as you wanted in your second wish

thanks LJ_krede.dk

i would seem like i don't have the most recent version of freestyler. i'll download it now and hopefully my troubles will be short lived

DrunkenMind, here's something you should consider:

Before moving on to a touchscreen interface to control FreeStyler, I used this really cheap M-Audio MIDI keyboard as a convenient and compact controller:

http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-E-Keys-37 ... B0001A9C5I

This compact MIDI keyboard has 22 white keys and 15 black keys, all shrunk to a keyboard that's less than 19" wide and about 5" deep. I mapped the first 20 white keys to trigger a sequence from Cue window, the 21st key was for Strobing (set as a "Favorite" sequence), and the last (22nd) key on the right was Blackout. I used a P-Touch to label these keys.

Since I was using an earlier version of FreeStyler, I'd use the 15 Black keys for quick access to other "hot" buttons and overrides. But now, with the 3.3.5 update you can set the Cuelist to "Load Cuelist Only" mode, and then use the black keys to load various cues/sequences onto the first 20 white keys instead.

In such a setup, this little MIDI keyboard will let you quickly select one of 15 Cuelists, trigger all 20 Sequences on/off, plus activate the "Toggle Favorite" and "Toggle Blackout" keys. If you are a musician, you'll probably find this MIDI piano keyboard more intuitive and quicker to use than your laptop's keyboard. The device's 6ft. USB cord will also allow you to place your computer safely away somewhere, and then place the MIDI keyboard wherever is convenient for you without getting in the way of your other gear.

hi gary

thanks for the suggestion but we havn't really got the money or space to incorporate another keyboard so we are hoping to just use our qwerty one.

i've finally got version 3.3.7 and gone into setup - freestyler setup - external control - keyboard shortcuts but i can't see how i create a keyboard shortcut for selecting a group specific group of lights, say LEDs or some scanners

hope someone can help
thanks in advance

drunkenmind wrote: i've finally got version 3.3.7 and gone into setup - freestyler setup - external control - keyboard shortcuts but i can't see how i create a keyboard shortcut for selecting a group specific group of lights, say LEDs or some scanners

in "setup - freestyler setup - external control - keyboard shortcuts" you define which keys should select the groups. to assign fixtures to group you use the group menu. Try to read this:

FreeStyler Wiki --> Fixture Groups

I also think there is a short description about this in the FS help menu

thanks LJ_Krede

i've created groups before for certain fixtures but i was hoping there was an even faster way to select them; a keyboard shortcut perhaps?

i'm pretty sure that you can assign a group to a key on your keyboard if it is that you mean?

1) assign fixtures to a group
2) go to the keyboard shortcut configuration and add a key to "group [number]"

I'm at work right now so can't check it myself

LJ_Krede you are correct and i am blind!

thank you very very much

Does anyone has an export of a keyboard short cut list. I see you can make a .fks file. I'm pretty new and i'm wondering how other people use freestyler. We normally do the lights for a drive inn kids disco. So a lot of changes on location. Not very professional but we getting there. I like to see other people have set up there system. Thanx in advance.