grandMA2

CuePoints exports your cues to grandMA2 as a plugin: one file carrying sequences, executors, pages and timecode objects together.

File > Export…, then set up the three panels as described in Exporting to Consoles, and press Export to GrandMA2.

Cue Playbacks: Your Sequences

Two ways to lay the show out:

• Sequence Per Cue Point Type: one executor for each cue type on each track. Lighting gets its own, Video gets its own. Use this when different departments run different faders.

• Merge Cue Points: every selected cue type collapses into one cue list. Use this when the show is one cue stack in running order.

Then set the columns:

EXEC ID: where each sequence lands on the desk. Type 101+1 and CuePoints fills in 101, 102, 103 and so on down the list.

CMD: what the cue does when timecode hits it:

• Go: the normal one. Use it for your main cue lists.

• Goto: jumps to the cue and asserts tracked values. Use it when the desk might not have been running from the top.

• Temp: holds while the cue is active and releases on the fade time. Use it for hits that vary in length.

• Top: creates a hit-and-release follow cue. Use it for the same effect fired repeatedly.

FIXED: available on Top and Temp. It points several tracks at one executor, instead of one each. Use it when the same hit is used all over the show and you don't want twenty copies of it.

Track Playbacks: Your Pages

PAGE: which page each track lands on. 1+1 gives you pages 1, 2, 3, 4; one per track, which is how most people work a multi-track show.

When you're using Merge Cue Points, you also choose:

• One Executor Per Track: each track keeps its own fader.

• One Executor: everything on one, across the whole show.

Sequence, Pool And Timecode Options

Sequence

• Set Cues to Cue Point Colours: your cue type colours carry through, so the desk looks like your cue list.

• The note column can carry the cue type name, the timecode, or be left empty.

• Set where in the sequence pool the export starts, and how far apart objects are spaced.

Pool

• Set Pool Objects to Cue Point Colours: the same idea for the pool objects themselves.

Timecode

• Timecode Pool Per Track: one timecode object per track. Right for a show where tracks run separately.

• Merge Tracks To Single Timecode: everything into one object. Right for a continuous show on one clock.

• Use Cue TrigTime Only: export just the trigger times, without building the rest.

• Use Absolute Position or Use Timecode Object for Offset: whether the track's offset is baked into the times or carried by the timecode object. If your desk already knows the show's start time, let the timecode object hold the offset.

Pick a clear block of exec IDs and pool locations that isn't already in use; an export builds new sequences rather than folding into ones already on the desk, so a clean block keeps the two sets apart.

Getting It Onto The Desk

1. Export to a USB stick, into gma2/plugins.

2. On the desk, run:

Drive 4 is the USB stick; change it if yours is somewhere else. Plugin 2 is a free plugin slot, use any empty one.

The plugin then builds your sequences, pages and timecode objects.