Safest way to copy cues?

[rgrinham]

Hey there,

I am currently plotting a musical and we are copying and reusing a large amount of cues from within our main cue list.

What is the safest way to ensure that the cue is copied exactly as the original and with the least interference due to tracking?

I familiar with using the status copy on MA consoles and seeking a similar option.

Many thanks.

[Gregory]

There is a toggle option in the copy menu which might be helpful to you: (Don't) Copy Tracked Values. With it set to Copy, both hard values (those recorded directly into the cue) and tracked values will be copied to the new cue where they will become hard values, this will ensure that the copied cue should output exactly as the original however note that any changes in that cue may effect later ones. Alternatively with it set to Don't Copy only the hard values with the cue will be copied and thus any values that were just tracked in the original will not end up in the new copy. You can adjust the behaviour by changing the tracking setting on each cue for example setting the new copy to Cue Only or Solo both of which mean that tracked information from the cue before will be used for the cue after effectively skipping the new cue. Cue Only will still track values into it even though it won't track onwards, Solo will not track in or out. Another thing you can do is Include the cue you want and then Record or merge that elsewhere in the cue list, in the case of merging you can set it to do Cue Only on a per-attribute value basis. Note that you can also turn tracking off for a whole cue list if you prefer in playback option.

Depending on the software version you are using and programming requirements, you might find creating a Timeline a useful way of visualising and editing a show. In of itself it does not do any tracking or actually contain any attribute values (at least directly), instead it triggers playbacks (individual cues, chases or cue lists) that are recorded elsewhere and allows you to move them around in the timeline in relation to one another. You can trigger the same playback multiple times if you want and adjust the levels and Go triggers on a case by case basis. Although timeline is primarily at timecode or a continuously running sequence it is also possible when running using an internal timer to include Wait For Go points where it will pause until told to continue. Sometimes it can be useful to use a combination of timelines and cue lists to get the best of both worlds.