Controlling and monitoring playback

When you’ve got a full show going it’s likely that you’ll have multiple Cuelists on the console and being played back.
playbackControl_D
To see what’s going on at any time, click the Playback Control button on the main toolbar at the top of the screen. Vista displays the Playback Control window:

This screen lists all the cuelists that are playing and gives you a handy point from which to control and edit them. The window is made up of two panes that can be resized by clicking on the vertical dividing line and dragging the divider to the left or right.

Cuelist pane

The left side of the screen displays a list of all Cuelists and can display up to twelve columns that show playback status and some Cuelist properties.

This column… indicates…
Cuelist Name The name of the Cuelist.
Current Cue Shows the current Cue name and number. Cuelists that have not been run show the first Cue name.
Status The Playback State of the cuelist

– HTP set on

– On Playback. The Cuelist is on a playback control.

– SMPTE timecode locked (not implemented)

– Audio (not implemented)

– Inhibited

Active Shows if the Cuelist is playing or has been played.
Priority Shows the priority of the Cuelist.
Programming Shows the features (Intensity, Position, Colour, Gobo, Beam) programmed in this cuelist.
HTP Shows the ‘HTP Intensity’ property setting.
Release Time Shows the Cuelist’s release time.
Inhibited Shows if a Cuelist has been inhibited (made blind).
Notes This column is for notes and comments. To add a note click, double click on the notes cell.

You can change the setting of a cell by double click on the cell and either selecting from a list of options or entering a new value. You can also right-click on the cell to open an editing window for that cell. Not all cells are editable

You can sort the Cuelist list by clicking on any of the column headings. For example to show all the Cuelists that are on playback controls, at the top of the list, click on ‘On Playback’. Click the column heading again to reverse the order.

You can resize columns by clicking between the headings and dragging the column to suit. To show or hide columns right-click in the Cuelist pane and select ‘Show/Hide fields’ from the popup menu.

Cue pane

The right column shows the Cues in the Cuelist selected in the left column and is divided into six columns that show Cue detail and progress:

This column… indicates…
ID Shows the Cue number
Cue Shows the Cue name.
Programming Shows the features types programmed in this cue.
play_D_24 Click this button to play the cue
Progress Provides a visual display of the Cue’s progress and Shows the progress of the Cue as a percentage
skipToEnd_D_24 Click this button to skip to the end of the cue
Time Shows the elapsed time, time remaining and total fade time for the Cue. I.E.
1/5 [6]
Elapsed time is 1 second
Time remaining is 5 seconds
Total fade time is 6 seconds
Follow Action Shows how the cue starts.
Start – the Cuelist starts ‘n’ seconds after the start of the previous cue
End – the Cuelist starts ‘n’ seconds after the end of the previous cue
Wait – the next Cue will play when Go is pressed
Follow delay Shows the delay time for the ‘follow action’ described above.
Notes This column is for notes and comments. To add a note click, double click on the notes cell.

Control and Playback buttons

You can use playback button toolbar to control one or more Cuelists. To show or hide the playback buttons choose the ‘Playback Control’ option from the Toolbars submenu on the View menu :

This button… does this…
skipToStart_D_24 Jumps to the start of the Cuelist
back_D_24 Cues backwards to the previous Cue marker of the selected Cuelist
pause_D_24 Pauses playback of the selected Cuelist(s)
play_D_24 Commences (Go) Playback the selected Cuelist(s)
forward_D_24 Cues forwards to the next Cue of the Cuelist
skipToEnd_D_24 Jumps to the end of the selected Cuelist.
release all icon Releases the selected Cuelist – fixtures return to their previous settings:

Filtering the cuelists

If the ‘Only show active cuelists’ button is highlighted only cuelists that are being played will be shown in the left pane. You can also set the this option on or off from the View menu.

Auto Scroll

If the ‘Auto Scroll’ option is highlighted you the cue panel will scroll to keep the current cue visible. You can also set the this option on or off from the View menu.

Dragable playhead

If the ‘Dragable Playhead’ option is ticked you can control a Cuelist’s playback by clicking on the Cue progress indicator bars. You can also set the this option on or off from the View menu
PBC_play_progress
Click on the > button on the left side, of the bar, to play the Cue, click on the >> button to go to the end of the Cue or click anywhere in the Cue bar to jump to that point.

If the ‘Dragable Playhead’ button is highlighted click on it (so it is de-selected) to prevent accidental triggering of Cue .

Search

You can search for a cuelist or cue by clicking on the corresponding search button. You can also do this by choosing the ‘Search’ option from the View menu.

Editing in the Playback control window

There are two ways you change Cue names, times and end-of-Cue actions from within the Playback control window. You can:

  • double-click on the Cue Name, Time, At End setting or Notes field and edit the field directly.
  • right-click on the Cue Name, Time, At End setting or Notes field and select the ‘Edit field of selected Cue(s)’ option from the popup window.

To edit a field directly

  1. Double-click on the Cue Name, Time, At End setting or Notes field.
  2. Choose from the list of options or enter a new name, time etc.
  3. Press the Enter key or click away from the field.

To use the Edit field window

  1. Select one or more Cues. You can select a range of Cues by using the shift or control key.
  2. Right-click in the field that you want to change and select the edit option. Vista opens the Edit field window.
  3. Enter a new name, time etc.
  4. Click the OK button.