Multiple Cue Lists
A light board isn’t always used to control just one list of lights; in larger houses a system of light boards might control conventional lights, moving lights, video projections, pyro, and more. These discrete areas of artistry can all be controlled via the same light board using Multiple Cue Lists; each list having their own independent stack of cues accessible by a playback fader.
The light board will then combine the looks into one singular output. This means we can have a very long fade on the back cyc while the stage changes and video plays and pyro shoots out of the set and the moving lights do their thing … all at the same time.
Another usage of multiple cue lists would be to separate performances that need to be stored under a single show – especially when the event has multiple designers. Examples of this might be a night of one acts or perhaps a dance concert. Each designer can be given their own cue list. A certain list can be loaded into the main fader and played back in order.
To create and label a new cue list, we simply need to add the [/] key; so we created Margo’s dance by typing [Cue] [14] [/] [Label] {Dance 4 – Margo} [Enter]. This created a new, empty cue list. To record cue number 1 into that list we would type [Record] [Cue] [14] [/] [1] [Enter].
In previous lessons, EOS has assumed that you want to record your cues into Cue List #1 – or, the Cue List displayed in your PSD. Here we see that we’re currently in “Cue List 1: Main List”.
To switch active cue lists, we type [Cue] [2] [/] [Enter] – which will switch to Cue List #2.
Now we see in the PSD all of Cue List 2’s cues.
And if we recorded a new look, it would place that cue into Cue List #2. Here, for example, I’ll record Cue 4 by typing [Record] [4] [Enter]. You can see in the command line that we now display “Cue 2/#” and that the command line assumed a few extra keystrokes.
Now, if we were to press GO or BACK, we would find that we’re still in Cue List #1. This is because that’s the stack loaded into the Main Playback Fader. How do we switch? Well, that’s covered in the next lesson.