Ganging ABCD of several channels?

[msteelParticipant]

Maybe I am missing something since I am brand new to dLive. But I’d like to be able to gang the ABCD function of a number of channels so that they all are always on the same A or B input. Then I’d like to assign a softkey (or two) to one of the channels so that I can switch A<->B. But as far as I can tell, the ABCD function cannot be ganged with the current firmware.

The purpose of this is to allow us to switch between a primary and backup audio playback computer. Our current way of doing this predates the dLive and uses an external analog switcher (Whirlwind AB8).

So far the closest I can come is to use softkeys programmed to change ABCD on ALL channels. This has the limitation of having only one use for ABCD on the entire desk. Also, it does not have the nice visual feedback about which input is currently selected.

[SteffenRParticipant]

you can use scenes to change many inputs at once

[msteelParticipant]

That might work. How does that interact with a cue list? As this is a theatre application we would need to be able to do the A/B switch without losing our current place in the cue list.

[SteffenRParticipant]

then your scenes for the input switch should stay out of your cue list

[msteelParticipant]

Yes, I tried this and it accomplishes the purpose.
The only thing that doesn’t work like I want is that the A/B softkeys only stay lit until the next scene recall. It would be nice if they reflected the ABCD value at all times.

[msteelParticipant]

Figured out some complicated programming to do exactly what I want:

Scene A:
* Sets ABCD to A on desired channels
* Sets Softkey A to “Set ABCD to A” of one of the channels
* Sets Softkey B to Recall Scene B

Scene B:
* Sets ABCD to B on desired channels
* Sets Softkey B to “Set ABCD to A” of one of the channels
* Sets Softkey A to Recall Scene A

Set recall filters so these snapshots only do these things.
Set recall filters on other snapshots so the softkey assignments do not get changed.
Set global safes so that scenes can recall softkey A and B
Do not put Scene A and Scene B into a cue list.

Pressing Softkey A switches desired channels to A and lights up, because A is now selected on the one channel.
Pressing Softkey B switches desired channels to B and lights up, because B is now selected on the one channel.

[RSParticipant]

Exactly that is the way.
Recall filters might look complicated at first glance, but are very powerful. Although there still is functionality missing like selection of dedicated output routing, not all only, for instance…

[msteelParticipant]

After having this A/B setup for a couple of shows, I still think there is value in being able to gang the ABCD function.

The biggest reason is in the step of “Set recall filters on other snapshots so the softkey assignments do not get changed.” This means that every time you create a new scene you must (remember to) check and/or edit the recall filter of the scene so your A/B button still works in that scene.
Copying and pasting the recall filter from one scene to all or many scenes is another alternative, but in cases where your show uses different recall filters in different scenes, there is a chance that can mess things up too.

[msteelParticipant]

Looks like the new ABCD range softkey option in firmware v1.9 will do just what I need. I’ll have to try it out!

[msteelParticipant]

Turns out that the ABCD range softkey option makes this easy to set up, and avoids the complicated scene setups and filtering.

The one thing it cannot do though, is provide the visual feedback you get when using a softkey to control a single channel.

The more I think about it, the more complications I see with ganging ABCD. Since ABCD is a preamp parameter, it isn’t logically considered part of a channel, and can potentially be shared between a ganged channel and a non-ganged channel. That sounds messy to implement.

I’ll have to be satisfied with the ABCD range function without the visual feedback.

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