Macro Faders

One fader handle, many DMX channels. A Macro Fader is a virtual control that drives any number of DMX channels at once, each with its own range and direction. Perfect for "everything dim", "the back row only", "all strobes", or any other multi-channel grouping you reach for repeatedly.

Available from v1.0.50. Included on every tier.

Where to find them

Macro Faders appear as a strip of vertical fader tiles inside the Master Dimmer block on every Showtime sub-tab (Manual Cues, Auto Cues, DJ Mode, Programmer). The strip sits directly below the Master Dimmer slider.

• Collapsed by default when you have no Macro Faders on the current stage.
• Expanded by default once at least one Macro Fader exists.
• The collapse chevron in the sub-header lets you hide the strip if you need the screen real estate.

You can also pop out the strip into its own window via the Pop-Out button - ideal for multi-monitor setups where you want the faders on a dedicated touch-screen. The pop-out window mirrors live state in both directions.

On the Cues page (where the Master Dimmer block is replaced by a compact indicator), Macro Faders are reachable via the popover that opens when you click the Master Dimmer indicator.

Creating a Macro Fader

1. Click the + Add button at the top of the Macro Fader strip.
2. Give the fader a Name (max 32 characters). This name appears under the fader handle on the strip and in MIDI binding dropdowns.
3. Pick a Curve - Linear is the default.
4. Add channels using either the Smart Pick tab or the Manual tab.
5. Click Save.

The new tile appears at the right end of the strip. Drag tiles to reorder; the order persists per stage. The gear icon on each tile reopens the modal for editing; the duplicate icon clones a fader; the trash icon deletes it.

Smart Pick vs Manual

Smart Pick is the recommended way to build a Macro Fader. Instead of typing universes and channel numbers, you tick boxes in a matrix:

• One row per Fixture Group on the current stage.
• One column per Channel Type any fixture in the group exposes (Dimmer, Red, Green, Blue, White, Pan, Tilt, Strobe, Gobo, and so on).

Ticking a cell expands to one member per matching channel on every fixture in that group. Min/max/invert are prefilled from the fixture's declared channel range.

Example: ticking (Front Pars, Dimmer) expands to one member per front par, each with its actual Dimmer channel address.

Manual mode is for when you need precise control over which DMX address goes in, or when adding channels that don't belong to a patched fixture. The Manual table lets you add a single row, or add a contiguous range of channels in one universe with a shared min/max/invert. Both modes coexist on the same fader.

Member range and invert

Each channel the fader controls is called a member. Every member has three parameters:

• Min - the DMX byte the channel outputs when the fader is at 0.
• Max - the DMX byte the channel outputs when the fader is at maximum.
• Invert - swap min and max as the fader rises.

Between Min and Max the value is interpolated, then shaped by the response curve.

Example uses:

• Min=0, Max=255 - full range, fader sweeps the channel from off to full.
• Min=30, Max=200 - fader keeps the channel inside a safe zone. Never below 30, never above 200.
• Min=100, Max=100 - fader is irrelevant; the channel always outputs 100. Useful when grouping a fixed-value channel for symmetry.
• Min=128, Max=200 - fader sweeps a Pan or Tilt over a specific physical range.
• Invert ON on half your fixtures - symmetric tilt sweeps where the back row tilts up while the front row tilts down.

Response curves

The Curve dropdown sets how the fader position translates into the value used between Min and Max.

• Linear (default) - direct 1:1. Output rises in lockstep with the handle.
• S-curve - smooth ease-in / ease-out. The most natural-feeling curve for general fades. Slight cushion at top and bottom.
• Exponential - dim-fast. Output stays low until roughly halfway, then ramps up steeply. Useful when you want most of the fader's travel dedicated to subtle low-end control.
• Logarithmic - dim-slow. Output rises sharply at the bottom, then plateaus near the top. Useful when full output is reached early and the top of the fader is for fine-tuning.

Sample points for a member with min=0, max=255. The number in each cell is the DMX byte output at that fader position.

Tip: S-curve passes through the same value as Linear at 0%, 50% and 100% by design - they only diverge in between (up to about ±24 bytes). If you want a more visibly different curve, pick Exponential - at 50% travel you only get 25% output.

The curve applies to the fader position before each member's Min↔Max interpolation, so the curve choice affects every member uniformly.

Working with Macro Faders

Reorder and colour-tag. Drag tiles to reorder them within the strip - order persists per stage. Each tile has a small coloured stripe along the top edge; click it to pick a swatch, or clear to remove. The colour is cosmetic, but useful for spotting tiles at a glance when you have many of them.

Conflict badge. When two or more Macro Faders include the same fixture-and-channel-type combination, both tiles show a small badge. Hovering reveals the conflicting fader names. Conflicts aren't errors - the most recently moved fader wins for the affected channels - but the badge surfaces the situation in case it was unintentional. A typical legitimate conflict: a "wash master" controlling every dimmer plus a "front row only" controlling the front-row dimmers.

Master Dimmer attenuates brightness output. Brightness channels driven by a Macro Fader (Dimmer, Master, RGB, White) are scaled by the Master Dimmer percentage before output. Non-brightness channels (Pan, Tilt, Gobo, Prism, Iris, Zoom, Focus) pass through unattenuated. This means you can build a kill-output by sliding Master Dimmer to 0 while leaving any Macro Fader untouched - the faders keep their position, the brightness output just attenuates to nothing.

Position 0 releases channels. A Macro Fader at position 0 releases its channels - they fall through to whatever cue, programmer or Live Edit is writing them. Move the fader off zero and it claims the channels again.

Persistence. Macro Faders and their last positions are stored per stage and survive app restart, stage switch and crash recovery. To reset all positions at once, use Clear All Cues.

Fixture changes. Members are anchored to fixtures, not raw DMX addresses. Moving a fixture's patch address auto-remaps every member. Deleting a fixture (or changing its mode in a way that drops channels) opens the Fixture Dependents dialog so you can review and confirm before any change is applied.

MIDI mapping

To bind a hardware MIDI fader or encoder to a Macro Fader:

1. Open Settings → MIDI.
2. Switch the controller to MIDI Learn mode, or click an existing binding to edit it.
3. Pick the DMX Channel binding type, then the Macro Fader sub-option.
4. Choose Bind to existing Macro Fader and pick one from the dropdown.
5. Save.

The in-app fader handle updates live to mirror the MIDI position, so the on-screen and physical handles stay in sync.

Restrictions:

• Faders or encoders only. Macro Faders need continuous values - buttons aren't supported.
• One Macro Fader per MIDI control, but a single Macro Fader can be driven by multiple MIDI controls (handy if several physical surfaces drive the same logical fader).

For general MIDI setup see Midi Controls.

Patterns and ideas

Front wash master. Smart-Pick the (Front Group, Dimmer) cell. One fader controls every front-of-house dimmer at once. Bind to a hardware fader for tactile fade-ins.

Smoke trigger combo. Manual mode: add the hazer's Fog channel (min=0, max=255), the Fog Volume channel (min=0, max=200 to cap intensity), and a Strobe channel inverted (min=0, max=128, invert ON) so the strobe goes from full to half as smoke rises.

Position park / Kill movers. Smart-Pick (All Movers, Pan) and (All Movers, Tilt). Edit each member's max to the parked-position DMX byte. Move the fader to max → all movers park; back to 0 → movers wherever the cue or programmer left them.

Quick blackout with kill switch. Two Macro Faders: a "main wash" with Smart-Pick (All Fixtures, Dimmer), and a "blackout override" with the same membership but invert ON and min=255, max=0. Bind each to its own hardware fader. When the blackout fader rises, it forces dimmers down regardless of the main wash. Return it to 0 to restore main wash control.

Per-song bus presets. Build one Macro Fader per section of your show (Verse Wash, Chorus Punch, Bridge Reds, Outro Sweep). Each is a curated grouping of channels with carefully tuned mins and maxes. Bind them to MIDI faders on a multi-track controller and performing a song becomes "ride the relevant faders" rather than waiting for the cue stack to fire.

Things to know

• Fader resolution: 0-127 (matches MIDI native fader resolution).
• Members per fader: no hard limit. For most shows you'll have 5 to 50.
• Faders per stage: no hard limit. Pop out the strip if the tile count gets unwieldy.
• Name uniqueness: unique per stage. Two stages can share a name without conflict.
• Tier gating: none. Macro Faders are available on every tier.
• Channel-cap enforcement: Macro Fader writes count toward your tier's channel cap the same as any other channel write.
• Per-member curves: not supported - the curve is fader-wide.
• Audio reactivity / BPM / Cue triggers: not supported. Macro Faders are user-input controls only - use Live Edits, Cues or Effect Cues if you need automation.