A large theater was looking for a device that could be put in-line with the DMX output of their lighting console that would do two things:

1. Respond to an output from the fire safety system in the building by turning on most lights on the stage.
2. Respond to the console being turned off (or failing) by switching to a "backup scene".

Putting It Together

CueServer was chosen because of it's ability to perform both of these tasks, while providing feedback to the staff with its LCD display and allowing overrides to be programmed into its front-panel buttons. The DMX Output from the console is connected to the DMX Input jack of the CueServer, and the DMX Output of the CueServer is run to the DMX dimmer racks.

The relay output from the fire safety system is connected to one of the contact closure inputs of CueServer. This input is programmed to bring up a "high-priority" scene (in LTP mode), which turns on all of the DMX controlled dimmers in the building. This event is also programmed to display a message on CueServer's LCD display and allow the emergency look to be cancelled by a front-panel button.

In order to satisfy the second requirement, CueServer's "DMX Fail" and "DMX Restore" events are programmed to run a backup lighting look when the console stops outputting DMX, and to yield back to the console when DMX is restored. Again, custom LCD prompts are displayed and front-panel buttons can be used to change the backup look.

Now, while the console is "on" and there's no fire safety event occuring, the console has complete control of the facilitiy's lights. A fire event causes the emergency lights to come on, and if the console is switched off, various backup looks automatically run.