maXim Operator Manual Appendix B
LSC Lighting Systems (Aust) Pty. Ltd. Page 63 of 66
19.0 APPENDIX B: TERMINOLOGY
FIXTURES
Fixtures are also known as “Lanterns”, “Luminares”, “Instruments” or “lights”. A fixture might be a
simple lamp that is connected to a dimmer or it might be a moving fixture requiring several DMX
channels to control its various features such as pan, tilt, colour, gobo etc.
LOOK
A lighting “LOOK” is the collection of channels at their various levels (intensities) that are
contributing to the output of the maXim at any one time. A “look” may be made up of a collection of
channels or a single scene (see below) or a combination of several scenes. It may even be a single
channel.
CHANNEL
A Channel is the basic element of a Lighting Control System. The number of dimmers and fixtures
connected to this channel is variable depending on your installation and/or application. The most
basic application will have just one dimmer and fixture (light) connected to a channel, so that as you
vary the level of that channel, you vary the level of that fixture.
PRESET OR BANK
When many channels are assembled in a group of adjacent faders they form a “Preset” and each
channel in the preset has an individual fader to control its level. It is common to have two presets
available to the operator. The first lighting “look” is created on one preset by fading up the required
channels. The next lighting “look” is prepared (or “preset”) on the other preset without appearing on
stage (as its preset master is kept faded down). At the appropriate time, the first preset is faded
down whilst the second preset is faded up. The next lighting “look” is now prepared on the first
preset. These alternate crossfades from preset to preset form the standard operation of a manual
preset lighting board.
PRESET MASTER
A Preset master controls the overall level of all the channels in a preset (above). The maXim
provides a Red and a Yellow Bank Master to control the overall level of the red and yellow banks
respectively.
GRAB MASTER
A grab master is similar to a bank master in that it can control the level of a number of channels. It
differs from a bank master in that it does not have dedicated channel faders under its control. It
“grabs” or stores the channels that it controls from other areas of the maXim. Typically, it would be
used to grab the current output of the maXim.
When a grab is performed, an exact copy of the channels that are on (including their levels) is
loaded onto the grab master. This is often referred to as taking a “snapshot”.
SCENE
A Scene is a recorded group of channels (at their respective levels) plus “IN” and “OUT” fade times
and a name. Once you have recorded some scenes, you may of course fade up several scenes at
once and record the combination as a new scene.
CHASE
A stack is a list of steps that are replayed in order, stepping continuously from one step to the next
and automatically repeating the list when it has reached the end.
STACK
A Stack is a list of steps consisting of scenes or snapshots (of the maXim output), that are
recorded in the order that they are to be replayed. The transition (crossfade) from one step to the
next is usually executed by the operator. A Stack is also known as a "Sequence" or "Cue Sheet".
PLAYBACK
A Playback provides a means of playing back and controlling the overall level of a scene or a
chase.
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