Monitor Workflows — DiGiCo Macros and Management

Whether I am working with a new console, one of the first things I inherently start to notice is how many button presses it takes me to get to any certain function. The more buttons I have to press, longer it takes me to do that action, and therefore the slower I am to responding in the heat of a problem. This is the same reason why console layout is hugely important to me, however, that is a conversation for another time. Today I want to dig into how I utilize DiGiCo macros to perform both simple and complicated actions on the desk. Being able to bring a wide range of functions to a single customizable button allows me to manipulate the console into my most efficient work surface.

Before we get into specifics of my showfile, it is worth noting that there are countless way to program macros. Everyone’s workflow is different. Some people choose to keep things simple, however, my approach is to push the macro functionality to its limits, and then scale back as I find what works. I like to think of it as, “you have to learn the rules before you can break them.”

I want to break down my macros in sections. With the way DiGiCo consoles operate, I have found myself inserting blank macros with only a label to help separate macros in a list to be able to manage how many I have. Also, because you cannot re-order macros (DiGiCo, if you are reading this: please let me rearrange macros like you can rearrange snapshots), I rarely ever press the “new” macro button. I almost always press the duplicate button for the macro above wherever I want the new macro to be. This allows me to keep things organized in groups. This avant-garde way of creating visual space and dividing the macros into logical groups helps me manage the 300+ macros I have on my current show.

What?! 300 macros? How could you possibly make use of 300 macros when your console only has four banks of ten macros?

First, because of how macros work on DiGiCo console, a good portion of macros are trigger as an on, off, or toggle state. I personally do not like using the toggle function. Therefore, it requires both an “on” and “off” macro for every function. If I were to use all 40 onboard macro with on/off macros, that would be 80 macros right there.

Additionally, one of my favorite features of the macro section that DiGiCo recently updated even further in their latest is the ability to trigger macros from more than just the onboard macro buttons. For some time now, you have been able to fire macros via on-board macro buttons, OSC, MIDI, GPI, and a few basic mute + fader on/off functions. Now in the latest firmware additions have been made to allow for macros to be fired from snapshots, from set fader values, and more. For all intents and purposes of this, I will stick to how I use macros in version 1742 since I have not yet been able to try out the new version.

Currently I use three methods to manage controlling macros:

1) The onboard macro buttons for show critical and always accessible macros

2) The mute buttons on a number of groups, auxes, and channels

3) A software called Companion that fires macros via OSC commands

Let’s start with the macros I have always right in front of me on the first bank of onboard macros:

• Save

• Update Current Snapshot

• Update All Snapshots (via relative groups)

• “Show Time”

  • This performs actions that I would need at show start and may forget to undo during line checks including:

    • Unmute subs on stage

    • Turn off VSC

    • Enable timecode

    • Set all mix groups and matrix outs to unity

• Solo Dim

  • This dims my solo by -12dB so I can talk to techs without having to un-solo the principle mix

• Spice Rack

• Talk to Artist

• Talk to Band

• Talk to Crew

• Talk to Audio

  • This macro also serves a full talkback clear both when I turn on and off the macro so I don’t leave any macros open accidentally. This is especially true when using there mute macros I will explain a little later.

These are my “desert island” macros. If you only gave me ten macros to pick, it would be these. Fortunately, it does not have to stop there. Here are the other three banks I have.

Bank 2 is my “stuff is broken” bank.

• Shelford On/Off

  • This disables my Shelford channel strip on the artist vocal as well as enabling on-board processing to compensate

• Main Vocal Main/Spare

• Clear Band Spare

• Guitar > Band Spare

• Keys > Band Spare

• Bass > Band Spare

• Drums > Band Spare

Historically I used the band spare macro to enable or disable matrix inputs to a single set of matrix outs for the band spare. However, for this tour and moving forward I am actually using a trick I learned from my friend Rob Brazinski. He uses another aux and merges the band member’s aux into it. To do this, the macros to not become toggles. They each become a dedicated state. It can be a bit complicated to build, but it saves matrix inputs where they could be best used in other situations.

Bank 3 is my “miscellaneous” bank.

• Security

  • This pulls up the security page to lock my console when I walk away as well was mutes a control group with all of my “stage noise” inputs like wedges, subs, and butt kickers. This way if someone comes to stay while I am not there, nothing is going to blast through any speakers without my knowledge. I have definitely forgotten to mute all of my stage noise outputs once or twice when walking away.

• Clear Master

  • This clears the master screen when it gets littered with the channel list, matrix, snapshot, audio I/o, and copy audio menus all open at once.

• MIDI PC

  • This switches on and off where or not the snapshots in the console fire macros into my record computer.

• MTC

  • This switches on and off if the snapshots are tracking the MTC fed from playback.

• IEM Check Spill

  • This toggles a spill set with my pink noise left and right, as well as, all macros patched to an output to be able quickly send pink to every patched IEM out.

• Lights Full

• Lights Down

Lastly, bank 4 is my “festival” bank. It only has two macros.

• Mute IEMs

• Mute Wedges

I use these to quickly mute all outputs for those shows where everything has to get unplugged immediately after the show ends.

Moving to the next set of macros, we have the macros assigned to mute buttons. This is a trick I learned years ago from the legend, Michael Zuehsow. He showed me that could map a macro to a mute button. If you set the first action of the macro to turn off the mute of the mute you assign to trigger it, you can effectively “lock” that mute and therefore add any other action after it.

This is where things get useful. Since you cannot use the macros as on and off states very effectively when it is on a mute, Zuehs decide to set the talkbacks to a toggle to talk to the respective band member via their aux mute. The only downside here is that you have to be aware of when a talkback is on since the toggle is not momentary.

In addition to talkbacks, I will also use this same macro structure to “lock” mutes as an alternative to the “live” mode under security.

The last and final macro controller is my current favorite. My Companion set up is relatively straightforward, but it is packed full of macro control for not just me, but also five other techs. With the console NIC on a network (the same one used for SoundGrid remote control), I am able to distribute control to multiple techs to minimize the amount of switchboard operating I have to do mid-show. This gives me more space to be able to focus on the artist despite having a skeleton crew for this size show.

I have my macros currently divided up into sections. I am using the first 28 OSC commands for various basics like opening windows with a single button or changing metering ballistics. For the rest, I have dedicated ranges of OSC commands to each tech. Next I want to break down what control each tech currently gets:

Playback Engineer

• Talk to Crew

• Talk to Band/MD

• Talk to Artist

• Tracks Mute/Unmute

  • This is only for the ears and is set to be a “hold” action on the stream deck. This is so he can mute playback to everyone but himself while he works on edits during rehearsals.

Monitor Tech

• Talk to Monitor Engineer

• Talk to FOH Engineer

• Talk to Playback

• Talk to Backline Techs

• Me Time

  • I have the luxury of an extra PSM transmit where I can matrix together my solo bus and talkbacks. When he switches to “Me Time” the solo bus is disabled and a Sonnect SoundWire plugged in locally is enabled for him to listen to music while he works on other things during rehearsals but not miss any talkback cues. Not show critical, but a nice quality of life feature for him.

Backline Techs - We have three, but the macros are similar across guitar, keys, and drum techs.

• Talk to “musician”

• Listen to “musician” mix

  • The techs all also have discrete transmitters. This allows me to use the same merge function that I mentioned above to merge in their musician’s mix at will. This allows them to know exactly what their musician is hearing and, it keeps them from getting forgotten when I am focused on the band. Because the mix is still just a merge, I can stack on top of it whatever I need to such as talkbacks.

• Listen to “musician” instrument ISO

  • This allows the tech to effectively solo their respective musician’s instruments.

• Listen to “LISTEN”

  • This is an aux I set up to solo individual inputs into a tech’s ears whenever we are troubleshooting together. It is all pre-mute so if I need to, mid-show, I can solo a single input.

• Dim Mix

  • This dims the mix merge 12dB.

We also have an MD who is not on stage. He can use his control to do similar things like talk to specific people with his talkback or remove click or playback elements to hear specifically what is happening with the band.

Ultimately, this type of set up adds a layer of complexity that I am only able to maintain with the help of my monitor tech. This is not something I would recommend for a tour where the monitor engineer is the only person on deck. It gets complicated quickly. What is even more crazy is that this is not even as far as you can take macros. I have friend who are using GPIO (which is currently the only way to perform momentary macros) to do some really cool things.

As the macro world in DiGiCo continues to expand, I am sure my workflow will change. For now, this has proven itself to be useful. I know there are various groups of other people with some cool macros. What macros do you find useful? What other interesting ways do you see yourself using the potential of macros?