A helpful beginners guide on Programming the Pulsar Masterpiece 108/216.

In this guide I will run through how to program basic chases. I will be going through it with you using the Masterpiece 108. This guide looks hard but its really not that difficult to do, just read and follow everything word for word and you shouldn't have any problems. If you get stuck at any point feel free to contact me on MSN ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ). It should be noted that the masterpiece 108 and 216 are very similar and you program chases in the same way. The masterpiece is an incredibly powerful controller and once you know how to work it you'll never want to go back to a basic one.

Firstly we will need to turn on Masterpiece, on the 108 the power switch is on the back. Please observe the number in the LED window at the top and write it down as it will be important later. The display should read N3.02, if it doesn't you will need to contact pulsar to get hold of a free update chip.

Before we continue onto programming the masterpiece I will run through what each key does, please read carefully.

1. These are the programming keys, but I will explain more about these individually when we need them.
   
   
   
2. This is the Scene/Chase/Environment Keyboard.
   
   
   
3. These are the Keyboard select keys, they change the function of the keyboard at the bottom of the desk. There are 12 Scene Keyboards so you can potentially have 216 keys. It basically allows you to store 18 scenes on each keyboard. Imagine it as a computer keyboard in this case, you would have 12 of these keyboards. So S1 key 1 is a totally different key to S2 key 1 and so on.
   
   
   
4. These are similar to the Scene Keyboard select keys except C1, C2 and C3 allow you to store chases only on the 18 keys and E1, E2 and E3 allow you to store "environments" only on the 18 keys.
   
   
   
5. This is the chase control section, it allows you to change the speed of a chase after it has been created.
   
   
   
6. This is the Blackout key.
   
   
   
7. These are the keyboard action keys, they allow you to select how you want each key to react to your key press e.g. latch - the key remains on after you release your finger and will remain on until you select another key, flash - the key will switch off after you release your finger from the key. Each keyboard has its own function so if you set S1 to flash S2 will remain in latch.
   
   
   
8. These are the output select keys, because there are only 18 sliders on masterpiece and the 108 has 108 outputs you can use these to adjust all 108 outputs individually. E.g. lets say you wanted to adjust output number 19 you would press output select 2 and move slider one.