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.
   

Creating scenes

Ok, first thing you will need to do is perform the "ALL OFF" function, this is done by holding the two long key pads situated amongst the sliders together until the display shows A.OFF

Now you will need to create a scene containing the positions of all 48 sliders. To do this you need to first create a scene, do this by making sure the top LED's on both of the pads the sliders are on.

Now you can adjust the slider levels by moving each slider up and down till the level you want has been reached. The LED display screen will show you the slider percentage of each slider as you move it. You will need to save these to a scene, you can do this by pressing the Save Output To Scene (SOTS) key, which is in the bottom left hand corner of the masterpiece.

...then press Scene Keyboard One

...and key one

Now perform the all off function. You will see that every time you press key one the slider positions are recreated.


Create several of these scenes repeating the steps we have just been through. E.g. create a scene and then save it to key two (Once you run out of keys to save to press S2 and you will have a totally new set of keys and so on).


If you should move a slider and it doesn't do anything check the LED screen, if the led screen shows two numbers like so 43.01, then this means that the slider is at a different level to the output and you will need to match the two levels before you can gain control of the channel.


Before we move on it is important that you know that the keyboard along the bottom is not just one keyboard. There are more than one keyboards in the masterpiece there are 8 in the case of the masterpiece 108. The Keyboard select keys change the keyboard below to a new keyboard. There are 12 Scene Keyboards so you can potentially have 216 keys. It basically allows you to store 18 scenes on each keyboard.

Creating a Chase Sequence

Now you've created more than one scene you can create a chase sequence to run through these scenes. I will now show you how to do this.


Firstly you need to perform the all off function, then you can begin to program your chase sequence.


Press the Program Chase Sequence Key (P.C.S) in the bottom left
hand corner

...then press key one

Now press your scene keys in you order that you wish them to happen, such as keys 1,2,3 and 5.


Before you press anything else press the Program Chase Sequence Key once more, then press the C1 key and press key one unless it is already pressed.


Now well shall edit the parameters of the chase (speed, direction, etc) this is done using the chase control section. Firstly you need to engage the chase controls, pressing the controls engaged key does this.

Now you will need to select what kind of a chase you want it to be. This is done using the large square key.

A Manual chase is one that holds on each step until you either press the forward manual step or reverse manual step keys.

A Treb Burst is for when you have a microphone plugged into the back of the masterpiece. Each time there is treble it will go forward one step. Bass burst is the same but it will only go forward one step if there is bass.

We are going to use the Auto function, so make sure the LED above Auto is lit by tapping the Chase step source until it is lit and not move the Speed and Slop sliders until you are happy with the speed and crossover rates then disengage the controls by pressing the Controls engaged key once more.


Perform the All OFF function


Now each time you select the chase by pressing C1 then key one you will have an automatic chase.


Take a break, get a drink!


Ok now I will show you what the environment keys are used for. Environment keys allow you to run any amount of chases together with any amount of scenes to create and save this to one key. To activate more than one key at once simply turn on the SWAP key.

This will make it so that you can activate mare than one key at once (Each keyboard has its own function, so if you do this on Scene keyboard one that will not mean that SWAP has been activated on any other keyboard) allowing you to run several chases together. This can then be saved to an environment by
pressing the Save Environment of channels scenes and chases key.

...and then pressing an environment key.