Introduction

The MagicQ range of consoles includes the MagicQ Stadium series and MagicQ Compact consoles. All consoles run the same MagicQ software – they just vary in number of faders and buttons, size of screen and number of universes output from the console.

MagicQ Stadium and MagicQ Compact consoles manufactured from 2013 onwards use the same MagicQ operating system. Other older MagicQ consoles use the Pro2010 or Pro/Expert operating system. MagicQ Stadium and MagicQ Compact consoles have a solid-state drive instead of a traditional magnetic rotating hard drive.

The MagicQ MQ50 and MQ70 compact consoles feature a Micro SD card for show data storage rather than a solid-state drive.

The MagicQ MQ70 and MQ80 Compact consoles feature an inbuilt UPS, this protects the console and its hardware in the event of power failure. The desk will run for around ~15 minutes on the backup battery. The UPS is designed as a power fail backup system only.

The console UPS battery must always remain charged. The battery charges while the console is powered on, the console must be powered on and running MagicQ for the battery to charge. To maintain battery life and UPS performance the console should be run for a minimum 12-hour constant period every 2 months to ensure the battery is kept charged and in the best condition.

It is not necessary to connect a USB mouse. A mouse is only required if the touch screen becomes damaged.

The MagicQ consoles have 4 direct DMX outputs on the rear of the panel so you can connect your DMX cables direct to the console.

Alternatively, you can use Ethernet and an external Ethernet to DMX converter box such as our range of SnakeSys Ethernet to DMX Interfaces. Connect the Interface to the console Network port via a network cable.

To power up the console press the power switch on the back panel. The blue LEDs around the left and right of the display should light, after a few seconds the screen will come to life and you will see the operating system loading.

To power down the console it is necessary to quit the MagicQ application. The console operating system then performs an automatic shutdown and turns itself off when complete. To quit the MagicQ application, press the SETUP button and then the QUIT soft button. When asked for confirmation, press the YES.

Note that just removing the power cord to the console will not have the desired effect since the internal UPS continues to provide power.

If for some reason you are unable to power off the console, then you may need to force the console to power off as below.

Under rare circumstance it may be necessary to reset the console. To reset the console, press SETUP to go to the Setup Window and hold SHIFT and press RESET. This performs an immediate soft reset of the console - the MagicQ application will be running the show again within about 2-3 seconds.

If this has no effect then a hard reset may be required. Hard resets should be avoided as they bypass the operating system shutdown procedures and may cause problems with the file system.

The reset switch is recessed behind the rear panel metalwork. A small screwdriver/end of a pen can be used to gently press the button. Press and hold the button for 5 seconds to reset the front panel.

If for any reason the hardware reset does not work, it may be necessary to perform a hard reset.

Switch off the console at the mains supply and press and hold the reset until it powers off completely (about 10 seconds).

All MagicQ consoles layout are very similar - the programming interface is consistent across the entire range of consoles.

The MagicQ MQ50 and MQ70 console do not have the physical ‘S’ buttons directly below the display, pressing on the touch screen above the fader has the same effect as using the ‘S’ buttons on these consoles.

Around the central screen area there are 8 rotary encoders and soft buttons.

The buttons around the display referred to as soft buttons since their function changes according to the active window on the touch screen. The current function of a soft button is displayed on the touch screen adjacent to the button. To select the function, you can either press the screen or the soft button itself.

The function of the rotary encoders also changes according to the active window with the current function being displayed adjacent to the encoder.

The SHIFT and CTRL buttons on the console selects alternate functions for the soft buttons and encoders.

The area in the centre of the screen is the windows section in which the various control windows are displayed. There are two main types of windows – boxes style windows which have large boxes such as the Group Window and spreadsheet style editing windows such as the Patch Window.

A window is displayed by pressing the appropriate window button. Changing window does not affect programming or playback.

On Compact consoles (MQ40N, MQ60, MQ80) The top right window keys have secondary functions, to access these hold the ‘ALT’ key to access the additional function.

Multiple windows can be displayed at one time by sizing the windows appropriately. In addition, a complete configuration of windows – i.e. a complete view can be selected using CTRL and the top soft buttons. For example, to select the Palettes view (Groups, Positions, Colours and Beams) press CTRL and the first top soft button. Layouts can also be recorded and quickly recalled using the Lay1,2,3 keys on the console.

When a window button is pressed, that window becomes the active window. The active window is on the top of the screen and is easily identified as the window with the highlighted title bar at the top. It is also the window with the cursor in it.

An item in a window can be selected either:

The cursor can be moved around the active window using the cursor keys in the Editor area of the console or via the cursor keys on the keyboard. PG UP, PG DN, PG LEFT and PG RIGHT can be used to scroll the window in the appropriate direction. HOME and END can be used to get to the start and end of the window respectively.

(ALT + Cursor keys on Compact consoles)

Towards the bottom of the touch screen are two small windows, the Status Display and the Input Display. The Status Display shows the current date and time, the ADD / SWAP status of the console and other relevant status information.

The Input Display shows the data that has been currently entered through the keypad and the keyboard. Note that text is not entered into the main Windows until ENTER is pressed. This allows the user to choose whether the keyboard data is SET into fields in the windows or onto Playbacks.

After a command has been entered it also confirms that the command has been accepted and shows any error messages when a command is not possible.

The area around the two large rotary encoders is referred to as the head control area. It is used to alter the parameters of individual heads and apply effects such as fans over groups of heads.

The NEXT HEAD and PREV HEAD buttons are used to select an individual head to modify.

The other buttons control the selection mode; LOCATE, HIGHLIGHT, FAN, SINGLE, ODD/EVEN, and ALL.

The Editor buttons are used to modify program data. The 8 buttons on the right-hand side are the action buttons which are used to modify show data. The action buttons are:

UNDO REMOVE MOVE COPY

SET INCLUDE UPDATE RECORD

The buttons on the left:

BLIND and CLEAR affect the programmer

REL and SELECT affect playbacks.

SHIFT selects alternate functions.

 undoes keyboard input and clears actions.

The Playback area is situated directly below the touch screen and consists of 10 playbacks each with a fader and four buttons (FLASH, GO, STOP, SELECT). The area above each of the playbacks on the touch screen is used to provide information about the status of the playback.

The playback area also contains a Grand Master, a Sub Master, Page Select buttons and a Manual Playback for taking control of Cue Stacks.

The cross-fade section contains a GO, STOP. FWD, BCK buttons, a cross fader and a master GO button. The cross-fade section controls the current playback selected with the S button.