Introduction

The MagicQ range of consoles includes the MagicQ Stadium and MagicQ Compact series consoles. All consoles run the same MagicQ software – they just vary in number of faders and buttons, I/O options, size of displays 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.

The MagicQ MQ250M and MQ500M Stadium 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.

All MagicQ consoles layouts are very similar - the programming interface is consistent across the entire range of consoles. Below are the layouts of both the MQ250M and MQ500M consoles.

The below pictures show the rear panel connections available on both the MQ250M and MQ500M consoles. The consoles feature a similar set of connections, with some slight differences.

Before starting up the MQ250M or MQ500M console:

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

The MQ250M and MQ500M consoles feature adjustable viewing angle displays. For security, the monitors on the MQ500M are locked when in transport.

To unlock the MQ500M displays, pull the latch located on the centre back of the displays out and lift display tray. The stand behind the screens is then used to position displays at desired viewing angle.

The MQ500M displays must be in the down position and locked using the latch for transport.

The MQ250M display must also be down for transport, although no latch is required for the clamshell design.

The MQ250M and MQ500M consoles both 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.

The MQ250M and MQ500M feature a one touch soft on/off switch. To power up the console press the power switch on the back panel, pictured right.

The blue LEDs next to the encoders should light, after a few seconds the screen will come to life, and you will see the operating system loading.

The MQ250M and MQ500M power switches can be used to power off the console, a single press of the power switch on the rear will sent the shutdown command to MagicQ to shut down the console.

The consoles can also be shutdown via MagicQ, to quit the MagicQ application via software, press the SETUP button and then the QUIT soft button. When asked for confirmation, press 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 on located on the rear panel of the console. 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 power switch until the console powers off (about 10 seconds).

The buttons around the display are 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.

Around the right-hand side of the console there are 8 rotary encoders:

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 MQ500M console features 12 multi-function execute buttons, pictured right. These can be set as either; window layouts, playbacks, executes (mapped to the execute window), macros or palettes – group, position, colour, beam, and FX.

To change the function of these keys, press the next/prev function buttons for the execute section on the console. The function of these keys is depicted on the console display directly above these buttons.

The MQ250M console features similar functions, but via the auxiliary inbuilt touch display, pictured left.

On this display a 4x3 Execute grid is always present, mimicking the physical buttons available on the MQ500M console. To change the function of these keys, hold the ALT key and select the desired function from the display.

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. See the image below for examples of both windows.

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

On the MQ250M and MQ500M the PROG, OUT, SETUP and PATCH keys have secondary functions for window control, to access these hold the ‘ALT’ key to access the additional function.

For example, use ALT + Setup (EXT) to move a window from the Right to the Left screen.

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 sections on the left side of the console display (right-hand display on the MQ500M).

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 by 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 (ALT + cursor keys) 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.

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 tips or error messages when a command is not possible.

The area around the four 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, MIRROR, SINGLE, ODD/EVEN, PAIR 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 left-hand touch screen on the MQ500M and consists of 15 fader playback and 15 execute button Playbacks. The Fader playbacks each have a fader and four buttons (FLASH, GO, STOP, SELECT). The MQ250M meanwhile features 10 of each Playbacks.
The Execute button playbacks have a Flash execute button. By default, this button is used to execute the button playbacks. Use the ‘SEL’ key in the programmer section to select the playback if required.

The area above each of the playbacks on the touch screen is used to provide information about the status of the playbacks.

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