Inexpensive Lightboard
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For groups only needing basic control of lighting there are in the market several inexpensive (as low as $39) basic lightboards available similar to the one pictured above. While they don't have all the features of more expensive lightboards they should prove sufficient for many productions. I've attached the manual for a typical one. Different models vary in the number of fixtures they handle. Most handle 12 fixtures but some handle 24. A few of them have a wheel control that can be set to easy dynamically control the pan or zoom of the fixtures.
SPEED and FADE controls
The following is strictly from my experience on one of these lightboards as I can find no official documentation on this subject.
Please send me additional insights you gain by actual use.
I've only tested this with times of less than 10 seconds or so. Using longer times may expose things that I didn't notice.
These lightboards don't have a Master control that would allow you to fade-out or fade-in a Look.
(The term Look in this discussion is a static lighting pattern.
Look is used to differentiate it from a Scene which is a button on the lightboard.)
In manual operation of these lightboards the Speed and Fade control don't have any effect.
Thus the only way to manually fade-in and fade-out of Looks is to move the sliders.
With simple incandescent lighting cases this may not be too difficult, however, with LED fixtures
moving the sliders down proportionally might be doable but to move them back up the correct levels is very difficult.
These lightboards, however, can automatically fade-in and fade-out when used in the Auto mode (AUTO LED on).
To use this feature you'll need to prepare beforehand all the Looks that you'll need for the production.
In the Auto mode the lightboard can either run through the 8 scenes of a single Bank repeatably
or it can run though the all the (up to 240) scenes of 1 or more of the 6 Chases repeatably.
The Speed slider controls the duration each Look is active.
The Fade slider controls how fast the current Look fades out as the next Look fades in.
If the speed time is less than the fade time, the fade ends when the speed time is reached.
Beware that if a Scene or a Chase step has nothing recorded in it then when it is reached Auto mode it is skipped as if it was not in the sequence.
Thus to have a Blackout Look it is necessary to record something that does not have any fixture lighted.
I typically use Scanner 12 with Slider 8/16 up fully as a Blackout Look.
SETUP USING A BANK
First record the desired Looks desired in the order into the Scenes of a Bank.
I usually set the 1st Scene/Look to be a Blackout for pre-show.
If you need less than 8 Looks, I'd recommend storing Blackouts in the remaining Scenes.
SETUP USING A CHASE
First record the desired Looks desired in the order into the steps of a Chase.
Be aware that the 1st Look in the Chase is skipped when you first start a Chase.
I usually set the 1st Look to be a Blackout for pre-show.
You can record between 2 and 240 steps (Looks) into a Chase.
With a Chase you may add, delete and insert steps as need be, giving great flexibility at the cost of some complexity.
SETTING SPEED AND FADE SLIDERS
Next, set the SPEED and FADE sliders all the way down.
Next, tap the AUTO/DEL button to enter the Auto mode.
Start by adjusting the FADE slider.
You'll notice as use move the control the duration of the fade is monetarily displayed in the LED display.
I found that setting to about 4 seconds (display 4.??) works well.
Then adjust the SPEED slider to about 6 seconds (display 6.??).
At this time each of the Looks of the Bank or Chase are displayed sequentially, fading from and to the next repeatedly.
Make any fine turning adjustments to the Speed and Fade controls to suit your needs.
Use blue tape to hold the Speed and Fade settings as they are easily disturbed.
Stop the Auto mode (tap Auto/Del).
OPERATION
Select the desired Bank or Chase.
Manually setup the first Look.
When the time occurs to go to the next Look turn on Auto mode (tap Auto/Del).
As soon as the LED display changes to the next Look, turn off Auto mode (tap Auto/Del).
The fade in and out will continue even though Auto mode is off.
Repeat turning Auto mode on then off for each Look when the time for the change occurs.
NOTES
1) When using a Bank it is possible to reuse a scene on the fly. For example, let's suppose you only need 2 Looks in the production.
One Look being a main Look (stage fully lighted with some light red tint) and the other Look of all dark blue between scenes.
First record the dark blue Look into Scene 1 and copy it to Scene 3 (and 4 though 8, optionally)
Next record the main Look into Scene 2.
To run this, select Scene 1.
When the time to run the main Look occurs, turn on Auto Mode.
As soon as the LED display changes to Scene 2, turn off Auto Mode.
When the time to run the all blue Look occurs, turn on Auto Mode.
As soon as the LED display changes to Scene 3, turn off Auto Mode.
Next, press the Scene 1 button.
Repeat indented steps.
1a) Clearly it would be possible develop arbitrary complex sequences that could even include include switching Banks.
The key is, of course, when a Scene is manually selected by pressing a Scene button it should have the same
Look as currently active. However, it might make more sense to use a Chase in these cases.
2) When a Chase is recorded, it records the Bank and Scene numbers, not the actual settings of the Scanners and the Sliders.
Thus, if you change a Bank-Scene's Look after it is recorded, the changed Bank-Scene Look will be displayed when the Chase is run.