Tips for using the Kalypso


The good news is that if you are an experienced 3000/4000 user, learning the Kalypso will be much easier than learning to use the Sony and little easier than learning to use the Philips DD-35. The Kalypso has a few irritations (such as the inconvenient placement of the "shift" button) which leads me to believe that design engineers should consult TDs a little more often.




Setting Your Preferences


It is vital that this be your first step so that the switcher behaves as expected, otherwise you may have to retrace many steps.

  1. Ask your EIC to load a "default" or "standard" switcher setup first. It is often much more hassle to steer around the custom tricks, personal preferences, and accidentally-recalled parameters that the *last* TD used than to start from scratch.

  2. Many functions of the Kalypso such as GPI, Pbus and Aux control are mappable to the Misc levels of your Master E-mem and you *must* know these assignments! Go to the "Daily Setup" menu and select [Suite Prefs] then press [E-Mem Prefs] and note which switcher functions are mapped to which Misc levels. You can change these if you like but don't do it if you don't have to. Label each Misc key on the Master E-mem with the name(s) of what it controls. I usually wind up with "Aux" on Misc 4, "GPI" on Misc 5, "Pbus" on Misc 6, etc.
  3. Identify the Auxes that feed the DVE and Still Store. For the DVE it is likely that Aux 1A feeds DVE In-1, Aux 1B feeds DVE In-2, Aux 2A feeds DVE In-3 and so on but check it out first! If you are not familiar enough with the DVEous to identify inputs, see "Troubleshooting the DVEous". If you are not likely to remember, label these Auxes to indicate what they feed.

    The still store probably has one or two "Still Store" delegations on the Aux panel. If there are two, realize that it might be the first *or* the second that feeds the still store. "Kalypso Tips" for more information on using the Still Store




Naming/Renaming Switcher Inputs


There are two names per source on the Kalypso. First is the "logical" name which is displayed on the LCD panels for each M/E near the centerline of the control panel. There are also "nicknames" for each source and these are displayed on the LED "strips" above the PGM side of each M/E (if that option is installed) and on the button caps of the available sources in the "Button Mapping" menu.

Whereas you can rename both names for an input (making for more sensible reading of the LCDs) I recommend leaving the real names alone and renaming only the nicknames. This way, if I need help from the EIC, he is likely to understand the real names that are familiar to him and not have to guess about the actual inputs.

Go to the "Daily Setup" menu, select [Suite Prefs] at the bottom and select [Source Patching]. To the right of the display is a list of all your inputs as defined in the engineering setup (which you are probably locked out of). Select one that you wish to change and tap on the corresponding square in the "Logical Name" or "Nickname" column to change it. Assigning either name (but not the other) will cause that change to be logically carried over to the other name that you have left blank. Leaving both blank will cause the engineering name for that input to show up on all LCD panels and button mapping sources.

Once upon a time you could (as with practically every other switcher) assign your own key associations to each input. Since this is done in the Engineering Setup menu, it is left to the EIC unless you are allowed in. Most EICs are good about marrying all key & video sources but get used to requesting that this be done when external devices like traveled Fast Forwards and Fox Boxes are added to the system. Otherwise you will be using split keys and I prefer not to.



Mapping Switcher Crosspoints


To assign switcher inputs to crosspoints, enter the "Daily Setup" menu and select [User Prefs] then press [Button Mapping]. The current input-to-button assignments will be displayed in the center of the display. Sources are listed at the right, named as you have specified in the [Source Patching] menu. Assignment is very easily done by selecting a button and then selecting an input from the inputs section. Note that you *cannot* assign a source to more than one button at a time on the same shift level (as you can on the Philips and Sony switchers). Attempting to do this will produce a warning and give you the option of *moving* the assignment to your desired button.


Learning/Recalling E-mems


This is done the same as on the Grass Valley 3000/4000. Set up your M/E, select your bank, press the LRN button followed by the register number. Easy! Master E-mem works as on the 3000/4000 but there are many more Misc levels to work with for greater convenience. Many functions of the Kalypso such as GPI, Pbus and Aux control are mappable to these Misc levels so prior to your setup, go to this menu the "Daily Setup" menu and select [Suite Prefs] then press [E-Mem Prefs] and note which switcher functions are mapped to which Misc levels. You can change these if you like but I usually leave them alone and work with what's already mapped since it doesn't vary too much anyway. This will become very important as you set up your DVE effects. I like to take a small piece of white tape for each Misc button that I will be using and write "Aux", "Pbus", "GPI", etc on them so that I always know where they are controlled.



Recalling E-mems has not changed except that you have more bank buttons for much greater flexibility. Be forewarned that double punching a bank button will shift you from the 0-3 range to the 4-8 range which is nice only if that was your intention.


Using Keyers


The most noticable difference with the keyers is that there are four per M/E (and PGM/PST as well). There is one keyer section on the control panel instead of four so you have to delegate the correct M/E and keyer in order to modify its settings. To make it easier, turn on the "auto deleg" button and the M/E and keyer delegation will usually follow the keyer that you are intending to modify. The keyer section looks largely familiar to that on other switchers but some of the features are controlled a little differently than before. For example, handling the mask is not done with a "Mask" button, but by directly turning on the applicable mask parameters (like "box" and then "sep. edges" for the more traditional box edge control). This will take a bit of playing around for you to get the hang of it. The "transform engines" are an impressive addition, allowing you to do DVE manipulation of a keyed element. More later.

I found only two real irritations related to the keyers:




Using the Still Store


Instead of the frame stores found on the 3000/4000, the Kalypso uses an internal still store device. It is rather easy to figure out and is accessed from the "Still Store" menu. The still store is fed by the Still Store delegation on the Aux bus and has 8 outputs, mappable to buttons. These 8 outputs are actually 4 output pairs and each pair can be set to V+V or V+K. For example, outputs 1 and 2 can either be two separate video outputs or by setting the V+K mode (press [Playback] for that option), output 1 remains a video source but output 2 becomes its key source which will follow it throughout the switcher. Outputs 3 - 8 are unaffected as their modes are set independently.

To grab a frame, feed the still store through its delegation on the Aux panel and select the "Edit" sub-menu. You can now grab using the grab button. If you wish to be grabbing a key signal too, turn on the [Use Key Signal] button first.

Once you've grabbed something, you can save it by giving it a number. You can save a ridiculous number of stills in the still store but I'm not giving exact numbers as I expect changes to exist between hardware and software revisions. Save a still by pressing the [Save To] button followed by the desired still number.

Following the Philips lead, Grass Valley has added live video recording capabilities to the still store. This is easily done by defining the length of the clip that you wish to record and then by pressing the [Record] button. The recorded clip will be saved as a single icon that can be displayed just as a single frame. Transport controls in the still store display allow playing of the clip and triggering the "play" function can be done from a keyframe in a timeline using the [Start At Keyframe] button.

To change the still that is displayed at any of the outputs, select that output (far right under Current Clip) then select a still from the Still List. That's it! E-Mem control of which stills are displayed is available through the SS-A, SS-B and SS-C delegations, usually with SS-A controlling outputs 1 and 2, SS-B controlling outputs 3 and 4, and SS-C controlling the rest.

While grabbing video, you can monitor the source by selecting the [Show Input] button. The currently selected still store output will appear in "E to E".


Handling the DVE


The DVE can be handled through either P-Bus or CPL protocols. As of version 9.1, I *still* have had the occasional CPL glitch so I recommend using P-Bus but the choice is yours. If your DVE is already set up for CPL, you aren't sure how to switch to P-Bus and you are ok with timelines, go for it as is (but if you are learning a lot from this document, I doubt this is the case). What follows is a quick and dirty way of implementing DVE control using P-Bus. This is a great deal easier than it used to be on the 3000/4000 and even though the concepts are all the same, many of the gory details of communication protocol are invisible to the user.

In the examples here I am assuming that Misc 4 controls the Aux busses, Misc 5 controls the GPIs and Misc 6 controls the P-Bus. These are mappable so my references might not be exact. See the section under "Learning/Recalling E-mems" for more info.

In preparation, go to the "PBus/GPI" menu and press [Enables]. Be sure that P-Bus (and GPIs while you're at it) are enabled. Now press [P-Bus] and a list of your P-Bus devices and functions will be displayed.

One quirk with the P-Bus in earlier Kalypso software versions is that it always performed an effect recall in addition to performing the trigger function that you'd selected, so if you used the "Run Forward" function, it would recall an effect first and then run it. You are unlikely to encounter this but if you do, try either using GPIs to run the DVE or learn your E-mem with the run trigger with the DVE workspace cleared.

So to create an E-Mem that will recall a DVE effect, turn on the "Learn/Recall" button for the DVE in the P-Bus menu and turn off all triggers. Next delegate the Misc level that controls P-Bus (Misc 6) and learn the E-mem. In some environments you might also select the recall function on a DNF controlled digicart and also delegate Misc 4 for Aux bus recall before saving the E-Mem but you get the idea.

To run a DVE effect (without building timelines) you need to create a "Run" button which will use a GPI to trigger the DVE. Under the "PBus/GPI" menu, select "P-Bus", enable the "Run" trigger and then save an E-mem with Misc 6 (P-Bus control) delgated. There's your run button. As a habit, I create two run buttons, one that also triggers a digicart if I'm using one. This is simply done by selecting the GPI for the digicart and delegating Misc 5 also prior to my E-Mem save.

Realize that this is a quick and dirty way to get DVE control through the switcher. You can also do it with timelines or even macros if you have version 9.x or greater.


Keyer Transforms


The Kalypso can have up to six "transform engines" installed that will do some fairly sophisticated DVE manipulations on a keyed source. It is so easy to learn that even I figured it out in about 5 minutes (armed with a few lucky guesses and no manual). These transform engines are dynamically assigned, meaning that when a keyer is set to use one, an available one will be attached automatically (*if* there is one available). This means that the maximum number of transformed keys at any one time on the entire switcher cannot exceed 6 (or however many transform engines you have installed). Best of all, if you can use a DVEous, you have almost no learning curve!

To use a transform on a keyer, delegate that keyer in the keyer section then select the "T-Form" button found there. Then (being sure that the same keyer is delegated in the transform section) begin manipulation using the joystick and function delegations in the transform section and/or the additional controls in the "transform" menu.

Saving an E-mem with a transform in place on a keyer will save all the parameters of the transform too and these behave as you would expect during effects dissolves or time-line functions. This gives you the ability to perform "moves" of keyed elements.

You should note that there is one quirk that you may need to deal with: When an E-Mem is recalled that uses a transformed key, it takes a few frames for the transform engine to assign and display, so if your key is saved "hot", when you recall that E-Mem you could get a background cut occuring before the key cuts in. This will come into play if you have to squeeze a game clock over a font in lieu of a bug. You would see the font cut in prior to the transformed clock on an E-mem recall. A work-around might be to tranform your font too but leave it "normaled". There's a cleaner but more complicated way that I will not get into at the moment.