I have all inputs patched three times on my console — FOH, MON, and Broadcast.
For redundancy, a Sicktrack is running in the background. In case of a problem, I can switch the input to the Sicktrack via ABCD. To perform this switch simultaneously on all three instances, I need either a Gang or a SoftKey. However, when running a show with more than 16 inputs, you quickly run out of Gangs. It would therefore be useful to have some kind of ABCD link or the option for more Gangs.
The actions are made for that purpose. No need to use gangs for this task.
Evben if there were enough gangs, last I knew, the ABCD parameter isn’t even available to gang. If it were, it would be perfect for the way I use ABCD.
Actions might be a possiblity for the OP, but it sounds like he would need a separate action one action for every input, which introduces the difficulty of finding the right one.
I haven’t tried this specific situation (setting ABCD sources for specific channels) using Actions, but it certainly is designed to do this. In fact, looking at the firmware reference manual, it seems that selecting multiple ABCD sources can actually be done from a single “Function” (a Function is a building block of the overall Action). Looking at the example screenshot they provide, it actually shows the ABCD selection as one of the Functions and it appears you can select multiple inputs on the same function. Of course one of the great things about Actions is that you can add multiple Functions on the same action, so even if there is some limit to the number of sources you can choose in each Function, you should be able to add as many Functions as needed under the same Action.
Alternatively, you could always create a scene and use the scene recall filters to block out everything except the ABCD selection on the 16 inputs as well. You would need one scene for each source choice (one for “A”, one for “B”, one for “C” and one for “D”) if you really needed. But this is definitely a situation where I think using an Action is going to be much easier.
Maybe you can give them names?
This is a perfect use of direct outs. If you choose one layer as your actual input layer, and then feed each corresponding input via a direct out from that channel (example: FOH> MON, BCAST), then when you change the ABCD of the primary input, it will follow for the others.
Make sure you adjust the global pick point correctly for direct outs, and be aware that trim will affect all the channels.