You can use the Track Backwards feature when you record a cue to assign the parameter values to the last cue they appeared in, rather than the cue being recorded. For example, suppose that you have a series of cues with intensity values for three fixtures:

If you assign all three fixtures to 100% and record with merge into Cue 3 (see Insert, Merge and Replace for recording with merging), you would get these values:

However, if you did the same thing with Track Backwards, you would get:

The value of 100% has been applied to the last cue that the intensity parameter had a value in.

If you Track Backwards a parameter that hasn't been given a value since the start of the cuelist, the value is added to the first cue in the cuelist.

To record a cue with Track Backwards, select the Track Backward button on the Record Options Toolbar that appears after you press the Record key:

	Tip
	You can also Track Backwards when you update cues using Auto Update; see Auto Update.

When you insert a new cue into a cuelist, or merge changes into an existing cue, the new values track forwards into later cues in the cuelist. For example, your cuelist has Cues 1 to 4, and Cue 1 has Fixture 1 programmed into it at 30%, so that it tracks through the subsequent cues:

You now insert a Cue 2.5 with Fixture 1 at 100%. Because cues 3 and 4 do not change the intensity of Fixture 1, it will remain at 100% for the rest of the cuelist:

You may want to record the new cue so that parameter values in the new cue return to their original value in the next cue (so that the inserted cue does not change the original looks due to tracking):

Hog 4 OS allows you to record a cue between other cues without destroying existing tracking values. To do this, record the inserted cue without tracking forwards by deselecting the Track Forward button on the Record Options Toolbar that appears after pressing the Record key. For example:

This is sometimes referred to as recording ‘cue only’ as the changes only affect the recorded cue and do not track into subsequent cues. Note that you can only turn tracking forwards off when you insert a new cue into a cuelist or when you merge values into a cue, not when adding new cues to the end of a cuelist.

	Important
	When recording or merging as ‘cue only’ any parameter values that did not previously exist in a cuelist, an ‘Off’ indication will be placed into the subsequent cue for these parameters. This Off indication will release the parameter value back to its previous state (as if it were not programmed in the list).

When you delete a cue, this can have unexpected consequences on later cues in the cuelist if the deleted cue contained parameter values that tracked through to contribute to the state of the later cues. For example, you have the following cues:

If you now delete Cue 2, Fixture 1 will track from Cue 1 through Cues 3 and 4 at 30%, rather than going to the expected 100% in Cues 3 and 4:

You can prevent this happening by deleting the cue ‘cue only’ which adds any values that previously tracked through from the deleted cue into the next cue:

To delete a cue without tracking the changes forwards:

Blocking cues prevent changes made earlier in the cuelist from tracking through to subsequent cues in the cuelist.

Unblocking removes redundant hard parameter values. A parameter value is redundant in a cue if it is the same as the value for that parameter in the previous cue in the same cuelist. For example:

In this cuelist, the values for channels 1, 3 and 4 are redundant in cue 3. After unblocking, the values in the cuelist would be:

To unblock cues, use the Unblock button in the Main Toolbar:

To unblock complete cuelists:

Or on a master:

	Tip
	Unblocking obeys the linked parameter preferences assigned in Setup → Preferences → Programming. For example, if position parameters are not separated and Pan is blocking but Tilt is not, Pan will not be unblocked. For more on linked functions, see Separating Parameters

	Important
	Unblocking will remove parameter values from blocking cues, so any future changes to subsequent cues will be tracked through the whole cuelist.