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I expect I am one of the older (age) members of the Forum doing my first stage lighting in January 1975 when I was 19. In the 50 years since I have hired and owned many types of lighting desks including those from Zero 88. For 12 years I was using an American computer based desk which was fine untill the company was taken over and things started to change. Support staff left and software development slowed to a crawl. At this time I knew I had to change and along came the FLX S48 which a school I was working in had just bought. Afterwards I went to one of the Zero 88 roadshows at Exeter University and shortly afterwards bought my own because I liked it so much. Fast forward 6 years and I am sorry to see the main support team change so much. I wish everyone well in their new ventures. I hope this is not the thin edge of the wedge. Best wishes to everyone for their productions for 2025. I hope you all enjoy things as much as I do for many years to come. With kind regards Trevor Steer

I'd hope by the end of September we'd have a beta for you. However, the roadmap has changed a little bit to enable us to fix some high priority bugs. Instead of being "ZerOS 7.15", this will now be: ZerOS 7.14.4 will be a bug fix release for all consoles ZerOS 8 will be for FLX & FLX S only, and will include the free of charge capacity increases We see these two releases being very close together - it's even possible (not guaranteed) that ZerOS 8 starts testing before ZerOS 7.14.4 is released. We're doing this to split the bug fixes across all consoles, and the new features / increased capacity on FLX & FLX S.

Hi all, To ensure Vari-Lite can provide the best possible support, I’d like to quickly remind everyone of the three active support routes: Emailing entertainment.service@signify.com or calling +1 214 647 7880 (While the legacy Zero 88 contact methods are still monitored by the UK-based support team, the above contact details are the “official” routes which are monitored by the global support team). This “Vari-Lite Controls Support Forum” (Over the years this has become a fantastic resource of data and is home to some very knowledgeable users. The Vari-Lite team regularly monitor the forum (your forum admins are Darren - @DMH and Ryan - @RJP from the UK-based support team). However, if you require immediate direct support from Vari-Lite, the contact details above are the correct method). “Vari-Lite Console Programmers” Facebook Group Lastly, I’d like to take a moment to say farewell, as I’m stepping down from the team. I’m so proud of the products we’ve launched over my time - FLX, ZerOS Wing, FLX S24 & S48, ZerOS Server, RigSwitch, AlphaPack 3, BetaPack 4, Splitter 8, Gateway 4, Gateway 8, Neo X15, Neo X5, Neo X Server and RigSwitch+. And I’m delighted to have finally released ZerOS 8! Here’s a couple of ZerOS screenshots comparing when I started (ZerOS 5.4), to now (ZerOS 8): But it’s not all about the products - there’s been so much more too. Three (1, 2, 3) PLASA Awards for Innovation, several patents, our industry’s best RDM implementation with RigSync, the first console to implement Art-Net 4, Zero 88’s 40th Anniversary and the “Me and My Zero 88” competition, being ahead of the curve on natively supporting GDTF, the Simplifying Jargon videos, “Live at the Congress” Events and #WeMakeEvents campaigns over COVID, updating the Zero 88 website, our yearly Advent Calendars, our April Fools Day posts (anyone remember FLX switching to Roman Numerals or the new ZerOS Wing SD?) and the High Altitude Balloon into near space competition. So many great memories, fun, experience, knowledge and friendships have been made during this time which are, and will continue to be, very, very special to me. The Vari-Lite team are committed to continuing this good work – with plans to develop and support both ZerOS & FLX S, along with RigSwitch+, Neo X and VisionNet. I wish them all continued success with those projects. So, from me, it’s Time to Say Goodbye. And thank you.

Vari-Lite has announced the ZerOS 8 software update for FLX, FLX S and ZerOS Server. The update doubles the capacity of Vari-Lite’s FLX S Series consoles, removing the need for paid universe upgrades, and further increases the integration between Vari-Lite’s FLX S consoles and new RigSwitch+ power platform. With ZerOS 8, FLX S24 & FLX S48 now support 96 & 192 fixtures respectively, both now across 2,048 DMX channels (equivalent to 4 full DMX universes). Not content with doubling the fixture count and channel license, ZerOS 8 also doubles the number of playbacks, groups and palettes available on all FLX S consoles. The full size FLX and ZerOS Server also receives an upgrade to 4,096 channels (equivalent to 8 full DMX universes). With ZerOS 8, users can add relay circuits to every fixture on their console without further eating into their fixture count. These relays can be manually controlled or users can allow ZerOS to automatically control the relays - switching each individual circuit on when the fixture plugged into it is needed, and switching it off when they’re not. Vari-Lite has also simultaneously released ZerOS 7.14.4 specifically for legacy ZerOS consoles, improving both performance and stability to these consoles. Download the latest version of ZerOS free of charge from the Vari-Lite website: https://www.vari-lite.com/global/products/zeros-software

Dear All, After over seven years, and over 3,000 forum posts, it is time for me to say farewell to my time at Zero 88 (now Vari-Lite). Working for Zero 88 has been a pleasure, and I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of this active group of forum members. We were on ZerOS version 7.9.2 when I joined, and FLX S wasn't even around yet. Since then, ZerOS has come a long way, and is now more stable and feature-rich than ever. The ZerOS online manual, plus all the ZerOS training videos, mean that all aspects of ZerOS are now documented to enable users to get the most out of their consoles. I want to say a massive public thank you to @Jon Hole. Over these years he has been a brilliant mentor and friend (and my manager for a period of time!), and was instrumental in me getting into my role at Zero 88 in the first place. Jon and I will of course keep in touch, and hopefully work together again some time in the future. So, I'll type ENTER ENTER @ . RECORD ENTER, and record a fade to black on this chapter. Thanks again to everyone. I really have enjoyed my role. Edward

Hi all, I've been reading your replies and they've really meant a lot to me, thank you. I've deliberately waited a few weeks before replying. All the very best for the future and, if you're at a trade show in the future, please come and say hello - this LinkedIn post shows where I've headed to, if you're interested! Jon

Good luck Jon but I'm not surprised. TBH since the Varilight take over it's felt like the beginning of the end. The issue of the latest software will probably be the last so I hope we all got our wish list items sorted.

My sentiments exactly. Keith, Edward and now you. My disappointment knows no bounds.

I notice the two support personnel Jon quotes above have a combined contribution of posts on this forum of exactly zero (since Sept/Nov 2024 when they joined). Looks like we're on our own folks, or they've got some work to do to establish their credibility and start making an active contribution - which I guess is part of what they are paid to do (unlike us). A 'hello' and a short resume would be a start…

@Jon Hole I wish you future success in your forthcoming move. I think Zero88 now have their work cut out to maintain the support levels we have enjoyed in recent times.

I'm my red mist I've so far failed to acknowledge @Jon Hole. My apologies. Thanks for so much Jon over the years - great products, accurate and timely support, recruiting some other great team members, and putting up with some quite strong feedback and comments from us on here. You will be missed as will all of the legacy Z88 team. Good Luck!

I took "forum admins" to mean they sort out the forum when it dies and deal with inappropriate posts. So, yes, my assumption has been that the prompt and helpful days of Edward and Jon are over and we are, as you say, "on our own". I, for one, would be delighted to have this cynical and depressing assumption proved wrong. The newish thread - 16 bit intensity really 8 bit - is one that seems to require their attention (even though you have tried to help).

Que dire de plus, sinon la même chose qu'à Edward : Merci Jon pour ta pédagogie, ta patience, la pertinence de tes réponses, cela a toujours été un plaisirs d'échanger avec toi, un grand professionnel qui m'a toujours bien aidé ... bonne continuation à toi

What? No! I only just discovered Edward had gone. Pantos will never be the same again. Many thanks for your above-and-beyond support for a little minnow. Simon in Wargrave.

Wow, is really the end of almost an era and of those I knew in Cymbran. Thank you for all your help and guidance over the years. Will miss catching up with you when I was driving by and also at the trade shows 😢 @Jon Hole all the best for the future

You always knocked up a fixture profile so quick, and your advice was worth its weight in gold. I sincerely hope Veri Lite realize what they are losing. I hope you remain in the industry, you are too good to lose. Thank you so much for all the support you have given me and ultimately the theatre group and audiences who benefited from it. All the best Edward. Rob McDonald

I have been trying another way to find colours within Lee Filters Mood Boards and have cut and pasted the moods with a description for each one from the Lee Filers web site and The Art Of Light publication. I have not done the Inspired By ones yet. Lee Mood Boards ZerOS 7 Screenshots.pdf

Spam seems to be getting worse on the daily! Perhaps some sort of user verification is required?

Hey, so I tested the show file during the final rehearsals on Friday and on two shows today. They work perfectly. Without you, those fixtures wouldn't have been used in this production. Thank you SOOOOOO much, you're the best! ♥ ♥ ♥ All the best from Leipzig Lena

Update as promised: Using the personality in the desk, and when viewing the DMX Output charts under the Z Key, the values corresponding to CMY remained on '0' even after changing colour parameters, or running colour effects etc. Definitely confirmed it was a personality error at this point. So using the inbuilt fixture editor, I took a copy of the existing personality and amended the CMY control channels to be 'Other Colour' control parameters. This worked and enabled the encoders to control the CMY parameters, however colour palettes or picker didn't work as the desk didn't know what colour they actually were. So I then edited the 'copied' personality, changed the 'Other Colour' parameters back to CMY, which then worked as it should have done so in the first place. I now have full control of CMY, using colour palettes or the colour picker! No idea what was going on, but quite the oddity and an annoying time sponge trying to resolve! Either related or unrelated, I also had the desk crash four times throughout plotting, so will forward on the crash reports to the team after the show is done. Thanks again all for suggestions, research, and the created fixture profile @kgallen

Hi @Lena Here you go, all three modes (phew!). Everything is in there including all channel "details". You will find lots of channels under Colour and Beam(shape) so you'll have to rotate through the "pages" of them on your S24. However there is a limitation in what I've created. The FLX S24 will support multi-cell fixtures and the TMH-W555 looks like it could benefit with being defined as a multi-cell fixture for the 36 and 48 channel modes. However the Windows Fixture Editor does not support this (as it's a new console feature). You would need to request such an enhanced fixture definition from Vari-lite (or write one using GDTF which I'm not capable of!!!). I'm not sure if the colour palettes will work in the 36 and 48 channel modes as I've not picked any of the RGBW 1/2/3/4/5/6/7 as "primary". But they should work fine in the 24 channel mode. You'll have to see how you go on in 36/48 channel mode and come back to me if it's a little unworkable - I would need you to tell me which segment 1-7 you want to be "primary". Just put this file on a USB stick and use Load on the console. When you patch it, it will show in red text as a "non-library fixture". Enjoy! (ps there is a lot of info I've had to enter so if you see an error or spelling mistake, let me know) eurolite_tmh-w555.ift

Raise lower effectively emulates moving the faders, which are limited to 8bit. All other calculations for fades etc, are 16bit. I have raised this as issue ZOS-12581 for future consideration.

Thanks guys, saving a group with intensity is a great help. Confirmed it doesn't link the group level into the cue, so unlike a palette, changes to the Group levels don't affect existing cues. I also found the trick to turn off Smart Tag so I can save lights into the Group with zero intensity. Allowed me to clean up existing cues that were a bit randomly balanced so they're all identical. S

Wasn't expecting to see this, thank you for all of your support @Jon Hole, hopefully the other support reps will be able to match your knowledge and activity. I wish you all of the best in the future, you'll be sorely missed!

denks @kgallen and @Davidmk for taking the time to answer. Just to complete if anyone is interessted; to get different fade in times for different lamps i did following (with the exemple my post above): Programming channels 1 thru 6 with fade time 10sec on MasterPlayback. Programming an empty cue on PB1 and a second cue with channel 7 and 8 with fade-time 3sec. with the cue on MasterPlayback it auto-trigger a macro (recoded as -go PB1-) befor i trigger the cue on MasterPlayback, raised the Fader on PB1 manually so the empty cue is active. (did this even befor the show started, so i didn't had to worried about anymore) easy. good evening

@Jon Hole just announced a ZerOS 8.0 'Release Candidate' in the beta-release testing forum yesterday. (7.15 is no longer a thing..!) I should imagine a couple more weeks with final testing and it'll be published.

Yes it does and yes it works. RGB now!

I think the issue is that DMX values can run to a lot more digits than percentages. Allowing for all those digits in the screen layout would require less information visible and/or smaller fonts. Also if it was displaying 128 (for example) how would you know if that was 128 (50%) out of 255 or out of 65536 (20%). There is method in this particular bit of madness. The wheels show the DMX value by default. I have a feeling you can change that to % but I suspect most people change it back pretty quickly.

@kgallen @Charlie Newman Hmm. A DMX value of 5 (out of 255) is pretty much 2 and I think the fixture profile works in DMX value while the display works in %. If in doubt check the manual and/or the DMX output window.

The school has a new lighting desk so there is a working Jester going free to anyone who wants to collect it, Aylesbury area. Just message me if interested

These two beta's are now available though our beta forum (I said by the end of September!) I wasn't expecting both together, but it's great that we've managed to!

Apologies on picking up on this so late. Ed was such a great tutor and producer of fantastic reference material I hardly visit the forum now. None the less I would also like to say a huge and genuine thanks to Ed. He even put time aside in the evenings for Skype calls to help me understand and run ZEROs. Good luck Ed in your chosen new direction and thanks again. It was folks like you who fuelled my loyal support for and in Zero 88. All the Best.... Mac

Thank you for your precious help, you will be sorely missed! You set the bar pretty high, whoever comes next is going to have some really big shoes to fill! Best wishes for the future!

Oh... 😞 But congratulations! You chaps have had admirable sticking power over the years and many changes at what "was" Zero88. I thank you for your support, help and professional friendship over these years and wish you all the best for the future! Hopefully you are staying in the wider industry so might still "see you around"? I do seriously fear for the brand now though. It would be quite understandable that Jon might consider his future with the loss of several of the core "team". I would but hope he choses to stick around but it must weigh on his mind. Kindest, Kevin

Hello Edward All looks good. Many thanks for your reply.

This might be helpful as well... https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/patching/add-fixtures/edit-export

Far and away my biggest want is Mac Phantom zerOS. My Apple silicon Mac runs Capture at 100+ fps without the fan even turning on! Phantom is pretty stable under Parallels 19 running side-by-side on the same monitor with Capture, but there are some glitchy bits that I assume are due to the emulation.

Note to Z88 folks ( @Edward Z88, @Jon Hole ) and other active members: It seems on other forums, misinformation is being spread that suggests or states (incorrectly) that all FLX - including FLX S- production has been stopped. Prospective buyers are being dissuaded from FLX S series consoles because they are "discontinued". I'm rebuffing this where I can, including a link to Jon's original statement at the top of this thread. Please be aware of this misinformation being propagated and do your bit to correct the statements where required.

Dear Forum Members, Some of you may have heard already, but to make it official, after 29 years I am leaving Zero 88 or Vari-Lite as we are now. My last day is Thursday 28th March. Since I started with Zero 88 way back in August 1995, as production test technician, testing both the PCB and complete units for the classics like the Sirius 24/48, Betapack Mk1, Rackmasters to name few, have seen many changes through mergers and acquisitions. I am proud to have been part of them and am looking forward to seeing what the future holds for the company. To those of you i have met personally, sorry about that …..not 😉 Those i have spoken or exchanged post/mail with, lucky you, got away lightly then 😉 In all seriousness, thanks to you all for the support and kind words over the years. I wish you all the best for the future, and will leave you in In Edward and Jon’s capable care.

Hello, I I had a few hours and finally worked out the cause. When I change pages, if I don't give a 2 second pause before using "Go Snap" to preset movers, they light up 100% and swing into position. It was just my hands moving a little fast for the console. I'll need to make it muscle memory to force a pause. I love having the extra pages! Cheers, Harold

I have been experimenting a bit with OSC and faced the issue of the software being recommended for windows being Show Cue Systems. While I have no doubt it's brilliant, for my limited requirements, it's a little pricey. All I needed was to start some music and be able to have a desk change cues at set points of the music. I came across Multiplay software and found that it has all the features I require. So far I've only run it with the Phantom software, looping back via 127.0.0.1 localhost, but I see no reason it won't run with the actual desk when I get a chance to run it, long as the IP address is updated. I've done a screen recording which should show all the required information to get you going quickly, but I'll type the main points. Going to File > Production Properties > Network, you can add a network patch. Patch name isn't important, as long as the destination IP is your desk, the port for OSC is 8830 (or whatever your non factory setting is changed to on your own desk) and the encoding is OSC. Next you need to select a Network Cue (little icon that looks like an RJ45 connection). Description is the only important part of the Common tab, then in the network messages tab, you need to select the Zero88 network patch (or whatever you named it above) and create an ASCII command with the form /zeros/cue/go/<cue number>. In the video I have created a cue 0.1 which sets everything to black each time everything is run, so the lights come on with the music. For the Cue 0.1 alone, I also change the Cue Advance options to Action: End Play and Target: Next Cue and the Post Wait option to 1.00 seconds, so that when it is played, as soon as it does its 1 second to make sure the desk has time to move everything back to black, it then advanced to the next cue. All the other cues are just duplicates of this with the description changed and the cue number changed in the ASCII command. You can just add as many of these as you require. None of these have the above options for Waiting and going to the next cue of course. I then insert an Audio file just below the Cue 0.1 cue, which is played once Cue 0.1 has done its 1 second wait. You can obviously select whatever audio file you need to run in the Audio tab. The important bit for this is the Cue Points tab. I add a list of New Cue Points for each of the cues from 1 onwards. Time is changed for each one to be the time in the audio playing that I want the desired cue to be run on the desk. The target option is the name of the Cue I want to run, based on the description of the cue. As such, you could imagine making a standard file with a large number of cues and cue points, then putting in the times for the ones you need and deleting any after that point you don't need. Just a note also that the OSC command I have used runs a cue in the current playback, so make sure you have the correct playback active. You can use cues that run a given cue in a specific playback if you need to. For more information on the possible OSC commands, you can check this link: https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/setup/triggers/osc-examples Not saying this is the best way to do it, but it's a way I've got it working and it's free to try. Hope it proves useful to someone. You can find the screen recording here:

Thanks for your suggestion. It’s one of many workarounds that have been suggested. It’s not really the multiple channels that is the problem here. In fact I just have to remember to pull the pump fader every time. It’s a relatively small extra step but forgetting can cause the unwanted sudden bursts of haze through the show! Would just be cleaner if I didn’t have to use workarounds. One less thing to remember!

Dear Edward, Just reading this.....didn't visit the forums enough I guess.... I just want to say thank you very very much for all you did for everyone of us Zero88 users, and for the zero88 products, product support, and developement. Iearned a lot from you, and you dragged me into the developers/test part of the forum. Thanks for that too. I think it's a real loss for zero88 to lose you, and congrats to the firm who hired you. I hope all will go well for you in your new career. Furthermore I hope zero88 will still be actively branded and supported by varilite, and not totally phased-out......the discontinuation of the fullsize flx is a shame I think....and worries me. Take care, and keep shining the lights! Greetings Ed75. (you have my mailadress, do not hesitate to use it if you need/like )

Thanks Edward with your help sorting out sundry teething challenges with setting up a our FLX S48, some I think were unique but with your patience we achieved a working system. Best wishes for the future.

I will try if I can get my hands on such a device. I'll keep you posted if it happens. Thanks for the support, great as always !

Yeah it works! Thanks @Edward Z88 for your quick answer!

The triac will trigger part way through the sine wave so effectively the first part of the rise is cut off. The output inductor controls the rise time of this potentially sharp switch-on. This assumes the triggering circuit, and the diac in-line with the triac gate are functioning correctly. So I wouldn't rule out the control side just yet, particularly with so many channels looking bad. If a one-off channel was bad then I'd immediately suspect the diac, triac or inductor. Multiple channels looking bad in similar ways points more likely to a common problem rather than faults of the same type in the discrete components of multiple independent output stages. Probing this is dangerous because of the mains voltages, but where competence and safety allows I would take a look at the inputs to the diacs on each channel and compare good and bad channels. Then I would work backwards to the opto-isolator and then onto the low voltage side of the control circuit. Unless you think there are several different faults you don't need to debug on all 36 channels, just take a Rackmaster which has a good and a bad channel and compare step by step back from the diac. If you can upload the relevant page(s) of the schematic here that would be useful to give more specific guidance. Let us know. Regards, Kevin

Bonjour, Si vous avez enregistré des positions sur un fader de lecture, vous constaterez peut-être que les appareils se déplacent vers leur position lorsque vous augmentez le fader de lecture. Pour éviter de voir ce mouvement, maintenez SETUP et appuyez sur le bouton de votre lecture pour ouvrir les paramètres de lecture. Ici, définissez la « Fonction du bouton » sur « Go (Snap) », plutôt que sur Flash. Cliquez ensuite sur OK. Maintenant, vous pouvez appuyer sur le bouton de lecture pour préparer les appareils, puis augmenter le fader de lecture pour activer l'intensité. J'espère que ça aide. Hello, If you have recorded positions onto a playback fader, you may find you see the fixtures moving to their position upon raising the playback fader. To avoid seeing this movement, hold SETUP and tap your playback's button, to open the playback's settings. In here, set the "Button Function" to "Go (Snap)", rather than flash. Then click OK. Now, you can tap the playback's button to prepare the fixtures, and then raise the playback's fader to turn on the intensity. I hope this helps.

So what steps have you tried to debug this and what did you find? What outputs are you using from the desk - just DMX or something more advanced like ArtNet or sACN? Have you connected any of the DMX lights directly to the desk to confirm operation of the light? Have you shortened your DMX network to determine if there are any cable faults? Has anyone else had access to the console and might have changed the patch? Have you confirmed the patch has the lights in your rig patched and they are at the right DMX address? Did you update firmware on any item of equipment in your network?

I am using the Pluto 2000 at a show in a UWA theatre, they were patched into an ION desk using the etc library. The Pluto 2000 strobed when trying to use pan so it looks like an undocumented firmware change in the display control board in three Pluto 2000 zoom wash I recently replaced. Wil have to chase up the service centre. The fixtures worked ok in 16 channel mode on the ION. Will have to wait 2 weeks to do more tests as The Gondoliers starts a 2 week season on Thursday.