kgallen

ETA - David just beat me to it! You can do ‘Fader Controls’ and set it to Beamshape. SETUP+Playback Button Not sure if the fader still controls intensity too. If you have other parameters on Beamshape maybe move this one onto Position so it’s on its own. I’ll have a look at your fixture profile in a while - we’ll get it working somehow! Kevin

Actually your first 4 channels will be: 1 Pan (MSB) (coarse) / 2 Pan (LSB) (fine) / 3 Tilt (MSB) (coarse) / 4 Tilt (LSB) (fine) One DMX channel gives an 8-bit binary value, which is 0 to 255 in decimal (256 steps). This is too coarse to give usable angular control of a moving head (pan or tilt). For a 360 degree circle, with 256 values in the control channel, each value thus results in a 1.4 degree angular change. This is too much of a change for the beam throw in any practical situation - the beam would step too far across the stage with each increment/decrement in the DMX channel value. Hence for parameters like Pan and Tilt, two channels are coupled together to give a 16-bit control value. This gives a decimal range of 0-65535 for that parameter. If a fixture has a Pan range of say 540 degrees, then the 16-bit Pan parameter gives a granularity of around 0.01 degrees per step. This is much better! Some fixtures (like the Philips PL range) have a mode with a 16-bit intensity (dimmer) channel, but this is quite unusual. 256 steps for most parameters (intensity, colours, gobos) is usually more than adequate. This is why your Pan and Tilt have a 0-65535 range - because they each use 2 DMX channels to get the required angular precision. Hope that helps!

So really you need a merger that can do HTP merge but only on the intensity channels of each fixture. Then FLX can control all of the functions of all of the lights (esp. position, colour beamshape), but the DJ console can "flash" the intensity channel as an HTP override of the intensity that FLX is putting out in the same DMX channel. This would require a merger with per-channel merge configurability. Does your fancy merger have this? But still depending on what FLX is doing with the light this might not work. Say FLX has all colour channels at 0, the DJ console setting the intensity to 255 will still result in the light having no output. Then you get into some weird requirement that the merger needs to "force" some channels if the DJ console wants to flash the light. This is not likely in a commercial product, it's such a convoluted requirement. You're into some custom Arduino type project!

The merger manufacturer is suggesting the DMX frame (s) received by the merger is not correctly formatted or timed. eg incorrect mark or break periods, incorrect header code, mistimed or malformed channel data. The same observed issue with the DMX-in route (basically a "merger" within console # 2) versus the external merger route demonstrates we are not looking at an equipment problem (of either the desks or the merger) but more a conceptual problem of how two "masters" can control a single "slave" and what the expected slave behavior is (and then whether a merger product exists that can be configured accordingly). The OP says "light effect" which implies some "non-trivial" fixture with intensity, probably color, maybe position and beamshape attributes. @ jb07 Thanks for the merger link. That looks like an expensive piece of kit - but I don't think it's the answer to your question - because at this point I don't think we (you) know what the question is - i.e. how you want your aggregate control surface to work.

..and HOW do you want the 2 consoles to control the same lights? What is the responsibility of each console? How would the DMX universe be "carved up" for each console. We've already covered that an HTP merge is not going to work unless you only have dimmers. It makes no sense to have two active consoles controlling the same "intelligent" light (unless they are a specifically designed active/backup tracking pair). This merger for example: https://www.elmvideotechnology.com/store/dmx-merger-dmg-2x1?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwcuSlL705wIVFuDtCh0ftQdiEAAYASAAEgKev_D_BwE claims to have an LTP merge mode. But still how would this work in practice? You have two lighting consoles (who have no knowledge of the commands sent by the other) giving likely conflicting data to one light, which is going to jump about trying to service both sets of unrelated commands, depending on how the merge picks DMX channels from each console. This is my "shouting at the kids" example from earlier. HTP mergers are often used if the venue has two lighting desks, but where only one is active/powered at a time. Say a very simple desk used by groups "who just want some light" and a more complex console used by "advanced" users. Tell us what type of fixtures you have in your rig and how you want the overall control surface to work.

HTP is fine for an intensity channel (e.g. a dimmer) but is likely a disaster for any other parameter (position, colour, beamshape) which would almost always be treated LTP. Your merger will work if you use one desk at a time (and the unused one outputs 0 on all channels - unlikely if you have ‘intelligent’ fixtures patched). Using both together unless you only have dimmers makes no sense to me. Think conceptually what you want to achieve and how it would actually work. With anything but dimmers I don’t think a merger is the answer. There is nothing wrong with your FLX S.

How would a merge actually work? FLX sends out a full 512 channel DMX packet. Where does the data from the other ‘master’ fit? If the other master sends channel data to a fixture that FLX thinks it’s controlling surely the fixture is going to jump unless somehow the other master is snooping what FLX is sending and builds some sort of transition from where FLX puts the fixture and the other master wants it, and the merger gives that master control over those channels. One master has to control the parameter of a fixture to get anything sensible out. If the merger gives alternate frames to the FLX and the other master, then these are two uncorrelated data streams and I can’t see how anything other than mayhem can result. Both you and your wife shout independent instructions alternately to your son and see if anything useful results! "Get your shoes on" "Go clean your teeth" "Comb your hair" "Pack your school bag"! -> I dont really understand how this can work sensibly. Maybe I’m about to learn!

If you're suitably competent, maybe worth opening the desk up an checking for loose ribbon cables. Maybe Edward can consult the mechanical drawings and advise if this screen is directly soldered or if there is a candidate cable of some sort. Also the minimal set of screws to remove to gain access. On Fat Frog for instance (similar case design) it is just one per side, the lower one to the rear of the side panels.

...and that, you will have to pay (quite a lot) for! 😈

You don't need to pay any more money. The desks are limited by channel count (2048 on unexpanded FLX) not by Universe. When you patch a fixture you can assign the DMX address to any universe 1-64. Under Setup you might need to check that the universe is enabled and which physical output (XLR) it's assigned to. But no, I've not currently ever done this myself! 🤣 Kevin

Peter, Take some screenshots from this page and assemble yourself a couple of images that can be uploaded to the image picker. Second prize I guess... Lee Filters (Chroma Order) Lee Filters (Number Order) It's a little project someone on this thread might even pick up...

No idea really but might be worth disabling RDM (in Setup) just in case there is something coming back from the merger that is confusing the desk. Kevin

Probably. I start from the Tab at the top of the forum which takes you here: http://support.zero88.com/ Many useful articles are within "ORB XF" but that is almost impossible to find because it's only within one branch of the tree and that is either an orphan or can only be found by luck from one point. Not all of the ORB XF KBs are ported under FLX (for example). Search only works if you know what you're searching for. My usual situation is "Oh, there is KB on that somewhere, I don't know what it's called but it describes the 'X'. I'll go in the KB and have a dig around to see if I can stumble across the thing I'm looking for." -> result is always frustration and usually failure to find the information.

You did a better job. I failed to find that KB on the radical changes which I wanted to link... (KB a bigger impenetrable mess than ever now, how is the "reorg" going?)

Edward just beat me to it...! You should be able to go direct, however prior to 7.8.3 you had to use a "bootable USB" stick. This thread has some instructions: Also note the whole concept of submasters vs playbacks has changed. Do this update when you've got time to understand the new features/operation.

If this is a "multi-cell" device, then the current recommended approach is to have two fixture definitions: 1st definition has all of the "master" controls that affect all cell (e.g. master dimmer, strobe), 2nd definition has the "cell" parameters (e.g. R,G,B,W). One instance of the "master" is patched as a fixture, then one "cell" is patched for each segment of the device. In this way you are able to use the Palettes and Effects section across the whole multi-part fixture. Looking at the spec for the Elation sixbar 1000, you would have a fixture defined for RGBAW+UV and instance it 12 times. Plus one instance of the "master" section will mean that one of these units will look like 13 fixtures. You will then have full control of each segment of the fixture and can apply palettes and effects across it. Improving this user interface I understand requires ZerOS to be changed to support a different library format (Carallon library). I understand this work is well advanced but users have been waiting some time (.....) for this update.

It sounds like the fixture definition could be bad. Can you post a link to the manual here and also send to Zero88 https://zero88.com/library#support

Just got an email for your above post on this thread, but a different cause: "Prefer to stop receiving these emails? Adjust your notification preferences." So that one must have come about from one of the email prefs I changed. Oh and the bl**dy bell now! 🤣 I bet Peter is getting lots of spam now with the same settings!

It's started... just got "Patching without a monitor?" update email... However the quoted reason is "You are receiving this email because you are following Edward- Z88" rather than it being triggered by following or contributing. And just got a "bell" notification. It never rains...! (Just checked, I've not contributed to that thread, although I've been reading it.)

OK as many boxes as I can area ticked. There are 8 selections that are greyed out "Administrator has inhibited this feature". I'm the same as Peter now with the addition of a tick in "Show popup window when I receive a new personal message". Spam folder at the ready...!!!

Neither (yet). But that could be my Notification setup looking earlier, I don't think I'm enabled for quotes. I'll go and change that now. I already have the two "Automatically follow" settings like Peter has above which you would think would generate some email traffic. Last email I got was from Oli's post on his fader problem. This is an FLX Forum post, and I follow that Forum. But there are plenty more posts there than I get emails for. Before then, "ZerOS7.9.7 Release" (December). Before then a post on "Understanding Smart Tag" (also Dec), before then a post on "New firmware and global bpm" (November), before then "Programming Additional Movers" (October) and before that "ZerOS 7.9.6 Released" (September). So pretty random and about one a month then (2 in December, none in January!), and we both know there is a lot more traffic than that on the Forum that I'm likely to be interested in. If the latest Forum software is supposed to be reliable then it could be my settings (probably close to default). Certainly in the past it's been "good for nuthin'" ! ...and they aren't going into spam, I do get them when they come! ...oh but I do get "everything" in the Forum notification - the bell icon at the top gets a red dot when you quote me.

I find email notification very spurious/random and it's been this way for years. I follow/contribute to a fair number of posts and normally get no emails. On occasion I'll get an email to say there is a new post, but it seems a random event. Sometimes (though rarely) I'll get a "Weekly Digest", but it's always "old news" as I'm generally on the forum quite regularly. Conclusion -> email notification is of little practical use to me at least!

Maybe a dodgy solder joint... Sounds like it needs opening up - depends on your warranty status. Advice from Z88 incoming...!

I don’t know this fixture but I expect the CTO is implemented on a separate DMX channel to the vanilla RGB, so the RGB channels are ‘fading down’ whilst the CTO channel ‘fades up’. But the CTO channel is probably bands of DMX values giving different CTC/CTO temperatures, so what you get is RGB fading down whilst CTO steps up through a number of CTC (blue) settings until it hits the CTO range. I expect the CTO/CTC is just implemented with an appropriate mix of RGB than anything clever.

I do avoid blocking cues these days because of the impact on move on dark. If you have a ‘pre’ cue where the fixture is dark then you shouldn’t need to ‘pre-place’ the mover. Before we had move on dark functionality we had to do this and it was called a marking cue. Now with desk move on dark and tracking, marking cues should be mostly unnecessary. In my last show I had a lot of mover activity - used as wash lights and as specials and with effects. By avoiding blocking cues, using position palettes and using tracking I don’t think I had a single issue with mover position being wrong. The time it does go wrong for me and it takes me a while to recover the programming, is when I accidentally tag and record a mover when I didn’t intend to. Then I have to go back and fight with my desk to do a cue update with a remove. But that’s an old story for me much covered on this forum!... (ps I’m also the sound man so also have to wear two hats at the same time, with complex equipment on the sound side too where I have to scratch my head and try to remember which page and menu a particular setting is in! I’ve had my FLX since 2015 and I’m still learning each time!)