Kirkup_xp

Zero 88 are pleased to announce the German Language version of www.orbdesk.com is now online. Click here for the full site in German. View the full article

New layout and screenshot pages added to the dedicated Orb website. Click here: Layout and Screenshots to see the latest information about Orb! View the full article

Zero 88 introduced ORB, its brand new theatre console to the UK Theatre market at the ABTT show in June. The ORB is designed to bring Theatrical Control into the 21st century. Building on the successful platform of the existing Leap Frog and Frog 2 ranges, ORB brings the power and flexibility of the Frog controller range to theatres for the first time. With a combination of theatrical control philosophy and an adaptable hardware platform, ORB provides intuitive control of both generics and moving lights. This was first time Zero 88 showed the console to users since initial research was gathered at the beginning of the products design phase. Feedback received at the show was extremely positive with comments such as ?I need this product to complete a number of projects by the end of the year?, ?wow ? this is so much more than I expected!? and ?at last, a real theatre console I can sell? ?I am delighted with the response the ORB received at ABTT? explains Zero 88?s product manager Peter Kirkup. ?We took time at the beginning of the project to capture user requirements, so we had a good idea of what people wanted. Translating these original requirements into a viable, affordable console can be a challenge but its clear we have got it right with the ORB." Zero 88 has taken onboard all the comments received ABTT and is busy fine tuning the console in time for its international debut at PLASA 2008. Visitors can see the ORB at the Zero 88 stand (A80) from the 7th-10th September in Earls Court 2. View the full article

To stop a moving light effect, either set the Size or Speed to 0, or press EFFECT+HOME. Hopefully this answers your question - if there is anything else you need, please let me know. Regards,

Yes to both... installing the software overwrites all the data on the desk.

Thanks for the suggestion - it's something we've discussed a couple of times already - reference ZOS-1775. I've added your comments to our database.

Hi Riggor I can assure you that we're not just pushing for the Frog 2 to be sold vs supporting existing customers - the original Frog range has had no less than 15 software releases through its lifetime, including a service release made after the product was discontinued and another in the pipeline at the moment. We reached the point under the original hardware platform where we could not expand the feature set without compromising the operation of the desk, both in terms of performance and usability. The features you are requesting have been included in the other products as a result of the feedback generated by both the original Frog range and ongoing feedback from these products. I thank you for your suggestions and feedback and would seriously suggest you look at the new products, which feature all of the things you have asked for and many more. Kind Regards,

With generics, you can set the preset faders into HTP Mix mode (in Setup/DeskSetup/Behaviour/Preset Mix Mode) which stops them going into the program window. At present there isn't a way of stopping fixtures going into the program window. Hope this helps, Peter

The Submaster Controls function controls the crossfade from the 'current' value to the 'new' value (the one programmed on the submaster). Therefore if the Rotation is set to (say) 50%, and you have it programmed on the submaster at 60%, the fader will provide 10% of the channel as control. So, the simplest solution is to set a 'base' value (either through modifying the default value, or programming another submaster) as well as the submaster you programmed... this should give you the control you desire. Look forward to seeing you at PLASA too - Stand A80! Peter

Hi HWell... Starting from a cleared programmer, If you only modify the colour (don't move any preset faders, set Intensities on wheels, or anything else) and make sure you disable Smart Tags, then when you record the Submaster, it will only store the colour to that Fader. (You'll know you've got it right because there will be no Fade Up/Dn times or Position or Beamshape times displayed on the monitor). In addition, if all your fixtures are colour mixing, you might want to Setup the Submaster Controls... option to "Colour", to give you level control of the colour using the fader. I would advise storing the effect to a Submaster and setting the Submaster Controls... to "Effects" to give you control over the effect size and speed using the fader. This gives you more dynamic shows, as you can adjust the speed subtly to match the music. Hope this clears things up - if you're still having problems, send us a show file and we'll look at it and see what's going wrong. Peter

Hi Hwell. What you want here is the "location" in the Edit Fixtures/Patch menu. Each channel on the desk has a location - Preset fader or MFK (or DMX-IN). By selecting a Preset fader as the location, you can fade the intensity using the fader. When you have the Flash Mode set to Off/Select, you can use the flash button underneath the fader to select the channels for modifying using the MFKs, Wheels, etc, as you would normally. This will give you the behaviour you require. Hope this helps, Peter

Under the Gobo wheel, the first time you see the gobos (say DMX values 0-127) they will be indexing, and the second time you see them (say 128-255) they will be rotating. Depends on the exact fixture for the details - have a read of the fixture user manual for more information. Hope his helps, Peter

Hi Brian Most moving heads have two sets of Gobo values you can dial in - the "Indexing" value or the "Rotating" value. You need to make sure you're using the Indexing version if you want them to return to the exact same orientation. It is, of course, possible that the fixture itself has a fault or simply isn't capable of this function. Hope this helps, Peter

Hi Nathan Yes, that would theoretically be possible but bear in mind that when you import a show to the Frog 2 it loses the information about where your fixtures and dimmers are assigned to (preset faders or MFKs) as the Frog 2 doesn't have the concept of MFKs. Therefore you might have to play around with moving things back into place when you bring the show file back across to the Leap Frog. Also if you're using a Leap Frog 96, you'll lose submasters 11-30, and might also lose some of the more cue stack specific information on the Leap Frog (chases, 'next' memories, etc). If you made the effect before you'd programmed too much, it should be fine. Hope this helps,

Hi Unfortunately it isn't possible to control multiple attributes on the wheels at the same time. However, you could edit the fixture so that the intensity paramter is found under Beamshape instead of Brightness. Bear in mind that if you do this, the fixture won't follow the brightness masters on the desk. Hope this helps, Peter

Hi Magnolia There is a guide to creating your own fixtures here: http://support.zero88.com/main/en/download/363 This should talk you through the process. I hope this helps, Peter

Hi Nathan We have discussed adding this feature to a future release of software, but at the moment I don't have a schedule for it.

Hi Sparky No, the DMX In is currently used to add additional dimmer faders, which can be assigned to any patched fixtures using Edit Fixtures/Patch. Hope this helps

Hi Thorsten This is something we've talked about in the past. How much would you be willing to pay for a wing like this? Would other users think it would be useful? Would you just want 10 submasters or more? What about more MFKs? Would you want the wing to output DMX too?

Hi Kresten In Standard Fixtures, you can use RGB Dimmer as an RGB + (virtual) dimmer fixture. In the next software release, we'll have full RGB effects and lots of other cool functions too Hold on another month (or sign up as a beta tester) and you can have these features Hope this helps, Peter

Hi Nathan This isn't possible on the Leap Frogs at the moment - you can, however, record your own chases, so it is possible to create your own effects that way. Hope this helps, Peter

Hi James It's pretty easy to replace the faders if you have a knowledge of reworking PCBs and the parts are available from all Zero 88 distributors. If you're not confident in reworking the desk yourself then you can return the desk to a Zero 88 distributor where the charge should be no more than an hours labour plus a few pounds for the parts. Hope this helps - if you need any more help or information, please do let us know. Peter

Our dedicated Orb website is now live and contains core information regarding our new theatrical control console. Please visit http://www.orbdesk.com for full details. This website will be updated regularly in the run up to its launch later this year. Please check back for latest news, downloads etc or subscribe to the RSS feed for automatic updates. If you have comments or questions please visit the newly created Orb forum within this forum or email us at info@orbdesk.com Kind regards Zero 88

Hi Christian This is correct - normally you wouldn't want the second step to automatically release, as the second step is a chase step and could well contain intensity information - you wouldn't want the chase to be automatically released in this situation. The only thing I can think of is to use the fader or simply flash the chase using the flash button. Hope this helps,

Hi Sparky Can you email me a show file? pkirkup@zero88.com