Davidmk

@kgallen If that link is his fixture then you are going to have your hands full with that. Sparx7_Manual.pdf

Is this https://saleswl.com/product/jb-lighting-sparx-7/ Your fixture?

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.

You're welcome. The acid test is "Does the fixture perform as expected?".

@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.

I work in the same venue most of the time with the same patch for years at a time and a have a showfile for it with everything I need to busk. I just add a few bits for each show and yet this would still be so useful to me. The same acts come year after year but I can't reuse the showfile from the last time they were there because my "standard" set up evolves with time but being able to extract a few playbacks and MFKs from the last time and add them to my standard set up would be good. I also have my own rig, again with a standard setup, which Includes every fixture I own even though I don't use all of them at every gig and it is frustrating not to be able to copy in things from previous gigs with similar fixture positions. Now, I can see why there is no facility to do partial loads when the the channels are different would give rise to some unexpected results and if the channels referred to different makes/models of fixtures the results could be particularly "interesting". There'd be a few support calls from that I expect. While I'd like so see partial loads they'd probably need a health warning ("The results of this load could be spectacularly confusing. Are you sure?") What might be useful instead is the ability to load CSV showfilles. You can already save CSV files, these could be manipulated and combined in a spreadsheet, saved as CSV and then loaded to a desk. They might not work, of course, but you'd know what you'd done and the effort of doing it would mean only those with a real interest would be attempting it. It would have to be an unsupported feature but I'd be willing to give it a go. Another thing that would be handy would be a subtle change to groups making them more like pallettes so you could record a cue with a fixture group, change the fixtures in the group and the desk would apply the relevant parameters to all the fixtures in the group. Obviously things like a colour wheel parameter couldn't apply to an RGB fixture and again it might need a health warning but it would get you a better starting point. We can't hope for cues/playbacks/MFKs/pallettes to 'just work" when different fixtures are involved but getting them into the showfile would be a better starting point even if you had to step through them making corrections. What do you think @Jon Hole is there a remote possibility of helping us out here?

As @kgallen says, you will only get green if green is a component of the incoming or outgoing colour. Green is a component of white so, if you have a default of white and fade from nothing set by you to magenta you will see it. The default default is the Home colour which is, pretty much always, white (given what Home is for). I suspect the reason for this is the lack of an obvious and consistent, alternative. IMHO it should be black and I always change it to that. You can change it, it does work. Select all your colour mixing fixtures, set them all to R=G=B=0, and (on FLX) press Record (not Update), press Home and select Default on the screen. Mixing between colours works fine in a cue stack, it's only as good as you are when done manually. Either way you can get unwanted intermediate colours. Yellow to Magenta will go via a mucky White for example when the incoming Blue and Red matches the outgoing Green. and Red. In a cue stack you could fade Yellow to Red with a follow on cue going from Red to Magenta but that would be inconvenient to do manually. If you want total control of the change from one colour to another then RGB mixing on faders is probably the way to go. Really thinking about it... Fader controlling intensity and colour R=255 G=B=0, default colour R=G=B=255, trigger level 5%, fixtures not currently controlled by anything else. Fader @4% (below trigger level) gives I=10, R=10, G=B=10 (dim White) Fader @10% gives I=25, R=25, G & B are more complicated, they are reduced by 10% because you are 10% through a change from 255 to 0 but they are at 10% of that so G=B=23 that's 255 minus 10% all @10%. Sort of a dim, pale red? Fader @50% I=127, R=127, G=B=(255-(255x50%))x50%=127 (brighter pale Red) Fader @90% I=230, R=230, G=B=(255-(255x90%))=23 (bright, almost Red) Fader @100% I=255, R=255, G=B=0 With a starting colour of black, G=B=0 throughout. With a Magenta fader a.ready @100% B as above, G=0 throughout. Edit: On reflection, I'm not sure I've got the sums right above. Nevertheless the outcome is similar.

Colours will fade if... There is a colour fade time on the cue or Fader actions include colour Otherwise they should snap. You will see the previous (or default) colour when you first move the fader off zero if the trigger level is higher than the intensity level that actually produces visible light or the intensity is already at or above the visible level on another sub. Most of us buskers do not want colours to snap so the knowledge is mostly about how to avoid it. We are pointing you to the things we use to get fades and telling you to turn them off. You are also getting advice from FLX users, not Leapfrog and it's just possible ZerOS has Leapfrog specific quirks we don't know about. You could try clearing the desk and starting a new show file from scratch if you've been messing with it for a while as you might have something lurking from a previous experiment.

Last shot then. Separate intensity from colour. Use either the channel faders or a sub master with only intensity recorded on it and then one or more faders without intensity for colour. If you are using colour mixing then follow the instructions for that exactly. If you are using one sub per colour or subs with colour cues then set defaults to black (which you should only see with no subs up). Remove colour from fader actions so that the last will always take precedence and make sure the colour faders release on lower. Putting up an orange sub followed by a magenta one should result in full strength magenta as soon as that fader moves past 5% and back to orange as soon as it is lowered.

Another thing you could check out is the playback settings. (Here in the manual.) On the general tab, see if the fader action includes colour, try removing it (this is the default on FLX but maybe not on yours) and also look at the trigger level on the raise & lower tab and try setting it to 0% or 1%

It would look like that, any intensity of black is still black, however, if the fixture was previously given a colour then it would light up in that colour. Maybe change the default after you've done your colour set up. I can assure you it does work, I do it all the time. Although, to be fair, I never use the channel faders, just ch @@ / record mff syntax. When changing defaults (or Home) values you use record, not update which seems counter intuitive to me.

@kgallen is spot on with his suggestions, especially setting default to black - it would make sense for that to be the default for the default setting (@Jon Hole are you listening?) for all LED fixtures. In addition, look up colour mixing here this is a good way to busk because it uses less faders, gives you control over fade times and is generally more versatile than one fader per colour. Another approach is to record all your colours as cues in a stack (with colour fade times, say 2sec) and use goto cue to select them. This is what I do but it probably won't suit everybody as you have to remember the number for each colour. You could get over this by using OSC but that's a whole new skill to learn for an occasional user (not even sure you can do it on a Leapfrog).

So, first of all... The desk will be doing what you have programmed it to do. It's going to be because things have been included or left out without you realising. There are a lot of possibilities but I can only cover a couple of them here. Check your effects playback to see if you have recorded colour values in it without meaning to. Get rid of them by selecting the fixtures, tagging the colour parameters manually and doing an update selecting remove and making sure only colour is selected. If your effect playback is a colour one (like rainbow for example) then be aware that it will be white until it gets up to a decent speed. You may want to change the playback setup so that the effect is not controlled by the fader. Next, check your default values for colour on these fixtures - they are generally white (all at maximum). The default values are what the desk will use if you haven't set anything. I find it convenient to set them to black (all at zero).

Thanks Jon. You should get an auto acknowledge on that mail box. Save exchanges like this 😁

I mailed support@zero88.com on Sunday and I've heard nothing. Not even an auto acknowledgement. Is it still valid?

@Jon Hole Is there anywhere outside London? Not only do I hate driving there I'm going to get hit with extra charges.

Where is the nearest place to Milton Keynes where I can get an FLX serviced/repaired? (I have a fader that only goes up to 97% that hasn't been fixed using Servisol.)

@kgallen I'm guilty of this too, there's a clash of terminology - I try to say "DMX channel" when I mean that and leave an unqualifed "channel" to mean desk channel.

I thought that which was why I went to the specs to check. They also say 2x5pin XLR so perhaps they've slipped into an alternate reality. 😁

From the online specs for S24... Cost effective 24 fader console with support for 1024 channels of control And... 2 x 5-Pin DMX ports... So you should already have two universes worth of DMX channels and only need to make sure they are setup two output to the two DMX outputs on the back of the desk (or to the ArtNet equivalent). Check the manual here. As @kgallen says, the available channels and fixtures on FLX Sxx will be doubled anyway when Zeros v8.0.0 is released. This is in Beta test at the moment so it shouldn't be too long before it is released. The release notes for v8 state... All FLX S24 & FLX S48 consoles have been upgraded to 2048 channels ("four universes") free of charge. All full size FLX consoles & ZerOS Servers have been upgraded to 4096 channels ("eight universes") free of charge. (FLX consoles and ZerOS Servers which are licenced for more than 4096 channels will retain their higher licence). Note that FLX desks are restricted by channels, not universes so, if you have enough channels for your fixtures but want a second universe for convenience then all you need to do is go into setup and assign universe 2 to the 2nd DMX output or to ArtNet if you have that.

I was going to do that for an AmDram but their S48 was not up to date and couldn't run the showfile so I was going to lend them my FLX The nominated op pulled out last minute because, they said, they wouldn't know how to operate manually if anything went wrong. So I had to run the show myself.

Wishing you well on your adventure!

Manual says "hold setup and tap the pallette" to name them. Hopefully that same trick applies to naming other things. Doing a play for an AmDram I was confronted with an S48. I unplugged it and plugged in my FLX so I'm no wiser than you really. Or rather I know less than you since you've already learnt something about Sxx.

Just a guess but does the clear light stay on while a programmer time fade is going on? (And, is the programmer time set at 10s?)

I was at PLASA on Monday. I went hoping there'd be a Z88 announcement to discuss (a replacement for the FLX for example). Previously I'd have stopped for a chat anyway but, although VariLite weren't busy, I didn't have time after waiting to talk to Chamsys, Infinity, Vista and Lightshark about their offerings in my price bracket. Did linger over the Sirius in the "archaeology" display though. 😊