Davidmk

Strong statement, you are clearly annoyed by this issue. So, are you using the programmer to add these bits on the fly? As I said, I avoid that. It's easy to override or add to existing live cues this way but hard to then get rid of that override - not least because clearing the programmer doesn't have a fade time. If you don't clear the programmer then stuff just builds up in it. I'm aware that there might be ways to remove things but TBH I try to avoid being in that situation in the first place. You could research this or perhaps Edward could advise us both.

So you are operating in a world not unlike my own but you imply you have cue stacks rather than single cue playbacks. I do use a bit of a mixture like that myself even though we have RGB, RGBW, RGBAW & RGBAWU fixtures. What I don't do is use the programmer to busk. Never had the issue you describe though.

Oh. Tricky. It depends on what was specified. Not being a zero 88 employee I'm not privy to that however it does appear to be designed to mix RGB only and my feeling is that doing more than that is a minefield. You see the trouble is you have RGBWAU fixtures but there are so many other variations. Even when it's just RGB you get different shades of colour on different fixtures for the same DMX values (hence me saying it is a quick & dirty solution). So, it is only a bug if it doesn't do what it says on the tin but within the limitations of the spec. As to what is being tagged/recorded then yes, it may be a bug, but that may be with the fixture definition or with the desk software.

Actually that isn't a bad plan - I do that but for reasons other than the ones bothering you. The auto generated pallettes have to be generalised so don't give the same shade of a colour across the four different types of LED in our rig so I always use my own pallettes. Creating your own pallettes and always using them in your programming you can adapt the colours used in your show quickly and easily. Here I am thinking of when you need to replace fixtures with different types when you use a venue's own fixtures or you can't use the ones you originally programmed for but it also makes life easier when you decide that the shade of orange you chose really doesn't go as well with the the set as you originally thought. The auto pallettes and the colour picker, IMHO, are no more than a quick and dirty way to do things. Great for when you don't have time for subtleties or for beginners but if you have time making your own always wins.

Ultimately Zero 88 have to develop features that keep them competitive and I expect that is the main justification for the development budget. Other factors may include controlling support costs (by fixing bugs, improving usability and even, sometimes, adding new features). I'm sure it's true that having a lot of satisfied users helps new and repeat sales so things that make users happy are good as well. Keeping existing users well supported with good service and new features is part of that and, for the record, I am a very happy user. However, other than boosting or maintaining sales of new desks, new features do not generate income directly so I'm sure there's some process of costing and justifying each new feature. Zero 88 do not expect you to buy a new desk every year or two to get new features which is what some manufacturers resort to and they keep supplying the new features as long as the hardware can support it - even when it is no longer manufactured. Yes, there are features I'd love to have and I'd love to have them tomorrow but I bought my desk on the basis that I'd used Zero 88 before and I knew it would be easy to understand, well supported, easy to get fixed, well priced and would do what I wanted even if it might be a bit clunky in some less used features. Believe me, I've used more expensive desks that are clunky in all areas and that is not something I've ever found on Zero 88.

We get the version current at the time included in the cost for sure, we are morally entitled to bug fixes for that version but new features? Who is paying for them?

I'm right on the fence in this. As a user I'd like to know what is planned and when for but I also know I'd get over excited about features that are important to me, impatient if they were a long way down the time line and frustrated if they were late or cancelled. As an ex software developer I appreciate that it isn't that simple. Some features will be easier and better if other features are implemented first. Some might turn out to need a ground up re-structure to do properly without compromising future maintainability. Yet others may compromise performance. Features that look to be straightforward can end up being dismissed or delayed because of the above or other reasons. We should all remember that we get software updates for free. Lots of developers expect you to pay for feature releases and eventually stop supporting obsolete versions. I suspect it would hurt Zero 88 sales if they adopted this model but we users have to remember that development is not free and so things may not always move on as fast as we'd like and may prefer a direction that maintains or improves Zero 88 competitiveness in relation to other manufacturers. Perhaps there could be a compromise... Maintaining a public Wish List (in the forum perhaps) shouldn't be too hard and it could provide some feedback on desirability from the users and feasibility from the developers. That way Zero 88 would get low cost market research and we would have some input and be able to manage our expectations.

I'd refer you back to my post of 22nd November 2019. For forest, you could put a green in one corner, yellow in another and maybe white in the other two but play with it until you get what you want. Have fun!

You might find this useful... https://zero88.com/manuals/zeros/cues-playbacks/playing-back-cues/rgb-colour-mixing-on-playbacks

Still haven't got this working, not sure why. I think I need to check the addresses on the fixtures and my assignment of them to channels. It's complicated because some are paired with the same address while others have unique addresses but paired on the same channel. (It's to do with keeping the rig down to one universe but it's not how I'd do it.) I think I'm in for the long term so anyone hoping to do this themselves best not hold their breath 😕

I should have started there shouldn't I? Especially after directing others to "RTFM" 🙂 My next gig's get in is later than usual so I could arrive early and give myself a couple of hours playtime before having to start work in earnest. Let's see what I can find out.

So, yesterday's gig was busier than expected and I didn't get a lot of time to spend on this but I did try it. First up, I used macros to trigger the playbacks - as in I recorded a macro for each playback and then called those from my chase steps. I have a feeling that wasn't what Edward meant but lack of time stopped me from using the playback trigger instead. With macros, the results were mixed. It does work if the Tap Tempo is slow but I think latency is a problem because, if you speed it up, it seems to miss steps out. Snag is that, when it is running fast, it is difficult to be sure about that and I can't see the actual fixtures from the desk (I have to go down a floor and out into the auditorium) so I can't increase the speed gradually and look for a breakdown point. Back in theatre next Friday, I'll give it another go then. Watch this space.

The actual line in the manual is "All consoles can store a total of 10,000 cues across the playbacks."

I expect Edward or Jon will come back to you soon but, in the meantime, check the online manual here.

Thanks both. Release seems to be the missing factor in all this. I'll have a play Thursday when I'm in the theatre next and report back. In addition to lots of playbacks, I'll have a go with multiple cues in one playback (unless you can tell me for sure it won't work - it would be easier to manage).

Thanks Kevin. I did wonder about using release. I don't think you can release a particular step/cue though, so step 2 can't release step 1, etc. If you release the whole playback then of course it stops running. Using a number of playbacks is an interesting way round that though. It might even be possible to use one playback with multiple cues as I recall macros run at the end of the step (so each step of the chase could release the playback before triggering the next cue in the playback) but that's probably getting too ambitious to start with. Let's see what Edward thinks. PS. I've done a modified sparkle in the past where it didn't alter the existing colour but, sadly, I haven't got it in my current showfile. It's not what I want here though, you can't use tap tempo on effects.

I have been trying to record a particular colour chase on LEDs and failed. Obviously I'm missing something - can anyone help? What I want is to set each fixture in turn to white (as in R, G, B & W at 100%) but return to whatever colour it was before (as set by another, current, cue) when the next step runs. This should give the effect of a white light running through all the fixtures. I've tried recording the steps as cue only with smart tag off and being very careful to manually tag all the colour values. I've cleared the programmer after each step. The chase I get sets each fixture to white in turn but leaves it white as all the other steps execute until they are all white. I admit I am a few versions behind but I suspect its down to me doing it wrong rather than there being something that has been fixed in a newer version. Anyone ever made a chase like this work? One which sets the fixture back to a specific colour would not be what I'm after but any other suggestion would be most welcome.

See Special Playback Functions in the manual. Never tried it but the manual does say "there’s nothing special or different about the Master Playback compared to the other playbacks" You should also be able to set it up as an inhibit master if there are channels (like your house lights) that you don't want it to control.

I generally set lease time to the maximum available. If there's a down side to this (in the context of a lighting network), then someone please tell me because I haven't found it for myself yet.

If you aren't using your second universe and if your splitters work when not cascaded then you could send U1 on both outputs, one to each splitter.

That's a point. I'll try and make the desk is connected to power before anything else. I don't think I had a fixed order, can't remember, its been so long

Everything Edward says is, of course, correct. I would add another reason which is that many dimmers remember their last state until they get a new DMX signal. From this it follows that the last state on the desk should be all intensities to zero with the desk turned off last. That said, in our venue, the main power switches for the dimmers are in the dimmer room, nearer the stage door than the desk position (I pass it on the way in while dragging my desk behind me) so I turn them on first, then its the desk, power to the DMX fixtures and lamp-on to the moving heads (when I'm ready to use them). Been doing it that way for 20yrs, along with the other lampies with no issues (and still on the original dimmers). While the above is best some justifiable variations might be possible depending on the rig.

Oops, sorry. Got carried away there

Check out Cue Triggers in the manual here

If you want to know the colour values of a fixture or the palette they come from then there's always the parameter information on the output window... See the manual at https://zero88.com/manuals/zeros/desktops-windows/output-window if you think that might help.