drscoop

Hi Zero88, Trivial one, but just for the record... It seems that when using the offset in the FX engine, if I hold Shift and tap Effects, and select “fan first”, when then using the offset wheel, the fixture behaviour changes as expected, but the actual value on the screen above the encoder doesn’t update. For all other options, it works as expected. I can replicate this behaviour on both on a physical FLX S 24 and in Phantom ZerOS. Clearly no urgent fix required but thought you’d like to know. On an effects-related question - if I open up my FLX S showfile in Phantom ZerOS emulating an FLX (or load it into a physical FLX) and create some bespoke custom effects and save them to the effects palettes, what happens if I then port that showfile back to FLX? Do the custom effects just not function because the algorithm generator isn’t there?

Ok, that makes sense, I think. Though I couldn’t seem to retrieve the part no. from the link you referred to, only an option to upgrade. Not a problem, I assume we do indeed have a 1U FLX S24. Thanks for the clarification....

Hi Edward, I took the S/N off the Desk Info, after tapping the "Z" key.. If that's correct, your Chilli dimmers are very easy to programme! I'm now even more intrigued as to the desk's serial number!

Firstly, Ed and team, thanks for all the video training sessions recently - despite having had the console for over a year now, I've learnt a whole lot of productivity and time saving tips from these... Second - hopefully not as daft a question as the title suggests - following the setup video on DMX Universes, I was discussing with the team here the possibility of future upgrades to a 2 universe desk - we bought a 1 universe FLX S24, model 0020-000022-00, vs the 2 universe -000023-00 version. Or so we thought... On digging around, I appear to be able to output DMX independently on both XLRs, as 2 discrete universes. I wondered if we'd been shipped a -000023-00 version instead, but it seems we have a 000018-00?? So, I'm curious - what type of desk do we have, how many universes and, therefore, how many DMX channels can we work with? I can't find any record of this model number. Is there anything else this model can, or cannot do, that is worth being aware of?

Hmmm..... Well, I tried to capture this as a video, but one of the iPads updated it's iOS overnight and now is working as you'd described! All good, but will drop a video back if they start mirroring each other again.

Thanks, Edward. The desk is indeed on 7.9.7 and the iOS apps are latest version. Can do a quick video of behaviour if helpful?

Trying a little experiment with the FLX S24 last night and discovered I can run at least three iPads as touchscreens on the FLX S, using the Monitor and Remote apps. I was wondering if there was a limit on just how many could be used? One idiosyncracy I noticed was that, using Monitor on the iPads, if I changed from, say, the Cue window to the Fader window on one iPad, all iPads reflected the change and showed the same window. However, using the Remore app, I could get screens showing a different, independent window on each, which is much more helpful, but less visually pleasing! Is there a way of getting a similar, independent screen display using Monitor? [Also, just as an aside, I tried to upload a photo of the iPad/FLX S setup, but got a file upload error - is the upload function having an issue? I got a file parse error (no decode delegate for this image format) and also a “cannot upload files over 563.2 kB error on a 112 kB file?]

Fab, thanks for the clarification!

Ok, I’ll check this on the console and see if tracking is on or off. But if it’s off, as suggested, would all cues not be recorded as block cues anyway and therefore the effect be removed even if the heads are at zero intensity, and would Move on Dark not be functional? Or am I misunderstanding how the desk behaves in non-smart tag mode?

Thanks Ed, I am sure this is me being stupid, but on build 7.9.7, where is Smart Tag? From the cue list with the offending cue selected, I hold Effect and tap Home, which homes the heads as anticipated and sets intensity to 100%. I then need to set intensity back to zero (as we’ve discussed, with a non-zero intensity, switching off the effects works fine, it’s just these zero intensity cues...), but keep the fixtures selected. If I tap update, I get no obvious Smart Tag prompt. Holding Update, I get the dialogue in the image attached...I tried Clear Tagging and some of the other options, but to no avail....the heads continue to move... Sorry that I’m being really dense here.... I can send on the showfile and Capture file if it helps? For the time being, I’ve set the fixtures to Intensity=1% in the subsequent cue, which solves it, but it’s not elegant!

Hi Ed and team, just trying this on a current show. I’m finding I can record a block cue to stop the effects engine at the end of the playlist, but that I’m not able to update a cue in the midst of a pre-existing playlist on the master cue list. So, if I do Shift+Record and hit the master playback, it records my block cue at the playlist. If I then try to copy that cue to the right place in the list, it loses the Blocked properties. Similarly, if I try to update a cue in the playlist and remove the smart tag as outlined above, It doesn’t carry through the detagging, only if I record a new cue. And the Suggested option of EFFECT + HOME -> SHIFT + RECORD -> type the cue number -> Playback Button -> Merge. ...only gives me overwrite, not merge, and also doesn’t stop the effects. What obvious thing am I missing here, please?

Probably missing something obvious, but is there a way of looping a short cue list to run continually? As an example - I have a set of LED fresnels with a virtual colour wheel - to mimic the effect of colour wheel rotation on a moving head I can set a simple cue list from colour 1 at, say DMX value 15, to the last colour at DMX value 235. Setting a 60s fade time, I get just the cycle effect I want but can’t see how to go back to the start of the cue cyclically without hitting “go” again. Converting to a chase messes up all the fade times and seems to jump from first DMX value to last, without fading through the intermediate colours - changing the fade up/down just seems to slow the fade to first colour but not the fade through the colours, or unlinks colours from intensity as the fader is pushed up... I’d also, ideally, like to offset the values across the fixtures so the same colour sweeps across the fixture line. I can do all this as a simple multi-step chase but this, with the offset, would be very easy to mess up and mis-program a step. Is there an elegant way of achieving the same thing? (An offset rainbow in the effects engine is clearly a possibility here, but not quite what I’m after on this occasion...)

Would these help? Tried them out on our FLX S24 last night with a few RGB fresnels and some ETC Colorsource CYCs and all seemed to work ok.... First three are in Chroma, order, the fourth in numeric order bit it's a bit smaller than ideal. May be OK on a large screen with the ZerOS Remote app running.

Maybe a silly question - is capture set to listen to the correct IP address? It may be set to automatic in the options, or might be set to a specific IP address listener? (Options -> Connectivity)

This might be a bit too esoteric to be helpful for anyone else , but I'm finding this useful for a certain song from a musical about a multicoloured coat we're working towards just now... 😁

Will do - let me check what's going on at work next week as I know I'm out the office for a few days.

So, I removed the USB stick, and rebooted, and ran the show with no issue. After the show, I checked back on the system and saw no Comms errors. For completeness and curiosity, I tried adding back the USB desk lamps, one at a time, and both together, and again no issues (though I will heed advice and will not usually do this - I just wanted to see if I could replicate the issues...) Plugged the USB stick into the top of the desk and immediately the desk locked up and was unresponsive for 5-10 seconds, then came back after a short flash of a few of the playback LEDs on Ch13-24. A clean reboot of the desk and re-trying this exactly replicated the issue. Strange thing was, if I clean reboot the desk and plug in the same USB stick into the rear USB port, saving and loading files to and from it, the desk runs perfectly stable and gives no comms issues or desk hesitancy. It seems writing back to the USB stick on the front port only is instigating some form of comms issue that persists until the desk is power cycled and then is absent until the USB stick is used again. Is there any hardware difference in the two ports, do we have a dodgy USB port, or is there some firmware glitch here, as this has only occurred since the flash to 7.9.6....? Really interested in your thoughts on this.... I'll keep an eye on things over the final three show nights and continue to report anything unanticipated or unusual.

OK, so the saga continues.... No LED desk lamps plugged in tonight, but still some DMX issues on the lamps. I updated a couple of cues as part of a slight tweak and as I was saving to USB I saw an odd message flash up. Delving back into the system dialogue and I spotted the errors coming up on the screen, as shown in the files below... These were streaming through in batches of a few at a time. I have a video, but too big to upload... (I can drop you a Dropbox link if it helps, but doesn't really show any more than the image, just the frequency and timing of error messages...) This was after a clean reboot and just saving to USB stick.

Thanks Jon, I think that covers it!! Fingers crossed for a smooth show tonight and I'll report back. Whilst here, an unrelated question - the training sessions on our desk, both at TLG and at PLASA have been great and of huge value (it was a shame I had to duck out of the end of the last PLASA session and miss both the G&T and extra hints and tips!), but we are amassing lots of "it'd be great if we could just do..." or "Hmm.... Why did that happen like that...?" type questions. I wondered if there are options for a more tailored and focussed intermediate-level desk training session and what might be available?

Edward, is it worth a note to that effect in the manual? I don’t think we’d been advised of that, but may have missed it?

Hi all These are the lamps in question: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BWTYMPM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I’ll see if there’s a current draw on the specs on the box later but will discontinue use. I was not anticipating there would be a power draw issue but understand that the FLX S has a few features removed to hit the price point and thus doesn’t have the self healing USB ports. I will run the lamps off an external USB powerpack and see how we get on tonight. thanks for the quick response on this.

Just a quick update - I quickly ran the same showfile on PhantOS last night, on 7.9.6 and linked to Capture to see what was going on and it seemed to behave itself, though I only ran through the cues quickly, rather than sitting there for hte full 2 hour show timings. Could this be a dodgy firmware update or an emerging desk issue? (Or dodgy USB peripherals - but would be surprised if they could cause significant interference?)

Hi forum folk, I have been running the opening night of a show tonight and had several unexpected and significant issues with our FLX S24. Last show on the desk was pretty solid. Only changes here since last show were: - Successful update to 7.9.6 - Modified Profile for Chavet FXPar 9 to split out inner LED, outer LEDs and strobe - using 2 x USB desk lights on the desk USB ports. Issues: - seeing what appeared to be intermittent but fairly frequent rogue DMX on the lines, resulting in unexpected colour flashes and intensity changes on our LED luminaires (Chauvet FXPar9s, 415s, 910s, ColorSource CYCs and Martin MH-5s) and the moving heads re-positioning, re-homing or otherwise moving at random - odd desk activity with the playback LEDs occasionally randomly strobing from left to right on flash buttons 13-24, similar to the strobing, scrolling LEDs we'd expect to see on desk reboot - Significant, intermittent lag on the master playback GO button, sometimes in the order of several seconds, or even not responding at all - part-way through the show, a complete lock-up, all lights on zero intensity and no control or response to desk operation (faders, buttons, flash buttons or touch screen) whatsoever for 30-45 seconds. After making do as best we could for a short while, we fortunately had a short section on just followspot (not run off the desk) where we power cycled the desk for a hard reboot and got the desk back and it ran fine after that, but the issues to that point did cause a significant distraction. Possibly worth noting that we did have some minor quirks when programming, with some similar issues to a lesser extent. I may just have done something stupid in the programming - the showfiles and the updated Chauvet profile are included here just in case. We did remove the USB desk lights before the hard reset and didn't re-use them again, but could a simple USB accessory cause this much disruption on the DMX lines? Wanted to raise this ASAP, both to see how we avert it for the show for the rest of the week, and also in case there's a 7.9.6 issue arising? Can't see we have any crimped or compressed DMX cables, and all lines are properly terminated... I'm a bit perplexed. All thoughts and suggestions welcome. SHOWTIME_MASTER_FILE12.isf AJ_Chauvet FXpar 9 9Ch 3way.ift SHOWTIME_MASTER_FILE.isf

Hi Zero88. Starting to programme a new show on the FLX S24 and 2 questions have arisen... 1 - is it possible to copy a batch of cues on the "S" consoles? I have a bulk set of cues that need copying to form an encore for the last night. I understand the FLX allows, e.g. "200 thru 280 to 500" Is it one cue at a time on the FLX? *** EDIT - Ignore this, I've just seen I can use an external keyboard to do "From 200>280" "TO 500" *** 2 - Is there an elegant way to get my moving heads to come on from a set position, sweep up, then go dark at cue end? At the moment I'm using: - Cue A - snap heads to a set colour/position - Cue B - positional fade to the swept-up position - Cue C - Snap to dark All cues are set to Go after Previous with zero delay. Just feels there must be a more elegant way of doing this relatively common move? I can copy the relevant cues to a playback fader and run them as a single shot chase if needs bs, but again, I feel there is likely to be a better way?

Hi, Wondered whether the PLASA training sessions reflected the “formal” Zero 88 training, or whether they were more user-tailored? I was planning to pop by the stand to get some help on the fixture editor (as briefly discussed a while ago on the forums with Edward) but if it’s better to come along to the training venue, please let me know? Thanks!