Paul

We've had a couple of reports about this one, but so far have been unable to reproduce it here. It would be extremely useful to us if you could send us your show file to assist us in tracking this down. Thanks for your help, Paul.

Not yet, sorry! It's under consideration for future software updates though. Frog Reference 5241: N Shot Chases.

Err, currently, you can't. This is already logged for consideration in future software updates. Frog Reference 5412: Force chases to start at step 1 when being output on submasters.

Yes.

There's a whole lot of free stuff that we give away, like training, technical support, software updates, the legendary PLASA party... All this has to be paid for from what we charge for the products. I wouldn't be worrying too much about that DMX Termination plug. I don't think we've ever actually sold one! You're right, most of our customers choose to make up their own. Accessories of this kind are intended primarily for overseas orders to places where it might not be quite so easy to lay your hands on a resistor, a 5 pin XLR and a soldering iron.

I think your best chances are for a hardware expansion wing. This would have the following advantages over using the subs: a) it would integrate more cleanly with the existing desk functions. it would give us something to sell rather than give away. c) it would also provide the additional 7 buttons that are on the 500 that will be used for moving light control. You're right though that the serial port would be the best interface to this wing. It's not just a case of the available User Interface controls though. There are other issues to do with internal resources such as RAM, Flash disk storage, processor speed etc. which have been uprated on the Illusion 500 platform. The 120/240 platform might start to creak a bit if we tried to add a whole pile of moving light processing on top of it. Yes we could maybe do an upgrade, but by the time you've bought this and the wing, you might be looking at a price tag that's not far of a new 500! If there's sufficient interest in an expansion wing though, it will get considered. Keep the ideas coming!

You need a VGA monitor like those used on PC's, with a 15-way 3-row D-type connector. Was your technician looking for a socket for a PAL TV monitor perhaps? Some of the very early Frogs shipped did not have the monitor socket fitted, as this was an upgrade that we introduced several months after the range was launched. If you have one of these desks then you need to purchase an upgrade to get the monitor output. Contact Zero 88 Technical Support for further information (01633-838088, mailto:techsupp@zero88.com).

One of the possible manifestations of the "chase speed adjustment remaining active after leaving edit" bug (Frog Reference 5362, fixed in release 6.2) is general instability of the desk. It could well be that what you're seeing is a manifestation of this. We would like to hear if anyone has encountered this problem in later versions of software. What's interesting is that you'd rather use a desk which is potentially unstable than one which doesn't have some form of live chase speed adjustment. Rest assured though that this feature is among the strong contenders for inclusion in a future features update. Just for reference, the following FR's relate to various chase speed issues: Frog Reference 5152 - Live adjustment of chase speed on Playback X. Frog Reference 5364 - Live adjustment of chase speed on Submasters. Frog Reference 5398 - Ability to set chase speed using a "Beat Button". Frog Reference 5348 - Editing the chase speed via the LCD. Frog Reference 5427 - Indication of chase speed and current step for the currently selected chase.

ENTER would be a good key to use as it is available on small PS2 numeric keypads. The GO feature could be inhibited by turning on Scroll Lock.

The MIDI port is only activated on the Illusion 120 if the optional SMPTE upgrade kit is fitted (standard with the Illusion 240). Currently the only implementation of MIDI is the reception of MIDI timecode to synchronise the show playback to an external time source. You can't use MIDI note information to trigger memories / submasters like you could on the XLS for example. However this is something that we may consider in future software updates. Also up for review is the implementation of the MIDI Show Control standard. There is however on the Illusion a remote input connector, to which you can attach up to 6 of your own buttons/switches, and use them to mimic a push of pretty much any button on the desk. Full connection and programming details are in the User Manual. On the Illusion 500, the optional SMPTE/MIDI upgrade kit also includes a CAN port, which will in future software allow the connection of our range of ChilliNet control panels to remotely trigger memories.

All the information you need to program chases is in the Frog Series User Manual, which can be downloaded in several languages from here. Although the Mambo Frog manual (here) is not currently available in French, the general Frog Series manual is, and you'll find a lot of the content is identical. Currently it is not possible to adjust live the speed of a chase, however this is a much requested feature and is under review for inclusion in a future software release. You can't exactly assign a parcan to a submaster, however you could program submasters with just one parcan on each to achieve a similar result. You might find yourself quickly running out of submasters in this case though! To be honest, if you're regularly using lamps on dimmers (rather than a full moving light rig), then you might find one of the other Frog desks (Fat Frog, Leap Frog, Bull Frog) easier to get on with, as you would have the extra faders to control the dimmer channels.

Can you let us know (PM or email) the desk serial number and software version you are using? Thanks, Paul.

we think a price tag like the grandma would be great

Apologies if I'm mentioning something you already know, but... You can copy data from one fixture to any number of others by doing the following: - select the fixture(s) that you wish to modify. - whilst holding down colour, beamshape or position (maybe even brightness, I can't remember!), press the fixture button that you wish to copy the data from. By magic, the colour, beamshape or position data will be copied from one fixture to the other(s). Be prepared for some whacky results if the fixtures are not of the same type! Admittedly this will be awful tedious if you have a lot of memories to copy! Maybe it would be easier, at the time of the stage changeover, to quickly re-patch the addresses of the 4 fixtures on the desk to be the addresses of the 4 fixtures on the 2nd stage. Or maybe run a separate DMX cable to the 4 fixtures on the 2nd stage, so that you can do a cable swap rather than a re-patch at the changeover. If you want the 2nd show to be identical to the 1st that is. You mention that you're actually transferring the memories to subs to run the show, so maybe using the same memories wouldn't be so bad, as by using the subs you have options to introduce some variety.

I'd suggest the following: - Transfer Memory 'B' (the one you want to copy the LTPs from) to a spare submaster. - Edit Memory 'A' (the one you want the LTPs recorded into). Whilst in edit mode, push up the submaster with memory 'B' on it, then bring it back down again. This will cause all the LTPs from Memory 'B' to be output, and hence be stored in Memory 'A' when you leave edit mode. Other suggestions welcome!

The Frog Reference (FR) numbers are used in our super secret Zero 88 Frog database for tracking bug reports and feature requests from this Forum, support emails and phone calls we receive, feedback from training days & the sales team, and from our own internal development and testing. Currently this database is not published externally. We do however endeavour to post the reference numbers assigned to all feature requests / bug reports posted on this Forum for 2 reasons (apart from our BSI auditors liking everything to have a reference number!): [a] to allow you (and us!) to use the Forum Search facility to find related posts in other Topics (there are an awful lot of duplicate requests which use different terminology to ask for the same thing!) so that you can watch for your favourite FR numbers in the Software Release Notes that accompany each software release. We could publish the full database, but frankly the tedious level of detail and obscurity relating to most of the items would probably bore you to tears (if I stand on my head, with my right finger in my left ear, whilst holding down 'LOCK' and pressing the 'PROGRAM' button.... etc.)

You can currently achieve the effect of 'on' in 5 different ways: 1. Press the 'ON' button. 2. Press the '@' button twice. 3. Enter the value numerically (in several formats depending on what numeric entry mode you have the desk in) 4. Use the mouse. 5. Use the wheel on the front panel. Do we really need another method?? Yes, the ENTER thing does work on the 120/240. I was trying to figure out what 'rem' might be an abbreviation for, so we could understand better exactly how this function would behave, integrate cleanly with other functions, and in what situations it might be useful. But I couldn't! Can you let us know? Cheers, Paul.

It sounds like your problem is to do with the wiring of the desk light. We recommend Littlites, which have the bulb connected between pins 2&3 of the XLR. Pin 1 and the Chassis are unconnected. However we have seen other brands of desk lights where various pins on the XLR are linked to each other and/or the chassis. It appears there is no consensus among desk light manufacturers as to how their lamps should be wired. On the desk pin 2 is 0V and pin 3 is +12V. If you're unlucky enough to have a desk light with pin 3 connected to the chassis, then you'll be shorting out the +12V, with only the paint around the chassis of the desk light plug to protect you! Stick a meter on your desk light and try and figure out how it's wired. You then have the choice of buying an alternative desk light, re-wiring your desk light, or opening the desk and rewiring the XLR socket. Hope this helps!

Your first problem sounds like some internal DIP switches may be set incorrectly. Inside the desk, on the back of the 2 PCBs for the channel preset faders, there are some 3-way DIP switches. On the PCB for channels 1-12, all 3 switches should be in the off position. On the PCB for channels 13-24, switch 3 should be in the on position, with the other two being in the off position. Check that these switches are set correctly. Whilst the desk is open, also check that all the ribbon cable connectors are securely plugged in. Your desk is of the sort of age where it may have a Panasonic disk drive fitted. These have been known to cause problems. If you have another type available (we use TDK/Teac now) then try swapping it out. Another thing to bear in mind with the floppy - the desk likes to have freshly formatted floppies with the upgrade software on. Simply deleting any files previously on the disk leaves behind some hidden garbage which can confuse the desk. Brand new out the box floppies tend to work best if you're having problems. The desk should never get into an unrecoverable state during an upgrade. The BIOS will always look for an upgrade disk before it looks at anything stored in the desk. So if you put a good upgrade disk in the drive, it should recover. What you're probably experiencing is the desk failing to recognise that it has a valid floppy in the drive. Eject the floppy, pop it back in again, power cycle the desk and try again. Repeat this a few times and hopefully the desk will see the upgrade disk. If non of this works, then you'll probably have to return the desk to the factory. Let us know how you get on!

a) Fear not, we haven't abandoned the 120 and 240! The intention was that the software for the Illusion 500 should also run on the 120 and 240. However we noticed some issues with it on the 120 and 240 which we weren't able to resolve in time for the first release of the 500. The new software is hence for the Illusion 500 only until these issues are resolved. Watch this space for further information. We will shortly be conducting a review of feature requests and bug reports on our list for the 120 and 240, so if you have any problems or suggestions, please let us know! This support site is for all Illusions, so any questions, fire away. You'll find on the frogsupport website people asking about Betapacks, Chilli dimmers and all sorts! You might find though that as the spare wheels on the Illusion 500 start to come to life, there will begin a lot of discussion on this forum specific to the Illusion 500 which you might not be interested in. However we will still be answering questions and logging feature requests for the 120/240, so keep them coming!

The ISF show file format is constantly evolving as we add new functions to the desk. If we were to release it we'd have to think through carefully how we were going to support people trying to use the information. We'd also have to toughen up a lot of the checking of the show file in the desk, to guard against erroneous data. Currently the file is only ever made by the desk, so it knows exactly what to expect in it. I have heard that there are some already published ASCII file formats for lighting data, but that they are unfortunately troubled with compatibility and interoperability issues between different manufacturers equipment. We have to be careful if we release our file format that we do not add to this confusion. Different desks work in different ways, and there will only ever be a small core of functions which are common throughout. If we do one day produce an offline editor (and we do get a lot of requests for this), then a very useful function of this would be to be able to export and import data in a standard format that can be handled by your favourite text editor or spreadsheet. The offline editor would then handle validation of the imported data, and take care of the complexities of the file format for you. This might make life a lot easier all round! Is the ISF really that easy to hand decode? Darn - we'll have to encrypt it from now on!!

An offline editor for the desks has been on the list for consideration since pretty much day one I think! Unfortunately it would not be simply a port of the desk software to run on a PC, it would need to be a completely separate piece of software with the look and feel of the Windows GUI. This would be a substantial piece of development work, which has to have some commercial justification, as we guess you guys are going to want us to give it away. After all, software is free, right? We need to understand how a PC based editor would fit into the product range, what capabilites it needs to have, and, if it's going to be free, how it can be done in a way that would promote the Frog range. All suggestions for offline editor features are being collated and logged for if/when we do it, so keep them coming! And of course, promise our sales team that you'll buy more desks, not less, if a PC editor was available!!

Frog Reference 5259 - Fixed in release 7.5.

Yes you're right - chases can be programmed to step with the beat of the music. Full details of how to program chases with a sound to light drive can be found in the User Manual. Additionally, if you're interested, the sound to light input can be used to step the FROG (Fixture Random Output Generator) function on the moving light desks in the family.

I think the strobe you refer to has 2 DMX control channels - one for rate, and one for intensity. I'm assuming you have a desk which can handle LTPs - Fat Frog, Leap Frog, Bull Frog or Mambo Frog. If you have created a fixture personality for this strobe which assigns the intensity control channel be HTP (Highest Takes Precedance), then the rate control channel must be LTP (Last Takes Precedance), as each fixture is only permitted to have 1 HTP channel. The submaster fader varies only the HTP output channels. The LTP output channels are triggered to their programmed values when the submaster fader crosses the programmed LTP trigger level. If you want the submaster fader to vary the rate of your strobe, then in your fixture personality you will have to assign the rate to be HTP control. If you also want the intensity to be HTP control, then you will have to control the strobe as 2 fixtures. Alternatively, and this will work on a Frog (which doesn't have LTPs) too, use 2 of the generic control channels to control your strobe.