K-Nine

I have just downloaded the MiniMAC fixture file from the fixture file exchange, copied it to floppy, and successfully assigned a fixture to it on the desk. Therefore, there doesn't appear to be a problem with the file :?: I could email the fixture file to you directly if you wish.

Hi Sam, If you're looking for advice on how to design a show, what fixtures to use, styles of programming etc. it might well be worth having a look at the Blue Room Technical Forum. CLICK HERE They have a lot of members with experience in theatre and live music, The forum is very active and you are likely to get a quick response. Update: There is actually a topic called Lighting a Rock Band which may have some useful ideas .. CLICK HERE

When you program in Full Mode - all parameters of all fixtures will be recorded into memories, submasters or SX buttons. It is effectively a snapshot of all the DMX outputs. Super User - Desk Setup - Program Mode Note - it is recommended that you set up the desk in the required mode before programming any memories, submasters etc.

No problem, I can see how that (incorrect) assumption could have been made, if you are new to partial programming, tagging and moving fixtures Just shows the benefit of reading the manual

According to the data I have on the MiniMac Profile: Channel 1 is the Shutter/Strobe/Reset/Lamp On/Off parameter. It also says that with shutter fade enabled, that DMX values from 0-38 represents shutter closed to open. I can only assume that somewhere in the manual for the MiniMAC it explains how to enable the shutter fade 8O You are also right in saying that in the fixture personality file for the MiniMAC Profile the shutter parameter is classed as beamshape, which means that it will be processed LTP. However assuming that you can persuade the fixture to operate in shutter fade mode, then by setting the Beamshape attribute in the memory to fade and specifiying an LTP fade time, you may actually get the thing to fade 8O I wish they would have a dedicated brightness/intensity channel like most of their larger fixtures .. it would make life so much easier :evil:

I have created a new fixture file with the Martin MiniMac (mode 4). The only difference from the original is that I have set the shutter 'home' position to zero which should be closed. The file can be downloaded from the Fixture File Exchange CLICK HERE

We must be thinking along the same lines ... see my edited post above :idea:

Firstly, there is an important difference between selected and tagged. Selected - the red LED in the fixture selection button is lit Tagged - the yellow LED in the fixture selection button is flashing. When you press the Program button to save the fixture data into a memory or submaster, only the tagged fixtures will be saved into the data. It is the tag state of the fixture that is important, not whether it is actually selected at the time of programming or not.

Which Martin Minimac fixture type are you using exactly ? I have checked our fixture library and there are 12 8O Minimac Maestro (modes 1 - 4) Minimac Profile (modes 1 - 4) Minimac Wash (modes 1 - 4) From your other post on the smoke machine, it suggests that each of your fixtures uses 10 DMX channels. That would suggest that the fixture you are using is a Martin MiniMAC Profile in Mode 4 ... is that correct ?

Do you have any more information on the DMX control of the smoke machine ? Would I be correct in assuming that it is controlled by a single DMX channel ? If this is the case then you should be able to control it with the preset fader representing desk channel 48 (patched to DMX channel 89). :idea: The desk will need to be in Wide mode

Was the Minimac fixture personality from our fixture library or had it been generated on a PC using the Fixture Type Editor ? If you have the original fixture personality file and data from Martin I could check what you have and see if I could modify it as you require. Assuming the fixture personality was correct, it should just be a case of changing the default (home) value of the Shutter parameter.

There are probably a number of different ways to do this, but the first that springs to mind is to program three consecutive scene memories with the second and third having automatic triggers. Memory 1 - have the fixture(s) on with the blue gobo in position 1 Memory 2 - move the fixture(s) to position 2. Ensure that position is set to fade and the LTP fade time set to the time you want the transition to take (eg 3 seconds). Memory 3 - Set the brightness/intensity to zero. Set the fade down time to the required time. You may need to experiment with the times to get the effect you want but it should work Note: If you had a copy of the Beta software - you could always program it as a 3 step chase

It sounds like this is something we need to investigate further and see if we can improve the situation of overshooting the required memory when scrolling through the memory list using the cursor keys. I have tried it on a Fat Frog here, and it does appear to overshoot on the main LCD. The amount of the overshoot seems to be related to how long the + or - key has been held down for. These keys need to auto-repeat when held down or you would have to hit the key once for every memory in the stack that you wished to go through 8O When I'm testing the desks in our demo room, I always have a keyboard and monitor connected, so when I want to go to a specific memory I just type the number in followed by ENTER and it jumps straight to that memory However, I do appreciate, that not everyone will have an external keyboard attached to enable them to do this I couldn't possibly use the desk without a monitor though

I will have to pass this on to Simon (our software guru) to explain what is happening in terms of software tasks running in the desk and how they are prioritised.

This appears to be a problem with the memories screen displayed on the monitor 'lagging' behind that on the LCD. It takes longer to refresh the monitor screen than it does to update the LCD. On releasing the + or - key, the cursor will stop on the memory shown on the main LCD, then the monitor screen will catch up a short while later. If you are looking at the monitor screen, then this gives the impression that you have overshot the selected memory by about five memories

When running an N-shot chase, the actual step that the chase will finish on will depend on the Direction modifer. For example, a 1-shot chase consisting of 5 steps will be output as follows: Forwards (>) 1,2,3,4,5 Backwards (<) 5,4,3,2,1 Bounce (<>) 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1

The pan/tilt reverse and swap functions are carried out on individual fixtures which are assigned on the desk. There is no pan/tilt reverse and swap in the fixture editor program on the PC. That utility is for generating the personality data for fixture types.

Firstly, the Drive modifier for the chase running on the submaster has to have been programmed to Beat (the new drive which has been implemented in the Beta version). If the chase on the submaster is the ONLY chase running on the desk at the time then all you need to do is tap the STEP button in the Submaster section of the desk at the required rate to set the beat. If there are several chases running and you only want to affect one of them on a submaster, then you do have to press F3, SUBMASTER and select the required sub before tapping the STEP button.

GLX is right, the desk will snap the DMX output values from one colour to the next, but most fixtures will still take a finite time to react to the change in value and move the colour wheel to the new value.

Please could you clarify the operation that was carried out. Did you unassign one of the fixtures and then re-assign it to the same fixture type perhaps ? If this was the case then you would lose that fixtures values in the programmed memories and submasters. Unassigning a fixture will remove that fixture from all programmed memories, submasters and palettes. Even if you then reassign it to the same fixture type, the show file will have no memory of what values each of its parameters were set to in the memories etc. If the desk was in Full Mode, the only values it can put in for the 'new' fixture, as it sess it, are the default values for each parameter.

Not necessarily ... it depends whether you are programming memories or playing them back You can use the + and - keys to select any of the programmed memories, and then press the GO button to trigger that memory. The selected memory is then the Current memory, and the next programmed memory in the stack becomes the Next memory. See Chapter 4 of the Frog Series Operating Manual for full details of programming, editing, copying and transferring memories, and running the memory stack.

Press the MEMORIES button to display the memories screen. Select an unprogrammed memory using the + or - keys (* next to the memory number). Set up your parcans to required levels using the preset faders. Press the PROGRAM button. The programmed memory is now the Current memory on the playback X (also called the memory stack or cue list). Lower the preset faders back to zero. The playback x master fader controls the level of the outputs from the current memory. 8)

OK ... the Master fader next to the submasters is the playback x master which controls the output levels of the generic channels and fixture brightness channels which are programmed into the Current memory on the playback X. Therefore, at some point you must have programmed a memory with the parcans and that was the current memory on the memory stack.

Not really, because there is no 'Palettes Screen' as such defined for the LCD. Even when the palettes are locked it is only the monitor screen which shows the corresponding palette screen; the main LCD will still show the memories, submasters, SX (Mambo) or Output screen, depending on which is currently selected.

Probably better to call it "N-Shots" because it refers to how many times a chase memory runs once triggered. We have used the term 'loops' on another desk to mean running through a number of memories in the memory stack a fixed number of times. ... and if we ever decide to put 'loops' on the Frogs or 'N-Shots' on the other desk :twisted: