JAdamson

Hello to all, I have seen alot of posts concerning issues with the floppy drive on the Fat Frog desk. As an FYI-I just replaced an original Panasonic drive on a version 1 desk with an Inland internal floppy drive. it was available at Micro Center and cost $7.99. The install was very straightforward. The Inland drive was an exact match--both in the rear panel & the (4) anchor screws on the bottom of the desk. My boot up time went from 2 minutes to about 30 seconds. I hope this helps others in the same position.

Hi Keith, I tried several variations and have found that: The tracking option ON/OFF has no effect--you must reset to 0 with either one; the Tag Replace MUST be set to "Replace" or "Add" otherwise NO re-recording will occur.

Hello, I was wondering why I am having difficulty recording looks from a submaster to memory AFTER the first time I hit <PROGRAM> to record a memory in the stack? In other words-suppose I have channels 1-6 in SUB 1/1. I raise SUB 1 (on page 1) to FF, then hit <PROGRAM> (with LED at MEMORIES)-->the level records correctly. The playback is CH 1-6 at Full. Now I want to set SUB 1 at a different level, say 50%. I set SUB 1 fader to half and hit <PROGRAM>. I get a dialog box saying "Nothing to program". Yet if I take SUB 1 to ZERO level, then reset it to 50% and hit <PROGRAM>, the levels are recorded correctly and playback is CH 1-6 at 50%. This happens on both the actual desk & Phantom Frog. I am using v10.12 for both. I have the desk set for partial mode; tracking (ON--); Replay/tag=Replace; Brightness=Channel; Color=All; Beamshape=Channel; Position=All. Also-I don't want to use the "Save All" option, as I may not wish to save attributes from fixtures in the memory. What am I missing here? Thanks.

Hi Peter, The latest release of Fixture Manager is working properly. Thanks for the new release. -John

Thanks Jon. Again, I find the customer support at Zero 88 to be exemplary!

I have observed that the most recent version of the Common Fixture Manager 2.5 seems to have a bug in it. I had difficulty loading in fixtures. Also the app does not save the *.cft file, even though a dialog box does come up and appears to be doing a "save" operation. I am running WinXP and SP3. I had to go back to v 2.1.0.0 in order to create/save a custom *.cft file. Zero 88 please fix this when you get a free moment. Thanks.

Good job Steve... Enjoy your show!

Hi-I had a similar issue when I changed the thumb/finger wheel assignments on a fixture. I loaded the revised .cft file, but the FF still would not make the change. When you change the profile of a fixture, you have to be certain that the board recognizes this change. There are a couple of "caveats" to keep in mind: First-Since you are going to be using two different profiles for a fixture, keep the manufacturer name the same, BUT you should add each and name them differently in the "Fixture Type" field in the profile editor. Save this and add the new fixtures to the .cft file. Second-The board needs to have the original profile removed completely. From my experience, the best way to do this is to remove the original fixture profile from the "Assign Fixtures" field; assign a <blank> fixture to that button. Then reboot the board. Now load the revised .cft file from the floppy disc. Reboot the board again. Now go into the "Assign Fixtures" field; assign profile A to button 1 and profile B to button 2. Also-Make certain that the DMX address of the fixture matches the DMX address you have assigned (for each fixture) in the "Manual Patch" section of "Desk Setup". I hope this helps.

How about this: I will assume you have set up fixture 1 for the "before intermission" parameters, and fixture 2 for the "after intermission". You could then set the address for fixture 1 as 100, and set address for fixture 2 as 120. Start the show with your bar set for 100, using fixture 1. When you are at intermission, reset the bar to 120, then run that part of the show as fixture 2.

I too had problems installing 10.10 on my Fat Frog. I tried reloading at least 4 times without success. However, I was ultimately successful. Here was my solution: Use a brand new floppy disc. Format the disc DIRECTLY in the lightboard first. Do not format through the computer. Unzip the file DIRECTLY to the disc. Do NOT unzip to your hard drive & copy to the floppy. Keep the o/s file as the only item on the floppy--delete any other files, even though the unzipped folder contains a .txt file. Hope that helps. John A

To all at Zero 88: Please give everyone a big "Thank you" for continuing the upgrades with o/s 10.10. I have just installed it & am still in the learning process. It really says something about a company when they continue to offer new features on a line that has been discontinued. There are undoubtedly many people such as myself, who would be unable to afford the Frog2 or other advanced consoles, and will be using the FF line for an indefinite time. I really appreciate that it can do more now. John Adamson FF user in USA

Thanks for that info Paul.

To the guys at Zero 88: I have one of the "older" model Fat Frog consoles, and have a question concerning use of newer monitors. What specs should I look for if I were to purchase a new monitor, probably a widescreen unit? For example, is there a secific "native resolution" that the FF prefers? Thanks for your assistance. --John

Greetings to all, I have recently purchased (2) of the Chauvet Colorstip LED units. The user's manual indicates that if CH 1 is set to DMX values between 200-219, the unit will do RGB mixing. However, I am not able to get the units to dim up or down smoothly. I am using a Fat Frog board. There is alot of flashing as I advance the Fixture wheels up or down, but the non linearity making the RGB mixing useless. Other important info: My FF board is one of the older units (FDD is near the PS input). I am using true DMX cable for the connection; running an opto isolator between the board & the fixtures; colorstrips patched as intel fixtures. The Red/Green/Blue are assigned LTP under the color attribute. The dim/strobe/control channel is assigned as LTP under the beam shape attribute. I was able to get hold of an alternate DMX light desk, the Martin Freekie to test the colorstrip's dimming response. With that board, I can smoothly dim and mix from 0-100% with no issues at all. Also, if I use another Chauvet LED, the PAR200B, I can get very smooth dim/mixing with the Fat Frog. I have tried this in both LTP (as an assigned fixture), and HTP by assigning the fixture directly to the preset faders. So, what is going on with the colorstrip/Fat Frog setup? Is there anything I can do to "fix" this? (BTW-I am reluctant to call the fixture manufacturer for support, as I have had some less than stellar experiences with this in the past.) Thanks for any (other) suggestions--John

Greetings to all, I was wondering if it is possible to change the scale for intensity from % to DMX values for the fixtures on a Fat Frog using version 10.9. I am aware that one could hit the +/- to show all dmx values. However, my question/request is how to change the default scale from 0-100% to DMX values 0-255. I have checked through the manual & reviewed the fixture editing programs--but this does not appear to be an option. Anyone from Zero 88 have info on this? Thanks -John A

Greetings to all, I would just like take a moment to say "thanks" to the folks at Zero 88 for releasing v 10.9 of the o/s. Having seen the last release was 10 months ago, I was concerned we were reaching the EOL for support. I know the staff has been busy with R/D & deployment of other products over the past few months. But, as an end user that does this primarily on a "community volunteer" basis, I am using the Fat Frog product, and will be doing so for a the forseeable future. I am very grateful for your continued support; I am certain many others here on the forum are too. Happy holidays to all! John Adamson

Hi Paul, Thank you for the details you have provided. --John

Greetings to all, Question for the Zero 88 techs-some questions about the RAM: 1.) How does one verify that the RAM is working properly? 2.) Is this included in the F1 diagnostic check? 3.) What would be a sign/symptom of a bad RAM card? I had several instances where 2-3 cues would intermitently have a gobo change (that was not programmed into the cue). BTW-I can not rule out OE (operator error). Thanks-- John Adamson

Greetings to all, After checking through the site, it has been over 6 months since the last update for the Fat Frog line (v. 10.8). Several posters have reported difficulty with this release. Zero 88 has responded that the 'next release' would most likely address those issues. I was wondering if/when this new release will occur? I can certainly understand the Zero 88 has been quite busy with new product R&D, but there are undoubtedly many users like myself that will be using the Fat Frog line for a substantial time. --John

Follow up question... Peter, I have another question about SMPTE TC and the Fat Frog. You had stated that the board does not support this protocol, yet when I scroll through the Playback options, SMPTE time code is clearly displayed as an option in the Trigger field. Can you please clarify this further? Thanks, John Adamson

Thanks for your quick response Peter. Unfortunately, being a freelancer, the FF is all that I have

Greetings to all, I was wondering if it would be possible to hook up an external SMPTE time code generator directly to the Fat Frog, using the TC to trigger cues? I know the Frog Box operates on this principle, but was wondering about using an "off the shelf" TC generator? Thanks for your time--John

PMs with instructions sent to all 4 OPs above. Enjoy! --John

After trying the button push sequence on the PF 10.8, I have observed that the LED's display as described by Kirkup_xp--BUT when you hit the <STEP> button, it does not actually change the speed of the chase. --JohnA

Greetings to all, I have come across an event that that has cause my PF to freeze up and "crash" on 2 occasions. It may not be a 'bug', but it is worth mentioning: It seems that if you use PF and specify the path for the floppy drive to be a "true" floppy drive (not the hard drive), it is mandatory to have a floppy in the disc drive. Otherwise, when the program performs an autosave, it will get stuck in an endless loop as. It seeks the floppy, but never finds it, causing the app to freeze up--and even worse--all the data that you entered is lost. FWIW-it may seem obvious to keep the FD in the drive, but, as I said, it got me twice. --John A