changing colours on Solution XL?

[Roodie]

Hello!

We recently started to use a Solution XL in our (amateur) theatre, and I wanted to ask if it is possible to change the colours indicating current cue (dark green atm) and next cue (yellow atm)?

For me it's kind of confusing, and I end up thinking the yellow one must be the current one because it is brighter. I'm aware that I will get used to it when I work with it for a long time, but we always have different (and new) groups performing in our theatre, so I think all new people will be confused by these colours. So I'd rather change them to something more intuitive. Is that possible?

I also have some other questions: can I just post them in this thread (and change the title to something more general), or should I rather open a new thread for each question? (there will be several, as the desk doesn't seem to work properly in some cases, and also the manual isn't up to date anymore)

 

 

 

[kgallen]

I don't think you can, sorry.

The banner at the bottom should have Next: in a yellow box and Current: in a green box if that helps you remember and to inform your other operators.

I had to get used to the green (grass) and blue (sky) for down and up fades - that's now the de-facto industry standard, but it wasn't the colours used on my previous consoles!

[Roodie]

Ah, I feared that it wasn't possible...

Thanks for your answer!

[thierry]

22 hours ago, kgallen said:

The banner at the bottom should have Next: in a yellow box and Current: in a green box

Perhaps that can be done easily in the next ZerOs ?

We just have to ask to Edward or Jon ...

[Edward Z88]

On 12/3/2023 at 4:19 AM, Roodie said:

wanted to ask if it is possible to change the colours indicating current cue (dark green atm) and next cue (yellow atm)?

For me it's kind of confusing, and I end up thinking the yellow one must be the current one because it is brighter. I'm aware that I will get used to it when I work with it for a long time, but we always have different (and new) groups performing in our theatre, so I think all new people will be confused by these colours. So I'd rather change them to something more intuitive. Is that possible?

It is not currently possible to change the colours of the current and next cue. ZOS-8774 is logged on our system, to improve the clarity of the current versus next cue in the Cues window. I have raised the priority of this following your request.

On 12/3/2023 at 4:19 AM, Roodie said:

I also have some other questions: can I just post them in this thread (and change the title to something more general), or should I rather open a new thread for each question? (there will be several, as the desk doesn't seem to work properly in some cases, and also the manual isn't up to date anymore)

Please feel free to post your questions all in this thread.

Although there is not a dedicated up to date Solution manual, I would recommend using the ZerOS manual for FLX series consoles here...

https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros

Hope this helps.

[Roodie]

Thanks for your answer, and sorry for replying quite late myself (we had a premiere, and afterwards needed to change back to our old desk due to absence of our technical director).

I'll try the ZerOS manual when I work with the desk once more, so I hope this will answer some questions.

Some stuff comes to mind that doesn't seem to be addressed (or is unchanged) in the new manual.

- Sometimes I was unable to switch off a single channel. (usually after the according preset single fader had been up, but not always; also on different occasions different channels were affected).  "Source" said "preset", but the preset faders were all down.  Switching from HTP to LTP kind of helped: now the lamp was off again, but the according preset fader couldn't be used at all; the lamp could be accessed via mfk and the scroll wheel.  I was able to revert the problem either by the good old "switch the desk off and on again" method or by unpatching the channel.
Now I know we don't have the latest patch on our desk, so I'll try again when we updated it, but nevertheless I wanted to ask if that's a known bug, or if anyone knows something about that.

- The preset controll button is supposed to controll which one of Master A/B controls the preset and which one controls the playbacks-formerly-known-as-submasters. But actually only one Master controls the presets, and none of them controls the playbacks. (so depending on the position of the preset control button one of both seems to be without function).
This is not a major problem but I suspect some underlying bug maybe?

- Every time I press „special“ (or macro or groups or fixtures) in the MFK the „position“ key starts blinking. This doesn't seem to affect anything but makes me a bit nervous... Does anyone know why it blinks? (or how to change that)

- Is there a possibility to save in "preset only" mode?  For example I have playback 1 live on stage and want to build another cue with the preset faders and save it to (for example) playback 2 but wthout switching off playback 1.  Can I save only the preset faders without saving the contents of the cue that is live?  (Or can I exclude certain playbacks from being saved?)

- concerning the "source" button: it displays the playback number in absolute numbers; so it's not "page 18/playback 1", but it's like "511", so if I want to know quick what playback is still on, it's not really helpful. Is there a way to change that?

Thanks in advance!

[Edward Z88]

On 1/6/2024 at 11:36 PM, Roodie said:

Sometimes I was unable to switch off a single channel. (usually after the according preset single fader had been up, but not always; also on different occasions different channels were affected).  "Source" said "preset", but the preset faders were all down.  Switching from HTP to LTP kind of helped: now the lamp was off again, but the according preset fader couldn't be used at all; the lamp could be accessed via mfk and the scroll wheel. 

If you clicked "Source" in the Output window, and the fixture's source showed as "PRESET" in yellow text, this confirms that the channel faders are in HTP mode, and the respective channel fader is at a higher intensity percentage than any cues that are controlling that fixture.

If the channel fader wasn't actually raised, this could indicate you've got some temperamental faders on the console. If this is the case, please let me know, and I can share information on how to clean the faders.

When in HTP mode, the channel faders will only take affect if they are raised higher than the fixture's current intensity value. If any intensity percentages are shown in red in the Output window, these have the highest priority on the console, and will override any HTP channel fader values.

On 1/6/2024 at 11:36 PM, Roodie said:

- The preset controll button is supposed to controll which one of Master A/B controls the preset and which one controls the playbacks-formerly-known-as-submasters. But actually only one Master controls the presets, and none of them controls the playbacks. (so depending on the position of the preset control button one of both seems to be without function).

This is not correct. The Preset Control button is used when the console is in "Wide" mode, to temporarily "freeze" output, to allow you to then use the preset faders to set up the next scene. You can then crossfade from the active "frozen" scene, to the scene you've just created on the preset faders, using the A/B masters. Once you've crossfaded, you can then use the Preset Control button to "freeze" the state again, allowing you to then set up the next scene, and so on.

The A Master and B Master have no bearing on the levels of playbacks.

On 1/6/2024 at 11:36 PM, Roodie said:

- Every time I press „special“ (or macro or groups or fixtures) in the MFK the „position“ key starts blinking. This doesn't seem to affect anything but makes me a bit nervous... Does anyone know why it blinks? (or how to change that)

If the POSITION key in flashing, this indicates that the encoders are still controlling Position parameters, whilst the MFKs are providing other options.

On 1/6/2024 at 11:36 PM, Roodie said:

- Is there a possibility to save in "preset only" mode?  For example I have playback 1 live on stage and want to build another cue with the preset faders and save it to (for example) playback 2 but wthout switching off playback 1.  Can I save only the preset faders without saving the contents of the cue that is live?  (Or can I exclude certain playbacks from being saved?)

Yes - if you press the RECORD key, you should see the Record Options open on the external monitor. In here, you should see a "SmartTag" button. By default, SmartTag is enabled, indicated with a red stripe. This means the console will store all the required values, to achieve the active lighting state on stage. This means the console will store a mix of channel faders and playbacks in cues. If you tap the SmartTag button in the Record Options, it will go blue, meaning disabled. Now, only manually adjusted fixtures will get recorded into cues, and active playbacks will not be included.

If you cannot see a SmartTag button in the Record Options, this essentially means the console is in "basic" mode, and so this functionality is unavailable. Please click the link below for more information...

https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/cues-playbacks/record-options

On 1/6/2024 at 11:36 PM, Roodie said:

- concerning the "source" button: it displays the playback number in absolute numbers; so it's not "page 18/playback 1", but it's like "511", so if I want to know quick what playback is still on, it's not really helpful. Is there a way to change that?

When the Output window is in "Source" mode, it will provide a code, for example 1/2. This tells you that the light is being controlled by playback 1, cue number 2. Please see the link below for more information...

https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/desktops-windows/output-window