FLXS48 Nice To Haves ?

[DALX]

I was not sure of a suitable heading, but here is the story. I did a Dance Festival on Sunday, two shows in one day, 22 items in first show and 24 items in second show. Sorting out music track submissions onto a thumbdrive in correct playing order took a lot of time and left me short of lighting prep time. The show was at the Regal Theatre in Subiaco, western Australia, where they use an etc Gio desk with several hundred fixture numbers, including 120 dimmer channels, that I wanted to fit onto 96 channel faders. I created a multicell fixture for two TourPro ZOOM PAR JNR in 8 channel mode, so I could control two high side lights on one fader, which worked well. I also created a multicell fixture file for three Ovation 915FC fresnels  in 14 channel modes so I could control them on one fader. There are three Ovation 915FC on each of the four LX bars, used as top light, so I thought this would be an easy way of creating down stage chase effects, using four faders. Unfortunately this fixture file was not successful as I used the 14ch chart in Rev.8 manual which is very different to Rev10 manual. 

Is it possible to use Rigsync (RDM) on a FLXS48 to view the dmx channels of a fixture to see what they are ? It would have been nice to have my multicell fixture profile verified but I cannot see it being feasible as the fixture file name I used was 915FCx3, so it would not allow for a match to be found in the ZerOS library. The Ovation 915FC 14ch fixture in the current library is the same as the regal fixtures ! When we patched three Ovation 915FC to use as individual channel faders, we saw the different dmx channels and as I had 12 channel faders available, we were able to make of the stage chases.

The multicell fixture is a useful desk feature and worked well for the TourPro ZOOM PAR JNR and Event Lighting Pixelbar12X12 LED Bars, I paired them also.

I was reducing the fader count on my FLXS48 by making 3 and 6 channel multicel dimmer fixtures, but some of the dimmer channels I wanted to pair up were 2 channels apart, so were not consecutive. Is it feasible to patch multiple dmx channels under one fader ? This is done on a few conventional desks I have from Jands and LSC.

Ovation_F-915FC_UM_Rev8.pdf Ovation_F-915FC_DMX_Chart_Rev5.pdf

[Edward Z88]

Hi @DALX

18 hours ago, DALX said:

Is it possible to use Rigsync (RDM) on a FLXS48 to view the dmx channels of a fixture to see what they are ?

Yes - if RigSync is enabled, and ZerOS discovers a fixture, it will first see if there is a fixture in the library with a matching ID. If there is, it will patch this. In the Fixture Schedule, you can then tap on the discovered fixture in the Change All Fixtures column, to view the fixture's DMX map. If there is not a fixture in the library with a matching ID, ZerOS will then ask the fixture what parameters it has, and automatically create a fixture file based on this data. Again, you can then view the fixture's DMX map in the Fixture Schedule. Note - many fixtures that support RDM, do not report their parameter information. In these cases, you will just see "Channel 1", "Channel 2", etc listed, as the console is not being told what parameter does what.

When RigSync discovers a fixture, it will always add it into the patch. ZerOS will never "link" a fixture it discovers, to one that is already patched. 

18 hours ago, DALX said:

Is it feasible to patch multiple dmx channels under one fader ?

Yes - a single fixture on the console can have multiple DMX start addresses, so that you can control multiple identical fixtures that are on different DMX addresses simultaneously. Please see the link below for more information...

https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/patching/fixture-schedule/edit-dmx-address

Hope this helps,

[DALX]

Thanks Edward, I would not have found Add As Additional, but it works as described and will be a practical feature for future shows.

 

What I was looking for is a discovery feature where RigSync can show what channels the fixture is using for what function, before the patching is done. It may not be practical as the Regal Theatre does not have RDM enabled to prevent their fixtures being readdressed, RDM has to be manually patched to the lighting bars.