Control lamps and hazers without a dimmer via playback

[Tommox]

I have a problem with my FLXS24.

I want to run theatre lights and a hazer in addition to my moving heads.

I use a Grand Master on the master playback, but I don't want to affect the brightness of the theatre lights, because I use the Grand Master as an effect and I want the stage to stay bright.

How can I control the theatre spotlights and the hazer via playbacks without them being controlled as lamps?

I replaced the fixture for the theatre lights with individual Generic Snow Fixtures for the channels I need, because I couldn't find a suitable Generic Fixture without a dimmer with several channels. This way I no longer have a dimmer channel that can be controlled by the console via the Grand Master. Anyway, there is no dimmer in the fixture of the hazer.

But how can I now control these fixtures without dimmers via playbacks?

I have different values on the different channels, which I want to raise proportionally via the respective playback.

I set the respective values of the appropriately selected channels - Snow Fixtures - to the highest position for the fader and then tried to record a new playback. Unfortunately, the playbacks only worked when I activated Smart Tag and not when I selected fixtures, paramters and attributes myself.

At the beginning, the playbacks recorded via Smart Tag worked partially, so that I could control the theatre spotlights and the hazer via the playback. After a certain time, however, this no longer worked and the values were completely wrong or the fader could no longer change the values at all. I also once had the problem that the fader for the theatre spotlights or the hazer suddenly adjusted my moving heads. I assume that these problems are related to Smart Tag.

I just want to be able to drag my snow fixtures or the hazer without dimmer channels with different values on the channels up and down to these stored values via playback faders. How can I save these values to a playback fader that can then adjust them from 0 to the value?

I somehow can't blue select the fixtures before recording, probably because they don't have a dimmer channel. But the parameters I want to save to the playback I can select blue. However, the settings in the Record Options for Fixtures, Parameters and Attributes have done nothing for me and the playback has never worked without Smart Tag.

Sorry for the possible errors in this text, I translated it. However, the content should be correct.

[Edward Z88]

Hi @Tommox

Welcome to the Zero 88 Forum.

14 minutes ago, Tommox said:

I use a Grand Master on the master playback, but I don't want to affect the brightness of the theatre lights, because I use the Grand Master as an effect and I want the stage to stay bright.

The Grand Master will always inhibit the total intensity output from the console. If you would like to be able to inhibit the intensity of only certain fixtures, rather than all fixtures, you can create your own custom Grand Master just for certain fixtures, using an "Inhibit" playback.

To do this, set the fixtures you would like to be controlled by your custom Grand Master to full intensity. Then tap RECORD, and then tap the button below the playback fader you would like to use as your custom Grand Master. Then hold SETUP and tap the button of the playback you recorded. In the Playback Settings, set the Intensity Mixing option to "Inhibit", and click OK. This playback fader will now act as a Grand Master, but only for the recorded fixtures.

Once you have set up a custom Grand Master, I would patch all other fixtures "normally", with intensity control, to avoid the issues mentioned in your post.

22 minutes ago, Tommox said:

I just want to be able to drag my snow fixtures or the hazer without dimmer channels with different values on the channels up and down to these stored values via playback faders. How can I save these values to a playback fader that can then adjust them from 0 to the value?

To achieve this, you would need to enable "Fader Controls..." for the attribute you want to be controlled by the playback fader. To do this, hold SETUP and tap the playback's button. If you would then like the recorded Beam parameters to crossfade from their current levels to the recorded levels, tap Beam under Fader Controls, and click OK.

I hope this makes sense. Please let me know if you have any questions.

[Tommox]

Hi @Edward Z88

Thanks for your quick help!

I already had the idea of creating my own Grand Master Playback, but I use the Grand Master on the Master Playback and the button as a blackout effect. With a separate master playback, that would be a flash button. Of course I could create an additional Blackout Playback, but I prefer to use the Grand Master as a single playback.

And with the Generic devices as dimmer channel replacements, it would also work, although not very elegantly.

The problem is still that I can't correctly record the devices without dimmers, including the Hazer, into a playback. I had already activated fader controls, but I don't think that really helped or was even necessary with Smart Tag. 
How can I correctly record devices without dimmers, e.g. a snow channel or the channels of the hazer, to a playback, preferably without Smart Tag? As I had already written, I can't somehow mark the devices without dimmers in blue, only their parameters. So what do I have to mark, also in the Record Options, so that I can save these "Beam" devices without dimmer to a playback?

If this really only works with Smart Tag, how should I set the moving heads before recording so that the console does not save any settings of the moving heads in the playback?

As already written, fader controls, then supposedly Beam?, I can surely activate afterwards, but that just hadn't helped me when the playback didn't work at all.

[Edward Z88]

11 hours ago, Tommox said:

I already had the idea of creating my own Grand Master Playback, but I use the Grand Master on the Master Playback and the button as a blackout effect. With a separate master playback, that would be a flash button. Of course I could create an additional Blackout Playback, but I prefer to use the Grand Master as a single playback.

A custom Inhibit playback's button can be configured to "Latch". With the Inhibit playback fader @ 0, you can tap the inhibit playback's button to achieve full output. Then, a second press of the playback's button gives you a blackout just for the recorded fixtures. Pressing the inhibit playback's button again, restores the inhibit playback to full output.

11 hours ago, Tommox said:

The problem is still that I can't correctly record the devices without dimmers, including the Hazer, into a playback. I had already activated fader controls, but I don't think that really helped or was even necessary with Smart Tag. 
How can I correctly record devices without dimmers, e.g. a snow channel or the channels of the hazer, to a playback, preferably without Smart Tag? As I had already written, I can't somehow mark the devices without dimmers in blue, only their parameters. So what do I have to mark, also in the Record Options, so that I can save these "Beam" devices without dimmer to a playback?

I'm not sure why this isn't working for you, as it should "just work". To record a fixture without a dimmer to a playback, select it, and dial its encoders to the required levels/use palettes/use other fixture control tools. Then tap RECORD, and with SmartTag enabled OR disabled, simply to a playback's button. The adjusted parameters will be recorded in the playback. The moment that playback is triggered by raising the fader, the recorded levels will be recalled over the playback's fade times. If you enable "Fader Controls" on the playback, the playback fader can then be used to crossfade the fixture's parameter levels from their current values to the recorded values.

11 hours ago, Tommox said:

As already written, fader controls, then supposedly Beam?, I can surely activate afterwards, but that just hadn't helped me when the playback didn't work at all.

Both the Generic "Haze" and "Snow" fixtures have a single control parameter in the Beam attribute. So to crossfade these parameters when recorded to a playback fader, you would need to enable Fader Controls Beam in the playback's settings.

Please let me know if you have any questions.