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Dear Forum Members, Some of you may have heard already, but to make it official, after 29 years I am leaving Zero 88 or Vari-Lite as we are now. My last day is Thursday 28th March. Since I started with Zero 88 way back in August 1995, as production test technician, testing both the PCB and complete units for the classics like the Sirius 24/48, Betapack Mk1, Rackmasters to name few, have seen many changes through mergers and acquisitions. I am proud to have been part of them and am looking forward to seeing what the future holds for the company. To those of you i have met personally, sorry about that …..not 😉 Those i have spoken or exchanged post/mail with, lucky you, got away lightly then 😉 In all seriousness, thanks to you all for the support and kind words over the years. I wish you all the best for the future, and will leave you in In Edward and Jon’s capable care.

I expect I am one of the older (age) members of the Forum doing my first stage lighting in January 1975 when I was 19. In the 50 years since I have hired and owned many types of lighting desks including those from Zero 88. For 12 years I was using an American computer based desk which was fine untill the company was taken over and things started to change. Support staff left and software development slowed to a crawl. At this time I knew I had to change and along came the FLX S48 which a school I was working in had just bought. Afterwards I went to one of the Zero 88 roadshows at Exeter University and shortly afterwards bought my own because I liked it so much. Fast forward 6 years and I am sorry to see the main support team change so much. I wish everyone well in their new ventures. I hope this is not the thin edge of the wedge. Best wishes to everyone for their productions for 2025. I hope you all enjoy things as much as I do for many years to come. With kind regards Trevor Steer

I'd hope by the end of September we'd have a beta for you. However, the roadmap has changed a little bit to enable us to fix some high priority bugs. Instead of being "ZerOS 7.15", this will now be: ZerOS 7.14.4 will be a bug fix release for all consoles ZerOS 8 will be for FLX & FLX S only, and will include the free of charge capacity increases We see these two releases being very close together - it's even possible (not guaranteed) that ZerOS 8 starts testing before ZerOS 7.14.4 is released. We're doing this to split the bug fixes across all consoles, and the new features / increased capacity on FLX & FLX S.

Hi all, To ensure Vari-Lite can provide the best possible support, I’d like to quickly remind everyone of the three active support routes: Emailing entertainment.service@signify.com or calling +1 214 647 7880 (While the legacy Zero 88 contact methods are still monitored by the UK-based support team, the above contact details are the “official” routes which are monitored by the global support team). This “Vari-Lite Controls Support Forum” (Over the years this has become a fantastic resource of data and is home to some very knowledgeable users. The Vari-Lite team regularly monitor the forum (your forum admins are Darren - @DMH and Ryan - @RJP from the UK-based support team). However, if you require immediate direct support from Vari-Lite, the contact details above are the correct method). “Vari-Lite Console Programmers” Facebook Group Lastly, I’d like to take a moment to say farewell, as I’m stepping down from the team. I’m so proud of the products we’ve launched over my time - FLX, ZerOS Wing, FLX S24 & S48, ZerOS Server, RigSwitch, AlphaPack 3, BetaPack 4, Splitter 8, Gateway 4, Gateway 8, Neo X15, Neo X5, Neo X Server and RigSwitch+. And I’m delighted to have finally released ZerOS 8! Here’s a couple of ZerOS screenshots comparing when I started (ZerOS 5.4), to now (ZerOS 8): But it’s not all about the products - there’s been so much more too. Three (1, 2, 3) PLASA Awards for Innovation, several patents, our industry’s best RDM implementation with RigSync, the first console to implement Art-Net 4, Zero 88’s 40th Anniversary and the “Me and My Zero 88” competition, being ahead of the curve on natively supporting GDTF, the Simplifying Jargon videos, “Live at the Congress” Events and #WeMakeEvents campaigns over COVID, updating the Zero 88 website, our yearly Advent Calendars, our April Fools Day posts (anyone remember FLX switching to Roman Numerals or the new ZerOS Wing SD?) and the High Altitude Balloon into near space competition. So many great memories, fun, experience, knowledge and friendships have been made during this time which are, and will continue to be, very, very special to me. The Vari-Lite team are committed to continuing this good work – with plans to develop and support both ZerOS & FLX S, along with RigSwitch+, Neo X and VisionNet. I wish them all continued success with those projects. So, from me, it’s Time to Say Goodbye. And thank you.

Vari-Lite has announced the ZerOS 8 software update for FLX, FLX S and ZerOS Server. The update doubles the capacity of Vari-Lite’s FLX S Series consoles, removing the need for paid universe upgrades, and further increases the integration between Vari-Lite’s FLX S consoles and new RigSwitch+ power platform. With ZerOS 8, FLX S24 & FLX S48 now support 96 & 192 fixtures respectively, both now across 2,048 DMX channels (equivalent to 4 full DMX universes). Not content with doubling the fixture count and channel license, ZerOS 8 also doubles the number of playbacks, groups and palettes available on all FLX S consoles. The full size FLX and ZerOS Server also receives an upgrade to 4,096 channels (equivalent to 8 full DMX universes). With ZerOS 8, users can add relay circuits to every fixture on their console without further eating into their fixture count. These relays can be manually controlled or users can allow ZerOS to automatically control the relays - switching each individual circuit on when the fixture plugged into it is needed, and switching it off when they’re not. Vari-Lite has also simultaneously released ZerOS 7.14.4 specifically for legacy ZerOS consoles, improving both performance and stability to these consoles. Download the latest version of ZerOS free of charge from the Vari-Lite website: https://www.vari-lite.com/global/products/zeros-software

Dear All, After over seven years, and over 3,000 forum posts, it is time for me to say farewell to my time at Zero 88 (now Vari-Lite). Working for Zero 88 has been a pleasure, and I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of this active group of forum members. We were on ZerOS version 7.9.2 when I joined, and FLX S wasn't even around yet. Since then, ZerOS has come a long way, and is now more stable and feature-rich than ever. The ZerOS online manual, plus all the ZerOS training videos, mean that all aspects of ZerOS are now documented to enable users to get the most out of their consoles. I want to say a massive public thank you to @Jon Hole. Over these years he has been a brilliant mentor and friend (and my manager for a period of time!), and was instrumental in me getting into my role at Zero 88 in the first place. Jon and I will of course keep in touch, and hopefully work together again some time in the future. So, I'll type ENTER ENTER @ . RECORD ENTER, and record a fade to black on this chapter. Thanks again to everyone. I really have enjoyed my role. Edward

Just a quick note to wish you all a very Happy Christmas! Thank you for being part of our little community this year, for helping each other, for helping us find & fix bugs, and generally bringing a smile to our faces - it’s a pleasure to read through the posts here! Look forward to continuing in 2024!

Hi all, I've been reading your replies and they've really meant a lot to me, thank you. I've deliberately waited a few weeks before replying. All the very best for the future and, if you're at a trade show in the future, please come and say hello - this LinkedIn post shows where I've headed to, if you're interested! Jon

Good luck Jon but I'm not surprised. TBH since the Varilight take over it's felt like the beginning of the end. The issue of the latest software will probably be the last so I hope we all got our wish list items sorted.

My sentiments exactly. Keith, Edward and now you. My disappointment knows no bounds.

Dear All, We’re excited to announce the availability of ZerOS 7.14.1, a new update for consoles and servers running the ZerOS Operating System. New software features include: Move On Dark now follows "Next" cue jumps. The Grand Master can now behave as an additional playback Playbacks can be prevented from looping. Clear Fixture is now available on all consoles. + 51 other enhancements and bug fixes Please see the ZerOS 7.14.1 Release Notes for full details. Click here to download ZerOS 7.14.1, Phantom ZerOS 7.14.1 (offline editor) and ZerOS 7.14.1 Release Notes. The ZerOS Online Manual has been updated to reflect these changes. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at support@zero88.com

I notice the two support personnel Jon quotes above have a combined contribution of posts on this forum of exactly zero (since Sept/Nov 2024 when they joined). Looks like we're on our own folks, or they've got some work to do to establish their credibility and start making an active contribution - which I guess is part of what they are paid to do (unlike us). A 'hello' and a short resume would be a start…

just installed 7.14.1 on my flx. Indeed ready in time for the next winter show. 😃 I sort of prepared the desk already for this show (only patch, groups, and some macro's/udk's/ special faders) in 7.14. The update seems successful, no problems at reloading the show . Next monday we start programming and rehearsals. Rig of 28 movers, 20 led batterns and 36 to 40 dimmers. Let's rock. 😁

Dear All, We’re excited to announce the availability of ZerOS 7.14, a new update for consoles and servers running the ZerOS Operating System. New software features include: MIDI Show Control now supports multiple playbacks Unused channel & playback pages are "hidden" Updates to Macros OSC (Open Sound Control) Dynamic playback button LED flash rates DMX In now available on FLX & FLX S RS485 Vision.Net + 116 other enhancements and bug fixes Please see the ZerOS 7.14 Release Notes for full details. Click here to download ZerOS 7.14, Phantom ZerOS 7.14 (offline editor) and ZerOS 7.14 Release Notes. The ZerOS Online Manual has been updated to support all the new features. ZerOS 7.14 update overview video: If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at support@zero88.com

I think the thing worrying me and probably others is this... Whatever the actual organisation behind you, Edward and Keith our impression is of a group of friendly, contactable people who actually understand the products. While we know people move on, get promoted and so on and that it might not be the same to three forever we have always had continuity of that. If support were ever to be rolled into one, all brand, call centre type arrangement, "disappointed" wouldn't even start to cover my reaction. It would certainly remove my basis for choosing and recommending Zero88 or anything from the same stable with a different badge. Yes, your products are good - but so are others. In my mind your USP is the support. Strand, and later Zero88 have been there throughout my lighting career. I've seen Strand go from the mighty driving force to a shadow of its former glory but Zero88 has carried on. Losing this name as well will be very sad. Not a rational argument I agree but without Zero88 as a concept what is there to be customer-loyal to?

@DMH @RJP To be fair, some good answers there and, if delivered, could help the situation but... How it looks is important. In the absence of a published plan and feedback on progress, its all we have. We used to have trust but that has to be earned so, come on Vari-lite, start looking better. You've bought the rights to good hardware and software with an established customer base - many of whom have been using Z88 products for years, decades even @pcollins666. An unpaid sales force that was more than happy to sing the praises of a company that looked after them, had a solid track record of supporting them and of steady innovation. What do you think those established customers are saying to your potential customers now? It's clear the full FLX had to be discontinued but there's no talk of a replacement. The in-person training has stopped. Cwmbran is no longer a service centre and there are none listed on the Vari-Lite Web site in the UK (the two "dealers" listed are a 2nd hand equipment seller and a hire company). Plus, to return to the origin of this thread, there is now a charge for fixing the (inevitable) gaps in the fixture library. These things are probably not Vari-Lite's fault but what is being done to address them? How could I, in all conscience, reccomend a Z88 product today?

As a Zero88 stalwart user and supporter for more than 30 years, I asked a few questions just about what we might expect in the way of support following Edward & Jon’s departures. I did receive a prompt reply in red below. It at least gives their intent and maybe a base for us to push from…. With my two good friends, Jon Hole & Edward Smith departing in quick succession, can you describe the changes to the support services that we are likely to see going forward. I understand how this must look but I would like to reassure you the software development team that are in the background are still very much here and as will has a dedicated support department. The support department is manned in the UK and US so we can offer better global coverage. Up to this point I’ve had personal FLX Support response to emails usually within one working day. We do still try to respond withing 24/48 hours to direct emails, however this will also depend on workload as we also cover on site visits. Instant phone call response for show critical issues. Are there still FLX console experts available to take technical enquiries? We have and have always had an out of hours emergency response number, this is available from the Vari-lite website. Please find below the link. https://www.vari-lite.com/global/support/technical-support Daily monitoring and responding to forum posts, usually within one working day. No spam posts. The forum appears already to be out of control. The forum has slipped behind as we have been dealing with direct customer support, we are currently working on a solution to this. Fixture Library addition requests created and emailed back usually within one working day. We are creating fixture files for customers but as the workload has increased we have had to increase the estimated turn around time to up to a possible 21 days. We understand this is a big difference and we do endeavour to do them ASAP which is usually between 1 and 3 days. If the file is urgent, we recommend the customer creates the file themselves as this is a very easy process within the ZerOS Software, please see the link below. https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/patching/add-fixtures/fixture-creator Ongoing ZerOS development with bug fixes and new features. Are there still dedicated ZerOS software developers actively in post? As I mention above, the software develop team has not changed this has in fact increased with developers in the UK, US and New Zealand. A roadmap for ZerOS progression, shared with users. A monitored ‘What would you like to see in ZerOS’ poll. Regular beta testing releases with feedback being acknowledged and logged. Updates and improvements to training manuals and YouTube content following ZerOS releases. Thank you for your suggestions, I will forward them to the product management team. As you can see from the above, Zero88 provided a truly comprehensive service to its users, at no extra cost. I would like to hope that a similar service will continue to be provided from the company that has the iconic and industry respected name of Vari-Lite. Thank you for your questions and I hope you find our response reassuring. We are constantly looking at our processes and internal procedures to improve the customer experience.

The answer to that lies in this forum over the last few months. As a 30 year user/buyer myself, it’s spelled out in big fat letters. It’s the end of the line folks I’m afraid, they’re not interested. Jon managed to get in a last gasp with ZerOS 8 before he left. That will be the last, I’m sure of it. Zero88 and its beloved products and employees are no more.

@Jon Hole I wish you future success in your forthcoming move. I think Zero88 now have their work cut out to maintain the support levels we have enjoyed in recent times.

I'm my red mist I've so far failed to acknowledge @Jon Hole. My apologies. Thanks for so much Jon over the years - great products, accurate and timely support, recruiting some other great team members, and putting up with some quite strong feedback and comments from us on here. You will be missed as will all of the legacy Z88 team. Good Luck!

I took "forum admins" to mean they sort out the forum when it dies and deal with inappropriate posts. So, yes, my assumption has been that the prompt and helpful days of Edward and Jon are over and we are, as you say, "on our own". I, for one, would be delighted to have this cynical and depressing assumption proved wrong. The newish thread - 16 bit intensity really 8 bit - is one that seems to require their attention (even though you have tried to help).

Que dire de plus, sinon la même chose qu'à Edward : Merci Jon pour ta pédagogie, ta patience, la pertinence de tes réponses, cela a toujours été un plaisirs d'échanger avec toi, un grand professionnel qui m'a toujours bien aidé ... bonne continuation à toi

What? No! I only just discovered Edward had gone. Pantos will never be the same again. Many thanks for your above-and-beyond support for a little minnow. Simon in Wargrave.

Wow, is really the end of almost an era and of those I knew in Cymbran. Thank you for all your help and guidance over the years. Will miss catching up with you when I was driving by and also at the trade shows 😢 @Jon Hole all the best for the future

You always knocked up a fixture profile so quick, and your advice was worth its weight in gold. I sincerely hope Veri Lite realize what they are losing. I hope you remain in the industry, you are too good to lose. Thank you so much for all the support you have given me and ultimately the theatre group and audiences who benefited from it. All the best Edward. Rob McDonald

I have been trying another way to find colours within Lee Filters Mood Boards and have cut and pasted the moods with a description for each one from the Lee Filers web site and The Art Of Light publication. I have not done the Inspired By ones yet. Lee Mood Boards ZerOS 7 Screenshots.pdf

That's certainly our plan - we have a lot of plans on the table which we're working through. To be clear, the OS is not "frozen" for FLX... there will continue to be ongoing software updates for FLX & FLX S. After ZerOS 7.15, we are "freezing" the OS for Leap Frog 48 & 96, ORB, ORB XF and Solution. Bingo! Yes, that was when we "relaunched" the Leap Frog 48 & 96 console as Solution. Not as part of ZerOS 7.15, but potentially in the future (after tweaking it!).

It was a summer refit at The College Theatre, Coventry in 1997 (possibly 1998 - I'm old!) when I'd specified Contour dimmers for our permanent dimming & when commissioning them found faults. I was a customer (at the time) of Central Theatre Supplies so complained to them - expecting to see a visit from Kirk with his magic hammer... Instead - the message came back that the manufacturer was sending someone to look at the units because they didn't believe they could have a fault... <Enter Stage Left with a Zero88 Manager - Keith Rogers> He chided us for not fitting the Contours with enough length on the mains tails and for using a cheap rackstrip (thank you CTS - a portent perhaps?) but happily cracked on and sorted the racks with an ever present good humour & then left. <Fast forward 13 months> I was now the Hire/Service Manager at CTS having replaced Kirk Wood & needed help with a faulty BetaPack - "Call Zero88 & talk to Keith..." came the answer when I asked DGH how I should proceed. I did indeed speak to Keith & we soon established our common link via The College Theatre & thus began a friendship that has endured to this day. Always keen and happy to help - an insufferable chocoholic & teetotal (as I discovered later) - good humoured (despite I suspect him putting the phone down on me after a couple of calls & cursing me 😜) and an avid interest in his customers and their problems. It has been an honour to know Keith & the news of his leaving has been truly saddening (yes - I'm privileged as a friend to know of his leaving since the New Year but was asked to keep quiet). He is still supporting me until he leaves (and I shall continue doing what I do) and in typical Keith 'fashion' ensuring I have the means to carry on what I do - perhaps he might let me have a bit of fluff or a button off his mantle to fit on mine so that I can carry on (in small part) where he's leaving off? I shan't say "You'll be missed Keith..." because I know you've already told me to call you if I need you - I'm looking forward to working with Jon & Edward and the other support folks at Vari-Lite as the brand moves forward. I will say "Good Luck Keith" - we'll look back on these years with a smile I'm certain.

Hi, The power is always provided through the triac, so is implicitly "dimmed" even if the channel is at full. Betapack2 does not have a bypass or "non-dim" circuit. The test output level is hard-coded in the design - it's notionally "@FUL" but this is not the same as direct undimmed AC. This is not recommended as explained above this is still a notionally "dimmed" output and will be chopped by the output triac, even if only to 1-2% - i.e. it's not clean AC. Your LED fixtures will almost certainly use a switched-mode powersupply, which will not take kindly to an "unclean" AC supply. Unfortunately you need to get installed some "hard power" (i.e. normal mains AC) outlets, correctly protected for overcurrent and overload (and probably with RCD), into your venue, with which to supply your LEDs. (I do sympathise, I've had to do the same thing - my main venue has Betapack1 and Betapack2). Google is your friend. I just searched and found them straight away. Zero88 will not provide these to you and you need to self-certify that you are competent to use the information from a safety point of view. ...but you will find what I describe above and your electrician friend should conclude the same.

Hi, Have created the two attached profiles for you to cover this. i think the mystery channel maybe a speed control for the colour change channel so may only work when that is set to certain values. LED 4 & 8ch.ift

You must use the ML one if you have Jester ML!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and good pantos to everyone and particularly to all at Z88 - IMHO the best support in the business.

Brilliant thankyou there's no chillinet panels at all but will give Keith a call soon as I get chance thanks again for your help much appreciated 👍

I expect someone from zero88 will be along in the morning with better advice but, in the meantime, can I pick up on a couple of things that I'm pretty sure they will ask about. If the desk isn't connected to the packs then it cannot be responsible for things that start after it is disconnected. Worse case scenario here is that the dimmer packs 'remember' the last state before the disconnection. Not sure if your packs do this, Z88 person will, no doubt, confirm. Do you leave your dimmer packs on 24/7? This isn't a good idea in any case, they are using current even when they are at zero% on the desk an there's generally current going through anything attached to them. If nothing else this is bad for the electricity bill. If they are off they can't go silly at 3am either. Lastly, it's a long shot, but mention roughly where you are. There's a chance there's an experienced forum member in your vicinity who would be willing to take a look at your set up. I'm Milton Keynes based myself if you are somewhere near me.

Finding stuff like the Online manual is a PITA (it was bad enough before VariLite, now it's... more work than it should be, it's not under Support that I can find, not easily anyway, so then it's dig around under Products...). Could you add a ZerOS online manual link in the Forum header - the banner with Homepage / Forums / All Activity / ... ZerOS Online Manual. Or maybe even more generically "Manuals" then we can find stuff for Frog etc quickly too 😉 Pretty please? 🙂

Hoorahhhh! - at long last :¬) Nice to see you all again

Dear All, We’re excited to announce the availability of ZerOS 7.12, a new update for consoles and servers running the ZerOS Operating System. New Features include: KiNET support Vision.Net support Philips Hue support Updated fonts & improved font rendering ZerOS Library 3.2 Various enhancements and bug fixes Please see the Release Notes for full details. The Online Manual has also been updated to support all the new features: https://zero88.com/manuals/zeros ZerOS 7.12, Phantom ZerOS 7.12 (offline editor) and the Release Notes can be found at zero88.com/zeros If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at support@zero88.com Kind regards, Jon

Ouch. OK, so there's no quick or easy fix for this, at least not if you have any fixtures that are not connected to dimmers. I'm guessing you aren't a specialist theatre technician either so I'll keep this simple. Before you can start patching, you need to know what you have to patch. Unless your school is surprisingly state of the art I'd expect most of your fixtures are plugged into dimmers. These will just have a power lead - no DMX connection so you can probably spot them from ground level. If they are all like that then you can breathe a sigh of relief, 90% of the problem has gone away. First off, find your dimmers. In a school, I'd expect to find a number of boxes looking something like this (which is the newest version, preceded by 3 previous generations). Of course it may not be Zero88 - other manufacturers, including Strand, made similar products (i.e. a box with a dozen sockets on the front with some sort of control/fuse/circuit breaker panel alongside). There will be a very thick power cable going into the box and a thinner control cable. You might find things like this instead - smaller boxes, less sockets but still with a mains cable and a control cable. Look at the plug on the thin control cable if it is a 3 or 5 pin XLR then your dimmers are (probably) DMX controlled - follow that control cable back, it should go to the desk, possibly via a section buried in the wall. It may go to another dimmer box, if it does then follow the control cable going into that until you get to the first one (the one where the cable goes somewhere else). If that first connection does go to the desks then smile and skip the next 2 paragraphs. You may have hardwired dimmers like these but, as it's a school I feel it's unlikely. If you have then what follows still applies (sort of) but you won't be able to see or follow the wires. If you are in this situation try and establish the make/model if your dimmers and come back. If, however, the control cable is an XLR but it goes to a different kind of box (not dimmers) you need to identify what that box is. One with a network connection might be an ArtNet node. No network connection but two incoming XLRs and one outgoing is possibly a DMX merger. No network, one incoming XLR and two or more outlet sockets is probably a DMX splitter. All of these are good, they may give you headaches in the future but not with this issue. Skip the next paragraph. If aren't skipping this paragraph then you probably have (very) old analogue dimmers, probably using non-XLR connectors. This sort of connection means there must be one or more DMX to analogue converters sitting between them and the desk. These will have an address, probably set with rotary or DIP switches. You can follow the next paragraph to establish what the addresses are but look at the converter boxes, not the dimmers. First, take a moment to contemplate the level of spending on such things in education and to check that the dimmers at least have reasonably recent PAT test stickers and make suitable arrangements if they haven't after all they have to be multiple decades old. Yo can also marvel at how good the engineering was that they have survived so long. OK so now you have one or more boxes that have addresses, you just need to know what they are. Ideally you should have the manual and you may be able to get it from the manufacturer's website or somewhere like manualslib. If you can't find the manual then look carefully at the dimmer/converter box. There may be a display of some sort, even better it may display a number between 1 and 512 when powered up - good chance that this is the address. If not then you may have to start pressing buttons - go have another look for the manual, you don't want to change anything by mistake. Failing that there may be rotary switches and you can read the address from them. Finally, there may be DIP switches - you can read about them here but essentially the switches give you the address in binary. Having got the addresses count how many dimmers you have on each address. A box with 12 sockets but only 6 breakers/fuses probably has 6 dimmers so patch 6 dimmers starting from the address on the box. Again the manual could be of help here. If you don't have any fixtures that have DMX input then you are done. If you do then you will need to identify what you have (exact make and model) and try to find the manuals online. You will also need the addresses and the modes they are set to so get the Tallescope/Zarges/scaff-tower out and go climbing. Similar things apply to finding the address as it does with dimmers. If you get stuck come back to the forum with at least a list of make and model. I see Keith at Z88 has made a shorter reply. If anything I've said contradicts him then assume he is right not me. No apologies for the length of this reply though - I have tried to cover most of the things you might encounter at a basic level and that takes a lot of words 😀

Hi @Lena Here you go, all three modes (phew!). Everything is in there including all channel "details". You will find lots of channels under Colour and Beam(shape) so you'll have to rotate through the "pages" of them on your S24. However there is a limitation in what I've created. The FLX S24 will support multi-cell fixtures and the TMH-W555 looks like it could benefit with being defined as a multi-cell fixture for the 36 and 48 channel modes. However the Windows Fixture Editor does not support this (as it's a new console feature). You would need to request such an enhanced fixture definition from Vari-lite (or write one using GDTF which I'm not capable of!!!). I'm not sure if the colour palettes will work in the 36 and 48 channel modes as I've not picked any of the RGBW 1/2/3/4/5/6/7 as "primary". But they should work fine in the 24 channel mode. You'll have to see how you go on in 36/48 channel mode and come back to me if it's a little unworkable - I would need you to tell me which segment 1-7 you want to be "primary". Just put this file on a USB stick and use Load on the console. When you patch it, it will show in red text as a "non-library fixture". Enjoy! (ps there is a lot of info I've had to enter so if you see an error or spelling mistake, let me know) eurolite_tmh-w555.ift

I think the issue is that DMX values can run to a lot more digits than percentages. Allowing for all those digits in the screen layout would require less information visible and/or smaller fonts. Also if it was displaying 128 (for example) how would you know if that was 128 (50%) out of 255 or out of 65536 (20%). There is method in this particular bit of madness. The wheels show the DMX value by default. I have a feeling you can change that to % but I suspect most people change it back pretty quickly.

This might be helpful as well... https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/patching/add-fixtures/edit-export

Oh no! Keith that is such a shame. But we have to all thank you for your many years of tireless support and answering all of our stupid questions. We will remember you with the ‘KR’ stickers inside of our equipment. With best wishes for whatever you are moving on to. If it’s still inside the entertainments industry then maybe we’ll see you around. If not, then good escape! Kevin

Hi @netzton Welcome to the forum. Thanks very much for your suggestion. This enhancement is logged as reference number ZOS-4947 on our software tracking system. I have made note of your request for this. Please let us know if you have any questions.

In case its of interest, here's the latest revision of the show file... Grease End Of Dress.zos My random tip for the day, which you may already know: Let's say you're currently in cue 9, and you need to make a cue 10, that is only slightly different. So, you make your tweaks, and are about to record cue 10. The director/lighting designer then asks you to quickly show the difference between this new state and cue 9, to check there's enough/not too make change. If you CLEAR CLEAR to reveal cue 9, you have obviously lost all your tweaks. For this, I like to use a "Clear Fixture" UDK. Select everything (1 THRU ENTER), and tap your Clear Fixture UDK. This clears all fixtures, allowing the current cues to play back, revealing cue 9. The nice thing is, that Clear Fixture can be backspaced. So backspace to undo, and you are then back in your proposed cue 10, ready to record/tweak. Apologies to @Uriahdemon for going off-topic!

For (1): I'm not sure but have you checked "Programmer Time" under the Z key? Or SETUP+BUTTON and ensure any fade times there are 0? For (2): Make the cue live on stage. Select the fixture. Press HOME. Press and hold UPDATE. Select REMOVE. (Also confirm cue only/track forwards setting). Press ENTER. See: https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/cues-playbacks/updating-cues/update-options#remove You can probably arbitrarily select the fixure (without making the cue live on stage) then when you do the UPDATE also type the cue number and at the end instead of ENTER, press the GO button for the playback containing that cue number. However I've never done this, but Edward shows that here:

Great news, thanks for letting us know! Here's to another 20 years of use!

Just thought I'd add that after replacing the connector with help from some speedy next day delivery the Alphapack worked perfectly again!

Dear All, We’re excited to announce the availability of ZerOS 7.11, a new update to the award-winning software available on Zero 88 consoles as well as the Strand FLX S series in the Americas market. New Features include: Colour mixing support for multiple emitters Updates to “Home” functionality on FLX Colour Filter References Filter Library updates Fixture Filtering Fixture Export Colour Temperature fader and palettes Parameter List display in Add Fixtures Generic Multicell fixtures added ZerOS Library 3.1 Various enhancements and bug fixes Please see the release notes for details on all updates and bug fixes in the software. ZerOS 7.11, Phantom ZerOS 7.11 (offline editor) and the Release Notes can be found at zero88.com/zeros If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at support@zero88.com Kind regards, Edward

We all have questions from time to time. Build your knowledge - Zero 88 training is free and well worth doing, there's the videos and, of course, there's the manual. When you run across something you can't solve then you may be able to find a previous post on the forum for the same or a similar problem that will give you the answer. If not then the forum is the best place to ask, there's a lot of very experienced people in addition to the experts from Zero 88. You'll usually get help pretty quickly and it seems that someone from Zero 88 is keeping an eye on new posts at least during office hours and often beyond. Try not to have problems during the Edinburgh Festival though - they are pretty busy then 😁. I've been lighting stages for about 50 years (DMX and desks as we know them now weren't invented for the first couple of those decades) but I still have questions and still learn better ways of doing stuff so don't be embarrassed to ask. The only dumb questions are the ones that aren't asked. Enjoy your journey 🙂

Had to sort out first some image related things. Hope it works. The whole setup is in progress......... nearly there. Note: the keys are backlighted. The way I created the buttons :