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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.

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…

My post on the topic of OSC use with the Zero88 FLX S24 may be of interest. All free software and might give you a start in understanding the process.

Hi @SoleJan Blue UP to the sky, green DOWN to the grass. (Blue means that channel intensity went up, green it went down.) White, it's a blocking value, purple it's tracked. Red from the programmer (highest priority), yellow for some other controller. Red background is Parked. Grey background (for a short time) is moving on dark. They're all here: https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/desktops-windows/output-window#colours

@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).

Good morning @Sol, Welcome to the Zero 88 Forum! @Davidmk and @kgallen have done an excellent explanation of how to go about solving this with a 'master' playback triggering and releasing other singular playbacks. I would have done it the same way. I'll admit, this is something that should be able to be done easier, but this is unfortunately currently the only way to do so. I've written some guidance below, expanding on the discussed elements in this post, to help you along with this. (Apologies for the colossal message, I have tried my best to cut it down). In the following steps, you'll be programming individual playbacks with one lighting state each for each 'step' of your chaser. As Kevin and David have mentioned, we can then trigger and release these individual playbacks with a master playback (not the regular type of Master Playback with the main GO button though, to avoid confusion) that just has control over these individual playbacks. It's worth noting that the 'master' playback you'll program will be a chase, with the individual playbacks (the 'steps' of the chase) will be one state on each playback. E.g. Playback 10 has fixture 1 and 5 at full white, then Playback 11 has fixture 2 and 4 at full white, with 1 and 5 at zero, then finally Playback 12 has fixture 3 at full white, with 1, 5, 2 and 4 at zero. This creates the singular steps for an effect that will chase in towards the middle. By programming these individual steps onto separate playbacks (the last few playbacks available on your desk are recommended to keep them out of the way), it allows us to individually trigger and release them. When releasing a playback, ZerOS completely wipes it out from the outputs, returning to the underlying data for that fixture (if any at all), allowing fixtures to switch back to your original rainbow gradient. For example, if I have Playback 1 as fixture 1 thru 5 at full white, whereas in Playback 2 fixture 3 is at red - I bring up Playback 1 (all white), then I bring up playback 2 (fix. 3 at red) while keeping 1 at the same place. Fixture 3 will turn red. If I bring down Playback 2 (fix. 3 at red) to zero, fixture 3 will return to the original data it has in Playback 1 (white) as Playback 1 is still raised. Steps for creating each individual playback (acting as each step for the overall chase) Step 1: Bring those fixtures up for the first / next step of your chaser you want to program. Step 2: Put them in the colour 'White' so their colour is tagged. This will differentiate the colour from the underlying rainbow playback. Step 3: Tap 'Record' -> Tap an empty playback's flash button. (I recommend the last few playbacks, and ensure to leave room to place them in order so you know which one does what) e.g. 3 steps I would have Playback 46, 47, 48 with 46 being step 1 and 48 being step 3 (last step). After you've programmed each individual playback (e.g. each step) Step 1: Think about where you want to put your 'master' playback that will start your custom chaser. Pick somewhere which has an empty playback to the right of it (explained later*) Step 2: Ensure nothing is being output from the desk again. Tap 'Record' -> Tap that playback's flash button of where you want the 'master' playback to be. Then do the same for the empty playback to the right. This will record an empty cue on each playback. *The way this will work is the left one of the two playbacks will be the playback to start the chaser, and the right of the two will be the flash button to stop / release it (the whole chaser). Step 3 (repeat as many times as needed): Record an empty cue for each individual playback ('step') you have programmed onto the 'master' playback (left of the two). On the second cue recorded, the desk will show a prompt. Tap 'Create Chase'. The second cue has now been recorded, with the playback converted to a chase. This prompt will not appear for future cues/steps recorded to that playback, as it will just add another step to the existing chase. Step 4: Go to the first cue in this playback (VIEW + Playback Flash Button to view these cues) and tap 'Add' in the 'Settings' column for that cue. Step 5: As David mentions, use Macros -> Trigger Cue Stacks (tap 'Add' next to it) -> Select your individual playback for the first step. Tap OK. Tap OK again. Step 6: For cue 2, you should tap 'Add' in the 'Settings' column again, Macros -> Trigger your second individual playback for the second step, but under 'Release Cue Stacks', put in the previous step (for this - the first individual playback). That's the base of it done for the first two cues. You'll now want to repeat that for each individual playback (acting as each step) you have programmed, ensuring that for cues past the first trigger, you release the previous, and trigger the next. Cue 1 should have the first trigger, and releasing the last playback so when the chase repeats, no steps overlay each other. In the single cue in the playback to the right (the one we will use to stop the chaser all-together that I talked about earlier) - do VIEW + Playback Flash Button -> 'Add' in 'Settings' column -> Macros -> Release Cue Stacks -> Add in all of your individual playbacks. This will release all playbacks when you hit the flash button, stopping them. You can also trigger both of these playbacks in your main cue stack, so you don't have to worry about moving the faders. Note that if your 'master' playback for this chaser effect is still raised or active, then it will just re-trigger these individual playbacks, so when stopping using the playback to the right, ensure the 'master' playback is down. You may notice something odd with the fade timings for each step. To fix this, enter each playback's view like you've done previously (using VIEW + Playback Flash Button) and edit the fade times in the columns to whatever you wish. The console will listen to these fade times when triggering and releasing each individual playback. To set up your 'master' playback for a Tap Tempo, hold SETUP and tap your 'master' playback's flash button -> CHASE tab -> Use Global BPM (tap to get it with a red line to indicate it is selected). Then define an empty playback as a Global Tap Tempo by holding SETUP again and tapping a flash button of an empty playback -> Fader Function -> Global Tap Tempo -> OK. Again, I apologise for the very very lengthy message, but I hope this is relatively okay to understand, please do let us know if you need more help as this is quite painful to do, and many thanks again to Kevin and David for the initial replies! Archie

Hi Scottydog75, Apologies for the delay in response. The software team are in the process of finishing the next beta build for ZerOS. This should be released for testing on the forum within the next couple of weeks. Kind Regards

Hello Oliver_74 You can use the Add as additional address function found in the Edit DMX Address window to pair your five fixtures. When you select the DMX address of the first fixture you want to pair, the curser will flash in the DMX address window which will be blank. Type in the address of the second fixture in the pair, select Add as additional address, then Enter. The Fixture schedule window will show two addresses for the channel fader of the first fixture. I only found this last week when I wanted to pair dimmer channels under one fader.

I can confirm that the Flx S48 console worked well using about 2000 channels with 2 Artnet node and 13 used universes

Hi all. The iOS apps are now back on the App Store in their original capacity and under the same links they were before. ZerOS Monitor -> https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/zeros-monitor/id1033159176 ZerOS Remote -> https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/zeros-remote/id367342433 (cc: @Charlie Newman @Philh @ATC Tech)

Thanks everyone for your help on this, after digging through a good few training webinars on YouTube, I came across the simplest answer - offset, specifically how the offset fans across fixtures. You can change this behaviour by holding setup and tapping effects. I set my shift click to be 'fan first' (Also experimented with the other fan options for different effects) then selected my fixtures, hit chase, held shift and span the encoder wheel to fan the offset of the effect until the chase matched up on all battens. Worked super nicely and certainly opens up some more interesting possibilities for programming Battens Chase LQ.mp4

A JOS file is likely to be a showfile. A fixture personality file is an IFT file so it may be they way you're trying to load the IFT file? Found this from Ed on another forum... The <Update Library> option in Super User can be used to update the fixture library on the console. If you just wish to load in a fixture file, not a whole library, please see page 49 of the Jester TL manual for information on assigning fixtures… https://www.zero88.com/storage/downloads/5ebda1d3-7348-4727-ae31-fecedf299a46/Jester-TL-and-TLXtra-Manual-3.0.pdf#page=49

Hi Give the attached a go and let us know how it goes LeLight LED Moving.ift

@DMH@RJP The SPAM postings seem to be on the increase with over 40 in last 24 hours plus others highlighted but still on the forum. Please can some trusted forum members be promoted in a way to allow removal of these posts?

Smart tag... Great at what it's meant for (recording cues in a stack for playback "on the button") confusing and a nuisance under other circumstances, especially for setting up a desk for busking (IMHO). Tracking similar. Default values, again great at making sure something happens when you raise intensity but default colour of white seems to throw a lot of people. Personally, I set R=G=B=0 as default for all RGB fixtures as a matter of course (and then get confused when I raise intensity and get full on black before remembering that was what I asked for 😁). Whilst having a mini rant... social media may not be the best place to look for help @kgallen and I and a few others watch this forum regularly and there's a lot of expertise here.

Hear hear... Where's the downvote button when you need one ⬇️ I wonder how long until the FLX S is canned - I had slight optimism at the ZerOS 8 launch that it sounded like FLX S would be hanging around for a while (https://www.vari-lite.com/global/news/releases/zeros-8-0) - perhaps not much longer with the 'core' Z88 team all gone now. Still wonder if we'll ever hear from our new Vari-Lite admins on this forum? (it's not too late to introduce yourselves, we don't bite! Would be great to get some of your insights on the future of FLX to allay our concerns!) Signed - a loyal Z88 user

@Davidmk I suspect you are pretty much bang on with all you say. I don't think Vari-Lite are interested in the console business, or any of Zero88's products. I think Zero88 was just a tiny operation that came along with their bigger purchase of Signify (or whatever transient companies bought the stable that included Zero88 on the way). Zero88's Cwmbran manufacturing operation is (/was, if it still exists) pretty much over to subcontract electronics build. They'll make a few Zero88 product batches as and when demand requires it. I suspect that will dwindle and drop off as demand drops and the lack of successor products means the Zero88 brand disappears. This forum will be funded until someone high up in VL realises they are spending money on it and/or the traffic drops off to a level they think there is no need for it any more. We've probably missed the boat but it would be desirable to get the schematics, Bills-of-Materials and if possible software source code out of the remaining Z88 databases and into the "public" domain before VL type "rm -rf /*" on it all and forget it ever existed. The software source code might be tricky as it might contain sub-licensed IP such that it doesn't have a GPL type license, I don't know, this is not my area. I've not heard anything about any new products with the Z88 brand and there is no evidence to date on the beta forum of ZerOS development work post 8.0 (although JonH did suggest there was an ongoing development plan on his leaving speech). But I don't think there is "anyone" left from Z88 to do this. I think Simon, the key software guy, was probably a sub-contractor [I could be wrong], so will have moved on to other ventures to keep paying his mortgage. If he is about, he's been very quiet and hasn't posted on here at all to say "don't panic guys, we're still here (just)". Time will tell. But I'm not holding my breath.

If Vari-lite aren't interested in ZerOS, it would be good if they could put the source code in the public domain so it could be turned onto an open-source project.

Spam seems to be getting worse on the daily! Perhaps some sort of user verification is required?

Hey, so I tested the show file during the final rehearsals on Friday and on two shows today. They work perfectly. Without you, those fixtures wouldn't have been used in this production. Thank you SOOOOOO much, you're the best! ♥ ♥ ♥ All the best from Leipzig Lena

Update as promised: Using the personality in the desk, and when viewing the DMX Output charts under the Z Key, the values corresponding to CMY remained on '0' even after changing colour parameters, or running colour effects etc. Definitely confirmed it was a personality error at this point. So using the inbuilt fixture editor, I took a copy of the existing personality and amended the CMY control channels to be 'Other Colour' control parameters. This worked and enabled the encoders to control the CMY parameters, however colour palettes or picker didn't work as the desk didn't know what colour they actually were. So I then edited the 'copied' personality, changed the 'Other Colour' parameters back to CMY, which then worked as it should have done so in the first place. I now have full control of CMY, using colour palettes or the colour picker! No idea what was going on, but quite the oddity and an annoying time sponge trying to resolve! Either related or unrelated, I also had the desk crash four times throughout plotting, so will forward on the crash reports to the team after the show is done. Thanks again all for suggestions, research, and the created fixture profile @kgallen

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

Raise lower effectively emulates moving the faders, which are limited to 8bit. All other calculations for fades etc, are 16bit. I have raised this as issue ZOS-12581 for future consideration.

This is a tricky one. Some years ago I attempted the same thing without much success. The problem is that you are fighting the principles of Last Takes Precedence. When you set the background rainbow that state is "last", if you then set another state (without removing the old one by lowering the background fader) that becomes "last" and remains in control as long as the fader is up. When you lower the new states fader (and as long as Release On Lower is on for that playback - this is the default) it releases that state and the background state becomes the "last" (unreleased) state. This rule applies to chases as well so, as each step executes, it sets a fixture to white and it remains white until the chase fader is lowered and the all steps in it are released. This means that the fixtures turn white and stay that way until they are all white. Normally each step in a chase (e.g. a red/white one) each step sets the new fixture to white and returns the previous (or all other) fixtures to red. But you can't do this because you want the colour from the old state and you don't know what that might be. Your issue then is how to release previous steps in the chase when the next step is executed. Things you can try... You can release things from a step, see Cue Settings -> Cue Macros in the manual https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/cues-playbacks/cue-settings/cue-macros but I think this only works for playbacks not steps in them. Perhaps you could make a chase that triggers a different playback in each step? You could modify a Sparkle effect. You can only do this on an FLX so you'd have to set it up on Phantom ZerOS and then try running it on FLX S. See the manual at https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/effects/waveforms. This is probably your best bet - unless someone else has a good idea. I'll be watching this thread as it's something I'd like to achieve but no longer have the will or time to spend on it.

Hi @Alexandre, apologies for the late reply but I thought it was worth sharing this. Thank you for providing your show file. You're correct, the crash behaviour is related to Move on Dark being used in Playback 7. Upon further investigation of your show file, cue 3 in Playback 7 contains the 'Smooth' effect (E5 to be precise) applied to fixtures 2-9 and 49-54. After messing around with Move on Dark and only enabling specific attributes (position, effect, etc.), it appears that Move on Dark is looking forward in the cue stack (from cue 1 & 2) and is attempting to apply an intensity effect (Smooth) to fixtures that are at an intensity of 0 in that cue (essentially - those fixtures have no intensity values to modify by the effect / have had no intensity instructions as their intensities are not set in that cue and the previous ones - tracking is enabled). Note that 'Smooth' is an intensity based effect, which is likely the reason for the crash behaviour from what I can see. Instead of disabling Move on Dark generally for the whole playback, in ZerOS we have the option to disable certain parts of it, ensuring you don't lose out on any advantages of using Move on Dark e.g. with colour and position in sacrifice of effects to prevent crashing. To do this, you'll need to turn off the effect attribute for Move on Dark for the specific cue(s) that are causing you problems with Move on Dark so the console ignores any effects that may cause issues for that cue specifically. You could alternatively go the simple route - disabling effects in Move on Dark for the whole playback instead of just individual cues, but that will result in (for example) position based effects not being taken into account by Move on Dark, meaning effects such as 'Circle' won't be applied in dark - you will see them apply from 0 effect size to their defined effect size for that cue over the defined fade time as the fixture's intensity is brought up. You can, however, resolve this*. Disabling Move on Dark for effects only on specific cues: In the 'Settings' column in the cue stack, tap 'Add' on the cue you wish to disable effects with Move on Dark Tap 'Don't Move Effect' so it has a red indicator as opposed to a blue one (red is 'activated/selected', blue is not) Tap 'OK' Effects with Move on Dark has now been disabled for just that cue. When launching into this cue, effects will now be applied on the press of GO into that cue. You can do this for every cue that is causing a problem. Disabling Move on Dark for effects only on the entire playback: Hold the 'Setup' key on your console's front panel and tap your playback's flash button On the internal touchscreen (or monitor if using a FLX S48), tap 'Move on Dark' Tap 'Don't Move Effect' so it has a red indicator as opposed to a blue one *By enabling 'Don't Move Effect' for the whole playback in the playback's settings, inside each specific cue's settings referred in my first set of bulletpoints, that option will now have changed to 'Move Effect' (only for cues within that playback). This allows you to tell the console to look ahead in the cue stack and move the effect-based things for a specific cue anyway, ignoring the playback's general settings for Move on Dark that all effect movements are disabled. An example of this is shown in the image below in the far left column of options: I hope this helps, and I hope your FLX S continues to serve you well. Kind regards Archie

I have long been asking for Exclusive Playbacks for the very same reason. This is what Edward Smith sent me back in March 2023: Exclusive Playback" faders are currently assigned to ZerOS 8 on our roadmap. Please note that this could move if our priorities change. If a playback is configured as exclusive, this would prevent it from being recorded into cues, even if recording with SmartTag.

If you are operating with tracking options set to "Cue Only" or you have "Snapshot" enabled when you record then you have effectively told the desk to record everything. See manual here and here. In the Record Options, "SmartTag" enabled could record the hazer - if you changed one or more of its values in the programmer. For full control of what gets recorded you need SmartTag off. You can then select "Tagged Fixtures" which will record every fixture that has been changed or "Selected Fixtures" wich only records the currently selected Fixtures. See manual here. Cue Only, Snapshot & SmartTag all let the desk decide what to record, turning all of them off makes you decide but then you need to be sure you have included everything you want. Tagged Fixtures will generally get that right, with Selected Fixtures there is a risk that you will select a fixture, change it, de-select it, select another and change it then record - in this case only the 2nd fixture gets recorded. Essentially, the desk will do what you tell it but you need to understand what you've told it. There are videos in the linked manual references, these might help. To remove your hazer (or anything else) from a cue, select it, press Home then Update and select Remove. Hope that helps.

From the manual... Cue only means that tracking options will not be available within the Record and Update windows. Cues are programmed with a full capture of the stage output to ensure what you see on stage is exactly what is programmed, and exactly what will be played back when you replay the cue. I suspect this is the reason why you are saving the whole stage output. Try it with cue only off - this should get you the record options, selected fixtures might be useful.

I finally got a chance to try this yesterday and it worked! (A latched submaster with colours set to zero on affected fixtures.) Oddly, a few MFKs initially didn't work with it (either not coming up at all or affecting other lights they hadn't affected before) and I could find no difference at all between the ones that worked and the ones that didn't. But re-recording the ones that didn't work fixed them so I was happy.

Is it CSC you are thinking of That would be it! Thank-you.

Good stuff. In my world it's mostly busking so I'm using TouchOSC to give me a "magic sheet" where I can select colours, positions, effects, whatever by touching a button. The buttons fire specific cues in cue stacks. For example, I might have a stack with cues to set colour (and only colour) on some wash lights. Each cue has a 2s fade time. The buttons each trigger one of these cues and, because it is a cue stacks, I get the fade and the old colour gets faded out. I also have a button that releases the stack so, for example, I can release the effects stack when I'm done with it.

Rem Dim (or Remainder Dim) is a feature common on most lighting desks which dims all active outputs to 0%, and sends all channels you have selected to 100%. This feature is particularly useful during focusing sessions or rig checks. E.G. Dimmers 1 thru 12 are at 50%. You want to specifically pick out dimmer 6 to allow you to focus it better. Select channel 6 and 'Rem Dim', channels 1 thru 5, and 7 thru 12 go to 0% and channel 6 goes to 100%. In ZerOS, channels affected by Rem Dim are shown in Yellow as @kgallen has pointed out earlier. I don't believe Rem Dim is a feature that is enabled on the FLX S range consoles, and is exclusive to full FLX only (unaware of other legacy consoles). On review of the ZerOS Shortcuts (https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/shortcuts/keyboard-shortcuts?filter=1) "Shift + F" enables Rem Dim on FLX but I have tried this on Phantom and it doesn't work for FLX S. This may be an error that this feature works via an Apple Watch (unable to test this unfortunately!) You do have access to the 'Highlight' feature (Shift + Home) on FLX S range. Highlight allows you to temporarily bump the intensity of a selected fixture up to 100%, which again can also be useful during focusing. During testing on Phantom ZerOS, both Rem Dim and Highlight can be 'CLEAR CLEAR'-ed. Hope this is of some help! Good luck!

When you turn SmartTag off you are taking complete control of what parameters are tagged and thus recorded. In this case I’m selecting the fixture, modifying the colour attributes (which tags them - makes the background ‘blue’), then when I RECORD I turn off SmartTag which says ‘hey console I’m in charge I just want you to record the colour attributes I changed and nothing else, just do as I say and nothing more’. In the example of reprogramming defaults I agree it’s nothing to do with e.g. move on dark (this is just one example of where SmartTag usually helps the programmer), just by turning it off I’m in explicit control of what is recorded (and also In this case intensity was zero so SmartTag would have caused my colour parameters changes to be ignored). Note that the colour attribute is by default set as ‘not separate’ (changeable in Setup). This means that if you adjust one colour parameter e.g. red, all of the colour parameters are tagged as it’s assumed that you want to create a certain colour and this requires all colour emitters to be recorded to recreate that. If you really only wanted to record the red emitter you would need to manually untag the blue, green, amber, colour wheel etc parameters (to make their background ‘black’) so they weren’t recorded. When played back, only the red emitter would be controlled, the blue, green etc would stay as they were. This is very powerful but can also be very confusing for inexperienced/basic users. Note that beamshape parameters default to ‘separate’ as it’s assumed that if you were changing e.g. the zoom you didn’t also want to record e.g. the gobo. Some advanced programmers have SmartTag turned off permanently as they always want explicit control of what is recorded via tagging, especially if they are setting up a range of ‘partial looks’ on playbacks/submasters that they’ll use to busk with. If you’re programming a theatre stack then for many ‘normal’ users (myself included) SmartTag is usually on. Note also when looking at your showfile I did it in PhantomZerOS which I started in FLX mode (not FLX S mode as your actual hardware). This gives me access to some more features, like the Source screen. This allowed me to see (but we already ‘knew’) that your fixture was controlled by ‘Default’ as the fader was lowered. I selected the fixture so I could see the parameters details, then on the Source screen I saw the colour parameters change to ‘D’ (and also saw the flick of B=G=255 in the DMX window) as I lowered the fader. Aha! Default is white (as we expected) and causing that flick in colour as you first reported. Reprogramming the default to R=G=B=0 was easy after that. Happy programming - let us know how you get on and any other questions and we’ll try to help.

(For background for other experienced users/contributors on here, I’ve tried to help out with this one on Reddit and it seems the issue still exists - any other ideas/what did I forget etc, thanks!). @Veit0r if you could save your showfile and upload it here we can try and debug on our own desks and try our best to understand what’s going on and get you a solution - as you showed on Reddit this can be seen in the output screen as DMX values actually going out to the fixture. Thanks for posting on here (and in the correct sub forum!) where we’ve a chance of reproducing the problem.

Note that setting default and home values in ZEROS (certainly on FLX) gets munged by "smart" settings which should be turned off when recording them. That has caught me out a couple of times.

@kgallen I don't have much experience with multi pixel fixtures but would this work? Select each pixel that should.come on together and record a group. Repeat until all the required pixels are in a group. Select the groups not the pixels. Run the effect by groups rather individually. Failing that... If the effect can work on a single fixture then giving them the same address will make them behave the same but rule out treating them individually. Heaven knows what it would do to RDM though. You can patch multiple fixtures, on different addresses to the same channel. Again that stops you treating them separately in this show but they can still be patched separately in another show Or build an actual chase recording each step separately.

Hmm, quite a mess. It shouldn't be this hard to turn a light on and off. I realise there are a LOT of variables involved and some interactions are unavoidable but I wish I could turn off the clever stuff and just get the basics working first. Reproducing it in simulation is definitely a step forward, though.

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.

Oh I doubt that! @scottydog75 Not sure if it's timely enough but I can have a go at making a new fixture profile later tonight (using ye-olde Fixture Editor which you may well be similarly familiar with). Other idea if the definition might be suspect is to use the fixture patch search feature to try and find another fixture definition that closely matches the luminaire you have in terms of which DMX channel controls which feature. I was re-watching one of Edward's videos the other day - might have been 7.11 update video which reminded me of this. Sorry I can't be of more immediate/direct help. I'll have a think, but I think @Davidmk and yourself have suggested/tried the obvious things and I know you're both not newbies with the desk...

I agree and would be happy to do this. I’m similarly a ‘mod’ on other community forums essentially in a capacity of spam removal in the European time zone. This forum may be different as it’s commercial, but the offer is still there.

I have some Lanta Fireball par64 quad rgbw parcans on my rig which, when set to the same colour palette are receiving different dmx values. Our Panto baddie always has his own colour but it changes from year to year. I saved a new palette "Baddie Green", then a few options to choose from (nos 31-34) , using Lee filters, see photos. If I use palettes 31-34 I get consistent colour on all lights, but I'd have to update each cue if I want to change it. If I <update> Baddie_green with the selected colour, then apply it to my lights, I get different dmx values output to different lights. On the photo 1, the six lights start at dmx 151 and the 1st intensity values are set to 10, 20, 30 etc. In that test the 3rd light gets different values. I can reproduce this when I use any of the renamed colour palettes e.g Undersea_blue. In that case in photo2, lights 1-3 get 120-255-0-43 and lights 4-6 get 120-212-0-43. I noticed this as I've been programming the show, where one light was wrong. When I corrected it, all seemed fine for a while then it reverted to the error. Any ideas anyone? Simon

Hi @Neil Macmillan I had a play with my FLX (ZerOS 8.0) and a Cameo Q-Spot 40 which has 16-bit dimmer. The fixture definition was written by myself. I use the Z key to access the DMX Outputs tab to look at the DMX values sent to the fixture on addresses 1 and 2 where the fixture MSB and LSB intensity channels sit. If I use the channel fader to manually play with the intensity, at 0% I see 0/0 (MSB/LSB). As I move the fader up the LSB goes to 128 and the MSB increments. When I get to 100% I see 255/255. Instead, making the desk do the dimming, I set Programmer Time on at 10:00 (10 minutes) and type syntax 1@@. I now see the LSB incrementing from 0-255 and the MSB increment when LSB is 255. Similarly if I do clear-clear I see the LSB count down from 255 to 0 then the MSB decrement then the LSB 255 to 0 again. All the way down to 0/0. So when the desk does the dimming, true 16-bit dimming is performed. When the fader is used, the dimming is understandably simplified - that fader doesn’t have 16-bit resolution! Conclusion - 16-bit intensity dimming works as expected. Hope that helps.

Try the following command in the SCS Control Send Cue, Device = zeros, OSC Message = /zeros/cue/go/4 . If you put /zeros/cue/go it will operate the next cue in the stack. SCS setup - Production Properties, Devices, Control Send , Device Type=Network Out, Name used in cues=zeros. In the lower panel Remote Device=Other OSC Device, Network Protocol = UDP (defaults to TCP), Network Role = SCS is a network Client, Dummy Connection = unticked, IP address matches the Desk , Port = 8830

The default "snap" behaviour of colour is probably the designer's intended answer to this conundrum, especially in the situation where we're not starting from black and something else had control. But the snap looks awful and I really want to avoid that, and hence I would indeed normally configure fader-controls-colour. That's really what I want, it's just the default colour that's the issue. From a philosophical point of view, I should probably reconfigure all the LED fixtures so their default colour is black rather than white. Then if I bring up the intensity and nothing happens it's simply my fault for not telling the board what colour I want yet. Typically my very next step would be to adjust the colour anyway so it might not be too bad. I think I'll try that when I next get access (if I have time). My memory is that the board wouldn't accept that but I'd settle for a dim grey. From a practical point of view it's yet another thing that can stop a light coming on unexpectedly, and there are already enough of those. And other users of the board might object to such a change. I'll see how it goes.