kgallen

When I tried David’s link it wouldn’t show the page as it thought the console was FLX S24. Posting this link just in case the above doesn’t work: https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/palettes/advanced-palettes?filter=3

Loading a full showfile on the real console or into Phantom ZerOS should load everything, especially the patch!

Visualisation software is complex, it’s not easy to offer for free (unless it comes with a console that costs £20,000-plus). I’ve got a Capture Solo license. It integrates tightly with FLX consoles (bidirectional control). But the Solo license is about £300 I think. Track forward will apply the update you make to all following cues until a cue is reached where the fixture is given another instruction. e.g. - Fixture 7 is set to 50% in cue 4. Fixture 7 does not change until cue 12 where it gets set to 80%. Fixture 7 is currently tracking from cue 4 through cue 11 (cue 5 thru cue 11 will show in purple in the output window). - In cue 5 you do an update to fixture 7 to make it 60% and you track forward. The result is fixture 7 is still 50% in cue 4 but in cue 5 through cue 11 the new update value of 60% applies. In cue 12 fixture 7 goes to 80% as before. Hope that helps.

On S24/S48 many of the buttons are ‘soft’ at the top of the touch screen. To busk and avoid snaps in general, go into the Z screen and enable Programmer Time with the 5secs or whatever value you want. This video will be useful

SmartTag will record 0% intensity. That’s the one thing it definitely does. What it won’t do is record changes to other parameters at the same time. If you want to record other parameters changes (or the classic Effect Off) at the same time as the fixture goes to 0% then turn off SmartTag for that record operation - remembering to turn it back on for the next one (you can just hit record, turn it on then hit record again to clear the options box without actually recording anything).

Hmmm not sure I know of a way. Want to upload the zfix here so we can have a play?

There is a Search panel to search manufacturers and another for models. Maybe an external USB keyboard would help? If you have a recent ZerOS, your most recent patch fixtures should be at the top of a list as "favourites". https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/patching/add-fixtures/searching-filtering

This video on multicell for FLX S might help, or as revision:

@dtyotam See this post for links to the (Google) Apps:

Thanks for documenting this @Phil Mckerracher especially as many of us who post regularly on here have little if any experience of Leap Frog 48 (ZerOS) so struggle to be specific on the controls/details on this console. Cheers!

Hi Fixture is just the generic term for a light, from a simple tungsten fresnel to a LED moving head with gobos etc. Programming a fixture to 0 intensity should just work. However zero intensity is ‘special’ in that with SmartTag enabled, only the intensity (of zero) will be recorded for that fixture, not any changes to other fixture parameters (colour etc). This is deliberate, to support (amongst other things) move on dark, but sometimes it’s a little inconvenient (for example when also wanting to do Effect Off in the same cue). Maybe you could elaborate when setting intensity to zero is not working for you? Inserting cues is possible for sure. These are called point cues and you can have 2 decimal places (so possible 99 point cues between integer cue numbers). On FLX S you don’t have a keypad to type numbers as I do on my ‘full’ FLX so the touchscreen keypad needs to be involved. I’ll have to look this up. Having an external USB keyboard plugged in would get you to most of the programming syntax available on FLX and other higher end consoles. https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/cues-playbacks/recording-cues-2 On FLX S, the cue number you require can be defined by tapping Record Z/Shift and using the on-screen number pad to type your cue number. Then, tap the playback's button to record as usual. Regarding tracking, there are a bunch of ‘terminology’ videos I’ll link shortly which will give you the idea. But some of these are ‘complex’ topics so you’ll have to learn the nitty gritty from the more specific training videos. Much of this terminology is industry standard so will benefit you on a whole range of consoles not just your FLX S. Please start working through these videos. Your FLX S has capabilities well beyond a basic fader-based lighting desk you may have been used to at this point. It’s a big step up, there is a significant learning curve.

@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.

I believe the FLX S are based on Raspberry Pi and the touchscreen is essentially a generic peripheral you can buy for it. FLX is more a custom hardware and screen.

Hi 1. [Fader Funct] is one button and it’s to the right of the fader bank. It’s what switches the faders between channel control and playback control. So no not the individual buttons under each fader! 2. Also there is no ‘delete’ going on, no data is being lost. This operation *releases* playbacks. Release means to stop a playback from controlling fixtures. If you release all playbacks and the master playback that means no playback is controlling any fixture. If the programmer is also clear (clear-clear) fixtures will revert to whatever default value is set for the fixture (which is usually the same as its Home values but with intensity zero). 3. If you are in Cue Only then you should never see purple digits in the Output Window. This means any fixtures are only controlled explicitly by any cues (from playbacks) you have done ‘GO’ on (or triggered by raising the associated playback fader) or any values overridden in the programmer (values will show in red text). CLEAR-CLEAR will fully clear the programmer CLEAR+[Fader Funct] will release playbacks 1-48 (or however many playbacks S24 has, I can’t remember) and CLEAR-[Master GO] will release the master playback. Doing those three things should mean all fixtures are released to their default. Unless you’ve reprogrammed default for any fixture I’d thus expect your stage to be dark. You have SmartTag enabled which is useful unless you’re an advanced user. Cue Only is the most basic mode of the console and means your cues will only ever contain exactly what was on stage when you recorded. However Cue Only stops you overlaying playbacks or controlling individual fixture attributes in more complex and creative ways - you need to be in Tracking mode for that. How are you doing with the training videos?

Hi Ben, Can you attach a showfile here? It sounds like you have those other lights live on stage when you record the cue, or you have other playbacks active when playing back the (master?) playback? Do you have SmartTag enabled when recording? Is Tracking enabled or disabled when recording? You can look at the colours of the intensity values in the output window. Usually you would expect to see blue and green numbers. If you see purple numbers these intensities have "tracked" from another cue. If you see white numbers then these are "snapshot" (blocked) values. If they have a red background then these are "parked". Maybe you could attach a screenshot. Another idea is to install PhantomZeros on a PC/laptop, then start it in FLX (not FLX S) mode then load your showfile. FLX has a Sources screen that shows where control for each channel is coming from. This might help you debug your programming method until you are more used to the console. All colours are documented here: https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/desktops-windows/output-window CLEAR+Fader Func will release all non-master playbacks. CLEAR+Master GO will release the master playback. https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/cues-playbacks/playing-back-cues/triggering-releasing-playbacks Hope that helps! Kevin