Davidmk

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.

Aha, OK, so it isn't possible to have null values in defaults. That would seem to be the crucial thing missing from my understanding of them. Many thanks for that.

Thank you @Edward Z88. So, just down to careless recording. Not surprised. Did expect update remove to get rid of colour values for the affected fixtures though. Mention to @kgallen so he sees your response.

Default (and home) holds a value for everything. It can even hold an intensity. I was trying to change pan & tilt to zero in this case but I frequently change colour to black. It most certainly would have but I wanted to change default so it didn't alarm me and I meant to only select position and nothing else. Generally though, I have an MFK where I keep my pseudo defaults for a gig. Values I want when I'm not doing something else with them. Where I want moving heads to be, stair edge lights at 50%, MH washes white (it's black in the real default). Anything that just applies to that show rather than to that fixture.

That's the one. It was a colour effect. Selecting one of the affected fixtures showed the name of the effect under colour and source showed D under colour. Hence me thinking it was recorded under default. I'm prepared to accept that this is supposed (and maybe is) impossible but, if it was something else then I love to know what. The fix, ultimately, was to record an actual colour into default and then to delete it. Don't know how I managed to record it, don't know if I can repeat it. Or, indeed, how to avoid repeating it.

Just in from a gig providing lights for live music at a fireworks display. Not my usual rig so no TouchOSC/go-cue set up as it would take too long to program. I quickly thew together some colour mixing PBs and a few effects PBs and relied on the programmer for other bits & bobs. Part way through the gig I must have accidentally recorded the warm rainbow into default (I was probably intending to only change default tilt to 0 instead of the normal 50%) All my LEDs get stuck on a version of white, my colour mixing faders don't work but I can still override the colour in the programmer. Tried the obvious update/remove but it had no effect. Eventually I tried setting the default to red and then I don't suppose we are supposed to record effects as default, it dosn't make sense Anyway,to cut to the chase... What's the right to get to get effects out of defaults if you accidentally put them in?

Need a / at the front I think but, yeah, that looks right.

You are in the right place. I'm speaking from memory here, I only have a tablet to hand and I've never managed to work out the editor under Android so I only use the Windows version to edit. Also, I don't use this method, I send all the OSC commands in script. The simplest way is, I think... Delete everything under Address and Arguments. Click the + next to Address Select Constant and add the whole command, as in Edward's example, as a string. Thing is, TouchOSC (both versions), have a lot of idiosyncrasies that are going to drive you up the wall. MK1 is simpler and for, testing out the desk side, a great deal less frustrating. However it's simplicity means you can't build a nice looking interface or do anything subtle. The editor in the Android version of MK2 is, frankly, awful - hence my recommendation you use the Windows version. I did look at offerings from elsewhere but didn't find anything better for what I had in mind. You think this is bad? Wait until you try scripts and the Lua language. I got through it but it was a struggle and my code still isn't pretty. It can be done 😊

Replied to your PM as well. @Edward Z88 may want to move this to General as it isn't specific to a single Z88 product.

Look for Messages (probably Messages (0) and click the + on the right. You'll get a pop up that lets you select OSC. Alternatively, you can add a a script to the button containing an onValueChanged function but, if this is your 1st foray into MK2, you probably want to leave that "world of delights" for a bit. Have fun!

Yep, that's right. As I said... And Edward said...

I really should research these, makes me wonder if I'm doing something the hard way through lack of knowledge.

I never wanted to use inhibit on anything other than intensity so it comes as no surprise (or dissapointment) that it isn't possible.

It sort of does and doesn't. All I'm doing with it really is using it to give single key access to go cue. TouchOSC lets me put a label on the button and give it a colour so I can find it quickly and it lets me line up several go cues to execute (almost) at the same time. Each button can execute the same go cue in multiple playbacks and, although I can't change which on the fly I can switch them in and out. There's something like 2000 lines of code in it. I used to be a computer programmer so it wasn't too hard to pick up the new language but it still took me a few weeks to write and I still regard it as a trial version.

Not tried this. I usually just want a very specific selection of stuff however, if you are busking in the programmer and want to capture a "look" it would be more efficient than using a playback.

I see but if you have a selection of positions in cues with times for position fades you can achieve a similar result between any two of them. OK the time is fixed but I suppose you might use snap to cue (it's no use to me, our MHs are flown and heavy - if they move too quick it takes a while before the bar stops swaying) You can use a normal fader playback to fade from "wherever they are at the moment" to "somewhere else" and back again though.

Now, my take on this is to divide each group of LED PARS into odds (fixtures 1, 3, etc) and evens (2, 4, etc) and have separate cue stacks for each. That way I can have them all the same, two similar (e.g red & orange) or two contrasting (e.g. Red & blue). Somewhere else (not under OSC control) I have an intensity chase between odd & even that I control by tap tempo (FLX MFK again I'm afraid but I think it can be done other ways). It effectively becomes a 2 colour chase that way.

Not sure I fully understand all of that but, going on my - potentially flawed - interpretation... Looking at your Colours playbacks I have two possible interpretations They fade between the colours named. I hope I'm wrong here because that would be a messy version of RGB mixing using more precious playbacks. These are repositories for cues that give colours in the ranges specified. This is better and not a rubbish idea however there are disadvantages. Firstly you are using 6 playbacks where one would do, for music you don't need a lot of colours and they don't need a lot of subtle shades and a single playback can be manageable. One of the strengths of using a cue stack is that cues replace each other. If have a cue active in PB25 and then activate a cue in PB26 it will override the one in PB31 (LTP remember) and if you release PB32 then it will return to the one from PB25. Not too bad but consider what happens when you've had a lot of colour changes and haven't released any of them, will you know what will happen if you release the latest one? I can't remember what happens with fade time either I have a feeling it fades sometimes, not others. Neither of the above. I didn't understand, maybe you need to enlighten me. My interpretation of and comments on the rest will have to wait.

It does its "the best thing since sliced bread", I already replied quickly to your PM. I'll elaborate there in a bit.

Yes I do. Lots of people do this and make great use of groups & pallettes to make it easier - even I do it sometimes. What I don't like is that you only have one programmer and you end up with a mixture of stuff where it is difficult to separate the ingredients. Well worth trying out for yourself if only to discover what you like and don't like about it. Then you only need alternatives for the things you don't like. I don't think S series have blind mode, if you do have it then take a look at that as well. One thing you can do, busking in the programmer, when you achieve a state you might want again, is record it to a playback. With careful use of record options you might even be able to separate out just the ingredients you want. When I use the programmer it is for a particular, restricted, reason (e.g apply an effect to a group of fixtures) and when I'm done with it I clear the programmer ready for the next time.

Not how I do it and I don't think it would operate as you think it would. An inhibit is normally used with intensities and acts as a top limit on their values. For example, in my set up I have 4 playbacks each setting the intensity of a group of PARS. I could add a fifth one controlling the intensities of all the PARS but if any of the others were at a higher level then that is the value that would be used. However if I made the 5th one an inhibit then the value of that would become the maximum intensity for all the PARS and taking it to zero would black them all out, regardless of the values of their group playbacks. An inhibit applied to, say, a zoom parameter would have no effect at full but, if lowered, would reduce that parameter to zero. Possibly useful but probably not what you had in mind. The way I do it is this... I like to have two moving heads on each performer to act as spotlight and back light. I don't have enough to do all of them but I can usually cover the front line. Lead singers have a tendency to move around so I set theirs to the minimum size and as far down stage as I think they will go. Having an FLX with UDKs I save all these "default" values on a UDK (fixed, latch and no release) - you don't have this luxury. You could use the custom fixture defaults or, if like me you don't want to mess with these, a playback (you can just use one for all defaults you want for a given show). Having got this base position, & size I then select the lead singer's moving head, zoom it out to maximum, refocus it and save to a playback (making sure I only record Beam parameters for that one fixture). In the playback fader controls I select Beam. Then I position the fixture as far upstage as I need and record that (only the pan & tilt parameters) and select Position in the playback fader controls. Note that this usually involves both Pan and Tilt - it is possible, but messy, to put tilt on one playback and tilt on another (your default position needs to be to one side and you must record only Pan on your pan playback and Tilt on your tilt playback. It isn't easy to use (as the pan fader goes up and down when your brain is thinking left and right) and I've found a combination of zoom and tilt is usually enough.

Ooh, lots to reply to there but I've got a busy morning. Come back to you later.

There are probably more busking tricks than there are people in this forum but a, non-exhaustive, list might include... Only use playbacks for the intensities of fixture groups, do the rest in the programmer. Practically limitless but difficult to keep track. Look up programmer time if you go down this route. Whether using the programmer or not, use palletes for LED colours, positions, beam & shape. Much easier to amend and makes them easy to apply when busking in the programmer. Record cue stacks and use go cue no. (hold the go button, type cue no. - on an external keyboard since it is S series - release the go button). Economical with playbacks but looking up the cue no. takes time does mean you can go from one cue directly to the next. It's in the manual with S48 selected but the text only refers to FLX so not sure it works @Edward Z88 will advise I'm sure. Use colour mixing for LEDs. Always a good choice but don't try to use playbacks or programmer for LED colours if you've set up colour mixing. Don't record full "looks", instead for (e.g) moving heads have some beam, shape, position & effect options on different playbacks so you can mix & match. Don't forget you can have playbacks that control a single parameter (like pan, tilt, zoom, etc.). Get into OSC sooner rather than later. I used to use midi (on FLX) but OSC is more flexible, uses less playbacks and available on S series. If you want more help with OSC contact me by DM. There are remote switches on FLX but these can also be triggered by ctrl/F1 to ctrl/F8 on the keyboard. These don't appear in the S48 manual so not sure if you have them or not. Again @Edward Z88 will advise. All I can think of quickly but I'm sure you will get other's offering their take on the subject. My own set up uses 18 playbacks as follows... 1 thru 6 contain cues setting LED PARs fixtures grouped by location and odd/even to one of 13 colours. 7 is the same 13 colours but for a small number of LED moving head washes. 8 thru 10 are positions, zoom settings and P/T effects for these mh washes. 11 is colour wheel settings for DS (non LED) moving heads, 12, 13 & 14 positions, gobo & P/T effects for these fixtures. 15 thru 18 are the colours, gobos, positions & effects US non LED mh's On another page I have the intensities for all the above fixtures, grouped similarly and a few LED colour effects like rainbow and sparkle. Finally, a tablet running TouchOSC (full one, not MK1) and a control surface I designed and coded myself to trigger the cues. This is customisable and I am willing to share it with a few people (because I couldn't support a big userbase). I'd have to write a user manual though. Have fun!

Because I had a fixture that responded to the house desk but not my FLX. Fixture showing "no DMX" error even though my tester said there was a signal, no errors or "flicker", with appropriate values at the fixture address. Fixture has worked with FLX many times in the past (last Sunday in particular). Anyway, after trying the house desk I reconnected the FLX and it worked on that as well. Trying a different frame rate would have been the next option. Facilities mgr reckons it's the Halloween effect (which is no more illogical).

Quick question... Is it possible to change the frame rate of the DMX outputs (without resorting to Delta transmission)?