Scrollers and Move on Dark

[drscoop]

Anyone know I how can I force a scroller to move on dark when it’s not a standard “‘lamp+1” fixture, but the scroller is a standalone fixture - and how to link to it’s dimmer channel so the desk knows when it is dark, if it’s not a straightforward patch?

For context, I’m helping out a new theatre group and using scrollers for the first time in an FLX S.  The rig has some pairs of tungsten fixtures wired back to the same dimmer channel, but the pairs of scrollers have their own DMX address, so I can’t use the multiple part standard fixtures as I need 1 dimmer channel but 2 independent scroller channels for each set of paired fixtures…

I am using the generic “scroller” 1ch fixture on the desk and can build colour palettes etc but can’t work out how best to patch this to link to intensity to move the scrolls on dark.

I kinda need a fixture that has 1 ch for intensity, but 2 channels, ideally individually selectable, for the two scrollers…  

Is there a workaround here?

Thanks in advance…

Edited Saturday at 11:09 PM by drscoop
Clarification

[Davidmk]

Is there a problem putting the pairs of scrollers on the same address?

[kgallen]

The scroller uses the intensity channel of the associated fixture to know when ‘dark’ (as I’m sure you’re well aware). Scroller probably only has colour attributes. 

You might have to patch the lamp+scroller and patch the ‘lamp’ to an unused DMX address then use that bogus lamp fixture intensity to control your move on dark. 

I think early days of my FLX I asked a similar type of question and it just came down to you need that linked intensity channel to support move on dark.

I know you probably don’t have time or access but this is a candidate for having a play to see what methods can be used to fool the desk whilst maintaining a usable workflow. I don’t think anyone left here knows how the desk actually uses the fixture information under lamp+scroller to know what cheats are viable.  

[kgallen]

OK this is 10 years old comment, but this is where Jon told me the association of dimmer has to be within the fixture. I think at the time I was trying to do something vaguely similar to you where I had a patched Source 4 and wanted to associate the scroller with it to support move on dark.

 

[drscoop]

10 hours ago, Davidmk said:

Is there a problem putting the pairs of scrollers on the same address?

I think this is what we’ll do next time - presently they’re set so we can apply asymmetric colour washes to  the stage… so each one can be controlled individually.  
 

I’d hoped there may be a fix so that we could use 1 DMX address for the lamp but then add in 2 addresses for the scrollers.  Using dummy fixtures may be the way forward if we want to retain this feature….

[drscoop]

10 hours ago, kgallen said:

The scroller uses the intensity channel of the associated fixture to know when ‘dark’ (as I’m sure you’re well aware). Scroller probably only has colour attributes. 

You might have to patch the lamp+scroller and patch the ‘lamp’ to an unused DMX address then use that bogus lamp fixture intensity to control your move on dark. 

I think early days of my FLX I asked a similar type of question and it just came down to you need that linked intensity channel to support move on dark.

I know you probably don’t have time or access but this is a candidate for having a play to see what methods can be used to fool the desk whilst maintaining a usable workflow. I don’t think anyone left here knows how the desk actually uses the fixture information under lamp+scroller to know what cheats are viable.  

I think this is the way forward.  It can go waaaay up theDMX and fixture list and always be dark.  The scrollers will only ever move the other “real” fixture is dark, so it shouldn’t go rogue if the dummy one is never lit…. I think!!

[Davidmk]

17 minutes ago, drscoop said:

asymmetric colour washes

@drscoop If you need this then using the same address is not possible. (Well, it is if you arrange the colour rolls appropriately but that would be a faff and still might be impractical.)

@kgallen, as always, makes a good point but wouldn't keeping the dummy fixtures dark just mean that they skip straight to the last state in the cue list? Surely the dummies need to follow the real fixtures. Maybe they should be added to the same desk channel as the dimmer?

 

 

[kgallen]

yea as @Davidmk says I don’t think you can keep the dummy lamp dark, you might as well just patch a scroller. 
 

Is there any scope to duplicate DMX address patching? Can’t currently get my brain sufficiently off work to think this through but I’ll give it some thought. 

[Archie D]

On 1/10/2026 at 10:10 PM, drscoop said:

I kinda need a fixture that has 1 ch for intensity, but 2 channels, ideally individually selectable, for the two scrollers…  

Forgive me if I've misunderstood the original post, but following this, here's a fixture file..

With this, we're using sub-fixtures instead of regular parameters in one single fixture like other fixtures would. This allows you to separate two parts of what we want to achieve here - to use this singular fixture as having the 'Lamp' (Intensity) defined as your actual dimming light (in your case - two linked to the same channel), and then configure the 'Scroll' part separately of the fixture to be on a different address, achieving your initial wish to 'link' the scrollers to the 'Intensity' of your incandescent fixture, where both the Intensity and two scrollers (together) can be as far apart in the DMX universe as you need, but the lamp must be the lower address (meaning the scroll can only be a DMX address after the lamp). Note that if you define the Scroll part of the fixture to be on e.g. DMX 57, that will be the first scroller. The second scroller will therefore be on DMX 58, with the Intensity being anywhere you wish (e.g. DMX 3 - completely away from the scrollers), again 'linking' the scrollers to the intensity.

You will need to replace the Dimmer fixture you currently have patched in for your intensity with this one, but don't worry - the lamp intensity will work exactly the same, but giving you the additional scrollers. The scrollers will then actively 'listen' to the intensity and when it is at 0, the scrollers will use Move on Dark. We can see this in action with the grey background of fixture 1 on the second screenshot - the Scroll1 and Scroll2 values were both moving on dark at that time.

And remember to always back up your show file before making critical changes like this.

When patching this new fixture in after loading the .ift via SETUP > Load > IFT File, a 'Part' column will be added to the Fixture Schedule. This will indicate the Lamp and Scroll parts of the fixture as described above. See pictures and fixture file (.ift) below...

Lamp + 2 Scrollers.ift