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Elation Operator 192 + 2x DMX512 lasers + 4x LEDPar64s

FM Former Member
Being new to lighting, I would like to check my assumptions and also ask a few questions.
I'm a guitarist in a band who has happily agreed to take on the responsibility of lighting, for our concerts.
We've just bought 2 identical green 150mw lasers with DMX512 and 7 channels. Attached is a JPG of the DMX channels setup. (This laser is not from China, but from a German laser manufacturer!)


Also after a long search, I've decided on the Elation Operator 192 as our DMX controller for 2 main reasons. 1- price 2- 12 chases possible (not the normal 6) 12 chases = for us 11 songs + intro.

Assumptions.
------------
- according to the DMX setup attached, I presume that the laser patterns (50 built-in) can be controlled and programmed by the Op192.

1) By changing channel 1 (values 192-255) I can change the blanking, i.e. number of bars in the grid/grate effect.??
2) Changing channel 2 (values 0-255) I can change to/from any of the 50 built-in effects.
3) Changing channels 3,4,5,6,7 I can change the locations, sizes, speed of effects (e.g. rotating tunnel) ??

Are my assumptions correct ?

Questions.-
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1) What's better for 2 lasers doing the same thing in chase. a) both on the same DMX address, or b) different DMX address and just duplicating the scenes in a chase for the 2nd fixture, or c) using a master/slave setup ??

2) Should I want the lasers to mirror each other (same effects, but as 1 rotates CW, the other rotates CCW) then I need each laser on its own DMX address and the chase programmed accordingly. ??

3) What's better, a) lights activated through DMX controller via MIDI from the Akai we use.... or b) the Op192 internal 12 chases. ?? (we use electronic drums from Akai, so stable, constant bpm)

4) If we use MIDI, then in theory we are not limited to 12 chases... we could have as many as we want, as we are only turning on/off the scenes to the music. No chases. ??

5) If I used the laser effect of a sweeping vertical grid/grate, could I sweep it gently and smoothly from far left to far right, with a normal 2 scene step. 1st pan far left, 2nd pan far right, then input a suitable fade time. Would this really be smooth, if the ONLY DMX value changing is channel 5 (X-location value 0 -255) ??

6) The LED par 64s have a 5 channels of DMX. They also support strobing. Can this effect be controlled via DMX or only via the DIP switches on the back. ??

7) As the LEDs have no movement, could I have, say..., 2 pairs of 2 Par64s. Each light in the pair does exactly the same as the other. ?? Therefore I only use up 2 DMX addresses for 4 lights. ?

I hope I haven't asked too much, but reading the forums, I am happy that there are people happy to support their products which have been bought. Many thanks in advance. I'm sure I'll have a steep learning curve, as soon as the Op192 arrives.
Cheers
Phil

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J JinglesForum Admin
hey! welcome to the forums!
your assumptions sound right to me but you wil only know for sure once u actually play with it.
1) you could try same address but there goes the ability to change it up individually. again i would do a few test scenes to see what really works best.
2)up to you!
3)midi would be just a lil bit better to control, but i have run chases as songs before on the op but u have to get it down to a science. also do u know that the DMX operator does not allow for individual fade and hold times? meaning if u have a chase playing and u want a 2 sec. fade on one scene then a 1 sec fade on the next you are gonna have to manually move the fade fader to the correct time. so if ur busy playing a song and runnin a chase you will NOT be able to mess with the fade times. it is all or nothing really.
4)umm not too sure but u assign midi to the scenes so its not like you are unlimited in the amount of scenes. on the op. u will have 240 scenes avail. to program.
5)sounds ok to me but again you would have to try it out.
6)srobing should be within the 5 channels and accessable through the corresponding fader on the DMX console.
7)yes but you wil have to address them in oiars aswell.
i hope this helps and welcome to the forums. if u have any other questions please feel free to ask. sincerely,
FM Former Member
Thanks for your reply. It has helped. Although I forgot 2 more points.

When we'll use the lights, everything must be pre-programmed, there's no option to pay with the sliders,.. we'll be busy with the music !!

1) With regards to the individual fade times. If I set a global fade time of ...say..2 secs and then I want an individual effect fade of 4 secs, then I understand that I must e.g. program the pan far left to right in 2 steps (3 scenes!)... 2 secs fade from far left to halfway centre and then again 2 secs from halfway centre to far right.
Is this a good way to get around all fade times having to be the same.??

2) I made a mistake with the LEDs. We have decided on either 4 or 8 of the American DJ LED PAR 64 PRO 1/4W Black.(RGB mixing) It has digital display DMX and 3 or 6 channel mode, as well as 10mm LEDs. Does this light have the colour strobing possibility through a DMX controller too, and therefore programmable ?? If so I presume it's in the 6 channel mode, ..??

Again thanks for the advice.
Regards
Phil
FM Former Member
Hi

Q1 - On the Operator192, can the master fade speed be seen on the display as e.g. 2.0 secs or is it guesswork - e.g. roughly 2 secs by looking at the chase. ??

In my last message I mentioned about creating longer fades between scenes in a chase with the Operator 192 by splitting the fades up into 2 or more parts.
Should I really want to have individual programmable fade times (between scenes... SC1, 1 sec , then SC2, 10 secs, then SC3, 12secs, then SC4 4 secs... etc.
Q2 - Which of the Elation controllers/programmers would be best???

I'm prepared to buy the Operator 192 tomorrow and 8x LED PAR 64 PRO 1/4W tomorrow, so I'm really just checking if I'm buying the right programmer.

I've read the manuals for the; Operator192, OperatorII, DMX Solo256, and Magic 260. Magic 260 IS 100% out of budget as well as the show designers !!

I would be grateful for any last minute advice before I purchase.
Our songs are 4mins long and we want the LEDs on/off in sequence to certain parts of the songs, as well as 2x 150mw green lasers.

So far I can tell that all of the above options have good & bad points.
Operator192 - NO individual fade times, BUT 12 chases :-)
OperatorII - only 6 chases
DMXSolo256 - individual fade times? but only 99steps in a chase, although 40 chases !


SO CONFUSED. Any add. advice ?
Cheers
Phil
J JinglesForum Admin
DMX programmer? individual fade times but smaller amount of scenes/chases. a little bit steeper of a learning curve. but overall is a nice controller. so i would say either dmx op.192 or DMX programmer.
and about ur first question the mastr fade time is displayed on the led display and will tell u up to the tenth of a second i believe.
let me know if i didnt answer all your questions.
FM Former Member
Dear Jingles

I now have the DMX Operator 192 and am playing with it, very quick learning curve indeed. I have a question. My laser has 7 channels, and with the DMX operator192 I can successfully access all the built in effects, incl. pan/tilt,size,speed. The whole lot. Channel 1 (far left slider) puts the laser in 4 possible modes....(each mode is 1/4 of the sliding distance)
Mode(1) = Sound mode (laser moves to music)
Mode(2) = DMX mode (controller operates laser)
Mode(3) = Auto mode (laser runs through effects built in, in a sequence)
Mode(4) Blanking (mirrors deflect beam back into case,... simulates laser-off)

In program scene mode I can slide slider 1 to the top and the laser is turned off.
I can save this as a scene.
I can manually choose all the saved scenes and when I go back to this one. The laser appears off. Cool

However when I program a chase, and use this "laser-off" scene, all seems okay until I do a playback of the chase. Because...in the steps where the laser should be "off" it isn't, it seems to be in the auto mode and projects the 1st built-in pattern.

Why can I save a "laser-off" scene and manually use this in a manual scene playback with no problems, .......but just not in a chase playback?
What am I doing wrong?
Thankyou,,
Phil
FM Former Member
UPDATE.
Thanks Jingles for advice. When saving scenes I have found out that you must wait for the DMX value on the screen to change back to scene/bank number. Otherwise it won't save.
Also on playback chase, everything needs to be off....Fixtures lights, programming mode.... everything. THEN it works fine, and also laser goes into blanking as it should. Cool.

Also yesterday we tried this...

Logic Audio on an AppleMac programming a MIDI song, timed & running parallel to one of our songs. MIDI on channel 16.

The midi song represented the midi notes needed to turn on/off scenes 1-8 in all 30 banks, incl. blackout on/off, and chases on/off.

The Midi song on the Mac went via USB to our Emagic Active Midi Transmitter 8 (1RU). Then the Emagic AMT8 Out1 went into the DMXOperator192 MIDI In port. DMXOperator had MIDI set on channel 16 also.

AMAZING. The DMX Operator was totally controlled by the computer-based midi song. But with the advantage that we use could use markers in the audio song for perfectly timed light changes. Super. Also we are no longer even limited to 12 chases of 240 steps. With MIDI we can have as many song/steps as we want - all based on the 240 programmed scenes & 12 built-in chases in the DMXOperator192.

Also we bought last week the USB light for the Operator192, and another 7 AmericanDJ LED 10mm PRO LED PAR64 lights incl. AccuCable DMX leads, and tripods. 8 of these LED PAR64s is unbelievably bright for even a medium stage.

Thanks again.
Phil
FM Former Member
Jingles- You are the master of 192. I don't own the 192, but have been doing A LOT of research on dmx controllers and I think I have narrowed my search and the Elation DMX Controller 192 is on the top of my list. Unbelievable that this controller debuted back in March 2005 and it is still a hit!!!

So to my pleasure...I was blown away with this forum and the number of discussions/threads that have been created. I read on one forum that you may have a CD/DVD video of this controller. Much like everyone else, DMX programming is confusing (until you get the hange of it like everything else). I already read the manual and it could be better. Perhaps once you understand the language of DMX it isn't so bad. So if you still have any more copies of this video, how can I obtain a copy of it? Do you have a youtube site. If not...you should perhaps. Information is power and you have the information. Please let me know about the video and I will be visiting you again hopefully soon. Thank you and keep doing what you are doing (well at least until they come out with a great version than 192..ha).

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