Newbie Question

What you could do is put the phasing of the circle to 50 and that will make one be the opposite direction than the other and then manually change your color. give it a shot once you have your whole rig set up.

Welcome to the adj forums.
Sincerely,

Thanks.

If i was to add another say 2 fixtures at a later date, is it easy to make say two fixtures to work opposite to the others eg like flip flop say the following
1 2 3 4
red blue red blue
eg going in what pattern i choose, up/down/round/ etc

sorry if this sounds wrong!

Well what i would do is reserve the number of channels after your last 2 x moves for when you get the next 2 x moves. cause the software will want to group them together. If you add a fixture you will have to regenerate your efx sequences.
Sincerely,

I don't have 4 like-type moving yoke fixtures, but I would suspect it could be done.

The easy way is to simply double up on addresses. You can do your pairs like that. That for sure would get the job done.

In your example, your blue fixtures would both use the same addresses(not a problem under MyDMX or DMX in general) and your reds would have another address range.

As far as 4 fixtures, I am not even adding duplicates in my universes yet, so I can't comment, but I think it should be possible.

Sorry for been thick, but as i say im new to the DMX.

Double up on addresses? how does that work?

what Chris means is since you have teo x moves and they are addressed, if you get two new ones address those to the same two addresses of your current ones therefore you are Doubling up on them. Make sense?

As in:

Let's pretend you have 4 identical fixtures.

Each fixture uses 10 addresses. If you want to have individual control, you'd set the first fixture to 1, the second to 11, the third to 21 and the fourth to 31. Fixtures take up consecutive addreses.

Let's say you want to double up:
You can set fixtures 1 and 3 to address 1(they will be identical) and fixtures 2 and 4 to address 11, and again, will be identical.

Read, practice, ask. You'll learn.

Thanks Guys.
Still trying to get head around it, and just only been using the my dmx in demo mode with no lights.

I want to get to grips with it first before trying it out on 'the big stage' or small bar in my case.

The bar i work in has 7 Abstract Scanners in and 3 pilot moving heads from pr, however its controlled via a pulsar masterpeice 216 and was installed 10 year ago. Im trying to get the bar manager into buying a full new set up and want to get away from the existing arrangement, as out of all those lights there is only 3 working at the moment.

Got some really good ideas and seen various videos for patterns etc, but just need to get a grip with the basics.

Well, I'd first see what can re-used. Non-working fixturs may be as simple as circuits off, switches off, bad bulbs or blown fuses. Check the fixture first.

If they aren't DMX, then this may be a good time to swap them out for control purposes alone. If they are DMX, then you can have otpions, which is always good.

I find many club owners are resistant on spending money on sound and light upgrades: If it ain't on fire, it ain't worth replacing. We had another guy in your position who ran into the exact same issues.

That's one thing that's great about MyDMX and the 3D Visualizer is that you can start tweaking and see what you can or can't do. For me, I use it to make workable models. Not perfect, but good enough for proof of concept work.

Hi Chris.

Most of the Abtract scanners are shot, covers missing, overheated components etc, im repairing as much as i can for them by robbing peter to pay paul! And thats without looking at the moving heads.
I've spoke to him about the cost of replacing the lamps on a regular basis and trying to push to get the LED lighting to make it more worth while, also pitching that he will save on the electricity alone!
All the inteligent lights are DMX controlled, the house lights are dmx controlled through a 18ch pulsar dimmer pack.

We have two scanners working and ive checked thier dmx address, then checked back the rout of the dmx cables in the bar, so i know which way the system is running. By inputing all the lighting into the My DMX i've been able to locate what should be the correct dmx addressing.
So if we do change the lights, it shouldnt be too bad.

Just need to work out some patterns and chases etc.
May be a hard job for me, easy to you guys!

Ugh, yeah, you're fighting an uphill battle. Don't give up though.

First, let me address the bulb situation, which Serra Ava may present more "food for thought". He is a lighting guy, I'm a sound guy. Bulbs at this level probably don't need to be replaced until they burn out. This can be more of a concern on fixtures that use a shutter to block the beam where the bulb stays on the whole time. My Chauvet Q-Spots do this, which means that while I may only use the lights for a total of a couple of hours during a 4-day festival, they are on 14-16 hours a day and sitting around waiting with the bulb on. Better fixtures(in my opinion) will have a dimming option. This non-stop "bulb on" draws power when not needed and provides a more rapid march towards the rated fail time of the bulb. I'm not going to say the bulb-on is a bad design issue, but it's not something I considered when I was buying it, it never occurred to me to check into this. Overall, I'm pleased with this fixture, but I wouldn't buy them again because of the bulb-on issues.

Regardless, I recommend having a spare set of bulbs for all your fixtures if possible(I'm working on this). Things can and will fail at any time. I've had fresh bulbs and old bulb burn out just in the house. Like, we upgraded to those CFL's, and that same night, one of the "fresh out of the box" CFL's failed on us.

I also recommend regular cleaning cycles, even more so if you're using oil-based fog and haze fluids and have smokers as patrons. Even if you don't use fog or haze or don't allow smokers, dust gathers which can make things get dimmer(very slight). Plus, regular maintenance, you should hopefully find problems before they get critical.

Going LED might be a good way to go for multiple reasons: Never having to change the bulbs over the effective lifetime of the fixture, combined with the power savings. If the lights are going to be mounted in an area that's not convenient to access, this could be a good solution. ADJ and Elation provide a very extensive selection of LED fixtures in virtually all types.

I had a recent issue with my Q-spots, which I suspected. It wasn't a big deal, but I had to determine proper orientation of the fixture(which is supposed to be the front, which is supposed to be the back) and proper settings of the pan and title(had to reverse pan) so it would work with MyDMX properly, especially the 3D Visualizer. I rely on the 3D Visualizer to give me a workable model of my show design.

I'd say right now don't focus so much on the fact that you don't have real lights. Focus on getting familiar with the MyDMX application to determine if it's a good purchase. I think you will find it to be very affordable and powerful, especially for light-duty club usage.

Also, the more you use MyDMX, the easier it gets and the more comfortable you'll feel to start branching into other features.

Hi DJDeano,

I am using MyDMX to control 4x X Move LED plus'.
If I can be of any help, i'll certainly try. I,like you, live in the UK. (Hampshire). Where are you?
Regards
AndyH

Many Thanks for that detailed response chris.
Full of information.

At the moment im just a dj who works in the bar on a friday/saturday evening.
The bar is open on a Thurs/Fri/Sat nights only and normally open for around 6 hours.
The existing fittings have been left probably untouched for years now. I know they dont get maintained. I've dropped a couple of fittings down, and had a look inside.
They were full of dust, some screws/stop buffers missing, overheated connectors,the list goes on and on.
I used to drink in the same bar a few years ago, and some didnt work then. The poor moving heads just used to move with no light whatsoever, since i've started working in there they havent moved and were switched on. I've saved thier lives and disconnected them from the mains supply.
I took one of the abstract lights down to have a clean out of it and replace the lamps etc as i said to the manager its the 'cheapest' place to start to get them working again. When i opened it up there was one hell of a burning smell, when i noticed what had happend, basically the ignitor ballast had melted as it was constantly tryig to strike. I noticed that oftern the fitting would work eg mirrors move, then it wouldnt work for weeks, then come on, but no light.
We here in the UK have a smoking ban now, so the lights dont get clogged up with the smoke as they used to, also we dont use smoke in the bar as it sets the fire alarm systems off.
The ones i have cleaned out look much better and brighter.
Good old preventative maintainance, but they havent been maintained so the cost of sorting them out will run into £000's so thats why im trying to get him to change.
The moving head lamp is around £70-80 for around 700 hours, so he was like how much?

It wont be long before there is nothing on whatsoever!

Andy H, im based up on the north east coast.
Newcastle/Whitley Bay.

Thanks for the heads up, may be in touch soon!

Not exactly neighbours then!
However, my offer still stands - if i can help. I can assure you, the more you use MyDMX, the easier it gets.
Do you have a profile for your X-Move's?
Andy

Some bulbs can get expensive. The ones for my Chauvet Intimidator's can run me over $20(I know, no pricing, but I'm paying the stickered cost) each and they break easily. It's not due to the bulbs themselves, but the light fixtures. So, yeah, sticker shock. But I agree with your mentality: Bulbs might be the quickest and cheapest way to get things going. I also agree that you've saved all their lives by getting those "Dead" fixtures down before they actually spark something into ignition.

As far as fog/smoke setting off the alarms, switch to a water-based fluid. Even so, I'm often hestitant with fog/haze/smoke stuff for those same reasons because it could still set off alarms.

Best of luck. Oh, and welcome to the forums. Keep asking and plugging away.

Thanks for that Chris.

If i can link photos, ill show you the current state of some of them as i have them in my workshop.

The bar i work in is connected to a restauant and a hotel, so if the fire alarm goes off it will evacuate the full building, so its safe not to use it.

Mind you i work as an electrician and i install fire alarms systems, i might check out the spec of the system and check the sensitivity of the heads. To see if they can cope with fog.

Andy H, i dont have the x moves as yet, a local store to me is offering the older version for £299, but has a demo version for £250, trying to see about getting them to get used to it. Before going any further.

Im only doing this as im going to put one next to my dj booth, and see if it make's a difference to the bar, and to prove to the manager!

If i dont use them nothing ventured nothing gained.
But id like to hope to work with them and get the install job, be good to work in a place you 'designed'.

Regards
Dean

Dean,
Don't buy the older version. there were problems with them overheating and failing after, i think, about 400 hours. Wait until you can get hold of the new (plus) version. I think it might be unlikely you will find any this side of the new year as they are in very short supply.

Andy

That is true the x move LED PLUs are better. See Here for a shoot out of a decent line up of our moving heads.

http://forums.americandj.com/e...01000673/m/602103093
Sincerely,

Someone from the Service department posted some stuff about the current X-Move LED's, so yeah, don't go for the older models, ensure it's not only new in the box, but a newer model one.

Andy H.

Have you got any scenes programmed with the my dmx and x move led, im finding it hard to have a play around with it, as the 3d visuliser is not working correctly.
Im finding it hard to do chases scences etc.

Please descrie your issues with MyDMX.

I had to reconfigure my Chauvet Q-Spots and learn to orient them properly so they'd work the same way I saw them with with MyDMX.

Chases are a concept MyDMX doens't use. You have to do steps within a scene, utilize the Next functions and loop functions.

DJ Deano,
I can email you several scenes which you could then load into mydmx. This might help you to understand the logic behind it all!
Do you have the x-moves or are you just playing with the software at this stage. If you have puchased, how many do you have? and are they the x-move or the plus??
So many questions!!
AndyH

Hi Andy.

That would be great, im messing with the software at the moment, but i have purchased a x move led (dont shoot me down, its the original one, but was a demo version, and going cheap still with warrenty), so i've only got one.
Not sure how you could e-mail me them?
Can we give out address's on the forum?

Yes, you can give out email addresses on the forum. BUT, please "obfuscate" your email so it's not "spam harvesting snarfable".

Like, I could do mine as :

chris (at) studio42thorn DOT com

But, if you remove the thorn from my side, you can email me.

Make sense?

The one massively cool think about MyDMX is the "Try before you buy". You could literally do your whole show before you commit to buy. Then, once you buy, plug in the dongle, start MyDMX and you're good to go.

Keep playing. Really, that's the best thing for you. The more you play, the better you'll do. And when you get stuck, post here asking for help.

Thanks for that chris.

However, as i found out the 3d visuliser wont work correctly with the x move profile, i've tried several traits andthe dont tally up with what is actually on the sliders.

For example, i can have the shutter or and light on the unit, which shows up on the visualizer, however putting slider 7 up runs the auto move function which moves the fitting to the desired pattern, however does not mode on the visualizer.

So its a few little issues there.

The reason for that is the 3D viewer is not programmed to know EVERY macro or internal program of every fixture.
Sincerely,

Since nobody bothers to tell what a "macro" function is, it's impossible for MyDMX to be able to simulate it, even with their own products.

I'm tossing my ADJ Color Fusions into Macro mode and in MyDMX, they just sit there doing nothing.

This is how I use the 3D Visualizer:
It is a reference/proof of concept/design tool. It lets me know most importantly that might lights are pointed where I need them. In the case of my moving yoke fixtures, it gives me a safe reference to know I'm doing it right, I can't assume perfect. As far as my color mixing, I trust it. As far as things like "gobo spin, color wheel spin" and stuff like that, if I'm doing more animated stuff like that, I can live with the visual being representative of what I was after, rather than perfection.

For me, the 3D Visualizer is something I can't live without. Even with it's limitations, I do trust it. Without it, I would never have been able to work on the show I am still fine tuning. It would have been impossible to have done my design without it. Even so, it has served me well for design and proof of concept. Now, I need to properly aim the movers for the actual blocking, which is part of my documentation.

Knowing how to use the tools is critical, as well as understanding expectations and limitations and how to work within them. Yes, MyDMX's 3D Visualizer is not showing me absolutely everything I need to or want to see, but it is showing me enough to get the task done as quickly and as effectively as I can work(which isn't all that fast).

I suppose I should upload and share my show, complete with custom profiles.

DJ Deano,
if you still need help mail me -
andy (at) computacare (DOT) plus (DOT) com

or enter your email address on the forum (in a similar format as above)

Andy

Andy H, i've sent you a e-mail yesterday.

Deano -
email not received - i guess you must have "decoded" my address incorrectly?
the words in bracket refer to symbols - ie @ and . - every thing else is typed as you see it - ie "plus" is plus NOT +.
Try again!!
Andy

Hi Andy.

Just sent you a mail, hopefully correct this time.