Tri-Phase sound to light function

Check the manual to see if it has a "sound active" setting in the DMX oeprations specs. There's your answer right there.

Wait, it's NOT!!! The Page 11 says this is an 8 channel fixture, but I only see info on 4 channels, and I don't see a "sound active" feature.

No, it's not as simple as you'd like to be in one more or another, even if it appears to be a "software setting" that is in fact turned on and off.

You could also get some others for sound active mode only and operate them off a switcher pack.

Tri phase is only 4 channels.
Sincerely,

I'm seeing two trends:

First, the I suppose good trend:
More and more users are requesting sound active modes for their DMX/stand-alone operating fixtures. But, ADJ is also including a sound active mode in many such fixtures. The trend I am seeing is that users want or need a sounda active mode in DMX mode. I think ADJ needs to try to include as standard a sound active mode if the fixture includes such a features in stand-alone or master/slave mode. I think this makes logical sense. If you offer it, offer it fully on the product. In my scenario, I don't really need sound active mode all that much, but I do have some ideas where it would be a good thing to have available.

Trend 2:
ADJ has some of the better manuals. Lately, this isn't so true. The TriPhase manual, on page 11 says it's an 8-channel DMX fixture, but Page 12 shows only 4 channels with settings. I realize mistakes happen. But, what is needed is for the technical writers to have a proof-reader. Silly mistakes like this can be escalated into percieved BIG mistakes, which can distract current and new clients into a wrong impression.

Trend 2 is also the sign of a growing electronics industry wide problem, ranging from inexpensive items like toys and games, to in some cases items running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars(if not millions). It just appears this attention to detail is lacking in all levels of manuals.

One of the issues with Trend 2 is that the manuals are written by "people in the know", and not for "people who are clearly not in the know". Granted, we can't hand-hold the user completely, but it's necessary to at least lay it all out. We're talking lighting, not Cisco routers....(for example). The other issue is something I've noticed online with the overall poor writing skills. I'm not immune, I make errors from time to time too. But overall, writing skills are on a downward trend.

Some of us may not wish to communicate with people, especially at events. We still need to communicate effectively. We can't just let our gear and our skils do the talking.

SOLVED!!!

The solution to this problem is a bit of a hack, but works a treat. I found that if you disconnect the DMX cable, the tri-phase resorts to its in-built sound-to-light function.

1. you must sacrifice a DMX cable. The tri-phase uses 3-pin XLR connection. Cut your cable 1-2 feet from the connection.

2. Separate out the three cables within.

3. connect 3 x single pole, single throw toggle switches between each end of the three cores on both your long and short lenghths of cable.

4. you should now have three switches capable of toggling on or off the three core wires.

I connected all my toggle switches together to make one wide toggle switch. When the DMX signal is broke the tri-phase reverts to sound-to-light in under 2 seconds, when the DMX signal is re-established it responds instantly!

^ The only flaw to that is if the OP wanted to control more than just these fixtures from the console. I suppose the fix to that would be to use a splitter.

Uh, wow. Remind me to never hire you for an event.

I don't see that as a fix. It seems to me there is something horrifically wrong with your fixture if you're doing that to "control" your fixtures.

You remind me of my in-laws. They fight like mad to do the job wrong, especially if it takes longer, isn't reliable, costs more and ultimately won't do the intended task.

If you need that sound active solution, I'd have used a sepparate bank of lights and use some sort of remote on/off unit from ADJ to deal with those.

I suppose this falls into the category of a "could you / should you" idea. It seems that yes, this can be done and like I mentioned above, the only downside is that you're either going to have to buy a splitter or run a ton of DMX cable in order to have the capability of controlling more than just these fixtures on that daisy chain.

Now should you, no. Personally, I think you should have considered this before you purchased this specific unit. It seems that though there are some inconsistencies in the manual, a quick email to ADJ or post on this forum would have answered your question.

Since you said this is a club install, it's really not a good idea to rig something like that up. It'd be better to either sell what you have and get what you need, or spend some extra cash and get a few more sound-active fixtures.

There has been a trend of people not fully investigating units before purchase, and then wanting/demanding changes after the fact.

Personally, if a fixture has a sound active mode, I'd like to see that fixture continue to have sound active functionality when under DMX control. But I don't want to direct that to just ADJ, because other companies are also guilty of this.

I agree with prolightdesigner:
1: Read manuals. Nearly ALL manuals are available for download.
2: Ask Questions. Not sure of something? The time BEFORE you buy is the time to sort it all out.
3: Think about it. Does this fixture say it does what it claims it will do? Does asking questions confirm or deny this? If either aren't inline with what you're looking for, then it's time to start over with something else.

There's always a solution. Sometimes it takes more than just a simple solution, but there is always a solution. The trend also includes trying to make a fixture do something it wasn't meant to do.

A better solution for this fixture is perhaps finding a method of perhaps upgrading or improving the DMX control chipset to include sound active operation in the DMX specs.

Could this issue not be solved with a firmware update?

Let me try this again. My wireless likes to take a steamin' crap on me when I work. Very frustrating, and I have EXCELLENT wireless coverage here. It's the laptop. $3400 for a Macbook pro and I get a crappy 802.11n set. Lame.

Well, it is possible, but it's not going to happen.

There are multiple issues at play.

1: Firmware ROMS are expensive in comparison to regular ROMS that they burn/write once and install. While prices are dropping on flashroms, that also means that regular ROM prices are dropping too. With prices dropping, newer, better, larger and more reliable flashroms are coming out. Isn't technology grand?

2: Without a special interface, how are you going to flash it? I'm not sure if ADJ is using socketted ROMS, but they doesn't happen too often with flashroms. It often is cheaper to use socketted ROMs when making 1 board for multiple models, which there is nothing wrong with that. Even so, you can use flashROMS too for the same purpose but you have to have a means to write to them either before or after installed. No right way of doing it, depends on how they make it.

3: How are you going to flash it? USB port? Internal connection? RS-232? Proprietary/semiproprietary? Adaptor cable?

Really, at this product level, you don't get firmware upgrading options. It's not cost effective. And with firmware upgrades, you want bi-directional communication and you can't get that via DMX.

Your best bet is to simple keep making requests for what you want. ADJ listens, so hopefully a future design will address these requests.

So, in short, while it of course CAN be done, t won't be done, at least not in that version of the light. I know this isn't much of a comfort especially for your existing lights. I also am NOT an ADJ or Elation employee, so I can't speak with any authority on product design and implementation. I'm basing my response based on what I've seen in the past from ADJ and other companies in this level of product. They all pretty much behave the same as far as capabilities of products especiially in regards to specific features. Of course, clearly, the way each company behaves varies drastically.

No, most likely in order to add the DMX functions the board inside would need to be reprogrammed as well as a updated DMX chip. So prob not.
Sincerely,