Channels vs DMX slots?

Question

I guess I'm still lost on the distinction between the 10K channels in the Ion manual vs the actual DMX Universe slots that I can patch and use (currently 3072). 
 It seems that my main concern is how many universes of dmx I have available. Multi-parameter fixtures are all using multiple dmx slots/per channel.. So I don't see how I would ever be using 10K channels with 6 universes of dmx. 
 The only patchable item I've come across in the Ion that doesn't use a dmx slot is the Pixel Map virtual server. Can someone give practical examples of using more channels that dmx slots on the Ion? 
 Thanks, 
 Jason

jbenghiat · Answer

It's often useful, when laying out the hookup, to skip channels between systems, so that every system's first channel ends with a 1. For example, a three color, three area cyc wash might be 201-203, 211-213, and 221-223. With a high channel maximum, you don't have to worry about wasting all those empty channels (or cramming specials in the spaces). 
 -Josh