Wybron Coloram 2's

Yes, we have some here too and each frame is off by 1, 2 or 3 dmx from what I think they should be. I've always thought it very strange but never really followed it up as i just throw it all into lots of colour palettes.

I have found all the scrollers to be the same amount off so perhaps a fixture personality would be good. Its on my to do list to draw a curve to make it fit... one day. It would be lovely if the desk did it for me though.

Crisp,

When you say you would draw a curve for it, do know how you would use it?  You can't place it on the Color parameter itself.  Would you place it on the Color part of a multi part cue?  It has been suggested that that method satisfies most scroller users?  I would like to hear from people who have done this.

I take it that since you use CP's, you are not using the custon scroll attribute via the encoder.  It's a pretty cool feature to dismiss.  Are there any changes you'd would think of that would result in you using it in addition to the palettes? 

I spoke with David Mayne at Wybron today.  He confirmed that the progression from frame one to frame last is never linear, that it has to do with the diameter of the roller with more of the gel string being greater than the roller with less on it.  He then described the graph he has that lists all of the values per frame.  It sounded exactly like the Profile/Curve the we used for years on the Strand 500's.  Perhaps some of this could addressed in an update of the fixture profile?

No, I would probably create an extra part in patch for the string alone. Then I could apply the curve directly.

I wouldn't place it on colour as i have 200 Rainbow scrolls, plus a load of CMY & RGB fixtures.

Its not that i never use the encoders. I do... and often! But for me it is quicker to type [channel 1 CP68 enter] than it is to select channel 1 and scroll through to get the colour rosco 68. But most importantly, when my show goes on tour or gets sold, rarely are the scrollers the same as the rig that i programmed it on. So all i need to do is update my colour palettes and then all my cues, subs, presets and effects are updated. And as you well know, when you have nearly 300 scrollers to update, the quickest way is the best.

Thank you for letting us know about the reasoning behind the Wybron 'curve'. There's always a good reason eh?

We have Coloram 2's at the Alley and we just started to see this problem with the EOS 1.7 update. Which console and software are you using?

Hi Keith,

We are on Ver 1.8, but the issue/problem has been the same since we jumped in at 1.2.  Eos and Ion.  I think some folks are looking into this from our particular angle now and may possibly be remedied in 1.9.  Thanks for joining in the discussion, that makes three Coloram users now.

If you haven't yet, I would suggest recording your frames as Color Palettes for now.  How many frames do you have by the way?

Crispy,

It's my understanding that you can't put a Curve on the Scroller Part of a channel.  Do you know differently?  It would be a very easy fix if you could.  I too find it quicker to use CPs on the DSs, especially when programming for a designer.  But since we have two sets of 26 frame scrolls, we end up with sheets of paper saying what frames are which color (instead of using 52 Palettes).  When busking my own shows, and Dance School season, I'd prefer to lose the cheat sheets and have the color frames operable on the Encoders.  When you say you use the Encoders often, I assume you recalibrate them for every show...?

B

We have a variety of Coloram strings ranging from 13 frames up to 32 frames. The problem appears to be the same for all of them; fine at the beginning and end, off in the middle. As far as I know, we didn't experience this issue until the upgrade to 1.7 and now in 1.8 as well.

Color palettes seems like a workable solution for now. Thanks.

-Keith

We have coloram II's and being off in the middle is typical of all of them.  They may have their own correction curve built in, but there are too many variables (gel thickness, age, etc) to be perfect.  I have found that the longer the string the more common the problem.  They do seem to be accurate once calibrated. 

As to what off means? Most boards I've seen use the formula (frame number -1 {ie the first frame is zero}) divided by the (total frames -1) times 255 rounded off to the nearest whole number.

   Version 1.7 + seems to support calibrating individual units, but I usually just calibrate a few in the board room set to the same address, while selecting the entire Coloram group on the console, there by calibrating all the show strings to the same values.

No, its not really like that.  The thickness of the gel may have some affect, but mainly it is determined by the length of the scroll (number of frames).  As I said, the guy at Wybron confirmed this,  He has the charts at his desk which list the frame values for numerous scroll lengths.  It doesn't have much to do with age as ours are of several different ages and all work exactly as the manufacturer expects.  The full frame values are definitely not 255 divided by the number of frame. 

Do you calibrate your few in the boardroom every show?