Scrollers on Express 48/96

Well, there are two ways you can go about this.

One way is to create a Link List, which has both channels tied together.  For example if you create a linklist with Channels 10 and 101 (assuming a 1 to 1 patch,) then whenever you select channel 10, it will be highlit on the screen, but so will Channel 101.  On the Express' trackpad, channel 10 will be controllable by the left side of the track pad, and channel 101 will be on the right side, giving you the ability to slide your finger up and down on either side to change intensity or color as needed.   This is the usual way it was done on the console before the 3.1 version of software, and still how I prefer to link my scrollers to the intensity channel.

There is another way in the 3.1 version of software to create a custom ML personality using the PersEdit program.  You can create a custom fixture that has 2 channels, one for Intensity, and one for Color, and make sure to check the Remote Dimmer box to allow for a separate DMX address for the dimmer and scroller.  I haven't done this recently, but it isn't to hard to do if you have the PersEdit software (downloads with the offline editor,) and read the instructions.  Then you will use the ML operations of the console, and can create focus points for each frame of the gel string.

Either option will work, and each has it's benefits and downsides. 

Good luck.

Holztech said:

Well, there are two ways you can go about this.

One way is to create a Link List, which has both channels tied together.  For example if you create a linklist with Channels 10 and 101 (assuming a 1 to 1 patch,) then whenever you select channel 10, it will be highlit on the screen, but so will Channel 101.  On the Express' trackpad, channel 10 will be controllable by the left side of the track pad, and channel 101 will be on the right side, giving you the ability to slide your finger up and down on either side to change intensity or color as needed.   This is the usual way it was done on the console before the 3.1 version of software, and still how I prefer to link my scrollers to the intensity channel.

Dennis - thanks for your help. Yes this first option makes sense and is described in the manual but in a confusing way (as it shows how to link two scrollers together rather than a fixture and a scroller). With only four scrollers in my plot this is probably the easiest option.

Holztech said:

There is another way in the 3.1 version of software to create a custom ML personality using the PersEdit program.  You can create a custom fixture that has 2 channels, one for Intensity, and one for Color, and make sure to check the Remote Dimmer box to allow for a separate DMX address for the dimmer and scroller.  I haven't done this recently, but it isn't to hard to do if you have the PersEdit software (downloads with the offline editor,) and read the instructions.  Then you will use the ML operations of the console, and can create focus points for each frame of the gel string.

I have created a personality with one colour channel and remote dimmer checked (interestingly, the supplied ChromaQ personality is one channel and not a remote dimmer). When I try and patch the fixture it is not working as I would expect but I am probably doing something silly so will have another go.

Thanks again - Peter

I am still confused about how to setup a scroller as an ML fixture. If I setup a personality with a single colour attribute and say it has a remote dimmer, I can patch it but this effectively doesn't do anything as the fixture control only changes the colour (which I could do by calling up the channel myself). It also doesn't appear right to be specifying a dimmer rather than a DMX channel for intensity? If I set two attributes, intensity and colour, then it always allocates two concurrent channels regardless of the remote dimmer setting.

Please can someone give me a real idiot's guide - what should I set in the personality and how then to patch it so that I can control intensity and colour from fixture in Stage view if, for example, the lantern is on channel 10 and the scroller is on channel 101.

Thanks -- Peter

The personality editor can only create consecutive profile channels, so if you set channel 1 of the personality as Intensity and channel 2 of the profile as Color, then when you patch this fixture profile in the console to, say channel 101, then 101 will be intensity and channel 102 will be color.  You of course can patch any dimmer into these channels, but the fixture scroller will always be consecutive channels.  If you want the light to be controlled by Channel 1 and the scroller by Channel 101, then the Link List option is the way to go and forget the personality method.

The personality editor can only create consecutive profile channels, so if you set channel 1 of the personality as Intensity and channel 2 of the profile as Color, then when you patch this fixture profile in the console to, say channel 101, then 101 will be intensity and channel 102 will be color.  You of course can patch any dimmer into these channels, but the fixture scroller will always be consecutive channels.  If you want the light to be controlled by Channel 1 and the scroller by Channel 101, then the Link List option is the way to go and forget the personality method.

Hi JP - thanks. I will go with the Link List approach as recommended to get fixtures and scrollers to work together. It seems to work easily on the offline editor, so I hope the real desk does as well! Regards -- Peter