Fixture address vs. DMX channel

On my Studio Color 575 and Spots CMY, what's the difference between addressing them via fixture number or DMX starting channel?

The reason why I ask, is my rental house was out of HogII's for this last minute gig I had. I got this new Maxim LP board by LSC Lighting.

My Spots are fine, but my Colors jitter around. They function fine, all effects are accessible, as well as pan/tilt. But when they should be staying still, they are moving left/right up/down just a bit...constantly...as if they're making a square shape. All my dmx is fine, terminators used...I've dealt with Colors for a long time and have never had these issues.

Someone commented that they changed the Color to use Fix number instead of starting DMX channel. I won't be able to try this till tomorrow...but what would the difference even be between the two?

Thanx
  • 0
    I never use fixture mode, ever. It used to have purpose with HES consoles. No longer.
    Use dmx start chans only.

    Are there any errors on the DMX line cuz something sounds fishy.:ninja:
    Test the terminator to make sure its still good. 120 ohm.
  • 0
    I fixed the problem, but fairly mickey moused.

    What was happening is the first patched fixture would operate fine. Then when I would add a second fixture they would start to do that little dance. I figured that there was some DMX conflict, because once I took the board out of the equation, problem solved.

    So instead of letting the board auto patch the fixtures to the next available DMX spot, I did it manually and spaced them out a good 5 channels apart. So for instance, StudioColor1 automatically took ch 1-16, then the board would patch StudioColor2 at 17-33 ect, ect. What I did was patch fixture 1 at 1-16 like normal, but then started fixture 2's patch at like 20, and followed this same pattern for all fixtures.

    I don't really know the root of this problem. One other person posted the same problem on Maxim's message board back in 2006 and never really got a response.

    I'll tell you what, this board is no Hog and for this show at least, I'm missing it more and more every day!
  • 0
    Hogs have their place but require a brain to operate, hence why most of my designs use Light Jockey. I do the programming and they can put a drunk ape on it and do a good dance floor. Works with DJ's too.www.emoticons.free.fr/smileys/Emotion-Tongue/tongue2.gif Same amount of brain involved.www.emoticons.free.fr/smileys/Emotion-Tongue/tonguemad.gif

    Id say you might have some console issues. Instructions ought not float over to other DMX chans. But errors from the desk or because of slacker cable can ruin you day.:blackeye:
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    I have run into this problem when running studio colors with mac 500's. They do the same little dance, yet the macs are all fine and happy. So what i have to do is run the macs on their own output of a splitter then the studio colors on their own and everything is happy.
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    [quote=TimMiller]I have run into this problem when running studio colors with mac 500's. They do the same little dance, yet the macs are all fine and happy. So what i have to do is run the macs on their own output of a splitter then the studio colors on their own and everything is happy.

    Yup! Same thing with Cyberlights. They sometimes dont play well with others so I always give them their own line off a splitter.:D
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    I always try to give each brand of fixture their own line off the splitter or their own universe, depending on the amount of channels used. IE, highend on one, Martin on another, Clay paky on another and it all works. Plus if you have a piece of DMX decide to go bad on you, at least you havnt lost the whole rig and it makes trouble shooting much more easy and fast.
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