par 64 scrollers

[Joe Bleasdale]

hi all,

does anyone know how many DMX channels a Par 64 colour scroller would take up? I was unsure if it would be 1 channel of the same number as the colours it holds?

 

thanks

joe

[J Pearce]

A standard scroller requires one DMX channel. Different values select different frames on the scroll.

 

Some more advanced (often colour mixing) scrollers require two or three channels.

[Joe Bleasdale]

thanks alot, I can now look at my console buying options.

[Biskit]

Obviously you also need the dimmer channel which the par can is on... I find it best to think of the light and scroller as one overall unit which requires two channels.

 

Most desks (certainly Zero88 and Avo, and I assume Strand) will allow you to patch them as a single multi-channel unit (like a moving light), but have the added flexibility that the dimmer DMX channel and scroller channel do not have to be consecutive. The ability to patch them like this I find makes them very handy and intuitive to use, unlike on older desks where you had to patch the dimmer and scroller as seperate entities, although this did have its merits in certain circumstances. Depends what you are doing with them.

 

Ben.

[Ynot]

Most desks (certainly Zero88 and Avo, and I assume Strand) will allow you to patch them as a single multi-channel unit (like a moving light), but have the added flexibility that the dimmer DMX channel and scroller channel do not have to be consecutive.

 

Can't speak for the others, but the Strand 300/500 series doesn't patch them like a mover - there's a specific setup for a scroller - quite simply you tell the desk what channel you want to patch the scroller to (ie the SAME channel as the lantern it's attached to) and how many frames there are (-1 as '0' also counts as the first colour on the string) and hey presto. The scroller appears as channel n.2 (eg channel 1's scroller is on channel 1.2).

 

That's where the 'similarity' with a mover comes in - the standard colour attribute value (on single colour fixtures) is att 2.

[peternewman]

Its worth noting some scrollers have DMX controllable fans, although this is the kind of thing you can normally patch round if they aren't required.

[Tomo]

A "standard" 1-string scroller uses between 1 and 3 attributes:

 

1 - Location on gelstring (Colour)

2 - Fan Speed (Optional)

3 - Movement/Motor Speed (Optional)

 

Plus the dimmer for the parcan!

 

Some scrollers don't offer fan or movement speeds, some only offer fan speed, and some offer them all.

Most of the ones that offer Fan and Movement speeds can have these options disabled if you don't need them.