Titan and mac 700 dimmer issue.

[monkeypuzzle]

Got a wee bit of a problem with the dimmers. If I record a dimmer chase or even just flash memories of odds and evens for example, the dimmer channel doesn't snap, it has a bit of a fade in and out. I've got PC beams on the same memories and they seem to work as they should so it's not a fade time on the memory. The delay on the 700's seems to build up until they are almost permanently on, even when flashing relativly slowly. I've changed the dimmer curve on the units, tried 16bt and extended, classic and titan and have run out of ideas... can't find a shape to run on the shutter in titan either so the only flashing I can do is using the macros on the shutter channel.... a bit of a pain... got to be something simple.... is it because they have a part electric dimmer like when dimmer chasing a trackspot?

 

Cheers

[niclights]

The most likely cause seems to be accidentally setting a very slow dimmer on the 'speed' attribute. That would certainly explain the symptoms.

 

(Titan) Power on and locate values are both zero, which is 'tracking'. So that should be ok and so it's not obvious how you might accidentally change them or why it would be the same in both Classic and Titan. However, two ways to check in Titan:

 

Firstly you can look at the contents of the cue(s). Press View followed by one of the dimmer playbacks. Then click on the [view] button next to the cue on the VDU. This should open a grid showing all the values in the cue. Check to see if there is anything in the 'speed' column. If there is then select the cell(s) and then choose [delete]/[confirm] from the LCD softkeys. Alternatively you can use the OFF function to remove unwanted values.

 

Secondly you could observe the actual DMX data being sent via the Titan/DMX view. Bring the Titan window into focus from the Tools/Switch Task menu on the VDU. Then enable DMX view from within the Titan window menus if not already. Scroll down until you can see one of the Mac dimmer attributes and then move a dimmer playback. If you see the values changing proportionally with the fader as you expect then that would also confirm it is a fixture setting elsewhere.

 

 

Regarding shutters, shapes are a bit of an issue since they operate on the raw values and without writing specific ones for particular units it is quite difficult to get open/close type effects. However, you can have 'momentary' cues/chases by using the release option:

After recording your cue or chase press [Playback Options] and toggle intensity to release by pressing either the dimmer or shutter attribute key (for chases you must currently press the [set mask] softkey first). This now means that after firing the playback, when you lower the fader (or release flash/swop), any associated fixtures will release their shutter attribute to the power-on state, which should be 'open'.

[monkeypuzzle]

Hi Nic, cheers for the reply, couldn't understand how three of us programming seperatley could have all recorded the speed attribute as slow so never looked at that option, however just had a play now and found that as you say, the default is tracking but unfortunately the tracking doesn't seem to be able to keep up with using the flash buttons or dimmer chases, even at about 80/90 bpm! so putting it onto fastest mode seems to work. Off to record that to all my dimmer memories now. Will have a proper look when back in the (relative) peace and quite of a warehouse.

[niclights]

I've seen this on other fixtures. Manufacturers seem to recommend these 'tracking' modes as default states rather than the 'full speed' options, usually to avoid steppy artifacts. But in my experience the tracking modes often just end stopping you from getting instant response while there is rarely any evidence of problems running in full speed. Obviously it depends on application whether you notice or not, but personally I recommend full speed as defaults.

 

Note that, unless you used 'record by fixture' mode, it is unlikely this is stored in the cues and instead is just being set at power-on/locate. In that case all you need to do is set it once - either manually, from a palette or from a playback.

 

If you do need to update cues then latch the record cue menu, set to record by channel and then merge into cues.