Marineboy63 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 We've just bought some Selecon LED fresnels and profiles (very nice). They're for a rehearsal space so be bought a small simple desk (Showtec easy 16) to control them. The fade on the desk is incredibly steppy with the Selecons but our old Chauvet Colorado 1s fade up nice and smoothly on the same desk. What's the difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPAman Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Are you set to 8 or 16 bit resolution? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marineboy63 Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 Are you set to 8 or 16 bit resolution? Lanterns are set to 16 bit and fade beautifully on another desk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianknight Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Don't use the Easy 16 for the LED's. It's probably ok with Showtec dimmers but it's probably going to be unhappy driving anything that doesn't have the Showtec Logo on. I have one next to me from a customer doing the same sort of thing - there are various reasons why but it seems to chiefly to boil down to the DMX Specification being treated as 'guidelines' (a bit like the pirate code that Johnny Depp espouses) by various chipset manufacturers and integrators rather than hard and fast 'rules' ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonhole Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 it seems to chiefly to boil down to the DMX Specification being treated as 'guidelines' ... rather than hard and fast 'rules'Like using 3pin connectors when the spec specifically says "may use the 5-pin XLR connector, but shall not use any other XLR connector" <_< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPAman Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Does that desk support 16bit operation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianknight Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Does that desk support 16bit operation? Nope - it's 16 faders in a box with a basic CPU that can run a chase and that's it, there's no configuration options for the channels or for the DMX output signal. It's handy as a source of DMX if you have some cheap 4 channel dimmers and don't want a 2 preset Scene memory desk (though to be honest given the cost difference...) but sadly it's designers wide interpretation of what is DMX means it has little practical application in a demanding DMX environment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinntec Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Does that desk support 16bit operation?Please don't get hung up on 8 bit v 16 bit as the Selecon LEDs (I presume we are talking PL fresnels/profiles - the latter we call "cannons", if you have any you will know why) fade beautifully with both 8 bit and 16 bit intensity settings. We have used them 8 bit on our Fat Frog then 16 bit since we got the MQ60. By default they will behave exactly like a tungsten lamp to a linear fade on DMX. Are you sure the mode the lanterns are in and the profile on the desk match? Channel 13 for example overrides intensity time if not set to 255 (so if this is fading, for example, the lamp will go bonkers). Aha - if you are using channel sliders to control the 15 channels altogether, then make sure 13 and 14 are fully up and 16 is 0. See manual (assuming PL lanterns). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPAman Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I'm sure these lights fade beautifully, but running in 16 bit mode would make no sense with that type of desk, and may (though I don't know) produce a "steppy" output when used that way. I'm only guessing, but in 8 bit mode, the firmware in the unit may smooth the gaps between the 256 available levels, while in 16 bit mode it expects the desk to provide the smoothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marineboy63 Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 Just discovered that if you set the colour time fader (CH14) to full it fades beautifully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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