Stairville DMX master controller

[Twinspin]

Ive got a stairville DMX Master controller and i need to know how to do a few things with the controller. Id appreciate any advice.

At the moment ive got one of my Martin MX-1 scanners plugged into it

but once ive set them up it will be like this (DMX channel number in brackets)

MX-1 (1) MX-1 (17) EFX500 (65) MX-1 (33) MX-1 (49)

at the moment ive just got the 1st scanner plugged in (DMX channel 1)

on the stairville controller i have no scenes at all programmed. Ive promised my roadie Alex that ill let him program my lightshow because he's good at doing lights.

Its my friend Steves wedding tommorow night and im doing his evening disco.
for him. My assistant Alex is coming with me and my friend has asked me to go there is a 2 hour interval between the breakfast and the evening reception
so in the first hour ill be setting the disco up and then there will be an hour till guests are allowed in the room.

My Roadie Alex in that hour wants to have a go at programming some scenes on the DMX master with my lightshow. The only problem i have with that is the lights been setup for the stairville controller on the Dip switches rather than the settings to run the lights master slave.

So if the programming job doesnt get done within that time it would mean changing the dipswitch settings back to how they was.

So my question is... Is there anything i can do on the stairville controller to make the lights move automatically without having to move sliders on the controller (other than the ones i need to move to get the lights working sound 2 light on the controller and so i can black out the lights as well.

i know the dmx master hasnt got in any built in lightshows but the martin scans have i just wondered if there is any function to get them all running sound 2 light.

im no good at scene programming or dmx.... its a blind spot for me.

any help is always appreciated.

[Vectis]

Unless you can tap into those built-in macros via DMX (no idea btw) then one hour is nowhere near enough to set up anything useful with a hardware controller. Even someone experienced with the desk would struggle to get more than 2 or 3 sequences running in that time, and that's just concentrating on one pair of lights.

Or maybe I'm just rubbish at desk programming :D

[thex-faders]

Hopefully im answering your questions correctly.

Once the lights are linked via dmx with the startville it has a build in microphone so you can run the lights S2L. Just to the left of the LED screen there are two buttons Auto / Del and Music / Bank Copy.

By pressing these the single LEd's next to the screen marked, Music, Manual and Auto should light us.

When the music LED is lit the lights should run through the starvills built in mic S2L. You can then press the Auto / Del to change between manual and automatic control using the Speed & fade Time faders.... or use the Tap/Display button in far right to tap out the 4 beat.

It works better once you have programmed the scenes in... but that should enable you to run them just sound to light through the controller.

Tom

[WWDJ]

If it were me I would have the MX-1s all on the same channel (1)
Then I would set dipswitch 9 on 2 of the units to reverse the Pan.
When you have done this you will have 2 units doing one thing and 2 units doing the same but in mirror image on the Pan.

This should make programming easier as you only have to think about 1 fixture for the MX-1s rather than 4.
It looks as if Fader 1 will put the MX-1 into Sound to Light
The manual is here
http://www.martin.com/service/downloadfile.asp?name=UM_MX1_EN_F.PDF&cat=65

Regarding the EFX500, this has built in Macros which are available on Fader 8 which can be quite useful to get a show up and running, although i find because it is a barrel effect with rotation it is much easier to get movement without programming chases.

Hope this helps.

[Twinspin]

right then guys update. Ive just moved fader 1 and its got the MX-1 moving about and the colours. Which is fantastic thanks guys.

Its just if my roadie doesnt finish the programming off which he wont more than likely wont in 1 hour and i wouldnt expect him to as i know scene programming can take a while. Ill be able to run the lights by pushing the 1st fader up and let them do their own thing (scanners still synced in same colour of course)

Im only running the lights like this temporarily because my roadie is going to program the full lightshow because he's worked with DMX before so said he can do it which any attempt is better than any of mine and he cant break nothing moving a few sliders.

ill just go and plug the other lights in now and give that a try

thanks everyone im very grateful for the help.

[Twinspin]

ive got my 4x scanners set onto channel 1. when i use the sound 2 light fader all the scanners go in a different colour. is there anything i can set on each MX-1 so they are the same colour all 4 in sound 2 light mode? but the colours change automatically.

because i can get the lights to do the same colour with fader 3.... but the gobos you have to change manually.

Thanks

[WWDJ]

ive got my 4x scanners set onto channel 1. when i use the sound 2 light fader all the scanners go in a different colour. is there anything i can set on each MX-1 so they are the same colour all 4 in sound 2 light mode? but the colours change automatically.

because i can get the lights to do the same colour with fader 3.... but the gobos you have to change manually.

Thanks

In short, no

Master Slave, which was being used to sync them before is overridden when you use DMX so each unit does not know what the other is doing, even though it is set to the same channel.

The only way to do make them do the same thing will be to programme some scenes and chases.

Now that they are set on the same channel this should be pretty easy to be honest and you should be able to get the EFX to do something complimentary to the MX1s

I still stand by what I said above about reversing the Pan on dipswitch 9 as it will make a more pleasing light show.

[Twinspin]

Ive put the scans away now. Ive just had to set them back to master slave for now. But i couldnt get them to do what i wanted on the controller without having to program scenes

I can get the mirrors tilting and panning and moving on their own in one colour
but they stay on the same colour unless you move fader 3 to change the colour.

When i got the units working in master slave the gobos on 4 scans were all different
so the roadie can wait while i get them out again.

but not during a disco job.

Thanks anyway though ive saved the stuff in this post. so i can set it up when the lights are programmed.

[Happy Jack]

I still stand by what I said above about reversing the Pan on dipswitch 9 as it will make a more pleasing light show.
This. Sound advice well worth taking on board.

When pressed for time and with the same fixtures, it's standard procedure to assign them to all to channel one, and reverse the pan and / or tilt of the odd / even fixtures. Once you or your roadie get comfortable with the board, one hour is plenty of time to fill up a bank or two with this method.