Help with DMX light controller issue

Ok, there are two different things:

1) DMX addressing. If you have identical fixtures, you can set them both to the same address (first fixtures on 001). Be sure they are set to DMX mode (Menu on the back, ADDR then 001. Should you add other type fixtures later, you will need to use new address(es). Since your fixtures are 6-channel only, the next usable address would be 007 (001+6).

2) Channel assignment. The Obey assumes that the channels on a fixture are set up according to the list you posted. The faders will change the channel value from 000 (fader down) to 255 (fader fully up).

Now we get to the interesting part. Your particular fixtures are 6-channel but with a different assignment.

Now what happens is that the control fader 1 will change value between 000-255. For your fixture that means RED from off to full on. You would think that moving fader 1 up you would have RED full on, right? Unfortunately your fixtures have a master dimmer on channel 5. So, in order to get full on RED, you need to move both fader 1 and fader 5 all the way up! The master dimmer level will affect all 4 channels before it (channel 1 through 4). So you set the color mix by using the RED, BLUE, GREEN and WHITE channel faders and then use MASTER (channel 5) to set the actual brightness.

My suggestion would be to use a lettering thingie or a small strip of white gaffa tape on which you write what each fader does and stick that over the current channel names.

Finally, while the controller offers a strobe button (I don’t see a speed control), your fixtures have strobe on channel 6 going from slow to fast, but the ultimate last bit (251-255) switches your fixtures to sound control mode. Personally I would test at which setting the fader goes into sound control from strobing and put a piece of gaffa tape to prevent the fader from going there. Your controller has a sound control button, so that should work better than the one built-in into your fixtures.

As long as you use only these fixtures you should be ok. Once you start adding other fixtures with different channel assignment things might get tricky. Let’s say you get a couple of Chauvet fixtures that use the actual assignment as marked on your controller.

RED, GREEN and BlUE would be the same (channel 1-3), although you’d still need to move fader 5 to make any light visible on your QTXs. However, channel 5 on the Chauvet fixtures would be WHITE. SO while your QTX get brighter with the color mix set by faders 1-4, the Chauvets will set the white color according to that fader position.
And if you want to use the UV option of the Chauvets, your QTX will start strobing.

The controller offers an option of setting 6 groups of fixtures. In the above situation you would set your QTX to fixtures 1 group and the Chauvet ones to fixtures 2 group. Now you select group 1 and set the lights the way you want them, then select group 2, now you can set those fixtures (for example the UV to max, the rest off). While you set group 2 the group 1 fixtures should “remember” their last setting.

Finally your controller has many buttons that give you shortcuts to all kinds of settings. Unfortunately that works only perfectly with fixtures that have the 6-channel assignment that is identical to what the controller is setup for.
Better not use them, or test them in advance and see which give an acceptable effect and which don’t.

For example with color chase, it could play channel 1 then 2 then 3 then 4 then 5 then 6 then 1 again. Unfortunately, since your fixtures need a master channel, when 1 2 3 and 4 are sent to max respectively they won’t show light because 5 is closed and when 5 is opened the others are closed, still no light. When channel 6 is triggered it will strobe shortly until it chases to 1 again. Ergo, the color chase is not a viable option.
Alternatively it might only chase 1-2-3 in which case it might work correctly with channel 5 set to the value you want, but you’d have to test that.

A DMX controller based on a software solution would give you much more control to mix and match various fixtures.

UPDATE: Just looked at the Obey manual a bit more. And the faders seems to have two control modes. In manual RGBAWUV mode (press the button), it should work as above. The faders all double as something else (like master dimmer, strobe speed and such) when other buttons are pushed (like strobe, chase, etx.).
It is well beyond this post to work out every single combination. With your current fixtures, I’d experiment with the color fader and chase (look at the bottom text on the faders to see what they do) in combination with the TOP row of the colors/fades block of buttons.

Hope that helps some.

Hi Folks..

I’m new here, (just registered today) and also just bought an Chauvet Obey 6 controller. (Extremely Bad Move!)
I also bought 2 x Beamz UV lights, and 5 flat LED parkans. (4 from one manufacturer)

I have the same problem as the previous poster, except that my lights won’t even map to RGB in its most basic or simplest form. (that would do as a basis, but unfortunately not possible)

The faders in RGBAWUV mode on the Obey 6 do totally unpredictable things, and presumably, for the same reasons as those of the previous poster..
I shall make a DMX terminator tomorrow, and see if that helps, but I doubt it…

The main reason I see for all this frustration (and severe waste of money) is because there is no General DMX mapping standard.
Wouldn’t it make sense, (like the General Midi standard) for all controller manufacturers to map their products to fixed addresses?

Now, I’ve invested in not so cheap lights and a cheap controller, only to find them all useless, and nonsensical.
I can’t even select any basic colours, and I have to fiddle about for ages, until I get anything at all (which is not usually what I want, even remotely. ) Not good, when I’m supposed to be playing guitar and singing!

The fact that usually most LED light manufacturerrs don’t print their DMX addresses anywhere (until you take the spec sheet out of the box) means that I (and loads of other folks) are taking a huge chance in buying anything.. (because the likelyhood that it will work predictably when connected to DMX is extremely remote..)

For me, a standardisation and General DMX address protocol, adopted by all manufacturers for all of their products, is a matter of extreme urgency..
(I don’t think I can even take my lights apart and resolder the RGB led connector leads to different positions on the circuit board connectors, because fader 1) will never ever be red. or fader 2) green etc.) I’s not that the colours are just unpredictable, and in the wrong order, it’s that I can’t even select the bloody things with a fader, at all.

ritchie
bg

Hope you read my earlier replies where I tried to describe the way DMX works (to some extent).

First of all, DMX addressing (or rather channel assignment!) will never be standardized. Without going into too much (technical and commercial) detail here, it just is not a feasible option as there are just too many different fixtures with too many different features. Besides, in effect, DMX IS standardized. In it’s simplest (one universe) form it consists of 512 addresses (001-512).

YOU can freely set the STARTING address for your fixture. Hence there is no need for the manufacturer to “document” the DMX address of the unit.

Then there are several channels available. Most fixtures will have several channel modes available. Like 3-channel, 5-channel, 6-channel, etx. Again, YOU can set the mode you wish to use, based on the functionality you want to be able to control over DMX.

Each channel will control a certain feature, like colors (RGBW WW A), master, pre-programmed fades, strobing, sound reactive. Let’s say for example an RGB fixture might have a 3-channel mode that lets you control R (channel 1), G (channel 2) and B (channel 3) without a master or anything else. If this were your first fixture, you’d set it to channel 1 and it would use DMX addresses 001-003, 1 for each channel.

Now let’s say you have a second fixture that is RGBW and has a 5-channel mode that you want to use. It would have 4 channels for the three colors plus white and a 5th for master. You’d set the starting address to 004 (as 001-003 are occupied by your first and the channel mode to 5CH. Now addresses 004-008 will control those 5 parameters.

DMX is designed for large and highly specialized lighting rigs. Buy using multiple universes you can have many time 512 addresses. It wasn’t made for a 4 fixture DJ or band setup. Often in the lowest channel mode the colors are on the first channels and generally in the RGB order.

A professional lighting desk is like a DJ controller in that it can be programmed to deal with whatever fixtures you have. So, you’d tell the desk what fixtures use what addresses for what parameters. Once set properly, all fixtures will receive the correct command for R G B and whatever other shared options (like blind and strobe for example) there are.

Nowadays there are plenty of PC/Mac and even iPad based solutions that allow you to have software-driven DMX solutions. Both with or without a (simple) midi-controller you can then set everything (only once if it’s your own gear) correctly and have your RGB faders, perhaps master and some others you might like at your disposal. Same goes for the DMX addresses, the fixtures will remember this, so next gig, just put everything where you want it, turn on the power, hook up DMX and off you go.

If you had bought only Chauvet lighting gear, chances are fair that each fixture would have had a mode that is compatible with THEIR DMX controller. Unfortunately for you, other manufacturers don’t care what Chauvet does (as Chauvet doesn’t care the other way around). Settings things properly (and there are some options to group devices and a few other tricks), you might be able to get RGB plus master working, but that would indeed take some reading up, trial and error.

I’d consider something like the Visual Productions Cuety. It comes with a small hardware box that wirelessly connects to your iPad and lets you plug in your DMX cable. You can now set and control all your fixtures (it has a massive database with fixture mappings so no need to figure stuff out yourself). I believe it even has an iPhone remote app so you can do the most basic changes from your phone. At 285 euro it’s not cheap, but there aren’t too many cheaper options around, especially not with this feature set.

As for the terminator, I doubt that will make a difference. Really only necessary when handling long cable runs and large numbers of fixtures on one daisy-chain.

Finally, you can find channel modes and their channel designations online for just about every fixture. Not knowing before you buy does not have to happen.

This won’t do much to alleviate your problem/situation, but I do hope it offers some insight into why things are the way they are and won’t be changing.

DMX just isn’t plug and play, it requires some knowledge and preparation.

What brands are your par cans?

Let me see if I can clarify things a little bit more.

The Obey6 is a (duh) 6-channel controller. The channels are labelled RGBAWU, but -as said before- this just means that there are 6 channels that run 0-255 levels based on either preset programs or (in manual RGBAWU mode) fader positions.

It also supports 6 (groups of) fixtures (fixtures 1 thru 6). Each group has a starting address that is the previous one +6, so 001 – 007 – 013 – 019 – 025 – 031. By pressing each button you decide if the control commands you are giving affect that (group of) fixtures or not. You can select any combination of fixtures. For each (group of) fixtures the control faders could do something else (depending on the fixture).

Let’s take the 2nd set of cans (another 4x … etx.) and set ALL of them to address 001. They will now all do the same thing (this is common DMX practice if you don’t need indiviual fixture control).
According to the specs this is the channel assignment (they are 6-channel mode):

Ch1 Dimmer
Ch2 RED
Ch3 GREEN
Ch4 BLUE
Ch5 Programs:
001-100 7-color jump
101-150 7-color gradient
151-200 7-color changing
201-255 7-color changing voice (assuming voice activated)
Ch6 Strobe light and ch5 velocity (guessing channel 5 not 0 then velocity, channel 5=0 then strobe speed)

The fader marked RED on the controller (ch1) will control the master dimmer of the fixtures)
The fader marked GREEN will control ch2 RED
And so on.

With just these 4 lights hooked up and only fixtures 1 lit, all set to 001 address see if you can make things work using the 6 faders in manual mode. As long as you set channel 1 up (at 0 dimmer is in blackout setting), faders 2-4 should control the RGB colors, fader 5 should cycle through the 7-color jump/gradient/changing and changing voice, each at about 1/4 of the fader distance. Finally with fader 2-5 closed and 6 up you should have strobing.

If this works, you can now return all faders to 0 (blackout) and press fixtures 1 again (light will go off).
Now hook up your beamz uv lights. Set both to 007 start address.

If I found the right manual, these fixtures are 8-channel. This means only the first 6 are available!
Ch1 Dimmer
Ch2 RED
Ch3 GREEN
Ch4 BLUE
Ch5 WHITE
Ch6 Strobe (speed)

Now press the fixtures 2 button, open fader 1 (master dimmer) halfway, check if fader 2-4 do RGB, fader 5 white and fader 6 strobe speed. If this works, set everything to black again (all faders 0) and press fixtures 2 again to deselect.

Repeat this for the 2nd set of 4 cans with starting address set to 013 to be selected by fixtures 3. Have to look for channel designation yourself, couldn’t find online manual for them. Perhaps it was in the box. Again, the first channels are available with faders 1-6 controlling them. If a fixture has less channels, then some faders will just not affect anything. (example 4-channel fixture = faders 1-4 active, faders 5-6 inoperable).

Repat for single Xmas light, set to address 19 and selectable with fixtures 4.

In DMX, fixtures will keep their current settings until new control signals are received. So you can set fixtures one, then switch to fixtures 2 (switching 1 off) and set those, then the same for 3 and 4. Each previous (group of) fixtures will keep doing what you set it to.

If you are lucky the other 5 fixtures will also have RGB on 2-4 and maybe dimmer on 1. Now you can try out things like sound activated (through controller), same as strobe and such. Some color mixes might work as well.

If the other 5 fixtures don’t have RGB on 2-4, you will get different colors on those if you use presets or select all fixtures and move a color fader. Let’s say the one fixture has RGB on 1-3. You have all fixtures selected and move up fader 1, this will be master dimmer for fixtures 1 and 2, but RED for fixture 4. Moving fader 2 up will give you RED on fixtures 1 and 2 and GREEN on fixture 4. Well, you’ll get the idea.

Try this and you should have a somewhat workable setup. Can’t tell you exactly which automatic presets will give proper results. Trial and error there.

On a side note:

I understand your frustration, although I do think you expect a bit much when buying no-budget fixtures.
What I don’t agree with is your comparison of Midi (GM) and DMX. As I explained there are only 512 DMX addresses available in a single universe (making more universes requires expensive extra gear). You won’t to use as few as necessary.

Let’s say the industry would decide on the following channel standard channel assignment:
01 RED
02 GREEN
03 BLUE
04 AMBER
05 WHITE
06 COOL WHITE
07 WARM WHITE
08 UV
09 DIMMER
10 STROBE
11 PROGRAMS
12 SOUND ACTIVE
13 TILT (moving heads and such)
14 SWIVEL
15 PAN
16 ZOOM
17 GOBO
… and many, many more features that need control.

Let’s say the above is the standard. That would mean that you would need to skip 17 addresses for every (group of) fixture, even if only 4 features (RGB and Strobe) are active. Not only that, every controller would have to be 17-channel with 17 faders. Otherwise you can’t control each feature.

I am sure that you can appreciate that 17 is really a low number (especially considering that lasers, moonflowers, fazers, hazers, smoke machine, bubble machines and a host of other devices can be DMX controlled and might need channels for certain things. And that would mean if you had only a hand full of different fixtures, you’d still need a VERY extensive controller to be sure you could run all features. Not to mention having to know what each fader does.

DMX is NOT an amateur protocol. It is very stable, very flexible and the mainstay of every single venue, festival, theater and other lightshow and FX environment. And it does all that with a relatively simple and dependable methodology.

I hope you can follow the steps I outlined and get a handle on the way DMX works in your particular case. Once you grasp the basics behind DMX, you might appreciate it a bit more. If you have the channel assignments for the 4 other pars and the one single one, you can post them here if you like and need explanation on anything.