Hello,
I think that part of the difficulty you are experiencing is the differences among lighting fixtures,
DMX addresses,
console channels, and
console devices.
If what I am typing is over simplified, I do not mean any offense by its simplicity and only mean to assist. Are you a student, faculty, or staff?
First, your
Element console is similar in many respects to the
ETC Eos line. The beginning series of YouTube videos will be helpful for learning some of the rudimentary parts of programming the
Element.
Second, because access to the
console is limited for you I would recommend downloading the offline editor from
ETC.
There are many reasons that you might need access to previous Eos builds – whether you’re revisiting a long-running production or old show file, working with legacy consoles
www.etcconnect.com
You can install the software on a computer. It has a virtual
console keyboard that you can open to familiarize yourself while watching the videos.
Alright, now into the discussion.
When the technicians came out to setup the
system, the
system was setup so that the lighting fixtures were controlled by the
console as a device. There should be a copy of the show file on the
Element that they setup that has that information. I would look to see if such a file exists. It is possible that it was overwritten, but the original version should still be on the hard drive of the
console.
The
incandescent fixtures that you used to have only had
Intensity as an
parameter that was controlled by the
console.
The ColorSource PARs and Spots are lighting fixtures that have multiple parameters. They have
Intensity and Color parameters. Each
parameter needs to be controlled by the
console. Each of these parameters corresponds to a
DMX address from 1 through 512 and is determined by the
address that is set on the ColorSource
fixture.
So, for example, a ColorSource
PAR, operating in its standard 5
channel (or 5
address) mode, has
Intensity, Red, Green, Blue, and
Strobe controls. That ColorSource
PAR if it has a start
address of 1:
address 1 controls
intensity,
address 2 controls the Red color,
address 3 controls the Blue color,
address 4 controls the Green color, and
address 5 controls the
Strobe function.
BUT, this is not what is happening for you. Your fixtures have been changed to work in 1
channel mode. You only have access to the
Intensity control. The color controls are not available. The fact that you can only control every 5th
channel, suggests that the fixtures still have the start addresses set to be in 5
address mode but have been changed to only 1
address mode. To
gain access to the color controls, this needs to be changed.
Now, we have discussed fixtures and
DMX addresses. We know that your fixtures are in a mode that only allows control of
Intensity. Let's talk about the
console.
You said that you had set the
Element to 1-to1 patch. This means that
channel 1 on the
console is outputting data to
DMX address 1,
channel 2 to
DMX 2, and so on. So,
channel 1 may bring up a
fixture that has the
address of 1. Channels 2-5 do not bring up anything.
Channel 6 will bring up the
Intensity of a
fixture with the
DMX address of 6. Channels 7-10 do not bring up anything.
To control the ColorSource PARs and Spots fully, the fixtures need to be "patched" in the
console as devices to a
channel. When they are patched this way, the
channel controls the
Intensity and the Color and
Strobe attributes. This will allow you to select the
channel, and give it an
intensity, and use the
color picker.
Now, here is the action plan.
Can you SAFELY access the fixtures to change the "MODE" back to the standard 5
channel mode?
Page 7 of the
manual will tell you how to do it. That
manual is here
It will be helpful to make a note of the fixtures' addresses when you do this.
If you cannot safely access the fixtures, then you will need to use the
RDM functionality to change them.
RDM stands for Remote Device Management. It is a way of using the
console to change the modes on the fixtures. It is more involved. If you need to use this method, I can not recommend enough that you
call the
ETC Tech Support
line to get assistance. They are available 24 hours a day. (800) 688-4116
Once the fixtures have been changed back to 5
Channel mode, you will go to the
console to patch them.
This will show how to patch a multi-parameter device on the original
Element.
Is the start of the series about patching on the
Element if you want to back up a
bit.
I hope this will help you out.
Take care and have fun lighting the show. I started in high school working on lighting for our shows as an extracurricular activity. I didn't know when I started that it would become my career.
John