smoke m/c reacting to sound to light

[matt-the-dj]

hi all,
i have a strange one here, when running on sound to light my smoke m/c appears to be getting random signals on the out put so its firing. it is not ticked in its profile to react to sound.looking at the show output its getting no.s sent to it from the sound to light, does the show out put show varying nos but with out the sound box ticked it should do nothing.?
when i set it up before it was ok but i had to reinstall the same version of fs again so i dont think its that.
regards
matt

[matt-the-dj]

a quick update,
if i use the fog button built in to freestyler it sends a 255 signal but, then the smoke m/c reverts back to varying output from the sound to light program and not to zero, i then have to slide the fader back to zero as a manual overide but the next time i pulse it from the fog button ill have the same problem.
any thoughts , im baffled

[matt-the-dj]

update
it must a be a bug in the programme as the latest version 3.2.8 with the beta 1.0.0.7 sound to light is ok, i just cant run that version on my old laptop, its too memory hungry.

[matt-the-dj]

this is now really weird
the latest version is now on both my laptops
the old laptop sends random signals to smoke in s2l
the new laptop doesnt, only when i push smoke button
any ideas what is different in old laptop.

[matt-the-dj]

i think ive solved my own problem by accident,trying it from scratch i added two smokes by accident then removed the first of the two so then it worked how?
it left a gap in the channel no's so it would appear that i need a clear channel between the last lighting fixture then the smoke which is last on the list
so last light 31-34
smoke 36
anyone else found that?

[matt-the-dj]

i never even got to do scenes or cues, i was only using the sound to light function, freestyler was sending random values to the smoke channel,the fog button sent 255 to the smoke m/c it then dropped back to a random no when i let go of the fog button. i did however have some trouble with the fixture on the list before the smoke, the numbers on the dip switches were correct, i can only assume some clash somewhere, it works with a gap, so until i think of a better solution it will stay like it.

[matt-the-dj]

tried something else
even with the smoke as the first fixture in the list so what happens no/dip switch wise after it should not make a difference, but it still picks up values from the sound to light genarator and will not sit at zero waiting for me to hit the fog button on the task bar or keyboard short cut
the only way i can get it to work is with a gap in the numbering, could it be an issue with the fixture file? i only set it as 1 channelsmoke m/c but, is it somehow needing a space for the fan channel, i tried to use an existing fixture file , but you guessed it ,same problem, ive spent 15hrs on this now and im going nuts.

[matt-the-dj]

OK so we can eliminate the sequence/cue thing.

I will ask again ... because with the more info we have the easier it can be to resolve the issue you are having.
What is the fixture and fixture profile you are using before the smoke machine and what is the smoke machine and fixture profile, maybe I can see something.
Links to the fixture(s) manuals would be very helpful as well.

i made my own fiture but it also has an issue with the antari z1500, i run it at the end of a jbs panther and befor chauvet omega,sam problem

[matt-the-dj]

thats the one, mine has those values, created my own fixture used those values, still does it, tried earlier version 2.96j still does it used 3.2.8 with 1.0.0.7 beta s/l still does it. i will create new locatio with randomly picked fixtures, how do i export and ill put em up for you to look at.

[matt-the-dj]

i have no manuals , all the fixtures are in free styler with only new one which was a clone of a freestyler fixture,
i just made it a 4 channel instead of a 5 and combined the shutter and strobe.
the fixture i created is for a magic d lynx, its the same as a jaguar with adifferent mirror but strobe and shutter are on same channel whereas,
jaguar has separate strobe and shutter channels hence i cloned and adjusted, all fixtures react correctly so files appear ok.

the no.s on the dips are correct the lights before the smoke react correct so i assume no.s are good, its freestyler output thats wrong light react ok.
1st fixture = chauvet omega (4 channel)
2nd fixture =chauvet omega (4 channel)
3rd fixture =jbs systems jaguar (5 channels)
4th fixture = jbs systems jaguar (5channels)
5th fixture =jbs systems icolor 4 (4channels)
6th fixture = clone of jbs sytems jaguar (altered to be 4 channel and set shutter and strobe to same channel as in 1)
7th fixture = clone of jbs sytems jaguar (altered to be 4 channel and set shutter and strobe to same channel as in 1)
8th fixture +antari z1500 (1 channel)
freestyler sends random s/l figures to channel 31 which the smoke is on
set smoke to 32 no signal unless i hit snoke or fog button
hope that helps.

[matt-the-dj]

had a thought, i might have forgot to alter the values for tilt and pan in my fixture, i have them on 4 and 5 but fixture is a 4channel, would that confuse it?
if so why with the smoke m/c first on the fixtures list is it still doing it, and why isnt it 2 channels out, one channel per fixture.

[matt-the-dj]

It depends on the fixture and the fixture profile, but not normally the thing that should happen or you would want to happen or you would want to do, a 4 channel fixture is a 4 channel fixture not five, if the real fixture is 5 channel and you have patched a four channel fixture then you will get a one channel overlay into the following fixture.

Lots of fixtures have differing modes of operation which can change the number of channels associated with it a good example of the is the Martin MAC250 range, now patching the wrong fixture on this would cause all sorts of problems.
Sometimes manufacturers change/update the DMX protocol for their fixtures, so a fixture profile that exists might not be exactly as the fixture or even correct at all.

You need to know exactly what fixtures you have, make, model, version, what mode they are running in if any, number of channels the fixture actually uses, sometimes you just need to patch/create a multi-channel "ParCan, dimmer,..." fixture and move the sliders to see what happens on all the channels, this is not fool proof as certain channels on certain fixtures on respond when other channels are at certain values.
Try to get manuals for your fixtures, do searches on the web to find pdfs of them, that will help a lot.

If you do not know the above then it's going to be impossible for anyone to help you out as we cannot guarantee the information you have on your fixtures is correct and is something that you cannot eliminate from the equation.

i see what you mean about overlay ill check that out.

[matt-the-dj]

i have figured out my problem there was a conflict in the fixture file, i had the fixture as a 4 channel but i had put a 4and a 5 in the pan and tilt but it only pans,no tilt.
i hopefully, have attached the file for someone to help me, if i use this fixture in sound to light it will do everything except light up as no signal is being sent to channel 1 which opens the shutter, so i then manually set channel 1 to 255 then it works fine, why does the sound to light feature not send random signals to shutter channels