Wolfmix

Hello everyone,
first of all, a big THANK YOU to the Wolfmix team for the creation of the new firmware.
I just installed version 2.04 and I noticed a few problems.

First of all, I saved my projects and restored them to the device after the update.

What I noticed:

I have 4 Varytech Hero Spot Wash 140 fixtures.
Everything works except: the colors of the spot. I checked the DMX send page and I have a fixed color with the value 32 (orange), unless I remove the selected color, which goes back to white.
I deleted all my live edits, removed all the effects, and the bug is still there.
So what I did was create a new project: ok the colors work.

Another bug, when I do a blackout, I tested with a Showtec and the Hero Spot Wash: The Showtec and the Wash part go into blackout, but the spot part stays lit.

Something I've been waiting for some time regarding improvements:
We all have moving heads or beams with the option of half colors, except in live edit, but why not simply have the adjustable DMX value displayed on the color screen? Today, it is unusable in the color section, which is a shame and remains a shortcoming for me. We have many color options but not half shades. A simple field with the DMX value would really be a plus for everyone.

My moving heads have 2 gobo wheels, but I can only work on 1 of the 2 wheels. It would have been better to have the choice between the 2 wheels and to be able to adjust the rotation, which is already the case, but also the focus. This would allow everything to be on the gobo page without having to go through live edit. That's it for now regarding bugs and improvements. I will conduct tests progressively across my extensive lighting setup.

Note: if you want an ambassador for Belgium, I volunteer, I strongly believe in Wolfmix,
it's really a top product. Thanks again to the Wolfmix team for their dedication.

Kind Regards

Hi Capioka,

First of all, I think (but not 100% sure) there's quite a simple way to "repair" your older shows, at least in terms of the spot colors.

I deleted all my live edits, removed all the effects, and the bug is still there.
So what I did was create a new project: ok the colors work.

=> Please try to load your old project again, and shift your 4 Varytec Hero Spots another DMX addresses (or just delete them from the project).
=> Then patch them again (from scratch) to your project and give them their old adresses. (Note those down beforehand!)

I THINK that just the transition of your project from the old FW to the new one has mixed something up, so if they will be added again from scratch (like in a new project what you already tried successfully), it should work fine.

Another bug, when I do a blackout, I tested with a Showtec and the Hero Spot Wash: The Showtec and the Wash part go into blackout, but the spot part stays lit.

This is indeed strange; it might be solved the same way. Please try this too, and give us some feedback on this. If that doesn't work, could you please try this with a fresh project, too? And then let's talk further.

We all have moving heads or beams with the option of half colors, except in live edit, but why not simply have the adjustable DMX value displayed on the color screen? [...] A simple field with the DMX value would really be a plus for everyone.

Well, this might be the case for you but maybe not for everyone else. Wolfmix is know as (and loved because of being) a very simple to use controller, so we always need to be careful not to overcomplicate things. We're getting this request not for the first time but this is actually not that easy to implement as people think. Most people don't want any additional information in the menus (which they don't need), more options in the settings will also lead to confusion, and if we would do it in a very simple way (=half-colored buttons) , we first would need to create several new things like icons and more. In addition to that, you can't feature half-colors in any way with the soft buttons on the button pad...

On the other hand, we found a way to achieve 6 simultanous FXs, so let's see what the future brings! (=> It's noted, again.)

My moving heads have 2 gobo wheels, but I can only work on 1 of the 2 wheels. It would have been better to have the choice between the 2 wheels and to be able to adjust the rotation, which is already the case, but also the focus. This would allow everything to be on the gobo page without having to go through live edit.

I'm pretty sure there's a way to tweak your fixture in our official fixture bilder in a way that all this will be possible; I think we already saw more difficult things that were achieved that way. Just consider an absolute and definitive way which buttons/encoders shall do what function, and then try to achieve that with tweaking your fixtures in the fixture builder. In case of emergency, we have people on this forum who can help. (I'm thinking about someone in specific, called axell.) But perhaps check your PMs first!

Thanks again to the Wolfmix team for their dedication.

You're welcome!

Hello,

Thank you for responding. I know how to create a fixture;
I have done many, and here the fixture is correct and functional in the previous firmware of the Wolfmix.

I just tried changing the DMX address and also changing the group, but the result is the same: the blackout does not respond on the spot of the moving head.
I left the blackout on and checked the DMX values sent; the value remains as set.
So yes, there is a small bug on that side.

For the half color, we could just add a half icon and use the pads with 2 alternative colors.
That seems like a feasible idea.

Regarding the gobos, it's functional; however, the icons are not those from the editor, so I changed the name to make it easier for myself.
A second page would be a plus.

I hope to find a solution for the blackout; for the rest, I will continue with the live edits. It was mainly to be consistent in finding all the colors, in the color page and in the gobo page also in the gobo page.

Thank you to the whole team, it's crazy work that you have done there.

The "issue" with Varytech Hero Spot 140 is normal. This fixture simply has no automatic Off when no Color is selected.

Even if no Color is selected, the White beam will remain to be ON. That is how the design of the FIXTURE was made. See the snipped of the manual - its just always OPEN.
If you don't like it, you have to re-write the profile to change that behavior.
Option 1:
In Shutter & Strobe channel replace the first OPEN Preset (0-9) with Channel Type FLASH and replace second OPEN Preset (251-255) with Channel Type STROBE OFF. That way you can switch the fixture (manually) Off when using the Group Dimmer (Blackout) button.

Option 2: (more advanced, creating an Auto-Off function to a fixture without having Auto-Off support):
Replace the SPOT DIMMER channel with another Shutter&Strobe Channel Type and insert 3 Presets: CLOSED (000-000), FLASH (001-254) and OPEN (255-255 - being DEFAULT). Finally replace the FLASH Preset with another DIMMER Preset Type. Later on Wolfmix edit the Beam Editor to recongnize the DIMMER Preset inside the Shutter&Strobe channel, so you still can Dim the fixture.
Now when NO Color is selected the Shutter will jump to CLOSED ( 000) so make the Dimmer channel Off. When select a Color, it will jump to OPEN (255) so Dimmer will be ON. Voilá - an Auto Shut Off function even without fixture supporting it.

Hi Axel,

does this work for every MH? I also have some Eurolight MHs without a proper Shutter Channel. At the moment I use Live Edits to deactive the Beams, when not in use, but if this would work without restriction, I would love to adapt my profiles. Right now I didn't understood your explanation 100%, otherwise I would have tested it already.

What you are proposing is:
Replace the dimmer channel with a shutter channel (with the above mentioned settings) and replace the Strobe Channel with a Dimmer Channel.

This is clear for me so far, but I don't understand the next step, that the WM uses the Strobe as Dimmer Channel.
And if I implement it like this. Does the strobe channel (which is recognised as a Dimmer channel) still works, when I activate the Strobe Button?


@dev_Team: Would it be possible to adapt this functionality in the one of the next FW updates? I understand your approach, but I seems, that there are a lot of fixtures out there, which don't have a Shutter channel with on and off settings. I don't know your programming, but you also check e.g. if fixtures have dedicated dimmer channels and adapt the controll acordingly. Wouldn't that also an option for the MH Beams? In case you don't have dedicated on/off Settings, just use the Dimmer Channel to shut down the beam in case of no color selection or Blackout?