I’m using Beam4Live with RGBA/RGBWA fixtures and have run into an issue with Amber channels not responding to Ableton’s normal mixer controls. Maybe I am overlooking something obvious here, but my searches have turned up empty.
With my fixture definition, RGB channels participate in Beam’s rgbwi colorspace, while Amber (and UV) are represented as separate modulations. The result is:
- RGB responds correctly to the Ableton track fader and mute.
- RGB also responds correctly to group fader and mute.
- Amber continues outputting regardless of those fader/mute states.
I’ve verified that this isn’t a fixture or DMX issue; the same fixture/channel behaves normally when controlled by LightKey.
From what I understand, the underlying issue is that Beam’s mixer/intensity handling applies to channels participating in its colorspace, while channels such as Amber and UV sit outside that mechanism.
For an Ableton-centric lighting workflow, it would be extremely useful if arbitrary fixture modulations could optionally follow/multiply by Ableton’s effective track volume, including the effects of track mute and parent/group volume and mute.
Conceptually, something like an optional fixture-definition property:
followVolume: true
or
multiplyBy: volume
would solve the problem without changing the existing colorspace model.
The important part from my perspective isn’t the particular implementation. It’s preserving normal Ableton mixer semantics: if I fade or mute a lighting track/group, everything being generated by that fixture should fade or mute with it, including Amber, UV, or other channels that aren’t part of Beam’s RGB colorspace.
I’d be interested to know whether there’s already a mechanism for accomplishing this that I’ve missed, or whether support for something like this could be considered for Beam4Live.