Hi,
I just bought Beam software and now I’m trying to make it communicate with an Audibax Bar 252. I’m trying to use the Generic RGBW fixture but it doesn’t seem to work.
Communication is fine with QLC+
Can you help me checking my fixture and creating a profile for it?
Bar manual (I’m using DMX Mode 1)
I’m also sending the Beam profile and I really appreciate if you can help me checking if everything is OK.
Thanks in advance for the help!
Kind regards,
Bruno
Also, here is the Ableton project.
Thank you!
Hi Bruno,
Thanks for getting in touch!
It seems like you looked at the DMX slot values of channel 1 of the DMX mode 1 and placed a Generic RGBW (4 channels) fixture for each DMX slot to a starting DMX address with the same value as the DMX slot value:
However, the table in the manual on the left represents the DMX value (between 0 and 255) the channel 1 of your fixture needs to be receiving in order for a specific preset to be activated.
The starting address (what you set in the Patch Editor on the right) is the DMX address (between 1 and 512) within a DMX universe, corresponding to the address set on the back of your fixture.
The DMX mode 1 of this fixture has 2 channels. If you set it to the starting address 1, it will be listening to DMX channels 1 and 2. Each entry in the Patch Editor represents a single fixture, so if you only have one such LED bar, you only need to add one fixture. You can read more about this in the Introduction to lighting control.
Here is the fixture profile for DMX mode 1: Audibax BAR-252 - Mode 1 - 2ch.sbf
Download it, place it in your Fixture Profiles/User folder (which you can find by going to the top menu bar Beam > Fixture Profiles...) and restart Beam.
Go to Add Fixtures, select Audibax BAR-252 - Mode 1 - 2ch, choose the starting address (as set on the fixture) and assign a desired tag to it. If you only have one of these lights and it is patched to address 1, this is how your patch should look like:
In Live, add a Generic device and choose program and programspeed. Adjust the value of program to chose one of the color preset slots as listed in the manual.
Controlling a slot-based channel like this using modulation values between 0. and 1. can be inconvenient. To work around this, you can (currently) use a custom device that allows you to control a modulation with values between 0 and 255: Value (raw DMX values).amxd
If you want to control the color of your fixture using the color picker on the Beam devices, you can set your fixture to DMX mode 2 and use the Generic RGB profile:
Please let me know if this works and/or if you have any questions about this.
Finally, your LED bar supports addressing each of the 8 LED cells individually via DMX mode 6, which gives you the most control over this fixture. If you manage to make things work using DMX modes 1 and 2 and might be interested in mode 6, let me know and I can make a fixture profile for it.
Hi Luka!
Thank you for the clarifying answer! I’m kinda new to DMX settings and I’ve been learning a lot 
I did all the steps as described by you, everything looks OK now but I still have no answer from my fixture. The address A001 is set on the fixture (DMX Mode 1, address 001), I have now the fixture in Beam but the “Test” button still doesn’t result in anything. I am wondering if there’s something related to QLC+, which I’m also new to.
I can control it via QLC+, but in the “Simple Desk” part of QLC+, I’m leaving CH1 and CH2 set to 0. Do you think the configurations here might be affecting Beam?
Hi Bruno!
Please keep in mind that the Test button currently only sets the Dimmer, Red, Green, Blue and White channels to 255. So this will not have an impact on your fixture in DMX Mode 1, as its channels are Program and Program Speed.
To test your fixture, please add a Generic device in Live, select the program modulation and set it to something else than 0:
However, if you set your fixture to DMX Mode 2 and add a Generic RGB profile to the Patch Editor, the Test button should make the light turn on.
Please let me know if this works for you & feel free to ask if anything is still unclear.
Hi Luka, thank you very much for your help! I’ve got my fixture to communicate with Ableton via Beam. Now I’m trying to make the lights flash once the C3 note is played.
I can control all the lights and programs using the Par instrument together with the custom device that allows modulation control (the one you’ve sent), but the lights are not flashing once the note is played, they only change when I change the modulation control.
Do you have an idea of what’s causing the fixture to not answer to the note? I’ve set C3 note to my tag, but no results.
Thank you very much!
Regards,
Bruno.
Hi Bruno,
With your fixture in DMX Mode 1, where turning the light on/off is accomplished using the Program channel you could make the fixture turn on using a MIDI note triggered envelope by choosing program as one of the Generic’s envelope modulations, setting Attack and Decay to 0, enabling Int < Vel and using MIDI velocities that scale to the corresponding DMX values of the color preseets (e.g. MIDI velocity 6 to trigger the Red preset):
However, this is not an ideal way of doing this, as you are restricted to On/Off only, can only choose 7 basic colors, and matching the velocity values to the correct DMX values is a bit tedious.
Instead, I would highly recommend trying DMX Mode 2, the Generic RGB profile and the Par device. The DMX Mode 2 allows you to control every color channel with a 0-100% intensity, which means you can now use MIDI notes to directly trigger light intensity change (instead of triggering a preset, as in Mode 1). Besides that you can then also make the intensity velocity sensitive (using Int < Vel), choose any custom color using the color picker and use MIDI note-triggered intensity envelopes + Intensity modulation dial + LFO simultaneously (the intensities will add up)
Hi Luka, thank you very much for your help, I managed to get the lights working with Beam and Ableton Is it possible to make a fixture profile for DMX Mode 5? I’m asking that because I want to control the RGB lights and also the program functions that the bar has. I’m not sure but I think that’s the mode that will allow me to get the most control of both. Thank you very much!!!
Hi Bruno,
Good to hear! Not sure if the RGB channels will still be determining the color if you use the Program channel, but you can try, here is the profile for Mode 5:
Audibax BAR-252 - Mode 5 - 7ch.sbf (1.2 KB)
You could also try the Mode 6, where you can address each LED cell individually with MIDI notes or achieve some simple chase effects using the LFO device & the Spread parameter:
Audibax BAR-252 - Mode 6 - 26ch.sbf (900 Bytes)
