Seems like none of the show files nor profile fixtures I made in Beam 1.5 are compatible with Beam 2, and I also noticed there is no longer a Fixture Profile Editor in Beam 2… can we expect any forward/backward compatibility in the future? Or a fixture editor? I’m struggling to see any benefit to Beam 2, without being able to use my previous fixture files nor having the ability to build/edit new ones…
Hi @beatsbytor,
Beam 2 does still support fixture profiles and fixture patches made with Beam 1.x. It just uses a new file location for the fixture profiles library. If you copy the fixture profiles from the old location (~/Library/Application Support/Showsync/Beam/Fixture Profiles/User) to the new one (~/Documents/Beam/Fixture Profiles/User), you should be able to open any fixture patches made with Beam 1.x. New fixture profile version v3 brings several improvements, but old fixture profiles still offer the same functionality as before.
Here is a full update guide: Upgrading to Beam 2 | Showsync Support
Beam 2.0 is free to use for anyone with a 1.x license, so it’s entirely up to you to decide if you want to upgrade. It brings many under-the-hood stability and performance improvements, so we highly recommend upgrading. You can check what’s new in Beam 2.0 here.
Beam 2.0 indeed doesn’t include an in-app fixture editor, but you can use the web fixture editor, which we are currently working on further improving. As Beam 2.0 still supports v1 fixture profiles, you can even continue to use Beam 1.x’s Fixture Editor if you want, although the benefits that v3 profiles bring (improved color mixing, having multiple modes and cells defined within a single file, ability to set a highlight value for any channel, etc.) probably make it worth using the new online editor.
Please let us know if you need help with anything specific in the process of upgrading or making fixture profiles.