So I want the “volume modulation” definition for dimmer to only drive that channel from 0-199. And ideally a separate modulation for the Strobe speed.
I haven’t quite fully grasped yet how the modulation section of the fixture def all ties in with the attributes so I’m a bit unsure how to proceed. I’ve looked through the factory fixture defs for something like that but haven’t found it if it’s there…
Currently the best way to handle a slot-based channel with multiple continuous ranges for different properties is by creating a custom M4L device for it.
Here is an example Effect device based on the channel layout you posted: Combined Slots Effect.amxd (226.9 KB)
Place the device after a Beam Instrument device that chooses the tag assigned to the relevant fixture, then select the modulation mapped to the channel in question. The Dimmer / Strobe Rate dials will only be active when their corresponding slot is selected:
You will need a dedicated device for every such channel. To help with adapting this example to other channels like this, I added some comments that you can see if you Edit-open the device:
Make sure to quit Max after you are done editing, otherwise the Beam application won’t be able to communicate to the devices.
If you instead prefer to work with an Instrument device directly, you can use this example (uses the shutterstrobe modulation keyword): Combined Slots Instrument.amxd (360.6 KB)
Important note: when using these kinds of devices that internally work with DMX values, the modulation for such a channel should not have any Ranges applied in the Beam’s Patch Editor, to ensure that the Beam modulation values between 0. and 1. are correctly mapped back to the DMX values between 0 and 255.
If you are not familiar with Max for Live, we are happy to help. In the future we would like to support this functionality without a need for a custom device.
Let me know if this works for you.
P.S.: sometimes you only need one part of such a channel’s range. In that case you don’t need a custom device and you can:
Thanks for that excellent response. I already figured out that I can use the Range parameter to limit output but this is much more flexible. Now, it’s only been about 5 years since I attempted a Max patch… lets see if i have better luck figuring it out this time
Bumping this because although I never got around to making a custom device for these fixtures, I did get it going reasonably well. All that’s changed with v2 and although I’m finally confident enough with Beam to hack my way around the problem using the Generic device, I’d like to know what the answer would be with this version? thx
er, just to clarify my own thoughts - I think what I’m asking here is, what colorspace mode to use because neither rgbw or rgbwi are working with this at the moment.
