Static color + strobe on top

ronso0 · Wed Dec 19, 2018 3:23 pm

Hej there!
Just got started with QLC+ and I'm pretty happy that I managed to get all basic stuff up & running with a cheap RGB spot within a few hours.
Great programm!

Now I discovered my RGB spots also have channels 5 (mode) and 6 (strobe speed), and I'd like to have a steady red color (just red, no fx) AND a white strobe on top of that.
Broken down: red steady light with white flashes
Or the other way around: white strobe with steady red in between the flashes, with no black..ever

How would I do that?

I managed to get either a static color OR strobe, but failed to achieve the color+strobe behaviour described above.
Both the StaticRed and WhiteStrobe button are bound to functions, both are in the main frame and I can enable them both at the same time, but as soon as I enable the WhiteStrobe the StaticRed wouldn't affec the spot anymore. Also, when I stop the strobe the spot is off/black and I'd have to toggle StaticRed off/on to see it again.

syarbrough · Wed Dec 19, 2018 9:01 pm

Not 100% sure I understand what you are trying to do, but let me try to see if I do and maybe help..

It sounds like you have one light (maybe more but let's use one as a simple example).
1- You want a scene with the color (say, red) on steady
2- you want to activate a second program scene with the white strobing

From my experience with the (mostly generic) Leds I'm running (8x Lixada PAR, 2x Lixada ML,, and a set of no-name even more generic units), if you activate the light's built-in strobe it's going to strobe the whole light. It can't differentiate that you are sending the strobe signal with a specific color.

However, you can use the effects in QLC+ (don't have it in front of me, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but I want to say it's in Chase? I have some programmed this way but am drawing a blank on the setting name in the software) and create a 'red steady' and a 'strobing white' for the same light unit and activate them both... Using the timing controls in QLC+ to generate your 'strobe' effect...
Its not as quick and easy maybe as using the light's built in channel. But it gives you MUCH more control and will allow you to have one light with different color channels performing differently at the same time.

Hope that helped... If not, sorry...

ronso0 · Fri Dec 21, 2018 5:14 pm

I already have created separate Scenes for those settings, and I wonder what the difference is between Scenes and Chasers in my case..
Anyway, I'll give it a try. Thanks!

ronso0 · Fri Dec 21, 2018 5:17 pm

Ah, now I got it: you meant to generate the strobe effect 'manually' with fixed durations in the Chaser loop.

I guess that's not quite what I'm looking for. The final goal is to have a separat strobe effect I can basically put on top of any color, and maybe even control the strobe speed with a slider in the Virtual Console.

syarbrough · Sat Dec 22, 2018 8:46 pm

ronso0 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 21, 2018 5:17 pm Ah, now I got it: you meant to generate the strobe effect 'manually' with fixed durations in the Chaser loop.

I guess that's not quite what I'm looking for. The final goal is to have a separat strobe effect I can basically put on top of any color, and maybe even control the strobe speed with a slider in the Virtual Console.

Yeah, it would be a lot easier using the light's built in strobe, and depending on the light give a better strobe... but none of the lights Ihave used can differentiate that the strobe is for one color an not the entire light. All the lights I have used the strobe is either its own channel controlling speed from 'steady on' to 'fast strobe', or as the upper 1/2 of the values of the overall light brightness value (0-130 brightness, 135-254 strobe speed).
Would need to be a light with the strobe effect connected to the specific color channel and not the brightness channel.

GGGss · Mon Dec 24, 2018 7:44 am

I don't like the inbuilt strobes at all ... you cannot sync them between fixtures so you get like a random flickering stage.

What I like is a 10-15 Hz strobe built by using sequences. Everything which has to strobe, strobes in sync... ,-)
(and you can use whatever colour if you want)
(and you could have a flip-flop strobe in sync if you wanted)
(you could have a 'sweep' over the stage, while strobing, from say center to sides symetrical ... very nice stuff this)

syarbrough · Mon Dec 24, 2018 2:40 pm

GGGss wrote: ↑Mon Dec 24, 2018 7:44 am I don't like the inbuilt strobes at all ... you cannot sync them between fixtures so you get like a random flickering stage.

What I like is a 10-15 Hz strobe built by using sequences. Everything which has to strobe, strobes in sync... ,-)
(and you can use whatever colour if you want)
(and you could have a flip-flop strobe in sync if you wanted)
(you could have a 'sweep' over the stage, while strobing, from say center to sides symetrical ... very nice stuff this)

I don't use strobe effects much (so far anyway)... But interesting idea, especially the sweep effect.
I'll give that a shot..