Pearl 2004 problems with midi, saving a show and dimming chases.

[Yltkdy]

Now in this topic I expressed my grievances with the personality builder.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there, and I am having problems with the Pearl 2004 as well, although much probably comes from the fact I don’t know (yet) how to run the desk.

MY background is nightlife, being a semi-professional dj in the Netherlands from 1987 till 2011 the most complicated lighting desk I run into was the Pulsar Masterpiece and I could read and write with this desk.
But nowadays this desk does not have enough DMX channels anymore to keep up with todays demand of DMX channels. Way back in the Middle Ages (1998) I worked with a light-jockey who was always burning down the Masterpiece and wanted to have an Avolites desk. He eventually did (if I remeber correctly the Pearl 2000) and yes, he did get more out of the lightshow than with the Masterpiece.

So that’s how I got here. I’ve been asked to get out of retirement and do gigs again. I’ve found a Pearl 2004, bought it cheap and I am now trying to understand this desk.
I understand the basics, I can patch it, make chases, but not getting the total hang of this desk because I do not have access to a complete lightshow.

What I do have is the ancient visualizer of Avolites, connected to the ancient simulator that works with lots of bugs because it is to old to run in Windows 11 under compatibility mode of Windows XP.

So now we are getting to problem one. I do not have a Visualizer connection on my desk. However, the manual claims that it’s possible to control the visualizer with Midi and there are indeed user settings to set up midi, but unfortunately for the manual doesn’t go further into the visualizer by midi then “MIDI - The Pearl has a very comprehensive MIDI control system”
Thank you, that is nice to know

So what are the settings for getting the midi to work? Which channel should I use? I did buy a midi to USB adapter, and it connects correctly to the PC but that’s it.

Midikabel
Pc connection

If I can’t get it to work can you afterwards install a visualizer connection. And when it works, are there visualizers that work with the 2004 and you don’t have to pay 90 euro’s a month for. The Avolites 7.40 visualizer does work and gives me that warm fuzzy feeling of being connected again with ancient times, but it would be nice to be able to use something a little more sofisticated than this



Secondly It seems I can’t get the desk to save a program. If I use the simulator the Avo.Sys is 8KB and the Mempool.sys 209kb on the latest file. This I can load in the desk and everything works fine. But if I save to disc from the desk, Avo.sys is also 8kb but the Mempool is 0kb, Then you do get the chases and tekst files, but the patch stays empty.
Is this an familiar error?

And last, After painstakingly making a personality file for the Showtec Pixelbar12 RGBW I find that chases made with these files start immediately at 100% light as soon as you rase the fader. I made a new personality file with attribute dimmer and 8bit DMX, but this didn’t solve the problem, and I can’t find anything on this in the manual.

Surely it must be possible to let the chase run directly but use the fader for the intensity for the lights?

[niclights]

Regarding visualisation this was designed to work via the MIDI port using a MIDI->serial cable wired in a specific way. This was designed at a time when serial ports were common on PC's. I doubt it would work with an off the shelf MIDI->Usb adapter but theoretically will work with a MIDI->serial + serial->USB. A quick search found this: https://forum.avolites.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2247. Unfortunately the link for the wiring doesn't appear to work any more. I imagine there is something somewhere but I'll leave that for someone else to find. As mentioned there you will also need ACDI and, probably most significantly, some software that will recognise this (and a machine that can run it). The reality is this is very old and comes from a time when consoles only output physical DMX, visualisation was in it's infancy and there were no standards for communication. Now we have network protocols such as sACN and ArtNet and most of the visualisers have been using these for a long time now.

Regarding dimming this relies on the attributes being HTP. If you set all of the attributes to HTP (either by directly editing the R20 file in a text editor or in Personality Builder before saving) the attributes will fade by fader but there are two important things to bear in mind. Firstly this might not end up looking the way you want - proportionally adjusting the level of RGB controls this way is not the same as a dimmer. Secondly, HTP attributes are more demanding on the software/hardware and the performance of the software will degrade as you increase the count. The software has a limit of 200 although at that point things can all get rather sluggish anyway. What you really need here is a virtual dimmer but unforunately this was beyond the capabilities of the software/hardware.

Regarding saving I have no idea, sorry.

At the end of the day the Pearl 2004 is very old now. The hardware is over 30 years old and uses processors we were using back in the good old days with the Amiga etc. There were no LED's. Certainly not multi-cell battens etc. There were a handful of fixture manufacturer's and fixtures and every new moving light was exciting. Most of the parts are no longer available and support ended long ago. The Titan software has virtual dimmers and makes controlling things like multi-cell battens a breeze and it has a Capture visualisation built-in. I appreciate there is a cost involved but I would seriously look at upgrading. Maybe something like a T3 or if you don't like the idea of having a laptop a Quartz. You can add a wing for more faders/buttons.

[Yltkdy]

Hi Nic,

Thank you for your answer again. I apologize that my answer seems a bit long, I will put it in sections so parts that are not interesting can be skipped for future readers.
It really took a few days to process your answer and think about it. Now I want to thank you for the kick under the butt. You are absolutely right that I need to appreciate the time this desk was built and how it worked back then.
After my retirement from deejaying I worked for Bax-shop for a few years, when quality and customer service still was of the utmost importance to them, so I do understand your position, answering questions over and over again. I’m very grateful for your answers and the fact that you even bother to answer my questions. Not many companies bother with equipment as old as the Pearl 2004 is.

The reason I choose the Pearl 2004 and I bought this one.
I appreciate you telling me that the Pearl 2004 is actually too old to cope. I understand your position, and if I had had the budget I would love to buy a Quartz but for now I don’t, and I doubt very much activity will become that high.
And of course I did use modern software at first and I did build a complete lightshow in Daslight.
But I just miss the feel and way of working with actual buttons and faders, You can work with midi controlers but 99.9% are built in China with the well known China quality, never getting the layout of a true lighting-desk. Yes the Pearl 2004 is old, but I would trust a 30 year old Pearl above a China made midi controller any day! Next to this mine seems to be in Mind condition.
Pearl 2004 top Pearl 2004 Top inside Pearl 2004 Bottom inside
And as an extra, still in perfect working condition
Graphic tablet

Something for the Avolites Museum?

Visualizer
Thank you for you confirmation about the visualizer working via Midi, because I was already thinking I was not on the right track just buying a simple midi to usb adapter.

Then, would it be possible to add an R232 connection to the desk, as there are indeed. still ports open on the motherboard
I really need a visualizer to preprogram even if it’s old like version 7.40. I programmed Dashlight with a visualizer, but as it is build in I can’t use it with anything else.

Searching for the answer in the Avolites discussion forum first
I saw your little note about the answer to my question about Midi already in the discussion. Of course, I try to find answers for my questions in older topics first or online videos.
When I do use the forum for answers about my Pearl 2004 I have to look Under "Consoles" and then you need to find your answer between all the different desks Avolites produced and hope your answer will be there. I hope you can appreciate it takes an incredible amount of time plowing to 76 pages of items of which you often do not know directly for what desk it is meant. (Although writing this message I saw I should begin at page 76, not 1 as these are the oldest posts and date from the Pearl Era) (hint)
Maybe it is an idea to make items of each desk to prohibit answering the same question over and over again if this is possible. It probably will prevent a lot of unnecessary questions. If needed I’m willing to help with this because I’m very grateful for your answers.

Programming 8 Pixelbars (= 384 dmx channels).
I listened to your advice and decided to program 4 pixel bars (=192 DMX channels) under the dimmers and the other 4 as HTP and it seems to do the trick for now. I just have a little too much time invested to toss it aside. If the desk should crash I just have to do with Dashlight and a touchscreen and buy a Quartz when I win the lottery.

[niclights]

Hi,

It's no problem. We don't see many questions about the Classic consoles now.

Regarding visualisation Gregory kindly found the working URL for the RS232 cable wiring and has updated it in the linked post. However unfortunately I think the biggest issue will be finding any visualiser that can use this now. Even if you manage to get an old version of something and a compatible machine to run it the libraries they use will almost certainly be out of date.