connect a pearl 2010 to the visualiser

[PiXeL]

Hi,

i am trying to connect my pearl 2010 desk to the avolites visualiser. but it is not working yet. I managed to get my pc connected with the desk using the ACDI. (it turns into green). but when i patch a mac 250 entour in my desk and vis, it would not react to f.e. a locate. on the botom of the screen it gives an error like "bad DMX handle" or somethinh like that. i have to verify to give the right error.

i have connected my desk using the visualiser port en a RS323 cable to my com port on the pc.

can some one please give me some help?
Thx

[niclights]

First try something simple:

Start a new show on the console and a new theatre in Vis.

In the console patch 1 dimmer to output A, DMX 001 (default)

In Vis add 1x Generic (moving head) to DMX 001 (default)

See if you get control via the console handle.

[PiXeL]

i did what you sugested but the vis does not react.

i also did the RS232 lead check.

here i can see that the desk is continously recieving codes.

i tried an other laptop and that was the same.

on the botom in the vis screen it says "serial comm bad handle error"

thx

[niclights]

Is the console set to output to vis? Toggle user setting 14 until it shows 'visualiser'.

[icke_siegen]

I guess you selected 'RS-232' as DMX input in Visualiser. Select 'Simulator', and all should be fine (provided that ACDI is running, desk is set to 'MIDI: Visualizer', and connection is okay - but you already confirmed all this when telling 'ACDI is green')

Sebastian

[PiXeL]

a litle overview

I have my laptop connected to the desk using a RS232 (console cable)
COM port to visualiser port on the desk

the desk is set to midi: visualiser

the ACDI turns green says ("reading")

i got en single generic patched on the vis and on the desk on handle 1 dmx 001

in the visualiser on the botom is gives the message "serial comm bad handle error"

the vis does not react to anything i do on the desk

i am looking forward to any help i really would like to get it running

thx

[icke_siegen]

Set the visualiser to DMX-Input: Simulator, either by clicking there (left side), or by toggling through the options with F5. The error occurs when DMX is set to RS232, and ACDI is running simultaneously.

Alternatively, you can switch off ACDI, and select RS232 as DMX source.

[icke_siegen]

Now a little more explanation:

- ACDI is kind of a layer in between control signals (like DMX), and programs which can handle it (basically visualisation tools, like Visualiser, Lightconverse, and others). You might already know that the Pearl 2004 simulator is capable of outputting ACDI.
- the ACDI program is a tool which does the translation from the transport medium (like: ethernet cable, serial ports) to those programs
- the Visualiser does already understand those signals when they come via serial cable - no need for the translation program
- of course, when the ACDI program is already running, the serial port is blocked - that's why the error thrown. In that case, either select 'Simulator' as input in visualiser (virtually patching it to the ACDI program's output), or switch off the ACDI program, and select RS232 as visualiser input.

I'd strongly recommend to read the quick start guide: http://www.avolitesdownload.com/LinkCli ... 10&mid=567


Sebastian

[PiXeL]

thanks a lot!

i have the 2 connected now.
altouhg the visualizer crashes quiet a lot, it works.

[icke_siegen]

How do you finally have them connected? With ACDI and Vis set to Simulator, or without ACDI, and Vis set to RS232? I'd recommend the latter; maybe this solves (some of) the crashes

[CyPleX]

same problem here to,

from the 10 times i use the program it will crash 8 times.

i use the RS232 signal

Computer specs:
AMD phenom 2
Memory 4GB
HDD 2TB
Video ATI HD5450 (2GB)
Windows XP prof.

[icke_siegen]

Hm, hard to tell, maybe one of the gurus jumps in.
All I would suggest is to search systematically - since the visualiser is probably run and tested a lot, I'd reckon the problem is somewhere else. Could you provide some more info?

- when does it crash? directly after startup, or after a particular action?
- how does it crash? Just stalls, or crash and close? any error message?
- does it crash even with no fixtures added, or always with fixtures? If so, is it always the same fixtures you use? Which?
- How do you connect it? Standalone PC? Hooked up to which desk? (well, RS232 can only be from a classic desk)
- could you post (or mail me) the theatre you use?
- most stupid question ever: which vis version do you run? 7.20 is the current one...

Just to be stated:
- the visualiser has quite a long story to tell. Even I ran it, times ago, on some old 486 boxes, windows 96
- when using RS232: do you use a real RS232 connection (COM1 or such)? More and more computers (in particular notebooks) don't feature this interface, but unfortunately most USB-serial-adaptors do not work.
- further: did you check the RS232 settings? baudrate, handshake etc.? The manual gives details about this (I believe this would only enable/prohibit successfull connection, not cause a crash... but who knows)

Sebastian
s.beutel@trendco.de

[PiXeL]

I connected without the ACDI! so with an RS232 cable from a com (com 1)port on my latop to the visualizer connection on my pearl 2010.

i don't think it crashes after an action, because i tried to startup the vis, put it on RS232 en then left it untouched en it crashed to. it probaly is a random problem.
But its no problem for me anymore.

For me the visualizer was a bit to primitive, so i figured out an other way to visualise my pearl output.

In the past i bought an daslight usb -> DMX dongle and i can use this to input dmx to my laptop and use the daslight visualizer. which is more graphical

but anyway thanks a lot for the help!

grtz