Diamond 4 Elite Titan 3.1beta12 multicell LED

[ansius]

Hello everyone, I hope someone would be able to point me in the right direction.

I have acquired Diamond 4 Elite with Titan 3.1 beta 12 installed, and would like to get my Flash Bytrim FL-672 v2 LED battens to work in multicell mode (I've intended to use them so, I have 60 of them). I updated the personalities, and they show up right (I see the cell modes,) but when I patch them in desk, 1 cell mode is fine, others are not (no controls accessible), I opened the profile with the personality builder inside the desk (v2.1) it also sees mode tabs, but no cells. On the AVO webpage I found Personality Builder v2.2, installed on my PC - it opens the file and all cells show up fine.

For curiosity I patched also generic led batten with multicell - the same problem, I also patched multicell dimmer - that works as suspected.

Can something be done? is this limit of titan 3.1beta12? and there is no further titan versions that would work on this desk that would support cells properly?

I'm not well versed in Avolites, I have basic understanding of Classic Pearl, and can intuitively pick up this desk. but it looks hat I'm too deep in the woods and help would be really appreciated, thanks!

[niclights]

Unfortunately the Diamond 4 software does not support cells. For this you would need a Titan console (or PC suite).

The approach to controlling these fixtures in the Diamond 4 is much the same as Classic where you can either patch the cells as individual fixtures (ie. x * 3ch 1Cell or x * 6ch 1 Cell) or by adding attributes representing each cell and adding these to the compatibility part of the mode. I would recommend the former.

[ansius]

The workaround i'm aware off, have been using it on Pearl, just it was not as effective if there are many such led battens.

there also is this post https://www.facebook.com/Avolites/posts/we-are-very-pleased-to-announce-that-diamond-4-titan-will-be-launched-at-plasa-t/114336641952687/ that leads me believe that there are some newer version that is just not publicly released. would love to get hold of that. I do not hope for this desk to be in par modern ones, I just need it to be good enough to get me trough some medium size events and save / earn money to get a proper desk. I still quite often see a classic Perl on gigs, but as I have multicell fixtures and the perl is hard to fix if it breaks was no-go for me. This D4e I got a good deal, and it in its self is a solid desk, just have to tame its quirks.

Other topic, I see it has the external USB connectors, that as I understand are to be connected with external pc t use as controller, does this works also with later Titan versions?

[niclights]

I understand but I'm not aware of any further versions of the software. The post you linked to was from over 10 years ago. I would not expect it to be possible to connect the console to a PC running Titan.

[ansius]

Thanks! Will work with workarounds, at least D4 is big enough that it is possible to work for larger amount of fixtures - as I have used for stage backdrop 24 LED battens on 8 pixel mode. Given that the block is 8 fixture wide, rather intuitive layouts can be achieved. Will look in to grouping them as well.

Does anyone has personality builder 2.1 (it not on the website), would like to try some personality ideas.

[niclights]

I don't have v2.1 but available versions can be found in Software->Downloads->Personality Builder. I can't think of any particular reason why you cannot use the latest version (3.1 at the time of writing). Obviously newer features such as cells and swatch images won't be supported.

[ansius]

Probably I could use the new, just the 2.1 shows the personality the same way as D4 sees them, 2.2 shows cells, 2.1 whats on the desk does not.

[niclights]

All versions show the personality as the D4 sees them. It's just that they also show the new properties. One advantage of using the latest version is that it will display newer personalities correctly (for example with cells) which you could then convert. Another is they may contain fixes for bugs in older versions. If I was writing a personality for a D4 I would use the latest version. If it was for a multi-cell fixture I would place the attributes in the compatibility section of the associated mode, otherwise there would be no difference in my approach.

[Gregory]

there also is this post https://www.facebook.com/Avolites/posts/we-are-very-pleased-to-announce-that-diamond-4-titan-will-be-launched-at-plasa-t/114336641952687/ that leads me believe that there are some newer version that is just not publicly released.

Other topic, I see it has the external USB connectors, that as I understand are to be connected with external pc t use as controller, does this works also with later Titan versions?

To confirm the Facebook post is referring to the release of Diamond 4 Titan v3.0. Apart from that, there were only a limited number of bug fixes made culminating with v3.1 Beta 12. There was never a full release of v3.1 for the D4 nor has there been any versions since then. Although in the post it references a Preview of Titan V4 for Expert and Tiger Touch, this was separate to the release for the Diamond 4 discussed in the rest of the post. Sub-fixture cells were added to the Titan software in version 5 which means that the Diamond 4 never received this functionality.

The USB connectors on the Diamond 4 were to be used with a ShowSafe machine running the same version of software as the console thus allowing a basic backup by switching the hardware from the internal computer of the console to the ShowSafe. As this would require the Diamond 4 software and drivers which probably wouldn't be compatible with modern computers and certainly is not compatible with Titan PC Suite, I don't think these would help.

[ansius]

Sub-fixture cells were added to the Titan software in version 5 which means that the Diamond 4 never received this functionality.

That clarifies a lot, as the information is quite sparse on web about those early Titan versions. Jus a major release manuals and some release notes.

As the desk is powerlfull enugh to use workarrounds will worke with those, for the price I got it - it would take one sommer for it to pay off and already start making money. Not too shaby for a somewhat vintage desk.

I’m surprised how many clasic pearls are still arround and their rental price is the same as MA2 onPC kit.

Thanks for info!