AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATION MANUAL SOFTWARE VERSION 3.x revision 3.
DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL CONTENTS 1. OVERVIEW 7 2. BEFORE TURNING ON 7 3. CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS MANUAL 7 4. THE KEYSWITCH 8 5. PATCHING 8 6. EASY START DIMMER 1:1 PATCH 8 7. WIPE ALL AND SELECTING THE NUMBER OF HTP CHANNELS REQUIRED 9 8. PATCHING FROM SCRATCH 9 9. PATCHING DIMMERS 10 10. TO PATCH INSTRUMENTS (ANYTHING WHICH IS NOT A GENERIC DIMMER) 11 11. PATCHING INSTRUMENTS WHICH USE A SEPARATE DIMMER. 12 12. TO PATCH AN INTENSITY LTP CHANNEL 12 13.
19. THE PROGRAMMER 14 20. TO PROGRAM OR EDIT A MEMORY 15 21. EXPLANATION OF CLEAR 15 22. WHICH CHANNELS ARE RECORDED 15 23. TO SET THE FADE TIME FOR A MEMORY 15 24. SETTING THE MEMORY REPLAY MODE 16 25. TO VIEW, SELECT OR CHANGE THE MEMORY MODE 18 26. TO PROGRAM A CHASE 18 27. TO SET A CHASE SPEED, USING THE KEYPAD 18 28. TO SET A CHASE SPEED USING A WHEEL 19 29. TO SET AN INDIVIDUAL STEP TIME, MAKING IT A COMPLEX STEP 19 30.
40. TO RECORD A GROUP 25 41. TO USE A GROUP 25 42. TO STORE A FOCUS 25 43. TO APPLY A FOCUS 26 44. FOCUS TIPS 26 45. EXPLANATION OF THE MIMIC LED’S 27 46. TO SET INSTRUMENTS ON MIMICS 28 47. UNFOLD 28 48. TO ALTER LEGENDS 28 49. MOVING LIGHT FUNCTIONS 28 50. USING ANIMATE 30 51. CHANGING CHANNELS ON AN INSTRUMENT FROM FADE TO INSTANT 31 52. HOW TO TURN 'ON' AND TURN 'OFF' CHANNELS 31 53. TO CREATE A TABLE 32 54. TO USE A TABLE 33 55. TO SAVE A TABLE TO DISK 34 56.
1. TO CHANGE ACTIVE SCREEN 38 62. THE STAGE REMOTE 39 63. USER SETTINGS AND PREFERENCES 41 64. USING THE GRAPHIC TABLET 42 65. KILLING DMX CHANNELS IN AN EMERGENCY AND THEN REVIVING THEM AGAIN 46 66. SERVICE OPTIONS 46 67. UPGRADES 47 68. CHANGING FROM EL SCREEN TO VGA CRT 47 69. POWER UP MESSAGES 48 70. TO LOAD SOFTWARE FROM DISK INTO FLASH MEMORY 48 71. ADDITIONAL EL OR CRT SCREENS AND DRIVER BOARDS 49 72. PATCHING LTP CHANNELS FOR DIMMERS 51 73. 51 73. HELP 52 74.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL 1. OVERVIEW The Avolites DIAMOND II uses the latest technology to create a lighting and moving light control desk with features unequalled elsewhere. Combining the qualities of a traditional 'preset' lighting control desk, with all the advantages of programming directly from the preset faders, together with powerful theatre editing, using a keypad to select channels and set levels.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL [A] Square brackets like these indicate the name of a button, in this case button A on the program panel. 4. THE KEYSWITCH The KEYSWITCH which is mounted to the right of the program panel or above the master faders depending on the serial number of your desk. RUN MODE When the Key is in RUN mode no programming is allowed, this may be considered the SAFE mode.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL • Turn the key to SYSTEM. • Press [A] then [F] then button [C]. After this all memories chases etc. will be erased and the desk will be ready for programming. The first 180 dimmers will be patched onto faders 1 to 180 in that DMX order, using DMX line 1. 7. WIPE ALL AND SELECTING THE NUMBER OF HTP CHANNELS REQUIRED A WIPEALL restores the desks memory to the factory settings, removing any programming you may have done.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL • • • • Place a blank formatted disk in the disk drive. Press the [DISK] button. Now press button [A], SAVE TO DISK. Now press button [F], CONFIRM. See section 59 for more information on the disk system. Now do a WIPE ALL by turning the KEY to SYSTEM. • • • • • Press button [A] marked SERVICE. Then press button [F] marked WIPE ALL. Finally press button [A] marked CONFIRM WIPEALL. You are now prompted on the main screen to enter the number of HTP channels required.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL • From the patch menu press button [A] marked DIMMER. You are now presented with the first free DMX number working upwards from DMX 1, on the line you selected. You may use this number or select a different DMX number from the [KEYPAD]. • Press a preset fader [SWOP] button to patch the dimmer. You may immediately use the fader to bring up that dimmer. The ADD and SWOP buttons are now ready to be used to patch another dimmer.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL • 11. Finally press a preset fader [SWOP] button to patch the instrument. PATCHING INSTRUMENTS WHICH USE A SEPARATE DIMMER. When an instrument requires a separate dimmer channel, such as the Vari*light VL5, a special dimmer channel is allocated as the instrument is patched. This is called a PENDING DIMMER. A pending dimmer is allocated to ensure all channels associated with an instrument are connected together, so tables and preset focuses are recalled correctly.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL To delete a PENDING DIMMER. • • • Press button [E], delete a pending dimmer. Press the confirm button. Finally press the preset fader SWOP button. WARNING Use this function with care since once the dimmer is deleted from the instrument the only way to put it back is to delete the whole instrument, then repatch it.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL • • • 18. First turn the key to SYSTEM. Then press button [F] marked LOCK MASTERS. Any locked memories are shown by flashing LOCK on display above the memory fader. Pressing [GRAB] locks or unlocks a memory or sequence. If necessary select the page which contains the memory you wish to lock, then press the [MEMORY FADER SWOP] button. INSERT AND DELETE WITH LOCKED MASTERS Locked masters are jumped over when INSERTING and DELETING.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL 20. TO PROGRAM OR EDIT A MEMORY • • • Set up the memory on the presets, with the Grand Master, Preset Master and Memory Master at full. Press the [MEMORY] button. Press [MEMORY FADER SWOP] button To see the memory • • • Put the Memory fader to full. Double press [CLEAR]. This clears the programmer. Lower the preset faders. The next section explains the CLEAR function in more detail. 21.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] Wait down Fade up Fade down LTP fade LTP wait For times longer than 60 seconds use the decimal point. For example, to set the Fade up time to 1.5 minutes, press the following buttons. • [1] • [.] [.] (The first '.' is for parts of a second, and the second is for minutes) • [3] [0] • [C] • To save the new setting press [ENTER] When a fade is running under a fader the top four characters of the display alternate between the legend and FADE.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL move from whatever position they are towards the new position. If the fader is moved down they will move back to the original position. Use this mode to control LTP channels with the fader. Useful if you wish to change between two colours, or move to a particular pan and tilt position and then back again.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL 25. TO VIEW, SELECT OR CHANGE THE MEMORY MODE You may view the memory mode selected by pressing the MEMORY MODE button. (This is to the left of the to the tens page select button select button 1.) • Put the memory master to full and take out all other memory masters and the preset master. (This ensures that no other channels will be recorded into the memory.) • Press [MEMORY] button. The screen shows a list of modes available. • Select the mode number on the [KEYPAD].
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL ♦ Steps which have not been assigned individual times are called SIMPLE STEPS. 28. TO SET A CHASE SPEED USING A WHEEL First connect a chase to one of the chase playback controls as follows:• Press [SEQUENCE CONTROL CONNECT] (above the playback controls) Memory faders controlling a chases are indicated by the SWOP LEDs flashing. • Press [MEMORY FADER GRAB] to connect the chase. The chase is now connected.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL Note that new times will be stored into the step that is LIVE at the moment [ENTER] is pressed. Once a step time is altered in this way the step is then called a COMPLEX STEP. This means that its times will no longer be altered by the speed wheel or by adjusting the chase speed using the keypad. 30. TO CHANGE A STEP BACK TO USING SIMPLE TIMES ONCE IT HAS BEEN MADE A COMPLEX STEP. • Press [TIMES]. • Press a [CHASE CONNECT] button. The Times menu is then presented.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL It may be useful to view the sequence steps on the screen, to do this:• Press [VIEW], • Followed by the [CONNECT] button. The screen tracks the NEXT step. The LIVE and NEXT step are identified on the screen. 34. SETTING THE CHASE PARAMETERS Pressing button [A], CHASE PARAMETERS, from the program menu allows setting and storing a number of chase parameters for the chase connected to CHASE CONTROLLER 1.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL ALL LINKS ON (off) allows a fast method of turning all the links to ON or OFF. This may be considered as making a chase into a theatre sequence. MORE When MORE is pressed the following options are presented:[A] FADER WILL RELOAD CHASE or FADER STOPS GO TO START CHASE or FADER STARTS and STOPS CHASE [B] WAIT AND FADE FOR ALL STEPS or SKIP FIRST WAIT TIME or SKIP FIRST WAIT AND FADE TIME Press button [A] or [B] to scroll round each of these options.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL • • Press [DELETE] Press a [MEMORY FADER GRAB] twice to remove an existing Memory or CHASE. After the first press a prompt will appear requesting the same grab to be pressed to confirm the delete. To Delete a FOCUS or GROUP Press the appropriate GROUP or FOCUS button. A second button press will be required to confirm the delete. To DELETE a CHASE step • Unfold the sequence by pressing [UNFOLD] • Followed by the [MEMORY FADER GRAB].
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL • • • • • • 38. First UNFOLD the chase or sequence, by pressing [UNFOLD] Then press the [MEMORY FADER SWOP] on the chase you wish to unfold. Press [INSERT] Press the [MEMORY FADER SWOP] at the point you wish the new memory to be inserted. Record the new memory as required and set the times if necessary. Press [UNFOLD] to refold the sequence.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL Using the above method it is very easy to move memories from one page to another or put them in the correct order on a page. NOTE Chase steps cannot be linked, you must use DUPLICATE. 39. TO CONNECT TO THE SEQUENCE CONTROL • Press the blue [CONNECT] button above the sequence control. Its led will flash, so will any programmed sequences or chases. • Press a [MEMORY FADER GRAB] button.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL • Press the [STORE FOCUS] button. • Press a channel [ADD] button. If the focus was previously recorded you must confirm the overwrite by pressing the ADD button again. The focus is now recorded. 43. 44. TO APPLY A FOCUS • Select instruments by pressing channel [SWOP] buttons or using a GROUP. • Press a previously recorded [FOCUS] button. FOCUS TIPS What follows is a number of tips and additional information given to us or observed by us from Diamond II users.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL Colour - Holding only colour information, can be a mix of colour wheels, and colour mix if the instrument supports this. Gobo - Holding gobo information, whilst these don’t normally change, putting gobos on focus buttons makes selection very easy. Focus - This may be useful to put on focuses if you expect the instruments to change height during a tour. Again having some this on buttons makes selection easy.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL 46. TO SET INSTRUMENTS ON MIMICS • • • • 47. Press [B] from the top program menu. Use the UP arrow to select preference 9. Use the RIGHT arrow to select INSTRUMENTS ON MIMICS. (Pressing the right arrow button again will select DIMMERS ON MIMICS.) Press [F] to leave the preference menu. UNFOLD Unfold is unique to the Diamond II. It allows testing of a sequence with parallel access to 30 steps at a time. Any step can be altered and instantly viewed.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL [C] [D] [E] [F] ANIMATE OFF UNTOUCH DEFINE THE STAGE These are described in the next sections. LOCATE FIXTURE This allows instruments to be positioned on the stage in white, no gobo, and positioned at 50% pan and tilt. NO CHANNELS ARE TURNED ON WITH LOCATE OR PLACED IN THE PROGRAMMER. It simply moves the instrument to a known position. IMPORTANT NOTE, Locate fixture:♦ DOES NOT turn the dimmer on, this must be done manually by moving the fader up.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL This selects a menu that allows the stage to be defined to enable the moving light tracking system. 50. USING ANIMATE Animate is a simple function allowing the most complicated sequences to be automatically built allowing you to try out ideas. Enter Animate by pressing [ML MENU] from the program menu, then pressing the [ANIMATE] soft button.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL 51. CHANGING CHANNELS ON AN INSTRUMENT FROM FADE TO INSTANT LTP channels can be selected to fade or be instantly output. This is because some parameters you may not wish to fade, for example GOBO whilst others such as colour mix channels should fade. Different lighting designers prefer different combinations of options and some instruments can also control internally the fade using a speed channel.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL • The ON/OFF button actually cycles through three states, 'ON', 'OFF', 'UNTOUCHED' before returning to 'ON' again. The state of the attribute is shown by the RED and GREEN LEDs, as follows:RED on GREEN off = channel 'ON' RED off GREEN on = channel 'OFF' BOTH off = 'UNTOUCHED' When a wheel is moved the channel turns on automatically. You may also turn all the channels associated with the selected instruments by using the OFF function under the ML menu.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL • When you have finished press button [F] marked Finish. Additional entries to tables can be added at any time by following the above method. Tables are replayed in alphabetical order. Tip: If you would like your entries to be recalled in the order you created them in they should be labelled numerically i.e.: 01 Red, 02 Yellow, 03 Blue, 04 Lee181, etc... 54.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL • • • 55. Select the instruments. Press the Function button containing the table. The table is listed on the screen. Use the cursor buttons to select an entry in the table. You may use the QWERTY keyboard to find an entry in a table. (Early versions will only sort on the first letter, you must then use the cursor buttons to move to the correct entry).
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL To add individual channels • Use the [ENTER] button between each channel. To set the level on the selected instruments • Move the dimmer level wheel or • Use the [AT PERCENT] button • Follow this with a single numeric. This will set all channels to that number multiplied by 10. To enter the units of level use the [.] on the keypad followed by a numeric. For example, to set channels 1..
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL When recording in BLIND mode only channels selected in the programmer will be recorded. If you wish to start from a previously recorded memory use the INCLUDE function to bring any memory into the programmer. To exit BLIND mode:• 58. Press [BLIND]. When you exit blind mode, by pressing [BLIND EDIT], any channels left in the controller will be output to the stage.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL [BLIND] is pressed. (To avoid this happening record the channels on a spare memory master and put this up.) When recording in BLIND mode only channels selected in the programmer will be recorded. If you wish to start from a previously recorded memory use the INCLUDE function to bring any memory into the programmer, by pressing the memories [GRAB] button. To exit BLIND mode • 59. Press [BLIND].
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL When viewing DIMMERS the screen shows 180 channels. If you have more than 180 dimmers in use pressing the preset select buttons will show subsequent dimmer numbers. If you CURSOR to an instrument you are presented with the levels being output to the first 10 instruments for each parameter. The dimmer is shown in percentage, the rest are shown as part of the range available to that channel. This is normally 0..255, but for pan and tilt it may 0..
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL 62. THE STAGE REMOTE The stage remote is connected the desk via a cable with a 25pin D type connector. This may be plugged into either end of the riggers remote, whichever is most convenient. It may be plugged and unplugged at any time. From the remote you may control a DMX channel or group of DMX channels an instrument, with access to any of the parameters of that instrument and from version 5 software a memory.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL ♦ NOTE When using the VIEW DMX screen and the [DIM] function the channel levels on the screen will flash indicating that DMX channel is under control of the remote. The level on stage will however be constant.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL Pressing the bottom left button will give the status of the remote, Enabled or Disabled. ♦ If the LED’s flash once it is disabled ♦ If the LED’s flash twice it is enabled 63. USER SETTINGS AND PREFERENCES To enter the USER SETTINGS menu • Press [USER SETTINGS] • Use the up and down arrow to select which setting you wish to alter and the left and right arrow to change the setting. All changes are saved on the show disk. 1 No longer used.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL ♦ RECORD ALL CHANNELS means that every channel will be recorded. This will use considerable quantities system of memory. The amount of memory available is displayed on the LCD screen as a percentage of the total available. NOTE HTP channels are always recorded as seen on stage. The above only alters LTP channels.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL • • • Use the down arrow to select option 8 Use the right cursor button select G. TABLET CONNECTED. Turn the key back to PROGRAM. To use the Graphic Tablet to control colours:• • • Ensure the configuration procedure has been done as shown above. Select an instrument that uses colour mix. Click the pen in the middle of the LUMINANCE bar on the tablet. Click the pen within the colour box on the Tablet.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL Using tracking with the graphic tablet • Train the desk. • Select the fixture or a number of fixtures by clicking on a select button with the button on the stylus held in, or select instruments by using a previously recorced GROUP. • Click on the [TRACK ON] button on the tablet. • Drag the stylus on the stage area of the tablet. By default ABSOLUTE mode is selected.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL This function steps through the instruments selected when a GROUP has been loaded. Instruments are selected in the same order as the instrument selection when the group was first created. • Click on [NEXT INSTRUMENT] If you wish to re-select all the instruments again then click on [SELECT ALL]. Programming FOCUSES From the Tablet Focuses can be stored. Care should be taken to ensure that you store the correct information into the correct focus.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL 65. KILLING DMX CHANNELS IN AN EMERGENCY AND THEN REVIVING THEM AGAIN You may have to quickly kill a fader channel or a DMX channel whilst running a show. Button [C] from the run menu allows you to instantly kill any channel. When pressed you are prompted to press a channel grab an [ADD] or [SWOP] button or enter a DMX number. Button [D] allows you to reverse this action and button [E] allows you to clear all the channels that have been killed.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL This option allows you to switch between RAM code and EPROM code. Pressing this when the desk is running EPROM code will probably result in an error message unless RAMCODE has been previously loaded. Diagnostic This changes the screen to display fader levels, key presses and processor status. To see the wheel diagnostic screen move any wheel. Wipe All Press this and its CONFIRM option to wipe ALL information and set the desk to the factory configurations.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL 69. POWER UP MESSAGES As the desk is initialised various messages are printed on the PAGE NUMBER display. Normally only ‘BOOTING’ and ‘BOOTED’ and information on the LCD screen will be seen since the previous information is changed at high speed, however if there is any problem on initialising the desk a message will be left on the display and this will help to identify where the problem is.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL IF YOU HAVE THE LINK FITTED ON THE MAP BOARD DO NOT PRESS BUTTON [A] UNLESS YOU WISH TO DO A WIPE ALL. BEFORE STARTING THIS YOU REQUIRE:2 blank formatted disks. A pen to label these. A disk containing the new software. • Ensure the new software disk is marked ‘new software’. • MAKE A DISK OF YOUR SHOW mark this ‘show disk’. • Power down the desk and fit the link on the MAP pcb. • Power up the desk.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL ♦ Bit 2 ON = EL screen, OFF = VGA screen ♦ Bits 3 = OFF- only one video board fitted, = ON - two video boards fitted. ♦ Bits 4 to 8, Always ON, these will be used for different screen types in the future. File d2man.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL 72. PATCHING LTP CHANNELS FOR DIMMERS The Diamond II can control up to 300 Highest Takes Precedence channels and any number of Latest Takes Precedence up to the number of DMX channels (two in the standard configuration). Latest Takes Precedence channels may in many cases be used to control dimmers. When used they have the advantage of all fades being dipless. As a guide the following will be helpful when using LTP channels for dimmers.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL 73. HELP Help loads the file HELP.D2 from the system disk, this is an ASCII text file and you may customise it as you wish. TO LOAD HELP • Place the system disk in the disk drive and press [HELP]. TO UNLOAD HELP • Turn the key to SYSTEM • Press the [UTILITIES] soft button • Press button [B] TO LOAD A NEW VERSION OF HELP Press [DISK] Press soft button [C], Disk Options Press button [B] (not button [A] as marked). File d2man.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL 74. AUTO FUNCTIONS IN A CHASE This function is not fully implemented yet. Enter the STACK SCRIPT function from the CHASE PARAMETERS option in the program menu, button [A]. The following menu is presented:[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] LOOPS AUTOLOAD SET MASTER CLEAR SCRIPT QUIT LOOPS This function allows you to request that on a particular sequence step the stack will go to another step and continue doing this for a set number of times.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL 75. KNOWN PROBLEMS IN VERSION 3 SOFTWARE In any software driven product there will inevitably be some bugs. This list gives the a list of these with solutions where available. UPDATED FOR VERSION 3.30 ⇒ MODE 3 MEMORIES PROBLEM When replaying a MODE 3 memory the fader must be faded up rather than snapped up. SOLUTION Failure to do this may stop the fade completing.
AVOLITES DIAMOND II OPERATORS MANUAL SOLUTION Run the chase, then reconnect. ⇒ CHASE LTP CHANNELS CONTINUE TO RUN WITH FADER DOWN PROBLEM LTP channels still face on a chase after the chase fader is taken to zero. This happens only when you have changed page with the chase running and the fader up, then on the new page taken the fader down. SOLUTION Go back to the original page then go forward again. File d2man.
