I think it is useful for you to understand the difference between a channel and a dmx address. This link might help:
http://www.stagelightingprimer.com/inde ... ing.html&2I realize that there are many, many people including lighting manufacturers that refer to DMX addresses as "channels". But in the vast majority of controllers, a channel is an abstraction that removes the necessity of dealing directly with DMX addresses. This is true of LXConsole.
Yes, you can use a single channel number to refer to a fixture. The patch is how you connect the
channel number
---the number by which you want to refer to the fixture--- to its
address(es) ---the actual dmx number(s) that will talk to the fixture and tell it what to do.
In LXConsole any parameters of a light are referred to subchannels. LXConsole can control devices that are not lights. But, absent that exception, every channel will have at least one subchannel that controls "intensity" or how bright the light is.
The simplest case is a conventional fixture plugged into a dimmer. The patch maps the intensity subchannel to the DMX address of the dimmer that the light is plugged into.
More complicated fixtures may have more than one controllable parameter. Each one of these parameters will have its value set by a corresponding subchannel, grouped under the main channel number. Each subchannel refers to its function. .Red, .Pan, .Tilt, etc. Because almost all channels have at least intensity, you refer to that by just the channel number and the intensity function is implied. So for channel 1, 1.Pan would refer to controlling the pan parameter, 1.Tilt,=the tilt, etc., while just plain channel 1 would imply control of the intensity.
Automated and LED type fixtures have more parameters other than just intensity that you can control. In LXConsole these parameters are controlled by a single channel number with several subchannels. Each subchannel is mapped by the patch to a sequential series of DMX addresses, starting with the base address of the fixture.
Here's a concrete example:
The example fixture is a simple LED type that has a mode that uses 5 DMX addresses. The manufacturer tells you that the order of these addresses is:
1- Red
2- Green
3- Blue
4- White
5- Intensity
Let's assume that you have set the fixture to be controlled starting at DMX 101. That means that the level from the following DMX addresses in the control stream will control the fixture:
101- Red
102- Green
103- Blue
104- White
105- Intensity
Let's say we want to control this fixture in LXConsole using channel 5. In the channel setup for channel 5 there would be a single part for the channel.
In almost all cases for automated fixtures there will be one part to a channel. You can think of a channel part as representing a separate fixture. The reason to have multiple parts is to support controlling more than one fixture or device with a single channel. This is an advanced way of working and until you really understand the basics, your channels should always have one and only one part.The subchannel table for the only part in channel 5 should have the following entries in the following order:
Red
Green
Blue
White
Intensity
This single part should be assigned to address 101 in the parts table. You can also set the base address using the "Patch" column of the Inspector's Patch table.
What happens is that channel 5.Red sets the value of slot 101 in the DMX stream. Then, the other parameters follow in order:
5.Red -> 101
5.Green -> 102
5.Blue -> 103
5.White -> 104
5 -> 105
Suppose that you have another of these fixtures that you want to assign to channel 6 and DMX address 105. You set up the subchannels exactly like channel 5 above. You assign the base address of the only part of channel 6 to 105. Then the control will look like this:
5.Red -> 101
5.Green -> 102
5.Blue -> 103
5.White -> 104
5 ->
6.Red -> 105
6.Green -> 106
6.Blue -> 107
6.White -> 108
6 -> 109
The problem is that the DMX addresses of the fixture controlled by channel 5 and the fixture controlled by channel 6 overlap. When you patched channel 6 to base address 105, the output was moved from the intensity subchannel of 5 to the red subchannel of 6. You would assume that the fixture on channel 5 would not light up because it has no intensity control. But, that is not the case. It's intensity would be controlled by 6.Red and that might make for confusing results. However, that was what was set up.