You can use the unit in two ways:
“Stand alone” mode, where the unit listens to the music and generates its own complex
lightshow. This mode is good when you want a quick and impressive show, or if you don’t
have time to program or operate the light show.
DMX controlled mode, where you connect a controller such as the CE controller, the
Minicontroller or a standard lighting desk to the unit and control its movements yourself.
This mode is best for live performance, or if you want to have full control over the light
show.
Setup for Stand Alone mode
The CE range of Abstract products have a sophisticated built-in lightshow, which is compatible
across the whole range of products - you can connect any mix of units together and a fascinating
synchronised lightshow will be produced.
Link the units using DMX cables (balanced microphone cables should work); connect the DMX out
(the socket) on the first unit to the DMX in (plug) on the second unit. The first unit will then control
the other units to give an automatic synchronised light show.
You can tell which unit is controlling the light show because its green light will be flashing. The
green light will be permanently lit on all the other units.
Futurescan 1CE, Gladiator Revolution
and
DuoColour CE:
The remote control only operates in stand-alone
mode. It is ignored in DMX-controlled mode. See page 4 for details of how to connect the remote control.
2-channel light show
To add further interest to the light show you can set each unit to either follow the first unit or to do
something in contrast to the first unit. For example, if you have four units, two on the right and two
on the left, you might want to set the outside two units to do one thing, and the middle two to do a
variation on the same theme.
Set dip switch 10 ‘off’ to make the scan work the same and ‘on’ to select the variation. Even if you
only have two units you will probably find that you get a better light show if you set dip switch 10
‘on’ on the second unit.
Note: Dip switch 10 has no effect on the first unit in the DMX line (the one generating the light
show).
Special options in stand alone mode
In stand alone mode, you can also set three options which affect the way the unit produces its light
show, by setting the other 9 dip switches (1-9):
All dip switches on: Display mode - unit ignores audio and scans slowly through various
patterns (including strobes)
1 off, 2-9 on: Slow mode - unit responds to audio but always moves slowly and gently. No
strobing is used.
1 on, 2 off, 3-9 on: Strobe disable mode - unit behaves as for normal stand-alone mode but
will not use strobing.
These options only need to be set on the first unit in the DMX line if several units are connected
together. You can set the switches before or after the unit is turned on.
If you connect a DMX source while these special options are set, the unit will have a start channel
of 1.
Setup for DMX controlled mode
Abstract CE Manual
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