I recently installed 8 new x-move led fixtures in the club where i DJ and was extremely excited to get the new lights working only to find out that the pan and tilt functions will not hold their home positions when using them in dmx mode, or any other mode for that matter. They just kind of throw light anywhere they want to in the room no matter how you program them. You can re-home them but not via a dmx command. You have to manually move the lights to put them back in their original position. Even then they will lose their position within 10 min. of running a light show. Don't get me wrong, these are nice lights but for the price you would be better off buying some spinning puke lights for under a 100 bucks just to throw light around the room.

American DJ let me down on this one and I am going to have a hard time getting the club owners to trust me again on new lighting purchases. These would be great lights if they would just hold their positions.

This has been discussed/dissed before recently.

What was the application for your lights? Aiming? I am getting the impression these aren't intended for an aimed application, but rather DJ/Disco movement over the dance floor.

I can understand your position. Lights are hard to test/eval, especially if you don't have a lot of knowledge about lighting in general. It sounds like you're above that step and have knowledge, just the typical "not sure all the poop on certain fixtures".

I say to those who also experience this, speak up. Support will be listening and I'm sure they may be addressing this issue.

They are being used for stage lighting and to add excitement in the room. Spinning and sweeping the room is ok but I need them to be able to hold their positions for more controlled sequences on the main stage with more complicated light shows.

I have found a bit of a solution in that if you write sequences that do stage scanning and don't move all around the room the lights will generally stay in position. You just have to be careful not to switch to any of the effects programs that are preprogrammed in the lights and basically don't program them to do any really aggressive movements.

That kinda sucks though because the light show can get a bit repeditive. I am still experimenting with them to see how much i can move them around without them losing their position.

While your idea seems a step in the right direction towards resolving and addressing your concerns, something tells me that it's more of a compensation for something wonky in the fixture.

Jingles had said that the movement is 8-bit as opposed to 16 bit. OK, I can see that this might also be due to less fine motors and therefore less overall accuracy. Even so, I would think that even with 8-bit control, you'd still should be able to nail the marks and be close enough within reasonable margin to make it work. Going back to what Jingles said, I would think if I programmed in MyDMX or even a DMX controller "go to these values", then as long as I don't move that fixture physically, I should be pretty close to being "spot on", ahem.

But two people quite clearly talk about these fixtures drifting. I'm just not one to want to compromise to adjust myself to how a fixture works. If it doesn't work how I want, then out it goes. I've either bought a defective fixture(could be opinion) or the wrong fixture for the task.

I think this is an issue support needs to look into. Maybe email or call them up to describe the situation in further detail or post up here for that matter. I would say if they can replicate it, then that's the first step towards getting this issue addressed.

It is indeed a work-around issue and is still a dissapointment because if i only wanted no drastic movements and to aim them only at the stage i could have got the x-scan mirrored lights and saved 200 bucks per fixture. But it's either that or just have all the fixtures sweeping the entire room all the time. I am not one for out of control fixtures. I believe that a really impressive light show is one that is well thought out and programmed. That's why its called intelligent lighting.

The Martin 575 hid light has a built in circuitry that will automatically return the fixture to the correct position if it gets knocked out of alignment due to "agressive" sweeping movements. This is the kind of circuitry that needs to be added to the x-move.

DJ James
http://www.musicvideojock.com

I can certainly understand your frustration and can also see your point of view.

Getting to the issue of a self-correctiong circuit, while I'm not sure how much software this entails, let's look at the bottom line, you're comparing a Martin fixture to an ADJ fixture. Not exactly an "apples to apples" type comparison.

As far as your statement about "that's why it is called intelligent lighting", I am certainly in total agreement with that sort of statement especially how your supported it with your previous wordings. As I said, I can't agree more. My Chauvet Q-Spot 150s are, while do have some quirks that thankfully don't show when using MyDMX, are, excuse the term, spot on when it comes to them going to where I need them when I need them there.

I guess for a first shot at a moving yoke LED fixture designed for DJ's, I suppose this is a good first generation fixture. But, I'm not a DJ, I'm a sound production company. I will conceded that my strengths are in audio, not lighting, but I have ideas for lighting.

In my opinion, it sounds like the X-Move isn't a fixture I should consider. Like you, I would want better movement control. So, I think at this time, I should just sit and wait and watch what ADJ is going to come out with in the future.

Most DJ's don't need such accuracy and control, they just need something flipping around the room and shining lights around. That's not to say they don't want some degree of control, but rather they don't need "pin point control".

If I want "out of control fixtures", I can go with various high-tech effects. That "out of control" status is a feature I am leveraging for the effect I am going for. That's why I have things like the Mystic, Sunray III, Double Twist Trilogy, Vertigo and others in my inventory. Gives me the movement I need without me having to worry about direction or control, let the sound active deal with it for me(except the Sunray III with it's 6rpm rotation).

There is a proper place for all kinds of lights in all kinds of rigs.

If you're using a specific value(s) in DMX for the X-Move and it isn't hitting those more or less right on(remember, 8-bit control, gotta give up a little accuracy), then something ain't right. I'm not here to bash ADJ, they know my high regards for their company and product.

As I said, I am going to wait to see what the future holds. I'm out of money anyways, no reason to buy anything!

DJ james, I am gonna have our guys run a series of test on these tommorrow or when they have them set up to see if they can replicate your issue. f you cna record a video a post it to you tube that would be cool but if not it's ok. i will have the product specialist check this out aswell. So ill try to find some answers for you. Also the feature you are referring to is pan and tilt correction these are not a feature on the x moves. Only on our higher end models of moving heads will you find this feature.
Sincerely,

Please tell me what controller you are using. Thanks. Our guys here want to know.

See, I told you. ADJ Support would definately want to check this out. No slackers here. This is one of many reasons why I'm sticking with ADJ products.

Not to slam the competition, but C****t seemed to think their products are perfect and without error and probably that the universe revolves around them. Well, I could list a bad design on one fixture, and some stupidity on another fixture of theirs and TWO design flaws on another fixture of theirs(and these are the ones that I own). Fortunately, their Par36's are OK, but I like my ADJ one better!

I'd say at this point, keep offering up useful information to be handed over to support and otherwise lets wait and see what Support has to offer for X-move users.

I LOVE old-school tactics. Honestly, it's the only way things really work best. Thank goodness ADJ understands this. You'll find the better companies do. And for a company making products in these price brackets to be doing this, it's just an unepxected but much welcomed exception to the common rules these days.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chris Pickett,

DJ James1; I believe I was the other person on the forum who also found out the X-Move fixtures would not return to their DMX positions after running extreme positions. Your observation is exactly the same as mine. I am not expecting pin point accuracy, but having a DMX set position on the wall return back to the ceiling is not acceptable. I can post a Video of the effect if ADJ wishes.

Wow, that's really not acceptable. You aimed it at the wall and it hit the ceiling type example. That's just not good.

It seems Support is working on this issue. But I think posting a video might not be a bad idea. Somewhere they can download it so it doesn't have to be on YouTube or some stuff like that.

I know I would like to see a video as I'm sure our support people aswell. Also i NEED to know which controller you two are using with these lights please? One of my bosses wants to know. ok? please let us know ASAP.
Sincerely,

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jingles,

Sorry it is taking me so long to post the video, I wanted to also show the effect using my ADJ MYDMX software/USB. The Club uses a universal 192 channel 16 scanner DMX controller like the Elation DMX operator, I'll get the exact brand and model for you.

Take your time. A well done video that properly highlights what your complaint is will only serve to better help ADJ Support to check into this problem more thoroughly and probably help many of other clients as well.

It's a win-win situation.

I setup two semi-pro video camera's aimed at the X-Moves and walls of the club yesterday afternoon. I then programmed the controller and observed the X-Moves for 1 hour as well as let the chases run. I did see a little DMX position variation, but very minor. The conditions are different however. The club was at a cool (68) temperature, no pounding music and absence of fog. Tonight should be a busy, noisy, foggy night and I've re-programmed the system to point the X-Moves to the wall periodically. I will video/post tomorrow the result.