Chauvet 4bar system? Anyone know anything?

[bremerbnj]

 

My only comparison is to some LEDspash jrs. which seem almost unusable dim but folks like them for the right purpose in multiples. Since they are quoted at about 538 lux, I believe the quoted rating on the 4Bar @ 980 per light. Seems that puts the 4bar about even to a 200B rated at 930 lux, theoretically brighter though a little narrower. I'd say the last gigs I did with 300 watt par 56s they were darn painful on a close stage in a small club, maybe the 4Bar is around equal to higher wattage par38s but still no replacment for 300watt watters? Who knows until you get to a gig? I'm using mine tomorrow for a duo gig and I'll report back. The singer I work with was over today and he said he couldn't look at them when they were on full.

 

 

Hi,

There have been a few posts indicating that they were going to be using their new 4Pars at gigs this past weekend. Wondering if you used them and what your thoughts are?

[Norton666]

 

Hi, There have been a few posts indicating that they were going to be using their new 4Pars at gigs this past weekend. Wondering if you used them and what your thoughts are?

 

 

We used them for a pretty large show and I really wanted them to be kind of a trial by fire this weekend. Three bands, one of which was my band. We put up 8 Par 56's with 300 watt bulbs in the front of the stage and then one of the 4bar systems directly behind the drummer for backlighting. I put the footswitch at the front of the stage and told the other bands how to use it. EVERYONE loved the 4bar system. 2 of them would have been plenty to light up a large stage. One of them worked fine for what we were using it for. It was unbelievably easy to use and we didnt have any problems. IMO, and every single member of the other two bands that played Saturday will agree, there is no reason whatsoever to still choose a standard Par can setup over this rig. Much easier to transport, more versatility and the price difference isnt that much at all. If you figure $100 for a pair of comparable T bar stands, $300 for a pair of dimmer packs and a foot controller and $40 a can for Par 56's, youre talking about a difference of less than $100 for an 8 can setup. Seems like a no brainer to me. I was thoroughly impressed and Im looking forward for the rest of the 4bar systems to start coming in stock.

[Glen K]

Yep I used my single "4Bar" at a gig last saturday with an acoustic duo. We had no place in front of us or to the side to set it up, so the only thing we could do is put it behind us. The club was really brightly lit already but it added some needed vibe and movement to the show. I wish it had been a darker room to try it out in, but the place was lit well enough to read a fine print book just about anywhere. It was ultra quick to set it up and tear down which was quite welcome. I didn't find I could get very creative with the controller without getting screwed up with it at times, and look forward to getting it all run via DMX and a programmed midi foot controller. When you run the unit in sound activate the only way to pull it back out of sound mode is to click the 1st pedal putting it back to all leds on every time. You really can't say choose a color, say red then go in and out of sound mode. Still having a foot controller in the package is quite handy, and there will be plenty of smaller shows where I'll want to go as simple as possible anyway. Hopefully for the next show we can get the thing out front and get the house lights backed down. That said, I just ordered four Chauvet 200B fixtures. I plan to mount 2 to each of my speakers up top and run those with my "4bar" in the back all via DMX. I bought an Enttec DMX pro adapter, and will soon be working my way into Freestyler on a laptop with a midi foot controller. My plan then is to use the "4bar" for smaller gigs on it's own, and then on bigger gigs I'll use it for back lighting with the four 200Bs in front from the tops of the speakers. Truly one of the best things I like about the LED setup is NO dimmer noise in the guitars or bass onstage, none even with single coil pickups.

[bremerbnj]

Thanks for the feedback. Sounds very promising! Sounds like you could take 3 sets of these..one on each side and one in the back and you would be all set. So if I understand it correctly (I'm a newbie at the lighting scene for bands)..you can connect this system to a DMX controller?

[Glen K]

 

Thanks for the feedback. Sounds very promising! Sounds like you could take 3 sets of these..one on each side and one in the back and you would be all set. So if I understand it correctly (I'm a newbie at the lighting scene for bands)..you can connect this system to a DMX controller?

 

 

Yes it is fully DMX capable though I have yet to try it. It has 3 pin DMX in and out jacks, and the starting channel is set by 3 buttons and an LED readout so no dip switches. It apparently takes up 15 total channels, and each light is individually addressable in the 3 colors taking up then 12 of the channels plus 3 more channels are doing other things.

[bigjd]

 

Yes it is fully DMX capable though I have yet to try it. It has 3 pin DMX in and out jacks, and the starting channel is set by 3 buttons and an LED readout so no dip switches. It apparently takes up 15 total channels, and each light is individually addressable in the 3 colors taking up then 12 of the channels plus 3 more channels are doing other things.

 

 

Wow thats pretty functional,you could do alot eith that much programing capabilities

[zekmoe]

Look very cool and practical for many small bands. I'll bet they become a standard in a few years if they don't crap out or get a bad rep.

[bremerbnj]

Just ordered two sets from Northern Lights. Great Great price on them. Will take a few weeks or so to be delivered but that's ok. Can't wait to try them out. Thanks to all posters on this thread for helping me out on this. Definitely gave me the info I needed to make the decision.

[Glen K]

I did some quick brightness testing today, the 4bar up against four Chauvet 200Bs I just got. The green and blue were fairly close, but on the red the 200Bs were definately brighter. The 4bar is not as wide a throw as the 200Bs and I expected that from the specs. I'll do some more testing on sunday when I hook it all up together with Freestyler.

 

I'm trying to use FS on a HP "mini" 1030NR laptop, so far so good in "virtual mode" but much more testing to do once I start to run cords...

 

I agree Northern Light and Sound can't be beat on the price!

[zekmoe]

Do you think additional lights can be mounted to this TBar package? Could I add say, a colorstrip to the top of these?

[BillESC]

That would be easy enough to do.

[DJS Biff]

Bill, not so easy... Unless of course you are going to drill into the unit.

 

I have this product set up in the showroom.. It is a square "bar" and not one that will take a clamp. The "bar" has all of the wires and the power running through it. Yes, I am sure you could construct some sort of rudimentary lathe (movie quote) and build something to do it...(of course voiding the warranty) but easy is not what I would call it.

 

The LS- 80 which is ADJ

[JazzerAlto]

I had a few questions about this system. I am really comfortable with sound equipment but not as much with lighting. The band I have today uses minimal wash lighting. We use 4 trees each with 4 par56 cans. There are 8 of us on stage so the amount of room is a major concern and one of the reasons the 4bar is appealing.

 

If I wanted to recreate what we have now, I would want to get 4 of the 4bars and then I believe I would need a DMX controller with at least 15 channels and would basically have each tree mirror each other and they would all run the same.

 

We run our current lights with a foot pedal and I would want to continue that approach so I am looking at a MBT 16 channel foot switch or getting something that bridges midi to dmx. The midi solution starts to get a little convoluted but I understand allows for more independent control of each 4bar.

 

So after all of what I said above, am I on the right track? Would 4 trees do the trick and require a DMX controller? What kind of cons would you point out. Any other thoughts?

 

Thanks for your input!

[BillESC]

You're on the right track. Address each system the same and all four will mirror each other using 15 channels of DMX.

[JazzerAlto]

 

You're on the right track. Address each system the same and all four will mirror each other using 15 channels of DMX.

 

 

Thanks Bill. I wonder if 4 of those trees will be bright enough?

[Glen K]

As much as I am pretty impressed with how bright the 4BAR is I just got four 200Bs and they are brighter overall and spread the light just about everywhere. The 4BAR cuts nicely right on axis, but it's quite a narrow beam off each fixture and the red is it's weakest color. Still, hard to beat for how simple and easy it is to carry and set up. 4 of them would sure beat 1 or 2, but not sure how they would compare to your old par can setup especially with a big band.

 

I mounted inverted speaker mounts on top of my high/mid speakers (EV SX300) for each pair of 200Bs. I found the aluminum T bar stock and speaker mount plates at Guitar Center, and cut the bar in half to make two vertical poles. The EVs have "fly points" on top that worked well to attach the plates with 2 bolts each. One thumb screw and the whole assembly pops out together pre wired. I didn't bother with light clamps as they will stay mounted, and they can spin to aim anywhere I need. I had to make some PVC spacers inside the poles so that I could clamp the light mount bolts without crushing the poles. A few hose washers gave it some dampening so they won't spin under vibration. I cross these over at 200hz so at least they won't get shook that badly. I mounted a 3 outlet cube to each unit so the power and DMX can daisy change easily. I plan to run my 4BAR as back lighting, though for really small bars I may just run the 4BAR or 200Bs by themselves.

 

So far I have them all controlled via Freestyler on a tiny HP Netbook and it's working nicely so far! My last piece to the puzzle is a midi foot controller, as I'll be running the deal while on stage. I found a used Roland FC-200 which is on the way, plus an E-MU midi to usb adapter cable. It looks like I can keep the 200Bs basically wired up, and all the pieces of the "front lighting" should fit in the Rubbermaid container. So, with the 4Bar it's still a compact system. It's very cool to address all the fixtures and color individually via DMX. I found the foot controller for the 4BAR a little hard to do much with on the creative side, though it's great to have a backup plan if the computer or software goes down.

 

Jeeees...what started out as a simple 4BAR setup sure grew quickly!

 

 

 

[Rich4Once]

I found it interesting that you mounted your 200Bs that way. We're using a bar that could hold 4 of them, but we only mount 2, in the outer positions. After the PA is set up I just lay the bar across the top of the high pack.

 

They're stacked on top of the subs, which makes the whole deal tall enough that the lights are plenty elevated. With the lights spaced out, they're able to be aimed without any trouble.

 

We used to use the stands, but often they just took up extra floor space and were bait for drunks to trip on them. We still use the stands when necessary, but it's been awhile. The PA is big and imposing enough that drunks aren't walking into them, and the lights are safely above their heads.

 

Another thing we do is hang the bar of 200Bs out front when there's a way to. Sometimes there's a way to zip tie them up into the ceiling. We leave the lights attached to the bar, and they're already connected together with DMX and an electrical adapter that feeds them to the main power source.

[bigjd]

Glen I really like that!

We have some venues that that would work great in.

I have the Irradiant 56 short noses,but I'll bet they don't weigh too much more than those Chauvets.That would be really handy!

[JazzerAlto]

A lot of stuff to think about.

 

I was wondering about the midi controller. How does that work? Do you connect through the laptop as well or is there a way to get the laptop out of the equation?

 

I would love to see some show pix of your setup!

 

Thanks

[Glen K]

I'm very new to all this, and I've been figuring this out just over the last few weeks.

 

The software "Freestyler 512" on the "Netbook" computer controls the lights. The midi pedal simply sends signals to the computer so that I can change pre programmed scenes. The little Netbook seems to be working great so far, but I still have to configure it for the midi controller once I get it. Hopefully that will go smoothly. Luckily the Netbook has two USB jacks, the minimum you need to make this all work. I have not had much lucky getting the "visualizer" in the software to show a virtual image of my programs, but even my home computer seems finicky with that. That part of "Freestyler" is actually another companies software add on, and maybe I'm doing something wrong there. However it all does control the lights, just no "virtual" light shows yet but that is ok as long as it works with the real lights hooked up. The only hardware you need is the USB to DMX adapter, and there are many to chose from but certain ones are based around particular softwares. That said, I got the Enttec DMX pro off ebay that is known to be a good match for the freeware "Freestyler 512". They have a cheaper version of the DMX box, but apparently it puts more demands on the computer CPU. Since I was going with the Netbook I went with the more powerful "pro" version of the Enttec box, as it apparently does some of the processing in the box itself and taxes the computer CPU less.

 

So it's midi foot controller > midi to usb adapter cable > computer > usb to DMX adapter box > lights. This is pictured above, though I'm waiting delivery on the foot controller.

 

Sure you could get a dedicated lighting controller that has a midi control input, but I wanted to try the software route. This is actually not much more or the same as a lower end hardware controller that is IF you already have a computer. You do have to either get a midi controller that sends midi "notes" like a Behringer or Roland unit as Freestyler can't work with midi "program change" just "midi notes". Some have had luck with lesser midi pedals with "only" program change midi signals. Then you apparently can use a software like the Bome translator to convert the "program change" midi signals to "midi note" signals. I decided to just get a foot controller that can be configured to send "notes". Most folks go with the Behringer FCB-1010 controller, but I found an old Roland FC-200 for close to the same money.

[JazzerAlto]

Thanks Glen, that makes a lot of sense. I am certainly weighing a lot of options and trying to figure out the most efficient approach to our lighting situation.

 

Do you have any show pics of your new light setup in action?

[bigjd]

The visualizer is pretty fickle to use. I personally only used it long enough to get the basic idea of "How To Program and Use Freestyler". But as soon as I hooked up a fixture or two,thats the way I prefer to program.

Once you get your fixtures in the program figured out it only takes a little time to add sequences and scenes and save them for your songs or venues.

[Glen K]

I've noticed one drawback of the 4BAR specifically in DMX mode.

 

The sound to light mode works fine on the 4BAR in stand alone mode, but when activated via DMX it doesn't work nearly as well. When the sound mode is turned on remotely via DMX the internal sound circuit seems to only track and update the sound once every second or two. Basically if the inpulse triggering the sound gets a little too quick the unit won't track it very well. My 200B lights track fine in the same setting using their built in mics/circuits. The 4BAR sound mode works fine in stand alone mode and tracks much more quickly that way for some reason. Other than that everything else seems to control well via DMX.

 

If anyone finds a work around let me know. It seems if you run DMX with the 4BAR it would be best to have your separate controller (or software) do the sound sampling with it's own mic.

[ned911]

Is it actually using the mic on the 4bar or the mic on the PC?

[Glen K]

I was talking about letting the 4BAR use it's own mic. For some reason it reacts differently when this mode is turned on via DMX, vs simply turned on via it's supplied remote pedal.