Chauvet 4bar system? Anyone know anything?

[ned911]

Never mind, saw where you were using the remote pedal.

[resorte]

I am a brand newbie to lighting. I do duo-acoustic gigs and have just gotten a residency at a club two times a month to DJ. Thing is, they have no lights and I can't stand a dance party without moving lights and atmosphere. At this stage, I only have $600 to invest in lighting. I want to keep things simple and the variables minimal so LED sounds great to me, especially the 4BAR at ~$300 a piece. I was thinking of getting two of these to start with but here is my question to those of you that have them already. Does a 4BAR create enough 'action' in the room on its own for a DJ playing 80's pop/rock/dance music? I am concerned that there won't be enough of a feeling of movement/action from 2 of these lights alone. The space is probably about 1000 sq/ft.

Any input appreciated, thanks.

[Glen K]

I have a 4BAR, four 200Bs, and one Colorstrip. I think for DJ use and dance movement two Colorstrips would be a great bang for the buck. I got my Colorstrip for $195. Also two or more of them can synced up without any additional DMX controller needed for some cool chase effects short of eventually going with full DMX control. They might be a little bright turned back at you for a duo gig unless you got them up high, but for DJ use it's obvious why they are so popular. Also for the money they seem to put out the most light.

[resorte]

Thanks Glen. I was seriously considering the 4bar for wash in my new lighting rig but just realized that it doesn't seem to do orange/pink/purple. It is hard to tell in the videos sometimes though. I have seen pictures of parties with nothing but RGB LED lights and am not fond of that look. Can anyone confirm if these 4BARs basically only put out 3 colors?

 

The colorstrips look pretty cool and do seem to do the purples but I am a little concerned about them not working so well as the primary lighting for my acoustic rock n roll gigs.

[patman0322]

Thanks Glen. I was seriously considering the 4bar for wash in my new lighting rig but just realized that it doesn't seem to do orange/pink/purple. It is hard to tell in the videos sometimes though. I have seen pictures of parties with nothing but RGB LED lights and am not fond of that look. Can anyone confirm if these 4BARs basically only put out 3 colors? The colorstrips look pretty cool and do seem to do the purples but I am a little concerned about them not working so well as the primary lighting for my acoustic rock n roll gigs.

 

 

I haven't seen these myself, but anything that depends on RGB mixing (led lights, TV's, digital cameras sensors, etc.) is not going to do very well at representing real oranges, pinks or purples.

 

Red, green, blue, yellow, cyan and magenta should be great but oranges ends up being something between a yellow and red, pink becomes a red with a lot of white mixed in and purple becomes a dark magenta leaning maybe more towards blue.

[resorte]

Thanks but I havn't even seen photos of the 4bar doing cyan or magenta. Mainly, I'm looking to just get a feel that is beyond just red, green, blue. Anyone here that has a 4bar and can confirm?

[Glen K]

The 4BAR remote has 3 buttons. The first button flips through the basic colors, all lights the same. White, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Magenta, Cyan. I think it then goes into a mode where it cycles through these perhaps but it's been awhile. The manual says it has two more modes other than the straight 7 colors, as in color change every second as a snap, and as a fade. I seem to remember in reality it may have only done one of these two regardless of the manual but don't quote me on that. I've since gone to full DMX control of all my lights, and will only use the 4BAR on it's supplied remote on rare occasion or as a backup if the computer has troubles. Back to the foot controller. You can only go one way through these colors, then it starts back at white. Actually the white is definately more toward a blueish white. The 2nd button on the controller flips it to sound activate, however once in sound activate the only way out of that mode is to hit button one which starts you back out at all white. The 3rd button is a blackout, which you can get back out of to whatever color it was on.

To answer your question, yes even with the supplied simple controller you can call up up to 3 main colors and 4 more mixed colors for a total of 7. I wish I could remember if all the colors show up in sound mode, but like I said I've now gone to full DMX controller via a computer and I'm not really using the standard controller much now. As I mentioned in the prior post there does seem to be a bit of a difference in how well the unit tracks audio when in sound mode specifically when activated by DMX even still using the 4BARS internal mic. It seems to work much better for sound mode simply turned on by it's supplied footswitch. When in sound mode via DMX the internal mic seems to only accept a trigger once every second or so, which isn't quick enough to follow most beats. However when activated by it's own controller it tracks fine.

My only concern for you about the colors is it's a little akward to call up colors on the fly with the 4bar, since you can only scroll through the complete color set on the foot controller in one direction to get to the next color. I guess with some practice one could get pretty good with the supplied footswitch, but not having a "back" button for the color choice makes it a little tricky on the fly. To be honest I get around the sound activation DMX issues by not even using the 4BAR for sound, and going with my 200Bs and Colorstrip for that. The Colorstrip actually has more sound activated options than either the 200B or 4BAR. You can set the Colorstrip to simply pulse a single color to the beat, OR cycle through random colors to the beat and there are several variations of that from what I've messed with so far.

As much as I now see the limitations of simply using "just" a 4BAR or two on say a duo gig, for the money it's hard to beat and yes it does more than 3 solid colors. That said, I used mine on one duo gig and then started adding more pieces so that I could use it all with a 4 piece rock band. Now I'm using the 4bar as my back lighting, with two 200Bs on the top of each front speaker for some front wash, and my Colorstrip is on some homemade feet to aim it up at the drummer. I bought a HP Netbook, a USB>DMX Enttec adapter, a USB>midi adapter cable, and a midi foot controller. So what started out as "just" a 4BAR quickly grew for me to 4 times the money! That said, it all sure looks great now and I have dedicated buttons on my midi foot controller to do exactly what I want.

So that ALL said, the 4BAR has 7 basic colors and a supplied simple controller that works fine, but tricky to get very creative with.

I hope that helps!

GK

[jamesczar]

Since these are so new, I've been searching for more reviews, and real world examples. One band on MySpace had them listed in their equipment. Here are some videos from the band with the 4-bar in the background.

If anyone else has more real-world use reviews, it would be appreciated.

Has anyone used them with another DMX foot controller, like ADJ or the MBT? I need a simple solution to just change between scenes before and during songs, while still playing (I play bass). I really don't want anything too fancy (in terms of chases and such), and don't really need sound activated. Just want to change the room mood for each song, highlight parts of songs.

Thoughts?

[Erik-RMCAudio]

Good reviews! I saw these at NAMM but they did not demo them. The price looked great so it's nice to see they are somewhat well received.

[secretshoes]

PLEASE HELP!!! I have the Chauvet LED 4bar....I bought the new Obey 4 (not 40)---can someone PLEASE help me program this thing so I can individually control the RGBW fixtures? The info from Chauvet is terrible. Somebody posted a template of the 4bar seetings, but I can't open it...I'm in desperate need of a template for the 4bar or some help with the Obey 4....thank you all soooooo much!!!!!!!

[soundlight]

You cannot control the 4-bar with the Obey 4 without tricking the controller. The Obey 4 is designed for individual fixtures set in to RGB or RGBW or RGBA 3 or 4 channel mode; the 4-bar DMX channeling does not match up with that of the Obey 4. If you're in a dire situation to get the rig working, here's a chart of how to bastardize this combination in to working, with the DMX address of the 4-bar set to 001:

 

Fixture 1 RED: Mode Channel (keep at zero for RGB control of heads)

Fixture 1 GREEN: Master Dimmer

Fixture 1 BLUE: Master Strobe

Fixture 1 WHITE/AMBER: 4-bar fixture 1 RED

Fixture 2 RED: 4-bar fixture 1 GREEN

Fixture 2 GREEN: 4-bar fixture 1 BLUE

Fixture 2 BLUE: 4-bar fixture 2 RED

Fixture 2 WHITE/AMBER: 4-bar fixture 2 GREEN

Fixture 3 RED: 4-bar fixture 2 BLUE

Fixture 3 GREEN: 4-bar fixture 3 RED

Fixture 3 BLUE: 4-bar fixture 3 GREEN

Fixture 3 WHITE/AMBER: 4-bar fixture 3 BLUE

Fixture 4 RED: 4-bar fixture 4 RED

Fixture 4 GREEN: 4-bar fixture 4 GREEN

Fixture 4 BLUE: 4-bar fixture 4 BLUE

Fixture 4 WHITE/AMBER: n/a

 

I don't even know if this will work as I have never used the Obey 4, but it might if you need it for a gig ASAP. Otherwise, return it and buy a real controller, like an Obey 40.

[rockbobmel]

NuBee here also. Would the Obey 10 work as well as the Obey 40? I read that the 40 just adds smoke & strobe. This is what I found on the P.E. site

"The Obey

[jwlussow]

Seriously people. The 4 bar is really not a very good fixture at all. Much better stuff out there in the price range and even cheaper. I have flashlights that are brighter then the 4 bar. I've seen them used by a bunch of noob bands and I have never even been close to being impressed with them. What am I missing? They are even incredibly unimpressive in the videos that jamesczar posted.

[rockbobmel]

That's not very helpful. We already bought them and want to learn how to control them with the best solution for us. We're just a night club band doing it for fun, not some big pro production.

[bigjd]

That's not very helpful. We already bought them and want to learn how to control them with the best solution for us. We're just a night club band doing it for fun, not some big pro production.

 

 

I think you should be able to do just fine with the obey 40 or the obey 10. It has enough channels per fixture to control them individually.

I recommend that you get some other lighting to go with.

Here is a vid of my band with colorstrips placed around the drummer and some LED pars doing some simple color changes out front.

 

[rockbobmel]

Thanks JD, We just got 2 4Bar strips with the foot pedals. Nothing special, just wanted some more than out usual 2 cans (like in the video) and want better control. The Obey 10 is about $40. less than the Obey 40.

[bigjd]

Thanks JD,

 

 

You Are Welcome dude!

Looks like its just enough lighting for the gig you are doing in the vid.

Vid was great and sounded good.

I think JW above was trying to say that the 4-bar is not much light and in alot of situations it doesn't perform as well as some of the other options out there for about the same money, but for you guys in that setting it looks about perfect!

[rockbobmel]

Likewise. I liked your vid as well. We are doing the same kinds stuff!

[jwlussow]

 

That's not very helpful. We already bought them and want to learn how to control them with the best solution for us. We're just a night club band doing it for fun, not some big pro production.

 

 

I'm not talking a big pro production. The 4 bars are what they are. They already have a custom controller that is made specifically for them. You really can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, no matter how you try.

[rockbobmel]

Well our guitar player was kind enough to buy us these sow's ears and I am quite grateful for them.

[jwlussow]

 

Well our guitar player was kind enough to buy us these sow's ears and I am quite grateful for them.

 

 

So why not just use them as designed? They have a controller and you have to gerry rig another controller "to get them to work like you want". All I am saying is a Yugo will never have the performance of a Ferrari. These are floor lighting for DJs and just too dim for front lighting. I certainly understand where you are coming from. I just hope that in the future you guys do some research before spending your hard earned money. Your guitarist could have bought better lights for the same or even less money. Sorry if I'm coming off as an asshole.

[steveosplace]

Rockbobmel,

I've gotten lots and lots of compliments on my 4bars + colorstrip so its really just a matter of opinion, in bar venues they are the cats meow. Dont worry about it, I dont get the negativity about them here either.

They do work a lot better with a controller, you can make them perform much more organized effects than just random patterns, so keep at it. The obey10 should work fine.

[rockbobmel]

Thanks Steve,
One thing they pack real sweet- like 2 bass cases and 2 mike stands. I wish the stands went a little higher, but I can live with them. My main question is the Obey 10 is as good as the Obey 40 for these. It seems that the 40 has extra stuff. I am just a novice at it and frankly don't care that much about lights, but I am unemployed right now and took this on for the band.

Thanks, Bob

[steveosplace]

They'll fit most standard stands so if you want them a little higher you can get a set for ~$100 from MF, thats what I did ...well really got the stands for my front wash pars but they work well for either as needed.

 

Personally I use the stage designer since I wanted audio input but ironically I never use it, so I probably would have been better off with an obey (I think).

 

But looking at the obeys, the 10 would easily accommodate the 4bars. However, the Obey 40 seems to have more versatility that could be worth the money. It looks like it allows you to set up a bunch of scenes beforehand then organize them later into chases, so you're not always starting from scratch. If you plan on having a lot of steps I'd go with the 40, 10 if its just a few per chase.

 

Chauvet manuals are notoriously bad so this is just best guess.

 

I forgot to mention, another reason using a controller is great is because on the auto/sound programs they often turn off fixtures as part of their patterns. The 4bars are a bit dim so in my patterns I tend to make sure that all the lights are on to maximize light output which pretty much remedies the low light problem.

[jwlussow]

I was probably a little harsh on them. I must have been in a bad mood. They are functional but even stevosplace uses them with a Colorstrip and mentions that they are dim. I also have a problem with the stand height but I'm probably better off just backing away from this one now. I am really glad you guys like them. I do suggest that you do just a little research before you add more of those to your systems. There really are brighter, more capable fixtures out there for around the same amount. Either way, good luck and I really did not mean to offend anyone with my comments on the 4 Bar.