Desk setup — Vivo Props

The model: one fixture per prop type, one parameter

From the desk's point of view each mapped source (normally one per prop type — all twenty lanterns are one source) is a single-channel fixture. That channel's value doesn't set a level; it selects a scene. The controller splits 0–255 into bands, one per scene, and transmits the scene's remote code the moment the value enters its band. Every prop with that button captured reacts, exactly as if the remote had been pressed.

So a lantern cue on the desk is "set the lantern channel to the Candle band". The controller does the radio; the lanterns do the rendering — colour, effect, fade and brightness are all whatever that scene was set to on the props.

What the desk controls is which scene, never how bright. Dimming the fader within a band does nothing. If you need two intensities, make them two scenes on the props (brightness is per scene).

Reading the bands off the map

The controller's DMX Map page shows each source's channel and its bands. With the default auto-map, a six-scene lantern source comes out as six equal bands, off first:

Off

White

Red

Green

Blue

Candle

04285128170213255

Scene	DMX band	Safe value to program	As a percentage
Off	0–41	0	0%
White	42–84	63	25%
Red	85–127	106	42%
Green	128–169	148	58%
Blue	170–212	191	75%
Candle	213–255	234	92%

Program the middle of a band, not its edge — a desk that rounds percentages, or a node that scales, then still lands inside it. Your own map will have different names and possibly a different count; read the numbers off the map page (or the on-screen MAP stepper) rather than assuming these.

The controller puts any scene whose name contains "off" in the lowest band, so a channel at zero — the state after a desk blackout, a release, or a fresh show file — always means dark. Name your blackout scene on the props with "off" in it and keep it that way.

Firing rules

These follow from the controller firing on the edge into a band, and from RF being a half-second broadcast. Programme with them in mind and the props behave like fixtures; ignore them and you'll chase ghosts.

Rule	What it means at the desk
Fires on entry	The code is sent once, when the value moves into the band. Holding the value there sends nothing more. To fire the same scene again, the value must leave the band and come back (through Off is the natural route).
Snap, don't fade	A timed fade from Off (0) to Candle (234) sweeps through White, Red, Green and Blue on the way, firing each one. Give the scene parameter zero time in every cue (mark it snap / non-fading in the profile). The fade you actually see on stage is the prop's own per-scene fade.
One send at a time, one in the queue	A send takes ~0.5 s. A second trigger during a send (another prop type's channel in the same cue, or a quick follow-on cue) is held and goes next, so two prop types in one cue both fire, back to back. A third trigger inside that window replaces the held one and is lost. At most two prop channels per cue, and a second between follow-on cues. Never rely on two changes on one channel within a second.
Baseline on arrival	When DMX first appears (boot, cable plugged in, node powered) the controller takes the current values as the baseline and fires nothing. Bringing the desk up with a channel already sitting in Candle does not light the lanterns — take it to Off and back, or fire the cue again.
Cable loss	If DMX stops, the status strip drops to `dmx:idle`, nothing fires, and the props stay wherever they were. On return, baseline again.
Radio is one-way	The controller has no idea whether a prop heard it. Watch the props at rehearsal; the on-screen tiles are the manual backup mid-show.

Recipe for any desk

Patch one single-channel fixture per mapped source at the channel shown on the map page — a generic "dimmer" or 1-channel profile is enough. If the desk lets you define a profile, make the parameter non-intensity (so blackouts and grandmaster don't touch it) and snapping.
Make a preset / palette per scene at the mid-band value from the table above (or the equivalent percentage), named for the scene: Lantern Off, Lantern Candle…
Record cues that call those presets, with a time of 0 on that parameter. If the desk only has a cue-wide time, give the prop channel its own discrete/zero time or put it in its own part.
Check on the controller: the status strip shows DMX: lantern / Candle as the cue goes, and MON shows the channel's bar at the value you programmed.

Art-Net or sACN in the building instead of a DMX line? Any node that outputs a physical universe works — the controller only sees the XLR. Use the universe the node is set to, and remember the node adds a frame or two of delay (milliseconds; the RF send dominates).

Worked example: ETC Eos (Nomad, Ion, Gio, Apex)

Eos wants a fixture profile with named ranges so the scene is pickable by name, and a parameter that snaps. Two ways to get the profile; both end in the same patch. Softkey names are as of Eos 3.2 — earlier versions move a few of them.

Option A — build the profile in the Fixture Editor (recommended)

Five minutes, no files, and you get scene names in the display.

Displays → Patch (Tab 12), then the Fixtures tab. New, name it Vivo Lantern, manufacturer Vivo.
Add one parameter. Pick a non-intensity parameter — Scene Select, or any beam-category attribute you're not using — size 8-bit, DMX offset 1. Tick Snap so cues never fade it.
Open Ranges for that parameter and add one range per band: min/max from the map (0–41, 42–84, …) and a label — Off, White, Red, Green, Blue, Candle. Save.
Repeat for each mapped source (a second profile for the jellyfish, say), or reuse one profile if the band count matches and only the labels differ.

Option B — import the controller's GDTF file

On the controller's DMX Map page, save the source's bands, then Download GDTF. Put the .gdtf on a USB stick (or the Nomad machine's disk).
Patch → Fixtures → Import → GDTF, pick the file.
Eos imports the DMX definition only — the bands come across as discrete steps, but without their names: a step shows as its raw value ("Scene 42") rather than "White". That's ETC's documented importer behaviour, not a broken file. Open the imported profile's Ranges and add the six labels (Quick Label), and confirm the parameter is set to Snap. Save.

GDTF earns its keep on consoles that do read the names (grandMA, Hog, Onyx…); on Eos, Option A is the same amount of typing without the file dance.

Patch and programme

In Patch: 1 Type Vivo Lantern Enter, then At the map's channel in the right universe — e.g. 1 At 1 / 40 Enter for universe 1 channel 40.
Live: select the channel, open the parameter's range picker in the ML controls (or the Encoder / tab 28 display) and tap the scene by name. From the command line it's the value: 1 Scene Select 234 Enter.
Record the cue as usual. Because the parameter is Snap, the cue's fade time doesn't apply to it; check the cue's parameter time isn't overridden if you've set discrete times elsewhere.
Make Beam palettes per scene (BP 1 Lantern Candle …) so cues reference names instead of numbers and re-banding on the controller means editing one palette.

To distribute the profile to other show files, ETC's pattern is to save a one-fixture show and Merge its Patch/Fixtures into the target show.

Blackout, Go To Cue Out and the grandmaster only touch intensity, so a non-intensity scene parameter holds its value through them. The props stay lit through a desk blackout unless a cue takes them to Off — which is the same as any other non-dim fixture, and why the Off band sits at 0: Go To Cue 0 or releasing the channel takes the lanterns dark.

Several prop types, or groups within one

Each prop type is its own source in the book, and each source gets its own channel. Lanterns, jellyfish and the chalice are three fixtures on three channels.
Groups of lanterns with different buttons (say silver and black captured from different remotes) show up as different configs, so they become two sources — two fixtures. If the groups share the same buttons and only differ in look, they are one source and cannot be fired separately from the desk.
The chalice is a switch-radio prop; the controller's transmitter speaks coded buttons, so the chalice is not desk-controllable through this controller. Its own on/off remote stays with the operator.

About the GDTF export

Download GDTF on a map card produces a standards-shaped GDTF 1.1 fixture: one DMX mode, one 8-bit channel, one channel set per band named for its cue, and a stable identifier derived from the source name so re-exporting after a re-band updates rather than duplicates. It is built in the browser from the saved map, so save first. Consoles that import GDTF range names get pickable scene names for free; Eos does not (see above) and needs the labels typed once.

Rehearsal checklist

Controller status strip reads dmx:live with the desk up; MON shows the mapped channel moving when you nudge it.
Step the channel through every band with a lantern in view: each band fires exactly once, holding it fires nothing, and going back to Off and up fires again.
Run the cue stack once with someone watching the props, noting any cue where a lantern lagged — that's the mid-send drop; space the offending pair.
Confirm the hand remote still works from the SM position — it's the fallback if the controller is ever unplugged.
Props' batteries: a lantern lasts a performance with WiFi off. The first RF press of the night (from the desk or the remote) takes WiFi down on the props — make any web-page edits before that.