Chauvet Stage Designer 50 User manual

Chauvet, 5200 NW 108th Avenue, FL 33351
[phone] – [phone]
FAX [phone]
www.chauvetlighting.com
User Manual
Snapshot
Use on Dimmer
Outdoor Use
Sound Activated
DMX
Master/Slave
115 V / 230 V Switch
Replaceable Fuse
User Serviceable
Duty Cycle

Stage Designer 50 3 January 31, 2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents.......................................................................................................................................... 3
WHAT IS INCLUDED......................................................................................................................................... 4
UNPACKING INSTRUCTIONS............................................................................................................................. 4
MANUAL CONVENTIONS.................................................................................................................................. 4
ICONS........................................................................................................................................................... 4
SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS................................................................................................................................... 5
FEATURES..................................................................................................................................................... 6
ADDITIONAL FEATURES................................................................................................................................... 6
PRODUCT OVERVIEW (FRONT) ........................................................................................................................ 7
PRODUCT OVERVIEW (REAR PANEL) ................................................................................................................ 9
COMMON TERMS ......................................................................................................................................... 10
3. Operating Instructions............................................................................................................................ 11
SETUP........................................................................................................................................................ 11
4. Programming........................................................................................................................................... 12
ENTERING RECORD MODE (RECORD ENABLE)................................................................................................ 12
CREATE A SCENE ........................................................................................................................................ 12
EDIT ENABLE............................................................................................................................................... 12
ERASE A PROGRAM...................................................................................................................................... 13
ERASE ALL SCENES ..................................................................................................................................... 13
RECORD CLEAR........................................................................................................................................... 13
DELETE A STEP OR STEPS............................................................................................................................ 14
INSERT A STEP OR STEPS............................................................................................................................. 14
MODIFY A STEP OR STEPS............................................................................................................................ 14
5. Playback .................................................................................................................................................. 15
PLAYING A SCENE........................................................................................................................................ 15
PLAYING A SCENE WITH AUDIO TRIGGERING .................................................................................................... 15
PLAYING A SCENE WITH THE SPEED SLIDER.................................................................................................... 16
PLAYING A SCENE WITH THE STANDARD BEAT ................................................................................................ 16
CHANGE THE SPEED MODE BETWEEN 5&10 MINUTES................................................................................... 16
AUXILIARY CONTROLS.................................................................................................................................. 16
MIDI OPERATION.......................................................................................................................................... 18
Setting MIDI IN...................................................................................................................................... 18
Setting MIDI OUT.................................................................................................................................. 19
Receiving MIDI File Dump .................................................................................................................... 19
Sending MIDI File Dump....................................................................................................................... 19
6. Appendix.................................................................................................................................................. 20
DMX PRIMER.............................................................................................................................................. 20
3-pin to 5-pin Conversion Chart ............................................................................................................ 20
Setting up a DMX Serial Data Link........................................................................................................ 20
DATA CABLING ............................................................................................................................................ 21
Dmx Data Cable.................................................................................................................................... 21
Cable Connectors ................................................................................................................................. 21
FIXTURE LINKING ......................................................................................................................................... 22
RETURNS PROCEDURE................................................................................................................................. 22
CLAIMS....................................................................................................................................................... 22
SETTING THE STARTING ADDRESS................................................................................................................. 23
GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING....................................................................................................................... 24
CONTACT INFORMATION ............................................................................................................................... 24
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS ......................................................................................................................... 25

Stage Designer 50 4 January 31, 2012
1. BEFORE YOU BEGIN
What is included
•1 x Stage Designer™ 50
•1 x DC 12 V, 500 mA output, 100~240 V, 50/60 Hz input auto-ranging power supply
•1 x Manual
•1 x Warranty Card
Unpacking Instructions
Immediately upon receiving a fixture, carefully unpack the carton, check the contents to ensure that
all parts are present, and have been received in good condition. Notify the shipper immediately and
retain packing material for inspection if any parts appear damaged from shipping or the carton itself
shows signs of mishandling. Save the carton and all packing materials. In the event that a fixture
must be returned to the factory, it is important that the fixture be returned in the original factory box
and packing.
Manual Conventions
CHAUVET® manuals use the following conventions to differentiate certain types of information from
the regular text.
CONVENTION MEANING
[10] A DIP switch to be configured
<Menu> A key to be pressed on the fixture’s control panel
1~512 A range of values
50/60 A set of values of which only one can be chosen
Settings A menu option not to be modified (for example, showing the operating
mode/current status)
MENU > Settings A sequence of menu options to be followed
ON A value to be entered or selected
Icons
This manual uses the following icons to indicate information that requires special attention on the part
of the user.
ICONS MEANING
This paragraph contains critical installation, configuration or operation
information. Failure to comply with this information may render the fixture
partially or completely inoperative, cause damage to the fixture or cause
harm to the user.
This paragraph contains important installation or configuration information.
Failure to comply with this information may prevent the fixture from
functioning correctly.
This paragraph reminds you of useful, although not critical, information.

Stage Designer 50 5 January 31, 2012
Safety Instructions
•Please keep this User Manual for future consultation. If you sell the unit to another user, be sure that
they also receive this instruction booklet.
•Always make sure that you are connecting to the proper voltage and that the line voltage you are
connecting to is not higher than that stated on decal or rear panel of the fixture.
•This product is intended for indoor use only! To prevent risk of fire or shock, do not expose fixture to
rain or moisture.
•Make sure there are no flammable materials close to the unit while operating.
•In the event of serious operating problem, stop using the unit immediately. Never try to repair the unit
by yourself. Repairs carried out by unskilled people can lead to damage or malfunction. Please
contact the nearest authorized technical assistance center.
•Don’t connect the device to a dimmer pack.
•Make sure power cord is never crimped or damaged.
•Never disconnect power cord by pulling or tugging on the cord.
•Do not operate this device in more than 104° F (40° C) ambient temperature conditions.
There are no user serviceable parts inside the unit. Do not open the housing or attempt any repairs
yourself.
In the unlikely event your unit may require service, please contact CHAUVET® at: 954-929-1115.2.
Introduction
Please read these instructions carefully. It includes important information
about the installation, usage and maintenance of this product.

Stage Designer 50 6 January 31, 2012
The Stage Designer 50™ is a universal intelligent lighting controller. It allows the control of 48 channels with 96
scene/chase playback faders. Each scene/chase can contain up to 1000 individual steps, or looks. On the
surface, when in the CHASE◄►SCENE mode, there are 12 physical faders for the playback of the saved
programs. There are 4 pages of Scenes playback on Page A, and an additional 4 pages of playback faders on
Page B. Programs can be triggered by music, midi, automatically or manually. Channel assignments can be
reprogrammed for ease of controlling different fixtures. On the surface you will find various programming tools
such as 24 channels fader, A/B master faders for cross mixing, and Fade and Speed time faders for on the fly
adjustments. It also has an LED display for easy navigation of controls and menu functions.
Features
•48-channel DMX-512 dimming console
•4 pages with 12 scenes each yields 48 total playback faders (simultaneous playback)
•48,000 programmable steps
•2 programmable aux buttons
•Adjustable chase and fade times
•Re-assignable channels
Additional Features
•3-pin and 5-pin DMX connections
•Built-in cross fader, dark and kill buttons
•MIDI in, out and thru (with file dump)
•Direct audio input
•Sequential linking or simultaneous playback of chases
•Override chases on the fly
•Beat-activation, tap sync, auto run, midi in/out
•6-space (6 U) rack mount
•Polarity selector

Stage Designer 50 7 January 31, 2012
Product Overview (front)
21
2
5
7
8
15
12
6
4
13
1
20
3
16
10
9
18
11
19
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
14

Stage Designer 50 8 January 31, 2012
Item
Button or Fader
Function
1
Channel Faders
Indicates channels 1-12(25-36)
2
Channel Flash button
Brings the relevant fader to 100% or DMX value of 255
3
Channel Faders
Indicates channels 13-24(37-48)
4
Scene Playback
indicators
Indicates that the scene is playing back
5
Channel Flash button
Brings the relevant fader to 100% or DMX value of 255
6
Down/Beat Rev
Down functions to modify a scene in Edit mode, Beat Rev is used to
reverse the chasing direction of a program with regular beat
7
Up/Chase Reverse
Up function to modify a scene in Edit mode, Chase Reverse is used to
reverse the chasing direction of a program under Speed Slider control.
8
LCD Display
Shows the current activity or programming state
9
Delete/Rev One
Delete a step in a scene or reverse he chasing direction of any program
10
Aux 1
Patchable; used to control a channel in 1 of 2 modes of operation
11
Insert/%or255
Insert is to add 1 step or steps into a scene; %or255 is used to change the
display value cycle between % and 0-255
12
Aux 2
Patchable; used to control a channel in 1 of 2 modes of operation
13
Edit/All Rev
Edit is used to activate Edit mode; All Rev is to reverse the chasing
direction of all programs
14
Record/Shift
Record is used to activate Record mode or program a step; Shift functions
the alternate function of other buttons only
15
Audio/Page A_B
Audio activate audio sync of chase; Page A_B switches the channel
faders BETWEEN 1-24 MODE AND 25-48 MODE. Press and hold Record
& Page A_B to switch between the 2 channel pages.
16
Blind
Takes the channel out of a program temporarily in Chase◄►Scene mode
17
Chase Rev
Reverses the direction of the chase playback
18
Dark
Used to temporarily blackout overall output
19
Home
Used to deactivate the Blind on a given channel
20
Park
Used to select Single/Mix Chase, bring Channel 13-24(37-48) to full of
current setting, or momentarily program a scene into Master B slider
depending on the current mode.
21
Mode Select/Rec
Speed
Used to activate the operating mode; Rec Speed sets the speed of any
programs chasing in Mix mode
22
Tap Sync
Repeatedly tapping this button will establish the chase speed
23
Hold
Used to momentarily maintain current scene
24
Page
Tap to select pages of scenes from 1-4(Page A) and 1-4 (Page B)
25
Full On
Momentarily bring all channels (1-48) to full intensity
26
Step
Used to go to the next step when the Speed slider is set in Show Mode or
in Edit mode.
27
Add Kill/Rec exit
In Add mode, multiple scenes or Flash buttons will be on at the same time;
In Kill mode, pressing any Flash button will kill any other scenes or
programs; Rec Exit is used to exit from Program or Edit mode.

Stage Designer 50 9 January 31, 2012
Product Overview (rear panel)
28
Blackout
Used to kill all output, with exception of Full On.
29
Audio Level Fader
Adjusts the audio sensitivity when in Audio trigger mode of scenes
30
Speed Fader
Used to adjust the sped of scenes/chases running
31
Fade Fader
Adjusts the fade-in, fade-out, and cross-fade times
32
Master A_B
Adjusts overall intensity
8
1
7
2
3
Item
Button or Fader
Function
1
3-pin DMX output
connector
DMX control signal
2
5-pin DMX output
connector
DMX control signal
3
Polarity switch
Used to select DMX polarity
4
MIDI Thru
MIDI port for connecting to a sequencer or MIDI device
5
MIDI Out
MIDI port for connecting to a sequencer or MIDI device
6
MIDI In
MIDI port for connecting to a sequencer or MIDI device
7
Audio Input
This jack accepts a line level audio input signal ranging from 100mV to
1Vpp
8
Remote Input
Blackout and Full On may be controlled by a remote control using a
standard ¼´jack
9
DC Input
DC 12-20V, 500mAMin.
9
4
5
6

Stage Designer 50 10 January 31, 2012
Common Terms
The following are common terms used in intelligent light programming.
§Blackout is a state where all lighting fixtures’ light output are set to 0 or off, usually on a temporary
basis.
§DMX-512 is an industry standard digital communication protocol used in entertainment lighting
equipment. For more information read Sections “DMX Primer” and “DMX Control Mode” in the
Appendix.
§Fixture refers to your lighting instrument or other device such as a fogger or dimmer which you can
control.
§Programs are a number of scenes arranged one after another. It can be programmed as either a
single scene or multiple scenes in sequence.
§Scenes are static lighting states.
§Sliders are also known as faders.
§Chases can also be called programs. A chase consists of a number of scenes arranged one after
another.
§Scanner refers to a lighting instrument with a pan and tilt mirror; however DMX controllers can use
this term to control any DMX-512 compatible device as a generic fixture.
§MIDI is a standard for representing musical information in a digital format. A MIDI input would provide
external triggering of scenes using midi devices such as a midi keyboard.
§Stand Alone refers to a fixture’s ability to function independently of an external controller and usually
in sync to music, due to a built in microphone.
§Fade slider is used to adjust the fade time between scenes within a chase.
§Speed slider affects the amount of time a scene will hold its state. It is also considered a wait time.
§Shutter is a mechanical device in the lighting fixture that allows you to block the lights path. It is often
used to lessen the intensity of the light output and to strobe.
§Patching refers to the process of assigning faders to a DMX channel within a fixture.
§Playbacks can be either scenes or chases that are directly called to execution by the user. A
playback can also be considered program memory that can be recalled during a show.

Stage Designer 50 11 January 31, 2012
3.OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS
Setup
Setting up the System
1. Place the Stage Designer 50™ on a level surface. Note! The Stage Designer 50™can also be
rack mounted, occupying six rack spaces (6U).
2. Plug the AC to DC power supply into the system back panel and into the mains outlet.
3. Plug in your DMX cable(s) to your intelligent lighting as described in the respective fixture’s
manual. For a quick overview of DMX see the “DMX Primer” on page 19.
4. Reset the system using the instructions on page 11 under ERASE ALL SCENES.
Physical Fader Assignment (optional setup)
Use this feature to combine or unify fixture control attributes for different fixtures. For example; if you
were controlling 4 moving mirrors and 4 moving yokes, the color, gobo and dimmer channels may not
line up ideally on the physical faders. Use this function to re-assign the dimmer, color and gobo
channels to faders 1, 2 and 3. From now on you will be able to control the same attributes on all
fixtures using the same fader location. This is also most useful when needing to combine all colors
together.
Action ·
1. Press and hold RECORD button.
2. While holding the Record button, press the
Flash button #6 (3) times.
3. Press the Flash button that you wish to
assign the DMX channel output to.
4. While holding Record, press the Flash
button corresponding to the DMX output
that you wish to assign the Fader to.
5. Repeat steps 2 ~ 3 as often as necessary.
6. Press and hold Record & Rec Exit to exit
the mode.
For example: you wish to assign Fader #1 to
output to DMX channel #5.
1. Hold the Record button & press Fader#6 (3)
times.
2. Press the Flash button #1.
3. While holding the Record button, press the
Flash button #5.
Notes ¥
All physical faders can be re-assigned to output
on a different DMX channel. Faders are given a
channel number and are labeled on the surface
of the controller as such.
You can check to see what the assignment is by
pressing the Fader button of the corresponding
channel while in this mode.
Here is no limit to the amount of channels that
can be assigned to a single fades. One can
assign up to all 48 channels of DMX output to a
single Fader.
CHNO corresponds to the Physical Fader, while
SLDNO corresponds to the DMX output channel.
Switching Between Page A and Page B (channels 1-24 and 25-48)
Action ·
1. Press and hold Record & press Page A_B
button. If you are on Page A, then this will
bring you to Page B. If you are on Page B,
then this will bring you to Page A.
Notes ¥
When the fixture turns on, it will revert to the
previously used page.
Page A is used to control channels 1-24, while
Page B is used to control channels 25-48.
The screen will display which current page.
There’s an additional set of 4 pages of playback
controls on Page B.