Basics 4. Fixture profile and channel table: reading the manual

We know that numbers run down the line (lesson 2) and that a fixture reads them from its own address (lesson 3). One piece of the puzzle is left: what each channel actually means on a particular model. The answer to that is called the profile — and it is hiding in an unremarkable table at the back of the fixture manual. Learning to read it is a bit like learning to read food labels: once you get it, you find your way around any shop.

The profile is the model’s passport

A profile is a description: how many channels a fixture has and what each of them controls. No magic involved — just a list along the lines of «channel 1 — intensity, channel 2 — red, channel 3 — green…».

The concept goes by many names, all meaning the same thing:

What it is called Where you meet it
Profile In these lessons and in many programs
Fixture / Fixture definition In English-language software
Personality On Avolites, Chamsys and other «big» brand desks
Fixture passport In everyday talk

The profile exists for exactly one purpose: so that when you drag the «intensity» slider with your mouse, the software knows that for this model it must write 255 into the third channel from its address, not the first.

⚠️ Careful: a profile describes one specific mode of a fixture. The same model may have several — «8-channel», «14-channel (16 bit)» and so on. Which one to use is decided by what is set in your fixture’s own menu (see lesson 3, the section on channel modes).

The channel table in the manual

Profiles are not invented — they are copied out of the manual. Every lighting fixture manual has a table like this, usually towards the back:

Fig. 1 — The channel table in a fixture manual: three columns you need to be able to read
Fig. 1 — The channel table in a fixture manual: three columns you need to be able to read

There are normally three columns, and their names vary:

Column Other names What it means
Channel Ch, CH №, Channel no. The channel number counted from the fixture’s address, not from the start of the line
Value DMX Value, 0–255 The value range — the same «banding» from lesson 2
Function Feature, Description What the fixture does at those values

The first column is the important one. It holds not the absolute channel number in the line, but the position inside the fixture. «Channel 3 — blue» means: the third channel from the address. If the fixture’s address is 25, blue is controlled by channel 27 of the line.

Here is what a fragment of a simple fixture’s table looks like:

Channel Values Function
1 0–255 Master intensity (Dimmer)
2 0–255 Red
3 0–255 Green
4 0–255 Blue
5 0–7 Shutter closed
5 8–134 Shutter open
5 135–239 Strobe, slow to fast
6 0–50 No auto programs (DMX control)
6 51–255 Built-in auto programs

Note channel 5: one «Channel» entry, several «Value» rows — that is banding in action. And note channel 6: many budget fixtures have a channel that switches DMX control off and starts an internal program. Nudge it to a high value by accident and the fixture starts living its own life.

A glossary of channels: what the English names mean

Channel names are similar across manufacturers. These cover 95 % of the fixtures on the market.

Intensity and flashes

Name What it does
Dimmer, Intensity, Master Overall intensity of the fixture
Shutter, Strobe Shutter: closed / open / strobe. Often banded
Dimmer Fine Fine adjustment of intensity (16 bit)

Colour

Name What it does
Red / Green / Blue The primary LED colours
White / Amber / UV / Lime Extra LEDs in 5-in-1 and 6-in-1 fixtures
Color, Color Wheel Colour wheel: each colour has its own value range
CTO / CTB Smoothly warms or cools the white
Cyan / Magenta / Yellow Smooth colour mixing with filters (in powerful fixtures)
Color Macro Ready-made colour combinations from a single value

Movement

Name What it does
Pan Rotation around the vertical axis (left–right)
Tilt Tilt (up–down)
Pan Fine / Tilt Fine Fine adjustment of pan and tilt
Pan/Tilt Speed, Movement Speed How fast the fixture itself executes a move

Optics

Name What it does
Gobo, Gobo Wheel Wheel of stencils: a pattern in the beam
Gobo Rotation Rotates the selected stencil
Prism Prism: multiplies the beam into several
Focus Sharpness of the pattern
Zoom Beam width — from narrow to wide
Iris Diaphragm: narrows the pool of light
Frost Softens the edges of the beam

Housekeeping

Name What it does
Reset, Special Functions Restarts the fixture’s motors at a high value
Auto / Sound / Program Built-in programs and sound reaction — DMX control is usually disabled while these run
Speed, Function Speed Speed of the built-in effects
💡 Tip: do not try to memorise this. It is enough to know the list exists and to come back to it when an unfamiliar word turns up in a manual. After two or three fixtures it sticks by itself.

Three reasons a fixture «won’t light»

Nine out of ten reports of «the profile is loaded, the address matches, and the fixture is dead» come down to one of three causes — and all three are visible in the channel table:

  1. The shutter is closed (Shutter at zero). The fixture is fine and obedient, but physically blocked.
  2. Master intensity is at zero (Dimmer = 0). The colour is set, but there is nothing to output it with.
  3. The fixture is in auto/sound mode — the Auto/Program channel is raised, or the fixture itself is not set to DMX mode.
💡 Tip: the right order for testing any new fixture is to raise the Dimmer first, then open the Shutter, and only then deal with colour and movement. That is exactly why good software often sets the shutter to «open» by itself when you add a fixture.

When your fixture is not in the library

Libraries in lighting software hold thousands of ready-made profiles, but the world of budget fixtures is endless and unbranded models turn up regularly. You have four options, from easy to laborious:

  1. Search differently. The same piece of hardware is sold under several brands. Search by channel count and fixture type — you will often find a twin profile that fits exactly.
  2. Take a similar profile in the same mode. If your fixture has 7 channels in the order «intensity, R, G, B, strobe, programs, speed», any other 7-channel profile with the same order will do.
  3. Build the profile from the manual’s table. Most programs have an editor: you list the channels in order, set the type of each — done.
  4. Have the table recognised automatically. SvetoMaster can build a profile from a photo of the manual page.
Fig. 2 — The profile library: one model appears in several modes
Fig. 2 — The profile library: one model appears in several modes
⚠️ Careful: if a profile is picked «by eye» and some channels do not line up, the fixture will work almost correctly — and that is the most treacherous outcome of all. Test every parameter in turn: intensity, each colour, strobe, movement. Five minutes of checking saves an evening of head-scratching.
📍 How this looks in SvetoMaster: the built-in library is large — several thousand profiles, searchable by name and manufacturer, with each mode of a model shown as its own row including the channel count. If your model is missing, there is an editor (build the profile channel by channel), import of profile files from other programs, and recognition from a photo of the channel table in the manual. The program also reads QLC+ and FreeStyler profiles, so if you started there, your existing work transfers easily.

Key points

  • A profile describes which channel of a fixture controls what; also known as a fixture, a personality, a «passport».
  • A profile always belongs to one specific mode of the fixture (8CH, 14CH and so on).
  • In the manual’s channel table the channel number is a position inside the fixture, not an address in the line.
  • The Value column shows the banding: one channel can do several different things.
  • English channel names are standard: Dimmer, Shutter, Pan/Tilt, Gobo, Prism, Zoom, Focus, Iris, Frost.
  • «It won’t light» is nearly always a closed Shutter, a zero Dimmer or an active Auto/Sound mode.
  • No profile? Look for a twin, take a similar one in the same mode, build it in the editor or recognise it from a photo.

Coming next: we have the language sorted — channels, addresses, profiles. Time to meet the fixtures themselves: the next lesson is a tour of the whole zoo of lighting gear. What a PAR, a wash, a spot, a beam, a scanner, a blinder and a hazer are, how they differ, how many channels they eat and which of them you actually need.

Next lessonThe fixture zoo: who is who in a lighting rig