# Strand Offline Editor?



## Bigmike (Apr 2, 2004)

Hi, I'm new to this board, and was wondering if any of you knew where I can find the Strand Offline Editor. My show goes into tech next week, and it would be great if I could have the offline editor on my laptop during that time. 


Why is Strands stuff so hard to find? On the ETC website, its all straight foreward. Not that I am partial to any company or anything.....


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## digitaltec (Apr 2, 2004)

I don't belive Strand has any offline editors for their consoles. Don't hold me to that though.


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## Bigmike (Apr 2, 2004)

digitaltec said:


> I don't belive Strand has any offline editors for their consoles. Don't hold me to that though.




I know they do, Its just impossible to find :?


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## JasonC77 (Apr 3, 2004)

I think that as long as you are not running a winXP, mac, or *nix machine (IE anything with DOS still part of it), you can just install teh console software on your machine and it will act as standalone software.

Please dont take my word for this though. I am not positive if this works... just what i have heard. In all honesty, if you are a strand customer, i would just give a call to one of their reps and see what they suggest.


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## lnut (Apr 3, 2004)

Strand's offline editor can be found at their website: www.strandlight.com When you get there, you go under support\software, once there, you download the operating system for your console. When you instal it to your pc, it will ask you if it is for an offline editor. The offline editor is quite good once you get it working. It requires a DOS environment to run. I can get it to run in a DOS window, but to use the moving light functions, you must reboot to DOS. It also has the complete manual which can be viewed with the offline editor. This will require you to download the console help file to work. These files are not hard to find, just remember that they embed the offline editor with the console software.


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## JasonC77 (Apr 3, 2004)

Hey! I was right!  Thanks for confirming what I thought i had heard once. But once again, no dice on XP since Gates thought it was finally time to put DOS to bed once and for all.


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## Bigmike (Apr 4, 2004)

Thanks. I'll figure out some way to get it to work on this stupid XP machine......


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## Bigmike (Apr 4, 2004)

Thanks. I'll figure out some way to get it to work on this stupid XP machine......


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## dj_illusions (Apr 6, 2004)

Good luck!

I tried to get the strand offline emulator to work on my XP Pro machine to no avail.
I ended up speaking to one of the techs at strand, thinking my computer was dodged and he said you cant run it on xp machine at this stage, but they are currently working on a version that doesnt require DOS.


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## Bigmike (Apr 6, 2004)

dj_illusions said:


> Good luck!
> 
> I tried to get the strand offline emulator to work on my XP Pro machine to no avail.
> I ended up speaking to one of the techs at strand, thinking my computer was dodged and he said you cant run it on xp machine at this stage, but they are currently working on a version that doesnt require DOS.




Yeah, I've had no luck thus far


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## dj_illusions (Apr 7, 2004)

while we're talking about strands...

I have only used the 500 series console as a desk for static fixtures... but now I want to do some movers with it.
I was taught how to patch moving lights to it ages ago but have completely forgotten!!

does anyone know how to do this, trying to follow the manual is like double dutch lol


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## lnut (Apr 7, 2004)

To patch moving lights, first go to the patch screen. Then enter the starting dimmer #. Then press the "@patch" softkey. Then press the channel #. Then press the "@fixture" softkey. Then the fixture # for the fixture type which is obtained from the fixture library, then enter. I hope this helps.


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## dj_illusions (Apr 7, 2004)

great! exactly what i was after, thanks mate!


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## lnut (Apr 7, 2004)

I made an error in my reply, there is no "@patch" softkey. Just use the "@" key instead.


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## Bigmike (Apr 13, 2004)

Here is an Email I just got from Strand:


"Sorry but it is not possible to run the console offline editor under XP or any other NT class OS. 

What you can do is obtain a copy of VirtualPC from Microsoft. They keep moving it about so best I do not give a direct link. Simply search for "VirtualPC" from http://www.microsoft.com

A free trial (time limited) is available. The product costs approx £60.00 

VirtualPC does just as it says -creating a window in which runs a conventional PC. To start with it is empty -you will need to load DOS 6.22 on it and then the Strand OLE. The amount of hard disk & RAM in the PC is as set within the properties of the window. Obviously they must exist for real on the host. 20Mb disk & 32Mb RAM will be adequate for the OLE.

Ensure that himem.sys is loaded (device = c:\dos\himem.sys in config.sys) 
Put the following environment variable into autoexec.bat (this is case sensitive) 
set OS = Windows_NT 

The latter stops the OLE looking for the printer port, which is a pig to emulate correctly with VirtualPC. Normally if the OLE does not see the printer port it will hang-up in the start up screen




Regards 
John Wright
Strand Lighting Service Manager 
Tel +44(0)20 8735 9790
Fax +44(0)20 8735 9799
GSM +44(0)7867 536536"


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## dj_illusions (Apr 13, 2004)

Id do that.... but im all confuesed now can anyone put it into english for me?

Does it wipe your pc?


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## Nephilim (Apr 14, 2004)

Virtual PC lets you create computers within your own computer that act exactly like real ones just without extra hardware. They run a little slower because of the emulated hardware but otherwise do very little to the "host" computer.


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## dj_illusions (Apr 14, 2004)

can someone maybe write out simple instructions step by step of how to do it... pretty please  lol


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## bazzer1 (May 17, 2004)

Hi M8
Strand have now introduced a new program called X connect which will run on an XP machine you have to pay for it and it comes on a USB pen drive I have one and I wondered how I lived without it. Its not that expensive.
Baz
:roll:


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## BCOLL (May 17, 2004)

lnut said:


> Strand's offline editor can be found at their website: www.strandlight.com When you get there, you go under support\software, once there, you download the operating system for your console.


Does anyone know if the 300 series is similar enough to the 200 series?
Thanks,
Ben


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## bazzer1 (May 17, 2004)

Hi Ben
Basically the 300 is not like 200 but it is a good 2 scene preset desk
baz


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## pat811 (Mar 9, 2009)

i use a strand series 300 console, and i am looking for an offline editor as well, hopefully someonee can find one! strand has good products but there website is mazing hard to get though, and they dont include all there products on the site its confusing.


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## rochem (Mar 9, 2009)

pat811 said:


> i use a strand series 300 console, and i am looking for an offline editor as well, hopefully someonee can find one! strand has good products but there website is mazing hard to get though, and they dont include all there products on the site its confusing.



I just finished designing a show on a 300 that closed this past weekend, and a guy at Strand was able to set me up with all the manuals and the offline software. PM me for details.


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## Footer (Mar 9, 2009)

Bobby Harrell Lighting Design

There you go, all the OLE goodness one needs.

Just so you know, the 300 and 500 series desks have been discontinued for some time. Also, this OLE was never fully supported by Strand. The right people could get it to you, but it was never a company product.


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## icewolf08 (Mar 9, 2009)

pat811 said:


> i use a strand series 300 console, and i am looking for an offline editor as well, hopefully someonee can find one! strand has good products but there website is mazing hard to get though, and they dont include all there products on the site its confusing.




Footer said:


> Bobby Harrell Lighting Design
> 
> There you go, all the OLE goodness one needs.
> 
> Just so you know, the 300 and 500 series desks have been discontinued for some time. Also, this OLE was never fully supported by Strand. The right people could get it to you, but it was never a company product.



You can download the OLE from Bobby Harrel's website, it is your best bet. However, if you have an old computer around that still has DOS 6.22 on it, or a Mac running parallels or Virtual PC you can just install the console software. On the Mac end of things, there is a manual on Strand's website that tell you how to set it up. For any other DOS system you just install the console software. In fact, when you install the console software it offers you the choice to install as the OLE. All of the needed software is available on Strand's website, you may just have to look under the 500 Series, it is the same software as the 300.


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## Footer (Mar 9, 2009)

I have heard also the that new pallet OLE will export a show file for 500 series desks. I have never done this, but I hear you can. Alex, can you confirm this on your desk? I am no longer in Strand Land.


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## icewolf08 (Mar 9, 2009)

Footer said:


> I have heard also the that new pallet OLE will export a show file for 500 series desks. I have never done this, but I hear you can. Alex, can you confirm this on your desk? I am no longer in Strand Land.



I am still running a 500. I have not done any work with with the new OLE, but Gaff might know. I know that the new Palette software can import 500 series show files, I am not sure about the other way around. I suppose I could get the new OLE and try it.


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## gafftaper (Mar 9, 2009)

Just checked my Palette OLE and I can export in Ascii Cue Format. Does that help with the 300/500?


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## icewolf08 (Mar 9, 2009)

gafftaper said:


> Just checked my Palette OLE and I can export in Ascii Cue Format. Does that help with the 300/500?



I think you would need to still run the ASCII through ShowPort before you could import into a 500 series desk.


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