I've always wondered if you could feed 8 GPI's into a parallel to serial converter and then generate keyframes with combinations of on and off GPIs to make ASCII characters using (say) GPI 1 as the least significant bit (LSB) and GPI 8 as the MSB. Maybe the box would serialize all the "bytes" sent to it and store them until a release code is generated from the switcher (either a combo of the 1st 8 GPIs or separately GPI 9) at the desired timing whereupon the stored string is sent RS-232 at 9600 baud 8-n-1. Anybody think it would work?

Thanks, Dave It's a Strand 300 and it wants to talk MIDI or DMX but it can also take ASCII via serial-RS232 or RS485. Sorry, no GPI's. Is there a way to make Kalypso send ASCII characters?

Welcome to Editsuite JohnG! If your lighting console only talks MIDI or DMX then you're in for a rough ride, in fact you'll need some 3rd party device to translate PBUS or GPO to MIDI or DMX and I don't know of any (although for a fee... LOL). If you're lucky your console will accept General Purpose Interface Inputs (GPI's) and you're in business. A GPO (GPI Output) is a momentary contact closure applied to an external device to signal an event. In the Kalypso GPO's can be attached to keyframes in timelines by delegating GPIO to an emem level and enabling that level in the timeline. Simply insert keyframes with the desired GPO's enabled at the appropriate points in the timeline in order to create the desired effects. The tricky part is programming the lighting console to interpret the corresponding GPI's correctly. It would be best to connect switcher GPO's 1-8 (say) to the console's GPI's 1-8 respectively. Once you program the GPI's at the lighting console (ie: GPI 1 = RUN; GPI 2 = NEXT CUE; GPI 3 = FIRST CUE; GPI 4 = HOUSE LIGHTS; GPI 5 = FIRE THE LASER! - you get the point), then you can label the GPO's (RUN; NEXT; FIRST; HOUSE; LASER!) respectively and it will make sense when programming your timelines. You might be tempted to Jerry rig a GPO directly to the run switch on the console, but it is likely this won't work. The GPO's create a logic closure. This is not a hard closure, but a virtual one. In order to close switches in the real world the GPO must be run through a relay which will close an actual switch which can then be wired in parallel with the original switch. (Remember those DigiCart whooshes anyone??) Good Luck (and don't be a stranger)