Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I looked at the FAQ and did everything I read there. Also followed the directions and kept it simple with only one channel and one flash that was setup. I used speedflash as type.

My CST has no problem firing the CRSB's. I left the CSRB on channel one and tried every frequency setting on the CC one at a time. Could not get it to fire the CSRB. Also hooked up the mini to pc cord to the CC and while the flash would fire when I initially plugged it in, I still could not get the CC to fire it with the flash button. Also once plugged in the speedflash would fire by itself intermittently. Strange.

I also cannot get the incident meter to take a reading. I have tried pressing the meter button once and letting go, then firing the flash, and also holding the meter button down as the flash fired. No reading was ever shown. The meter is set up for 1/125 ISO 100 with no calibration.

Is there something I may be missing in the setup? Or could this just be a defective unit.
Isn't the CC supposed to be able to fire the CSRB's?

Thanks for any help.

Well, I'm not Paul Buff tech support, but I was wandering by on a Friday night, so...

You can't set your Cyber Commander to channel 01 and fire a CSRB. You've got to go one menu to the left and fire "ALL" lights.

I think you're confusing the concepts of "frequency" and "channel". The "frequency" is a physical thing, like 2.456GHz. Everything in your system needs to be set to the same frequency. They're numbered from 1 to 16.

• On the Cyber Commander, you set the frequency by going to the SETUP Menu and clicking on FREQUENCY.
• On the CSR, CSRB, and CST, you turn the "Frequency" control, which is the only control on the device. Only the odd numbers are marked, you set even numbers between them.
• On the CSR+ and CSRB+, you set the upper control, the one labeled "Frequency".

Then there's the "channel". That's a "communication" thing, a type of message. Think of the frequency as an "envelop" and the "channel" as the letter you put in the envelop.

The CST has no concept of the "channel", it sends a message that says "Fire everything that's set to this frequency". Everything in Cyberland understands that message, the CSR, CSRB, CSR+, CSRB+ all respond to it. So if you've set the CST to frequency 9, any CSRB on frequency 9 fires.

Any CSR+ on frequency 9 fires, no matter what the channel is set to.

The Cyber Commander, the CSR+ and CSRB+ understand "channels", too. They not only understand the "fire everything on this frequency" message, they understand messages like "fire only the light set to channel 2" or "raise the power on channel 5".

So, when you set your Cyber Commander to frequency 9, you can't fire the CSRB from a screen that says "CH01" in the lower left corner. The Cyber Commander will send a "Fire the light set to channel 1" message. The CSRB, not having a channel control, will ignore you.

Push the left joystick left until it says "ALL" in the lower left corner. Press the button, and the Cyber Commander will now send those "Fire everything" messages, and you should be able to meter or fire flash.

Personally, even if I didn't have Paul Buff lights, I'd still have CSR+ and CSRB+ receivers. If it's not too late to return them, and the extra $20 won't break you, I'd suggest giving Paul Buff a call and asking to trade up. "Channels" are just too useful. For a non-Paul Buff light, you can use channels to enable or disable individual lights, which is very handy. And, if you later get some Bees, some White Lightning X lights, or an Alien Bees ring light (or, some nice, used White Lightning Ultra or Ultra Zap lights), you can then use the CSR+ or CSRB+ to control light power, too.

Thank you for the detailed reply. You are correct, the confusion was with the channel interpretation as I understood it. Once CC was set to all instead of channel one I was able to fire the CSRB's.

I will look into swapping out the CSRB's for the +'s as I will be getting 2 Einsteins and adding a couple of bee's to my setup.

Also the meter works fine now when the CC is set to all.

Thanks again for the great help. The manual that comes with the CC and what is on the PCB website is somewhat lacking in detail. Wish they would redo it with more in depth information and setup scenarios.

You are very welcome. Glad to be of help.

As far as Paul Buff manuals, boy don't they make some nice equipment? Oh look, a butterfly...