Info needed for NOVICE re DMX!

[kmssounds]

Hi, I

I am very new to the Roadshow industry and have had to hire mac 250 kryptons with a light engineer for sometime.

I have seen him using a laptop to control the lights and i'm wanting to set this up myself.

I will be dry hiring the lights but would need my own laptop which I have and any other equipment I will need.

My question is:
What will I need to set this up?
How hard is to set up scenes and can i download them from anyware?
How much should I be paying to get a dmx controller program?

Any help would be fab!

Cheers

[Danno13]

Hi, please have a read of this topic - http://www.mobilediscodirectory.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=11711

DMX wise, I'd recomend daslight for PC use, standard dongle is around £250, or the American DJ DMX is supposed to be good too and is around £100.

Both of these will have a fixture file for the MAC250s, allowing you to access all it's functions. You'll have to make the scenes yourself, but it's really not that difficult.

[Larry B Entertainment]

I would go with the ADJ one. The dongle is £75 from CPC. You can download the software free from the American DJ site. It lacks sound to light features but you still get alot of control over the lights plus it has profiles for thousands of fixtures you may want to add later on.
Its what we use for the moving heads and I think its spot on.

[Vectis]

Be aware that the ADJ has been discontinued and there will be no further software development aside from a few patches to maintain compatibility with future windows service packs etc.

Daslight is the way to go. A little more expensive than ADJ but if you're only talking a couple of movers then the entry-level 128M box will be fine at circa £150.

[kmssounds]

So once I have downloaded the software can i start making scenes or do I have to have the macs plugged in?

I would prob make about 30 different scenes and use them so not to bothered about making loads!

Thanks for your help all!!

[A1DL]

Hi, I

I am very new to the Roadshow industry and have had to hire mac 250 kryptons with a light engineer for sometime.

I have seen him using a laptop to control the lights and i'm wanting to set this up myself.



It is likely he is using Martin Lightjockey, pretty much the industry standard PC based controller
http://www.martin.com/product/product.asp?product=LightJockey

[Dynamic Entertainment]

So once I have downloaded the software can i start making scenes or do I have to have the macs plugged in?

I would prob make about 30 different scenes and use them so not to bothered about making loads!

Thanks for your help all!!

It depends on which level of system you go for with daslight. Once you go for a more expensive level from them you get 3d rendering siftware, so you can create your shows virtually.


It is likely he is using Martin Lightjockey, pretty much the industry standard PC based controller
http://www.martin.com/product/product.asp?product=LightJockey

Not the cheapest bit of kit though eh Tony. It is good though.... :)

[Danno13]

It depends on which level of system you go for with daslight. Once you go for a more expensive level from them you get 3d rendering siftware, so you can create your shows virtually.

Daslight software is free, you can play with the 3D visualiser without buying anything. It's just their dongles you have to pay for.

[Dynamic Entertainment]

Sorry dan, your right. In the older models, your entry level version didnt have 3d rendering/simulation supported, but it seems that theyve canged all that now.

It is worth saying though that you need a fairly decent spec to run the rendering with any decent number of lights as it eats RAM. If your just gonna be playing with the 2 macs on it you should be fine, but a whole nightclub needs stupid amounts of memory :)

[Larry B Entertainment]

It is worth saying though that you need a fairly decent spec to run the rendering with any decent number of lights as it eats RAM. If your just gonna be playing with the 2 macs on it you should be fine, but a whole nightclub needs stupid amounts of memory :)

A high end graphics card is a must really. Some on board cards I have come across cant render in Advanced mode so you dont get the full beams in the 3d software :eek:

[kmssounds]

I will be using 4 macs?

What would you reccoment i start on? I like the idea of free!

[Dynamic Entertainment]

I will be using 4 macs?

What would you reccoment i start on? I like the idea of free!

Its not completely free. You can download the software from www.daslight.com and have a play with it BUT to make it work in the real world (with the lights), you need to buy the hardware.


Minimum requirements are

- Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP or Vista (32 bits), with DirectX 9.0
- 1 GHz CPU (1,5 GHz)
- 512 Mb of RAM memory RAM (1 Gb)
- 128 Mb of video memory (256 Mb)
- 150 Mb of free disk space
- CD-ROM drive
- 1,2 or 3 USB2.0 Ports

Four lights wont eat up that much ram when your rendering the simulation, so you sould be fine with just over the minimum spec.

[SC Events]

Sorry to interrupt the thread, but:

I've just been playing with the Daslight software and there are no KAM products on there.

Also the ACME Dynamo's beam's are plain white, no matter what gobo you put them on, on the 3D thingy

[Dynamic Entertainment]

Sorry to interrupt the thread, but:

I've just been playing with the Daslight software and there are no KAM products on there.

Also the ACME Dynamo's beam's are plain white, no matter what gobo you put them on, on the 3D thingy


Ive no Kam products so i wont know. As far as the dynamos. I have the same problem (white light with text "Gobo 1" "Gobo 2" etc etc), so i set it up and made a note of which gobo was actually "Gobo 1" etc etc.

The MiracLED file is also missing too (cant remember who gave me mine).

You would think that the Acme products would be right...especially with Prolight being the Daslights sole UK distributor.

[kmssounds]

So just to confirm:

I can use the DASLIGHT program with 4 mac kryptons?

I will need the interface?

I have downloaded it and OMG looks complicated! :bang:

[Dynamic Entertainment]

Yes you can use Daslight for the Mac Kryptons, yes you will need to purchase an actual interface. Available here: http://www.djkit.co.uk/search.php?manufacturer=102&needle=&x=18&y=4

And, its not as bad as it looks. Run through the tutorials, here (they help loads): http://www.dmxsoft.com/manuals/?oem=FT8p45&na=Mg5

[Larry B Entertainment]

I've just been playing with the Daslight software and there are no KAM products on there.


I had to make some Kam profiles for ADJ as it lacks them :mad:

[kmssounds]

just thought I would mention you lot are all ledgends!

This is has helped me loads!

Is there anyware I can download already made scenes up from anyware?

[Shaun]

The MiracLED file is also missing too (cant remember who gave me mine).



Steve,

Any chance you can email me a copy of the miracled fixture file? :)

[Dynamic Entertainment]

I will do as soon as i get it to work properly :bang: :bang: :)