A DJ's Guide to DMX Lighting

[Quadrophenia]

Thanks Sam.
I will chat with my partner in crime over this one, I have bought off ebay before, and only 1 rip off out of 40 or so transactions.Because we are trying to do this all above board and legal we will try to buy new(PAT testing then not needed and gear covered by Manufacturing guarantee/warranty), i would be gutted to find out i received stolen stuff , I know it is unlikley but hey. I feel like a kid in a sweet shop on some websites I want to buy all the stuff but not sure what would be the next best buy for us? We will be doing mostly Karaoke to start, but we want to do disco aswell but as combo in pubs to start not weddings just yet, so the Pars sound good.

Regards

Ian

[2stepsteve]

Hi all,

I came across this thread and decided to register to give my thoughts about how to control DMX fixtures and to ask for some advice.

At the moment I am using a ENTTEC open DMX to USB interface with my PC, it works okish.. There are some problems I have with it however. I've used both freestyler and dmxcontrol software (both free) i've always found myself going back to dmxcontrol as it is slightly more polished with more features, but it is ridden with bugs and does not work very well with the enttec open DMX interface. 40% of the time it will miss sending a command to the interface.. I just DJ so this isn't too much of a problem but for production i'd recommend steering clear of this combo.. The amount of control is great with using an interface but its not very hands on.

At the moment i'm still using it but I want some hands on control instead, be able to tap a nice button instead of fiddling with setting keyboard shortcuts all the time..

I have some questions about the STAIRVILLE DMX-MASTER I controller. Does it have a internal mic for a sound to light mode? I see it has what looks like a mic input at the back..

How long can the scenes be that I create? How many steps or commands are you limited to?

Thanks

[DJ INDIE]

Hi all,

Im completely new to DMX - and currently confused!!

I intend to build my DMX lighting up gig by gig.


but at the moment I have an ACME Impossibled and a American DJ REVO1 - and ive just bought a Transcention DMX operator II.

In its very very basic terms, can anyone explain to me how i can control, say just the impossibled, (then later adding in the REVO I) with the controller - including every simple stage (address setting etc) Ive no idea! - ive read the instructions of both and both seem to miss out the actual first few steps of setting up!

im after more control over the impossibled. at the moment i have the CA8 but theres no real control there for scene setting etc

many thanks in advance.

[Dragonfly]

where is uncle will??? i have a dmx master i want to take out of its box.

[Penfold42]

where is uncle will??? i have a dmx master i want to take out of its box.

Have you still not done that yet......

I was exspecting you to show me on Sunday...after I have bought all my goods.

[DJ INDIE]

Dragonfly (and anyone else struggling), dont know what type of problems youre having DMX wise, but after weeks of head scratching ive finally sussed how to control 3 lights (1 impossibled and 2 indepenent scanners) seperately if that helps anyone? although im not sure if the address settings are the same for all lights?


select address or dipswitch 1 for your Master (any light) (this will now be controllable if (4 channels) by sliders 1 (usually pattern etc),2 (some adaptation of pattern),3 (usually speed - slow/fast/strobe),4 (usually fade) - if nothing works try hovering channel 1 near the bottom end of the slider until the light comes on.
Then link the DMX out from that to the DMX in of your second light and set your dipswitches as 1 and 4 ON - this allows you to control this light with channels 9,10,11,12 (in similar order to the above).
Then link that light to the third and have your dipswitches as 1,2,8 ON and you can control that by channels 13,14,15,16 - and there we have it - hopefully 3 independently controlled lights and hours sat in the front room thinking your controlling a gig at wembley stadium!

ive set mine up like that so my scanners are on one page (ie channels 9-16 and my impossibled on another (channels 1-4) - remember to change 'pages' for channels 9-16

if you wish to use channels/sliders 5,6,7,8 try setting your dipswitches to 1 and 3 ON


This worked for me - hopefully it will help someone else too........

cheers

[DeckstarDeluxe]

as the suggestions for dmx controllers were quite awhile ago i was wondering which unit people would recommend? Currently have a kam cluster, par can 64, impossiled, two mircaleds and two imove 7's though its never all on at the same time!

[DMX Will]

as the suggestions for dmx controllers were quite awhile ago i was wondering which unit people would recommend? Currently have a kam cluster, par can 64, impossiled, two mircaleds and two imove 7's though its never all on at the same time!

Hiya,

The controllers suggested (note: I actually updated the recommended controllers not so long ago) will still do the job you want. As yet I haven't seen anything better on the market that is nice and easy for a DJ to use.

Take a look at DasLight too. Or if you want to spend less ADJ's MyDMX.

[Cowlinn]

[DMX is connected using both 3 pin and 5 pin XLRs]

Wrong, 3 or 5 pin DMX Not XLR

[Danno13]

The cable is called DMX, the connectors are known as XLRs.