Lighting

[Jay]

One thing I didn't really take too much thought over when I picked my equipment was Lighting, and I really wish I had. At the moment i have 2 Smart ssa-1's, a Vango swing and a LED Boogie, along with a strobe and cheap laser. I like the LED light the best but I think I will have to get a different setup in the future as I am not totally happy with my current one. I would like a total DMX setup so I can control everything. Although it looks complicated to setup I think it will be worthwhile in the long run.

My question is and I know this is a very broad question but what do you think would be a good fully dmx system?

Jay

[Sam]

My question is and I know this is a very broad question but what do you think would be a good fully dmx system?

Jay

I think that is too broad to answer.
It depends what you want it to do. As we all have different ideas about what makes a good lighting set-up..... :rolleyes:

[Jay]

I thought it might be too broad of a question, I like the LED ligting as there is no bulbs to blow or change and they also seem much brighter.

Maybe i'll ask a different question then, If I want a pure DMX setup, do I need to get the same brand for each fixture. i.e. if I got the Impossiled for the centerpeice and a few other for either side would they all have to be acme or can you mix and match?

[Sam]

You can mix and match.

[UltraBeat Entertainment]

Maybe you should look into an all LED rig then as the price of LED effects are already coming down in price and there are plenty on the market with DMX built in them now.

[Jay]

Yeah an all LED setup is what I think I want, But theres that many on the market and to be honest half of them loook the same but have big price gaps its hard to decide what to get.

I though of having an impossiled for a center peice and then on either side 2 symetrical fixtures if that makes sence. So there will be 2x 1 fixture, 2x another and a impossiled.

choices choices lol:eek:

[UltraBeat Entertainment]

Makes perfect sense and sound like a good place to start. i for one can recommend the impossiabLED. great effect. it maybe worth researching all the LED effects on the market and narrow down what you think is good and whats not.

Here's a good place to start with plenty of video's to watch so you can get a better impression on the effects they give off.

http://www.djanddiscostuff.com/

[Jay]

Thanks for that site looks good I like the way you can watch demo videos for each alot of the effects. I'll have a good traul through them tonight.

:)

[splash]

Include some LED Par cans.
They make a great back lighting effect... adds to the whole "visual" thing that the punters can see.

[UltraBeat Entertainment]

I would have to agree on the LED Par's. this is a route i maybe looking into going down in the future.

So Jay any effects you like the look of?

Give us a list of effects that you've seen and liked and we'll tell you are views/opinions and if we have own(ed)/use(d) them before.

[Jay]

I havent finished looking at them all yet lol,

2 Par cans should be enough shouldnt it? something like

http://www.djstore.com/item/lighting_led/proledj01.htm

As for other fixtures I may be going back on myself but there was alot of impressive lights that wern't LED eg

http://www.djanddiscostuff.com/prodpage.asp?prodid=1937

But then again they all look great in the videos.

The other thing of course is picking a good DMX controller, which I have no idea about. I have briefly looked into DMX and scences and chases etc and it all looks very complicated indeed lol...

would something like this be a good controller? http://www.djstore.com/item/lighting_control/procont06.htm It says it can control 12 fixtures which I don't think i'll ever reach lol...

[adilowes]

If you can afford it then go for some of these:
http://www.bluearan.co.uk/menu/index.php?id=KAM9192&product=KAM_LED800_DMX_Controlled_LED_Panel&browsemode=category

I have 2 of these and they are fantastic.
They are split into 8 segments that can be controlled individually. They have built in programs and they will run master slave. Or you can run DMX and can select how many channels to use.
I use 6 channels
ch 1 dim control on all 3 colours (White)
ch 2 dim for red
ch 3 dim for Green
ch 4 dim for blue
ch 5 strobe speed control
ch 6 Built in program selector

I can't stress how good these are. Blindingly bright. I use 2 with 2 impossibleds. I have replaced 4 abstract colourfloods and 4 Twister 4's with these and they are brighter.

[flatliners]

Makes perfect sense and sound like a good place to start. i for one can recommend the impossiabLED. great effect. it maybe worth researching all the LED effects on the market and narrow down what you think is good and whats not.

Here's a good place to start with plenty of video's to watch so you can get a better impression on the effects they give off.

http://www.djanddiscostuff.com/

arrh yes mike and his phaseone tv videos there great i like the video of him setting up a numark dmc2 as he wanted to show us how easy it is to set it up without reading manuals and mikes a really nice guy

[Jay]

http://www.djanddiscostuff.com/prodpage.asp?prodid=2051

I like the look of these and they look very bright too bright perhaps. They look like theyd be suited to fast dance discos but it says they can be controlled from a dmx controller so assumably I could slow them down a little bit when needed??

[PropellerHeadCase]

http://www.djanddiscostuff.com/prodpage.asp?prodid=2051

Aren't those the ones that Vectis is selling, barely used, for about 60% of new on DJBids?

[JAMdisco]

I have just made the move to LED and don't know why I didn't do it ages ago, could have saved a small fortune on bulbs. They are excellent and even if they only last half as long as the manufacturers claims, they will still probably out-last my DJ career. 10-20,000 disco's is a long time.

I have now made redundant 2xNJD chaos, 4xAmerican DJ Quadra Force & a centre piece similar to the Vango (but different name which escapes me).

I now use an ImpossibLED & 4 LED PAR56's with colour changer and a Prolight LED Starcloth frontage.

I still use 2x Acme Gyro 250W scanners, but will probably replace these within the next few months on a couple of smaller LED effects (running low on funds at the mo)

I must say, since using them, I haven't looked back :D

[edit] there's a picture of my current rig in the Gallery.

[Jay]

Aren't those the ones that Vectis is selling, barely used, for about 60% of new on DJBids?

****, I don't get paid untill the 28th, I'll wait untill then and see if they have been sold, what do you think of them though? they look good to me.

And JayDeeDrinker I have seen your rig and does look impressive.:thumbs_up: