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Thread: my dmx2

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  1. #1

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    Default my dmx2

    Can anyone advise me as to whether MYDMX2 has a sound to light option.

    In other words, rather than always using a scene, being able to just revert back to the lights being on Sound To Light.

    I mainly want the controller to occasionally direct my moving heads to the centre.

    I don't want the control of lights to distract me from Dj-ing so being able to switch them back to sound to light is what I need.

  2. #2

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    You'd be able to set some scenes where fixtures are in S2L mode but of course this relies on them letting you do that in whatever DMX mode they're in. FWIW I'd save my money & use freestyler or QLC+ with cheaper hardware.

  3. #3
    dicky's Avatar
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    Ahh MyDMX2.0

    I bought it and played around setting up some scenes only to abandon it as it just does not have the option to set the speed of your sequences by beat (sound to light) BPM (enter a value) or 'tap' a beat with your finger on a button/key

    And that is what I (and it appears a lot of other folks) want

    I can't advise on QLC+ as I never used it, I suspect it is a free download but Justin could tell you

    Freestyler is a free downoad, can handle 2 DMX 'universes' This means you can control lots of lights - and has a good support forum - they certainly have helped me

    I am only just learning on Freestyler - the first problem I found is creating fixture files as none of my lights were in the fixtures list. However that proved to be fairly simple, I could certainly advise on that now but you will also get good advice on the freestyler forum. I am just about to start figuring out the best strategy to control my lighting setup

    I am using the K8062 DMX interface from Maplin as it was cheap and seems to be very rugged. it works fine on my Windows XP and my Windows 10 PC. I am sure it would work on other versions of windows too. It does come as a kit of parts though so you need to be able to solder to assemble it but you have all the bits you need and the instructions were very clear and easy and again if you went the same route I could advise as I just built one. If not i am sure thete are plenty of other inexpensive DMX interfaces.



    Regards putting your moving heads back into sound to light.

    Regardless of what DMX interface and software you use, some fixtures allow you to select the built in show modes (eg. sound to light) via DMX and others do not. You need to check the DMX tables in the User Manual for your fittings to see if you will be able to do this. If you are not sure just post the make/model of your lights.

    Some fixtures will revert to sound-to-light if you switch off or disconnect your DMX interface. This seems a bit drastic but you could easily wire a switch into the DMX lead that would do that for you if you had to, at least then you don't have to unplug a lead or shut the software down.

    What I have found is that none of the fixtures will run built in Master-Slave (at least not the ones I tried) once they are connected to the DMX controller. This makes sense as you can only have one Master on a DMX universe. Again disconnecting the DMX the fixtures I tried then went into built in master-slave automatically. Again you could arange to have a physical switch to do this - just connect your scanners as last in the DMX daisychain then use a switch in the DMX lead to disconnect the scanners from the rest of the chain - they would then revert to sound-to-light. Probably.

    As you can see it will take a little experimentation to get what you want, but IMHO the results will be well worth the effort, which is why I am currenty going down the same route - plus some persons making errmmm... comments.... about my current lighting rig lol

    Rich
    Last edited by dicky; 28-02-2016 at 10:58 AM. Reason: clarifications and spelling

  4. #4

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    Yeah as Rich said, generating fixture definitions isn't exactly hard. All you need to know are what channels do what, and with what values - and this information is nearly always supplied in the fixture's user manual. I've even made definitions for things before I've even bought them.

    Once you 'go' DMX though, you might begin to become disenchanted with all the cabling fairly quickly. I know I did. You go from one power cable to three cables for most lights in one go. If you only have 5 fixtures, that's 5 power, and 10 DMX cables. That's a lot more wrapping up at the end of the night unless you have the luxury of being able to pre-wire your rigging.

    I frankly find it hard to believe there's no ability to set the speed of MyDMX programs on the fly though. Or do I... it is American DJ's offering after all.

  5. #5
    dicky's Avatar
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    Justin Believe it mate - MyDMX doesn't have the facility, it is never going to have it and MyDMX forum admin needs a better attitude towards customer service IMHO

    I voted with my feet

    http://forums.americandj.com/eve/for...6/m/7390082146

  6. #6
    dicky's Avatar
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    Oh and I think Justin is getting a little confused five fixtures need 5 DMX cables, not 10

    Controller----->Fixture1----->Fixture2----->Fixture3----->Fixture4----->Fixture5 (where ----> represents a DMX cable)

    Technically you should also plug a terminator into the DMX out socket of the last fixture

    It does not matter what physical order you connect your lights up (unless for example you wanted to be able to physically disconnect your scanners from the DMX chain to force them back into built in master-slave sound to light as I previously mentioned, in which case they need to be the last two in the chain

    Rich
    Last edited by dicky; 28-02-2016 at 01:18 PM. Reason: speeling

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