DMX DMX Hardware Thread

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Tyrone Blue said:
Steve... if I understand your comment, you state that each manufacturer assigns different channels for different functions. Wouldn't it be nice if every different fixture had pan and tilt on channels one and two, and color on 3 and lamp on four and focus on 5. Yeah... that's an issue when you have 6 or 8 fixtures, and each of them are all different... I hate that.
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Tough for mobile jocks as we tend to have a small collection of different fixture types.

One of the reasons I bought a couple of dongles to explore the SW side ... usually I end up running a fixture in its most limited mode (less than 8 channels) just to keep the main capability on the first bank of faders.

My 4 Bars need a minimum of 15 channels to set color .. no simple all-the-same options unless you use the pre-programmed options .. so I had to set the few presets on my board to set them to the major colors ..
 
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Yeah... or, if you have a 9 channel fixture, you have to keep "turning the page" for channel #9. PITA. That's why I went to software... The good part, however, is that most of the fixtures that we, as DJs use, are less than 8 channels.

But, when you have them all programmed, minor changes are easy... for example, you can move the "X" axis on a scanner in a second or two, rather than re-programming the whole fixture.

I agree... I have some 27 channel fixtures that allow 6 channel operation if you set it up in that mode. With software, you can use ALL of it!
 
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Tyrone Blue said:
Yeah... or, if you have a 9 channel fixture, you have to keep "turning the page" for channel #9. PITA. That's why I went to software... The good part, however, is that most of the fixtures that we, as DJs use, are less than 8 channels.

But, when you have them all programmed, minor changes are easy... for example, you can move the "X" axis on a scanner in a second or two, rather than re-programming the whole fixture.

I agree... I have some 22 channel fixtures that allow 6 channel operation if you set it up in that mode. With software, you can use ALL of it!
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For whatever reason .. on the 4Bar, they only have a 15ch mode ... in later versions (Tri) they added a 3ch RGB option. I hope to play with the software at some point early this year. Maybe even an iPad controlled one, though I'd have to get a WiFi or network enabled dongle.
 
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steve149 said:
For whatever reason .. on the 4Bar, they only have a 15ch mode ... in later versions (Tri) they added a 3ch RGB option. I hope to play with the software at some point early this year. Maybe even an iPad controlled one, though I'd have to get a WiFi or network enabled dongle.
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I think you'd find the software approach to be more to your liking.

Within Freestyler, I can customize Macros (quick buttons in simple terms) in the fixture file itself. Then, I can select my fixture and have at my disposal a number of easy to get to buttons to very quickly change what my fixture is doing.
 
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Randy A said:
I think you'd find the software approach to be more to your liking.

Within Freestyler, I can customize Macros (quick buttons in simple terms) in the fixture file itself. Then, I can select my fixture and have at my disposal a number of easy to get to buttons to very quickly change what my fixture is doing.
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I'm sure .. just a matter of playing with some of the software options .. then deciding the best way to control it .. laptop, iPad or touch-screen (either the CRT I have or a new laptop with touch).
 
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steve149 said:
I'm sure .. just a matter of playing with some of the software options .. then deciding the best way to control it .. laptop, iPad or touch-screen (either the CRT I have or a new laptop with touch).
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I'll be honest, I chose Freestyler because it was cheap. But, it does everything I need it do, so I probably won't change anytime soon. Although I do want to go to a touch screen solution, so that's when I'll probably test a few other options.
 
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I understand the "desire" to move up to software. It is easier to do LOTS of things in much less time with a lot more options of control... but let's keep this threat to "hardware" for teaching those who want to learn. I do not support starting out with software, when you don't understand the "DMX concept". I equate that to using a calculator but not knowing how to add and subtract.

Learn hardware first, so that you understand how DMX 512 works. That will make it a LOT easier to navigate software programs. That should be the focus of this thread...
 
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steve149 said:
I'm sure .. just a matter of playing with some of the software options .. then deciding the best way to control it .. laptop, iPad or touch-screen (either the CRT I have or a new laptop with touch).
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Personally out of the softwares i've played with Chauvet Show Xpress is my favorite and the one i recommend to everyone. However, really all of the softwares out there will work , it's just a matter of what seems to work best for you personally
 
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Tyrone Blue said:
I understand the "desire" to move up to software. It is easier to do LOTS of things in much less time with a lot more options of control... but let's keep this threat to "hardware" for teaching those who want to learn. I do not support starting out with software, when you don't understand the "DMX concept". I equate that to using a calculator but not knowing how to add and subtract.

Learn hardware first, so that you understand how DMX 512 works. That will make it a LOT easier to navigate software programs. That should be the focus of this thread...
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Actually, I think this thread has become cluttered. I think it would be beneficial to have your 'teachings' separated out into their own thread.
 
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ADDRESSING DIP SWITCHES

Most of the new fixtures coming out now-a-days, use digital addressing. What you [typically] need to do is hit the "Menu" button, then push the "UP" or "DOWN" buttons to get to the "addr" menu, then hit the "ENTER" button. At this point, you can use the up or down buttons to get to your desired address. Once you have the address you want, simply hit the ENTER button again to set that address into the fixture. For starts, lets simply use the "001" setting for address one. Once all of your cabling and power is hooked up, you are ready to start moving the parameters within your fixture... but wait... I'll get back to that.

If your fixture is equipped with dip switches (shown below), you will notice there are typically 10 switches. The first nine are for setting the binary address, and the tenth switch is for a "mode" setting. In most cases, switch #10 changes the fixture from sound active, to DMX. For our purposes, lets put your fixture into DMX mode (check the manual for that explanation).

So, looking at the picture, let's assume that you need to put dip switch #10 to the "ON position for DMX mode. Then, to set this fixture to address one, simply turn on switch #1. You're done! You can now operate this fixture by putting your controller into "Program" mode and activate scanner button #1.

So, in order to set different addresses into your fixture, you first need to decide what address you want to give it. THIS folks, is the first key to programming! Add the numbers along the bottom of the switch to add up to the address desired. The picture explains it.
 

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I agree Randy! I will begin my "lessons" in bold and underlined to make them easier to find. By The Way members... all of the information I am posting here is copyrighted, and only authorized for ODJT members. Not for re-publication.
 
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Tyrone Blue said:
I agree Randy! I will begin my "lessons" in bold and underlined to make them easier to find. By The Way members... all of the information I am posting here is copyrighted, and only authorized for ODJT members. Not for re-publication.
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I took it as such with Post 1. Actually, I treat most of the stuff here that way.
 
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The issues I am having so far with DMX is when I have more than one light fixture hooked up and when switching between the different lights I lose whatever the settings I had for the other lights. I have the Obey 10
 
azdeejay said:
The issues I am having so far with DMX is when I have more than one light fixture hooked up and when switching between the different lights I lose whatever the settings I had for the other lights. I have the Obey 10
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You need to turn off the fixture button on the first fixture, so that you are not sending new signals to it when setting the second fixture. Once you have them both where you want them, you need to "record" that scene. I will be explaining that as I get further into this.

In other words, set one fixture using only one scanner/fixture button, then, de-activate that button, and set the second fixture with a second scanner/fixture button (unless you're "cheating"... I'll explain that later in another lesson).

Let me know if that helped you.
 
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I understand the DMX part for the most part. I also have no problem setting up sequences in software, and creating cues. I'm currently working on improving my cue lists, understanding sub-cues, and assigning cues to buttons on my Launchpad MIDI controller. With each Cuelist page being 16 buttons, I've having difficulty figuring out how to put 4 pages worth on the launchpad to fill all 64 main pads.

I'd really like to hook up with another Freestyler user that has a better grasp on it than I do.
 
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