where to start with dmx
Printed From: Speakerplans.com
Category: Other Chat
Forum Name: Lighting Talk
Forum Description: All your lampy, laser and 'other' special FX needs....
URL: https://forum.speakerplans.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=75201
Printed Date: 27 March 2026 at 12:38am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.08 - https://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: where to start with dmx
Posted By: nuclearbass
Subject: where to start with dmx
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 3:40pm
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Hi guys ive finally got my system to a place im happy with, now on to the lights. i have the following at my disposal, and have all the files for limelight verse and the dongle etc, 4x acme dyna scans 2x acme mighty spot moving heads 4x stairville led battons 1x kam fscan 40 laser 2 x abstract galactic moons so where do i start in knowing the dipswitch and LED display address settings to get me started, a push in the right direction for some usefull info and guidance is what im after, cheers in advance rich ) ------------- one life - have fun! Force fusion pro audio |
Replies:
Posted By: norty303
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 5:21pm
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In the software you will 'patch' each fixture with a start DMX address. So, if you a scanner with 4 channels and you patched it at address 10, it would occupy channels 10,11,12,13. You then set the scanner to channel 10. You need to make sure that no channels overlap, most software will warn you about this. Personally, if I have the channels free I like to patch groups of fixtures starting nn1. E.g I might patch scans starting at 101, strobes at 201, pars at 301,etc. And sometimes I might do each fixture as well, so the scans might be 101,111,121,131,141,etc. it is wasteful of channels, but can make it easier to remember the required address when settings heads after doing the desk patch, especially if the desk is at front of house and you've no-one to call them for you ------------- My laser stuff: http://www.facebook.com/SubsonicSystems" rel="nofollow - Frikkin Lasers |
Posted By: Amplighting&sound
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 5:22pm
| Hello first down load a dmx calculater app its wicked then find all your light manuls as they will tell u what dip switchs do what and u might find s ome of your lights maybe crossed dmx so u will need to find this out first if u wanted to link all lights on one line |
Posted By: nuclearbass
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 5:30pm
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ok i think i understand, i know that each light will have x amount of channels for light gobos etc etc so to controll each scanner independantly it would be scanner 1 = channels 1234 || scanner 2=4567 and so on?? right ok, the led bars have 3 segamnts which ive been told work in slave master mode, so does this mean to run each segment seperate id have to do the same, segment 1=10 11 12 13 segment 2=14 15 16 17.? im guessing the laser pretty straight forward., and same with the galactics..... how do i find out if my lights are crossed dmx? ------------- one life - have fun! Force fusion pro audio |
Posted By: norty303
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 7:13pm
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I have no idea what he means by crossed DMX. He may mean that you could have channels overlapping, but that is purely a function of you patching badly rather than any issue with the fixture. The LED bars slave mode is irelevant when used on DMX. you should be able address each segment as if it is a single RGB fixture. The same profile for a 3 ch LED par should work for each segment, assuming they don't have some other funky control channels. ------------- My laser stuff: http://www.facebook.com/SubsonicSystems" rel="nofollow - Frikkin Lasers |
Posted By: nuclearbass
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 7:21pm
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ok i see what you mean norty, im guessing it will be a little easier whne i have the softwere in front of me, i just need to find the manuals for the lights now, or will the nice people at limelight already know how many channels each one of my fixtures needs? ------------- one life - have fun! Force fusion pro audio |
Posted By: dylan-penguinmedia
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 8:54pm
| Crossed DMX may mean some lights have the pins swapped - like some older amps might on the audio side. Some older Martin Lights are this way inclined. You can make up leads or get polarity swappers from CPC for a quid or two. |
Posted By: norty303
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 9:01pm
Ah yes, I see it now!  What lights in use today have reversed polarity DMX other than the 218,812,518 Martin Roboscan series? ------------- My laser stuff: http://www.facebook.com/SubsonicSystems" rel="nofollow - Frikkin Lasers |
Posted By: dylan-penguinmedia
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 9:06pm
Who knows.... I've a Martin Imagescan that is... But seeing as its spent the last year or so on my bench, I don't class that as 'in use today' haha! |
norty303 wrote:Posted By: imageoven
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 9:48pm
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Abstract use reversed polarity DMX, at least vrx's do - worth checking the galactic moons... ------------- Keep pushing on, things are gonna get better. |
Posted By: nuclearbass
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 9:59pm
cheers for that mate, probably save med some head scratching ------------- one life - have fun! Force fusion pro audio |
Posted By: nuclearbass
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 10:09pm
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heres the galactic moon (pin 3 cold, pin 2 hot, pin 1 grounded) is that normal? or reversed? ------------- one life - have fun! Force fusion pro audio |
Posted By: nuclearbass
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 10:14pm
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and to get me started if you could, how many chanels would this light take up, and where owuld the switches need to be set too?? http://www.sabretechnology.co.uk/pdfs/absgmoon.pdf ------------- one life - have fun! Force fusion pro audio |
Posted By: djeddie
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 11:10pm
No. It should be, as long as each scanner uses four channels, scanner 1 : DMX channels 1,2,3,4 scanner 2 : DMX channels 5,6,7,8 etc etc. But they could also be, scanner 1 : DMX channels 187,188,189,190 scanner 2 : DMX channels 191,192,193,194 etc etc You can use whatever channels you want, however it's best to start at 1 and go from there. The Galactic Moons use two DMX channels. Channel 1 is the beam rotation and channel 2 is the colour / gobo wheel. The pdf from Sabre will show what DMX level will do what on page 15. The dip switches will need to set at whatever is the next free address. So if you have those two scanners mentioned above and two Galactic Moons it would be:- Scanner 1 : DMX 1,2,3,4 Scanner 2 : DMX 5,6,7,8 Gal Moon 1 : DMX 9,10 Gal Moon 2 : DMX 11,12 Hope that helps ------------- Chas n Dave : it's like Drum and Bass but with beards. E=mc² ±3dB |
Posted By: nuclearbass
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 11:15pm
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Ok so how do the dip switches correspond tothe channels? And I didn't mean to over lap re channels in my post you quoted sorry :) ------------- one life - have fun! Force fusion pro audio |
Posted By: nuclearbass
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 11:18pm
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Ok so how do the dip switches correspond tothe channels? And I didn't mean to over lap re channels in my post you quoted sorry :) ------------- one life - have fun! Force fusion pro audio |
Posted By: dylan-penguinmedia
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 11:24pm
DIP Switch 1 = 1 2 = 2 3 = 4 4 = 8 5 = 16 6 = 32 7 = 64 8 = 128 9 = 256 10 = depends on the light, see user manual So if you want to find say 19, you need to switch on 5, 2 and 1. (16 + 2 + 1) |
Posted By: nuclearbass
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 11:25pm
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A ha, clever stuff!! ------------- one life - have fun! Force fusion pro audio |
Posted By: James Tengo
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 11:30pm
Another good reason for doing this on some older desks (such as the early Compulite desks - Spark etc.) was it would only send data up to the highest patched address, for instance if you only had the first 32ch of a universe patched then it would only transmit 32ch of data before repeating, as you can imagine the refresh rate went through the roof and some fixtures could not cope with the speed of the data going to them. Most modern day desks won't have this problem but a lot of cheap controllers and fixtures (and some not so cheap ones) don't comply with USITT dmx standards. Back on track, http://www.onstagelighting.co.uk/" rel="nofollow - http://www.onstagelighting.co.uk/ has a lot of basic and more in-depth info for your reading pleasure, and for old complaining theatre tech lurvies, teenage "company owners", am-dram queens and general moaners read http://www.blue-room.org.uk/" rel="nofollow - http://www.blue-room.org.uk/ . Just be warned that it's mostly populated by humourless pedants, but there are some people on there who know their onions. Just don't expect them to laugh. Ever. |
Posted By: dylan-penguinmedia
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 11:41pm
The best description of that forum EVER.  |
Posted By: jacethebase
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 11:47pm
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With the amount of lights you have listed I would assign the units in multiples of 10 ie scan 1 dmx chan 1 scan 2 dmx chan 10 scan 3 dmx chan 20 And so on just makes things a little less confusing. Me saying this I have no idea how DMX controller software works I can only Patch with Avolites consoles. But I assume it will be similar? Obviously this will only work if your fixtures use less than 10 DMX channels if not then do 20's just keep it simple. ------------- www.wedding-production.co.uk www.stage2sound.com |
Posted By: dylan-penguinmedia
Date Posted: 13 January 2013 at 11:48pm
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If you're using Limelight Verse, any way you patch is going to be pretty straightforward. |
Posted By: nuclearbass
Date Posted: 14 January 2013 at 8:49am
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I'm already a member of blue room, and yes I don't think I've ever read anything funny in there lol..... Well I shall be stringing the lights up soon I think, is their a way to program lights workout actually having them set up ------------- one life - have fun! Force fusion pro audio |
Posted By: James Tengo
Date Posted: 14 January 2013 at 12:00pm
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Yep, you can program "blind' if you know what values do what, check out manufacturers range tables for fixture attributes (What channel does what at what value) or by using a visualiser, where you build a 3d rig on a computer of your lighting rig and control it by either using a software desk or by plugging in your hardware desk. They do this at some festivals so you can program your show whilst other bands are onstage, then load your show into the main desk / plug your own desk in, tweek your position pallets and have your show ready to go in minimal time. Some desks have basic visualisers built in (Grand Ma, Chamsys magicQ) |
Posted By: thestagebus
Date Posted: 14 January 2013 at 3:13pm
No need to know what the values do from manuals in LimeLIGHT as it's software based, so all the information is on screen  Makes it quite a lot easier to program than having to look up values! |
Posted By: imageoven
Date Posted: 15 January 2013 at 10:08pm
That is reversed compared to the standard. ------------- Keep pushing on, things are gonna get better. |
Posted By: djeddie
Date Posted: 15 January 2013 at 10:53pm
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The nightmare with the Galactic Moons is that the XLR connectors are soldered on to the direct onto the PCB so to change the polarity over would be a nightmare. ------------- Chas n Dave : it's like Drum and Bass but with beards. E=mc² ±3dB |
Posted By: nuclearbass
Date Posted: 15 January 2013 at 10:55pm
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Surely I can make a cable myself? ------------- one life - have fun! Force fusion pro audio |
Posted By: Amplighting&sound
Date Posted: 15 January 2013 at 11:06pm
| Yep a lead for this is easy to make but i found i had to put the dmx crossed lead and lights at the end of line rather then at the start as in run normal to crossed rather then crossed to normal if u get me |
Posted By: djeddie
Date Posted: 15 January 2013 at 11:59pm
Sorry, I didn't make it clear what I actually meant! (long day!!!) I meant that instead of having to have crossover leads and making sure they go in the right place if you have them all on the same polarity then you can use normal xlr cables. ------------- Chas n Dave : it's like Drum and Bass but with beards. E=mc² ±3dB |
Posted By: nuclearbass
Date Posted: 16 January 2013 at 6:40am
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I understood what you said, you also said the their a nightmare to change, so a cable seems like the simple option ------------- one life - have fun! Force fusion pro audio |
Posted By: norty303
Date Posted: 16 January 2013 at 11:41am
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I've never had any issues using crossed fixtures anywhere in the chain, providing the remember to cross and uncross going into/coming out of them. ------------- My laser stuff: http://www.facebook.com/SubsonicSystems" rel="nofollow - Frikkin Lasers |
Posted By: dylan-penguinmedia
Date Posted: 16 January 2013 at 5:14pm
Ditto. Just get the plug in polarity swappers, 2 quid from CPC. One in, one out. Also easy to see at a glance whether you've done it, as they would stick out about 2 inches further than a normal xlr. |
Posted By: Amplighting&sound
Date Posted: 16 January 2013 at 10:30pm
Cool cool many heads make easy work some good info on here do like a bit of lighting more so then sound  
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Posted By: James Tengo
Date Posted: 16 January 2013 at 10:55pm
Watch out for the solid barrel type, the extra weight on the input / output socket can break the connector off the board if mistreated. Short jumper cables put less strain on the fixture, and make them in a easily spotted colour so they can be quickly checked as in. Lots of companies use yellow cable for crossed polarity convertors |