Dmx Software

[stardust 0]

Hi Guys,

 

I see quite a lot of DMX controller hardware on sale at various DJ sites - But no software controllers.

 

I am interested in a good (but affordable) software DMX controller for my laptop ,

 

 

any advice would be appreciated

 

Steve

 

 

 

[superstardeejay 0]

Try Freestyler, its..free! It's a sort of cut-down Lightjockey-inspired application. It works with the Maplin / CPC velleman dongle which can be bought assembled or in kit form.

 

http://users.pandora.be/freestylerdmx/

 

 

[stardust 0]

cheers mate..

i will check it out, also an excuse to visit maplins and spend cash electrical gadgets!!

[DJBJ 0]

I bought it used it with freestyler and am really struggling to use it so if someone does use the velleman kit with freestyler, some help would be much appreciated!

 

Cheeeers!

[gadget 0]

So which USB->DMX dongles/cables/boxes are people using?

 

Velleman DMX (60 notes) ?

 

I've seen one on fleabay from Germany which is a USB->XLR cable (with the electronics in the XLR jack i'm assuming) for about 50 notes. Not sure if this is any good or if the velleman one is probably better?

 

 

Cheers,

 

David

[Gary 0]

I've seen one on fleabay from Germany which is a USB->XLR cable (with the electronics in the XLR jack i'm assuming) for I 50 notes. Not sure if this is any good or if the velleman one is probably better?

Cheers,

 

 

 

 

I'd avoid the all-in-one types. All cables "go" even with careful handling. That's bad enough with a £10 dmx cable, or £20 audio lead, but if your only SMS interface lead goes at 6:59pm one evening...that's something I'd like to avoid.

 

I would go for the SMS interfaces with an ordinary Xlr type socket on it instead of the all-in-ones

[BK Sound 0]

I have had a lot of sucess with Daslight, its an expensive package but for me its perfect, i do all sorts of events from church stuff to raves, conferences, awards shows and theatre and the Daslight Gold package has been ideal.

 

My lighting set up is never the same, sometimes i'll have 10 led parcans, 6 led bars & some dmx moonflowers, then maybe i'll have 4 mac 250s or even some standard halogen parcans, it takes a 5 minutes to change the set up and you're away.

 

You can even program a load of chases into it and leave the computer at home, it runs stand alone, you choose the scenes using the buttons on the box.

 

 

[superstardeejay 0]

Freestyler is really easy to use once you get yor head around it and stop pretending it's a hardware desk with the buttons on screen (which it isnt!!).

 

The Velleman dongle can be bought in kit form from CPC for 46 quid + VAT if you dont mind soldering and it's very good quality indeed, but you need a good soldering iron and a few skills (there's microprocessors to solder in etc).

 

The freestyler forum has tutorial pages and how-to's, just put the coffee pot on and grab a scanner and sit back with your laptop and away you go.

 

As an example of how easy it is to use, if you wanted to program your scanner to go in a circle you'd have to plot lots of little steps approximating a circle and run them as a sequence if you had a standard desk.

 

On freestyler you just draw a circle on the X-Y grid and press 'on' and the scanner will do it over and over again!

 

 

 

 

 

[gadget 0]

Freestyler is really easy to use once you get yor head around it and stop pretending it's a hardware desk with the buttons on screen (which it isnt!!).

 

The Velleman dongle can be bought in kit form from CPC for 46 quid + VAT if you dont mind soldering and it's very good quality indeed, but you need a good soldering iron and a few skills (there's microprocessors to solder in etc).

 

On freestyler you just draw a circle on the X-Y grid and press 'on' and the scanner will do it over and over again!

 

CPC almost 10% cheaper than Maplin, which is nice (and free delivery over 40 notes). And I think the velleman kit has some kind of protection built in, which the USB -> DMX lead doesn't appear to have (in fact is there *much* in the xlr connector?) ...

 

I had a play with freestyler previously and was quite impressed with it - even on standard audio /random dmx channel output mode.

 

I've got some DMX LED Par cans on the way, and would like to link these up to flash to audio input (work them a bit like a traditional 4-channel chaser), but also if possible assign hot-keys which will, turn on all led cans instantly and then back to their original state when released (so I can flash randomly), or even change the "mode".. I hope thats what I can do with it, but its not as easy to see or play with until you have a proper dmx controller and the lights altogether!

 

Must make/spend some time playing with the software methinks, and get that kit (and make the thing too).

 

Cheers,

 

David.

[superstardeejay 0]

if possible assign hot-keys which will, turn on all led cans instantly

 

You can either assign a Macro in the Fixture Creator, or, perhaps easier, make a single scene sequence with all cans set to full-on and tick 'add to buttons' under the 'save cue' menu.

 

[norty303 0]

my personal opinion would be to get the Enttec pro dongle for about £100

 

It's about the most popular dongle out there at the moment and thus one of the most supported. At ~£120 its not the cheapest, but its also not the most expensive.

 

I use it with Chamsys MagicQ which is also a free download, but of a completely different animal than Freestyler