james3mc

I’ve got a Lixada “Freestyler” USB to DMX512 interface and I'm running the latest Chromaq-Vista at home on Windows 10.

Cannot get the USB to DMX to work. Anyone had any success, it seems there are loads of these things out there.

I'm about to install new house lights in a small venue (Inspire Minis, each weighing 3kgs). The venue is a converted hall with timber roof joists. 

My current plan is to g-clamp each fixture over a short length of scaff which spans two joists. The holes already exist as there are little GU10s in the ceiling currently. I then want to add a safety bond which goes up and around a roof beam. But to do that I'd need safety bonds 2m long. 

Is that wise? I want a secondary suspension of some sort. 

So my question is, in the UK, which end of the building would you number the LX bars from? If there are 8, would you expect LX1 to be at the back of the auditorium or over the cyc (or whatever the most upstage point is)?

use a headphone jack with Multiplay mostly but that is in a smaller venue

 

?Multiplay?? Google only tells me about games hosting. Am I missing something?

 

ShowCueSystems (SCS) into an X32 or through any decent USB audio interface.

https://www.showcuesystems.com

Steve

 

 

The software side is sorted - we simply wrote our own. I'm more interested in what sort of hardware shows run their sfx from (laptops etc) and how do they get the audio out (headphone, usb etc.).

I'm looking for ideas for something more reliable and better quality than our current system.

We currently store sound effects as .mp3 or .wav and play them from a laptop out through the headphone jack.

 

I can't believe that that's how professional theatres work - so what do you use?

OK, so I'm ruling scaffolding hoists (I hadn't even considered them, but that was an interesting read).

 

So can I lift with a chain hoist, and should I?

Backstage we have a scaff bar which is used for storing unused luminaries. It is short, at only 4.8m. It rests across and is secured to, 4 RSJs ("I" bars).

 

This bar therefore has no lowering capabilities.

 

Want I want is to have an LX bar that can be lowered by a chain hoist. But is this possible and is it safe?

 

I'm opting for chain because I'm assuming that that is a cheaper option than either a manual winch or an electric hoist. Am I wrong?

 

We are a small community venue and therefore don't have deep pockets.

 

Advice? Suggestions?

We have a Chauvet Geyser P7 fog machine which we initially bought for a specific effect because we could colour the output with any additional light source.

 

So my question is, what is the maximum continual burst that I can expect? We are getting about 10 seconds, is that about right?

We are a small, volunteer run theatre (132 seat) with a mixture of tungsten and LED.

 

The stage space is often used during the day for meetings, training etc.

 

I'd like people to be able to switch on (and maybe even select a colour) four of our LED fixtures that are up in the grid, without the need for someone to be there who knows how the control room and the lighting desk works. But when needed to be, these fixtures can still be controlled from the lighting desk.

 

Any ideas? For background the four fixtures are ProLight Studio COBs and the desk is a Jands Vista S1.

 

Thanks in advance.