Dave Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I'm aware that there have been some discussions about this previously, but I suspect they are out-of-date by now. What are the current hardware/software options for a budget PC based lighting desk? The main thing I would need is some sort of fader wing that can give 8-12 subs as a minimum. I'd only need a single universe of DMX out, and it would primarily be used with generics, not movers. There seems to be a lot of USB-DMX dongles around, but very few fader wings (especially cheap ones), and I'm not sure about software compatibility issues. Let's say the budget is £500 to include all software and hardware (but not the PC itself) Can it be done? Thanks, Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljoshua Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Slightly over budget at £600 but the MagicQ Mini Wing which has DMX out plus the free MagicQ software. It is very good and powerful software and if you are using mainly generics, the mini wing will serve you well. Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modge Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I can't remember who does and doesn't support it but behringer make a midi fader wing, which costs peanuts and is aimed at the home studio market. This gives you 8 motorised faders and 16 buttons that can be patched inside a desk that supports it. We will support this, however that functionality won't, sadly, make the first release of the software (we'd sooner have a first release with fewer features and no bugs than buggy first release that has lots of features). Combined with software that supports midi in it gives you an option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 Think the Chamsys mini-wing is a bit too dear for me. Here's a thought - can MagicQ (or anything else for that matter) take DMX inputs for subs? I could get (eg) 2 x Enttec USB DMX Pro, one for in, and one for out, and use an el-cheapo chinese DMX desk as the wing. Not sure if there would be any latency issues, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntonGildebrand Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Yes you can input DMX into MQ. But only over Art-Net. If it isnt any dongle that handles DMX-in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wol Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I can't remember who does and doesn't support it but behringer make a midi fader wing, which costs peanuts and is aimed at the home studio market. This gives you 8 motorised faders and 16 buttons that can be patched inside a desk that supports it. We will support this, however that functionality won't, sadly, make the first release of the software (we'd sooner have a first release with fewer features and no bugs than buggy first release that has lots of features). Combined with software that supports midi in it gives you an option. BCF2000 is the one youre looking for. Think the Chamsys mini-wing is a bit too dear for me. Here's a thought - can MagicQ (or anything else for that matter) take DMX inputs for subs? I could get (eg) 2 x Enttec USB DMX Pro, one for in, and one for out, and use an el-cheapo chinese DMX desk as the wing. Not sure if there would be any latency issues, though. Have you contacted ChamSys about current prices for the mini wing? A budget of £500 probably isn't far off. Can't remember the price of the mini-wing as I only saw the price list last summer! The MQ can take in DMX, but as far as I know it just passes it through to another output, and doesn't allow you to map a playback level to the input DMX level. if youre buying a "cheapo chinese DMX desk" you may as well just use that! If you're only trying to control generics, you're not going to gain much from having a PC in the way! Remember, Chamsys are giving you free software, so they have to make their money somewhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nid Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Hi, May I suggest the Sunlite 'package'… The software is also free to download (here... http://www.nicolaudie.com/main.php?id_page=4)so you can play around and get to know it before you buy (the dedicated DMX interface). A major feature of this software is its full compatibility with the BCF2000.I am using this setup mainly for generics also (as well as LEDs, movers and hazer/smoke) for over a year now. I estimate the cost of the BCF and the Sunlite DMX interface (basic class) is close to your budget. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biskit Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 A colleague of mine uses Light Factory (see http://www.lifact.com/ ) which uses the Enttec USB-DMX interfaces. He has two DMX devices, one configured as the output, and the other as an input. We connect a basic DMX desk to the input which then gives us loads of real faders which we can then assign as subs/channels/masters/speed controls/triggers or whatever in the software. Any DMX desk with lots of faders will do, we've found the SceneSetter 24/48 type desks quite good... in wide mode they give 48 faders, each with its own flash button. We don't use any of the desk's own memory functions, just use the faders and do all programming on the computer. I think you could just get the dongles, software and desk for your budget... might be worth looking for a cheap desk on Ebay (I recently sold mine - sorry!) HTH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 PCStage can be happily driven from MIDI fader panels, but there isn't flying fader motorized feedback. PCStage can also be driven by DMX input from some other source, so PCStage plus a cheap desk also works. For mostly generic type lighting, PCStage is all you need to know. A single universe should be well within your budget. Note - there are two types of PC control products; products like Chamsys which look and work like a real console, so there is nothing remotely windows-like about the user interface, and products like PCStage which work like standard windows products. Choose carefully - neither approach is right or wrong, they're just different :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenalien Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 One other area to consider is that of music-triggered events - for some lighting scenarios, this is essential, in order to have lighting state changes driven by a kick drum or bass part - but it is a feature conspicuously lacking in a lot of PC-based solutions; however, afaik, the Chamsys mini-wing does enable music triggering in the Magic-Q software via the PC's inbuilt audio interface.I'd be interested to know how many other budget lighting control software solutions also feature music triggering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drsound Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 I don't have the MagicQ price list to hand but the full-size PC wing was £1200 on the last copy we got from them. I'd expect the mini wing to come in around £600 - £700 but that's list price of course. I'm sure you could get them to give you the hire company discount they offer us if you ask nicely. You'd be looking at less than £500 in that case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul_R Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Another recommendation for LightFactory ! As of v2 it supports Midi faders for submasters (including motorised)... P117 & 129 are of interest :LightFactory v2 User Guide (6MB!!) Some UK list pricing for you..LightFactory Professional, 1 Universe, 512 dimmers £275Behringer-B-Control-BCF2000-Fader £107Enttec 'USB Pro' DMX Interface £115 or has been suggested if you already have a DMX board, you could get a 2nd USB Pro and use this for submasters. I use the LightFactory PlayBack wings so cannot actually comment on the Midi solution, but they are out of your current price range... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadhippy Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 The chamsys mini wing,according to the price list I recieved last month,is £575+ vat . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljoshua Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 If your buying a PC for this, you cant go much better than the EEE top touchscreen all in one. I had a play on one in PC world the other day. Brilliant. Also, Mr Hippy above seems to like them. That with a Mini Wing would probably be my choice for something like this. Josh Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drsound Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 The chamsys mini wing,according to the price list I recieved last month,is £575+ vat .Well there you go, even cheaper than I thought. After discount that's quite a tasty price actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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