Goochie Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Hi Guys,I use freestyler DMX for programming lights for Mobile disco.Lights are 4 x Robe 150 XT's and will add some Datamoons to DMX show and a couple of Scanners Later, but for now only DMX controlled are the Robe's, so my question is this, can I program a DMX recorder with the shows I have already created into a DMX recorder or similar Unit? That way I can set up Disco with only one PC for Music and not another for DMX, ( cant run both one one PC due to lack of USB ports which are all used, i.e. External hard drive, exeternal sound card, external DAC 2 controller)Hope you get my drift, Ideally I would program light show in advance on PC and then load it onto an external device so at the Gig I just push a button or two to recall pre programed shows.Is that what a DMX recorder does? or which device should I use? Will a martin 2510 work with Freestyler? I really am lost here guys, budget is limited because the Robes' only go out to the bigger shows.Any help and advice as always is much appreciated. Please post Links to any products you recommend many Many Thanks Goochie PS thanks for reading although heading spelling is wrong, can't edit the Heading! ha haModeration: I can; fixed it for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pritch Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Is your current show synchronised to the music? Because that's one aspect where you might well struggle if you're using a recorder. Is using a USB hub not an option? It'll be cheaper than buying a recorder, too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochie Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 Is your current show synchronised to the music? Because that's one aspect where you might well struggle if you're using a recorder. Is using a USB hub not an option? It'll be cheaper than buying a recorder, too! Hi, Thanks for reply, No show isn't music triggered, trying to sort Hub, but externals dont seem to like it, have a PC expert friend who's promised to sort that route but he's busy at mo.Ultimatly I just want to keep things simple which doesn't seem easy with DMX. Have tried Freestyler Forum for answers but it seems permanently down. Just spoke to Chris at 'Martin Lighting' about the 2510 controller (what a wonderfully helpful guy he is, thanks Chris, answered loads of questions) seems the 2510 needs the martimn dongle and thats an £800 no option route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mutley Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Although a few USB devices don't like operating via a hub, your external hard drive should have no problems as it is just "mass storage". So you could use a hub to share a USB port between your external drive and a DMX dongle. (I have a five port USB hub built into a port replicator (which also has audio output), and can confirm than an Ent-Tec DMX dongle works in one of the ports, while there are two 1TB hard drives in two other ports.) Alternatively, you could install an Express Card USB adaptor (or a PCMCIA USB adaptor if your laptop is too old to have an Express Card slot), to give you two (or more) extra USB ports that are seen as more "built-in" by the computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadhippy Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 If you go for a hub get a decent powered one,not the el cheepo's the pound shop sells. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochie Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 Although a few USB devices don't like operating via a hub, your external hard drive should have no problems as it is just "mass storage". So you could use a hub to share a USB port between your external drive and a DMX dongle. (I have a five port USB hub built into a port replicator (which also has audio output), and can confirm than an Ent-Tec DMX dongle works in one of the ports, while there are two 1TB hard drives in two other ports.) Alternatively, you could install an Express Card USB adaptor (or a PCMCIA USB adaptor if your laptop is too old to have an Express Card slot), to give you two (or more) extra USB ports that are seen as more "built-in" by the computer. Thanks Mutley,My lappy is only two years old but not got an Express card slot only an SD card slot, will have to go down the Hub rout, I like the replicator thingy may have to try one of those.Thanks for your help mate.G. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mutley Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 It's powered as well! It comes with a 5v 2.5A power supply, so you shouldn't have any power overload issues (which, incidentally, are very common with 3G Mobile Broadband dongles), or if you want to plug in two 2.5" external hard drives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinE Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 DMX recorders will be fine. Yes a Martin 2510 will work with Freestyler, Martin won't want you to know that because they will want you to buy their dongle and use Lightjockey. The 2510 must be running V2.0 firmware or later. It talks to Freestyler via a serial com port and custom lead which you will need to make up. It isn't hard. You will also need the 2510 uplink software which is available for free from Martin. Saving the programs is a single mouse click. Standard DMX recorders will work with freestyler as well but you must realize there are two types. The cheaper ones as sold by DJ shops (eg Elation DMX Duo) are snapshot-driven which means (like the Martin 2510) they will only record static scenes played as sequences. So you can't use shape generators or anything relying on fades; they will be ignored. This type of recorder is also tedious to programme because each scene in a sequence or show has to be set-up and manually recorded individually. If you have more than say 20 or 30 scenes, it will take you forever, there will be alot of button-pressing for you to do. The best (and dearest) type of recorder are the real-time ones, usually with optional SMPTE. These will accept whatever the lighting software chucks out and record and reproduce it faithfully. They are dear because they need alot more memory to capture every DMX frame rather than just every scene. A good example might be the Oxo-Solano-II or Botex DR512 which has 4 internal memories expandable to a further 32 by the addition of a CF digital camera card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard CSL Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 I used to own a disco shop in the UK, and I had the same problem hiring complex DMX controllers to DJ's who had little time to get to grips. So I investigated and came up with exactly what you are asking for. ot is called the DMX smart director, it records individual scenes of DMX up to a maximum of 92 channels. It plays back with sound activation or fade times or snap to speed controls. it is not expensive, about 50 pounds I think. and you can get it from Thomann.de these are excellent units take a bit of learning to program them, but are really reliable in use.http://www.thomann.de/gb/botex_sd10.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.