Gaurav Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I am designing light for dance show which has long India tour.Every venue will have different lighting consoles and less get in time .To save time and inconsistency, Please, I need some suggestion and guidance for the project success. I generally design my shows either Strand 520i or ION/EOS. I am looking for the USB- DMX light controller which has the facility of GO button for triggering the cues and dimmer curves like the said consoles. I heard about Magic Q. Is this controller has the function or which one is the best.The whole tour has very less budget so possibly not looking for expensive controller.What do you mean Open USB DMX.Looking forward for the reply Thanks G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenalien Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 MagicQ is fully featured, pro level lighting software. It takes time to learn, but Chamsys run free 2-day courses. MagicQ needs some sort of output device and there are lots of different ones, varying from the Magic dongle (£10 from Chamsys), the Open USB DMX dongle from Enntec (about 55 Euros, or 125 Euros for the more stable Pro version ) or the various Chamsys PC wings (mini wing £650 plus vat, PC wing £1400 plus vat, maxi wing £2900 plus vat).The Magic dongle only runs for 5 hours before needing a reboot, and is really a demo / learning tool. The Open USB DMX dongle is glitchy, the Pro version is much better as it buffers the DMX signal - however, you need a Chamsys wing if you want to unlock all of the software's capabilities or need more than one universe of control. Ideally you need a touch-screen PC to run the software on, as that's what the interface is designed for - you can use a mouse, but it's not ideal.One advantage of MagicQ is that, once you've learned how to use it, it has a vast fixture library, so it doesn't take long to patch up and program a new show with different lights. One thing you don't make clear from your post - are you taking the lighting rig along as part of the tour, or will you be relying on each venue to provide their own lighting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaurav Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 Thank you very much for the reply. No I am relying on venue rig and which is Source 4 and Par (very basic).Few question Pop up in my mind I cant afford the Chamsys PCs Wing series now ,May I run the shows without these? . I mean with the software on my laptop only.What is locked state of the software and what is the unlocked state of the software? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard CSL Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 you can buy a chamsys dongle for £75. this will unlock most of the features of magic Q. you don't need any control surface. as the whole program can run on the screen.a touch screen is valuable,(but not essential) you can buy add on touch screens from ebay for around 40-50 pounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wol Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 The £10 dongle unlocks just as many things as the £60 one in MagicQ, just one runs for longer without interruption, and also enables DMX input if required. Our USB Wings then give you things like the ability to remote control MagicQ from other third party devices. The functionality in terms of programming the show is exactly the same irrespective of what you have connected. If you just need one universe which is likely due to the type of rig you mention, one of the MagicDMX full interfaces will do fine. The physical control surface you get is then the screen, so as Richard mentioned above, a touchscreen is very useful here rather than having to point and click with a mouse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaurav Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 Thank you very much for the valuable time and suggestion . My friend gave me the ENTTEC - DMX USB PRO , what do you say about this ?, I think it also supports the Magic DMX Full do.G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenalien Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 The Enntec USB DMX Pro works very well with Magicq and will give you control over one universe (512 DMX channels). Your best bet is to download and install the software, connect up the interface and some lights, and start experimenting. There is a very comprehensive manual available as part of the download, and the same text is available as the HELP function from within the software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrboo Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 There also Titan One at less then £100 http://www.avolites.com/home/ctl/detail/mid/701/itemid/63.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bleasdale Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Martins MPC software also supports the Entec boxes from the next release. So there are plenty of options out there for control. You should test them all before you choose. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenalien Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Gaurav, one more thought about this - you say that the venues will all be providing the lighting rigs, and that they will all be basic Source 4 and Par, and will have a variety of control desks. Are you sure that they will all use DMX control? The reason I ask this is that many venues with simple lighting rigs still use analogue dimmers and desks, in which case your DMX Dongle/PC/software won't be of any use, unless you also take some DMX dimmer packs (and a variety of different plugs and sockets) or a DMX to Analogue protocol converter with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 That's a very good point. Can you actually find out if every venue is modern and has the right kind of kit. Even here in the UK, that's not absolute yet. Plenty of small venues still have analogue control, and I've never even considered touring an analogue demux, because getting them set up is fiddly and not the kind of thing you'd want to do at each venue. Many will be hard wired, and you'll have to disconnect dozens of individual cables and determinate, then at the end swap them all back, and be responsible for making the old (and possibly rickety) system work again! If your tour is only going into A1, big city venues, then all may be well - but if you're doing a more rural circuit, it could be a train wreck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 With a bit of thought, some advance phonecalls or visits, a box of adapters and a backup plan you can tour a demux, and in small venues it can be easier than trying to take your own dimmer racks in as power is rarely accessible. I did it for quite a few years when I was working on the amateur circuit in Luton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaurav Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 Thank you all, yes they all have DMX dimmers . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaurav Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 How and where I can buy this? I would like to know more about this software , please G There also Titan One at less then £100 http://www.avolites..../itemid/63.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.elsbury Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 If your profile is correct and you are currently in London, I'd start with the distributors list on the website: http://www.avolites.com/Distributors/UKResellers.aspx David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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