james01 Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Hi, Am very new to DMX lighting and would like to pick your brains... I have a solo & duo act that I would like to run DMX controlled lighting (moving heads , scanners , smoke machine) alongside..Do you know of any program that I could purchase that I could program at home using the mp3 as a timeline with a 3d viewer.Ideally it would be a program that runs the backing track and the DMX signals all at the same time for syncing up easily and I couldjust press play and all lighting and track would start in sync. A big ask I know, being a newbie to the DMX world I know that its going to be a steep learning curve, but I think it would add a little more to our set.Many thanks in advanceJames Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigG Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Hi JamesYour best bet for this is probably going to be to use MIDI to fire your cues (you program some cues into the software and when a certain MIDI note is detected by the interface it triggers the cue). There are a lot of control systems which can use MIDI, ranging from basic softwares like myDMX, to ChamSys, all the way up to top end consoles, so your budget and how complex you want to get would dictate what you go for.Of course a much simpler solution would be to run the fixtures on sound to light, but this takes away a lot of your manual control Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james01 Posted July 8, 2013 Author Share Posted July 8, 2013 Hi JamesYour best bet for this is probably going to be to use MIDI to fire your cues (you program some cues into the software and when a certain MIDI note is detected by the interface it triggers the cue). There are a lot of control systems which can use MIDI, ranging from basic softwares like myDMX, to ChamSys, all the way up to top end consoles, so your budget and how complex you want to get would dictate what you go for.Of course a much simpler solution would be to run the fixtures on sound to light, but this takes away a lot of your manual control Hi Craig Thanks for reply, Up to this point I dont use midi while I'm out playing so would have to get a basic footswitch for that. What I would really like to do is run my backings as a playlist on laptop and also have a lighting "playlist" to run alongside that...So if I play say "allright now" that would have its own light sequence that I will have pre-programmed at home starting in sync with mp3 file !hope that makes sense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigG Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Ah, okay. Perhaps take a look at LightJams, they offer a load of solutions for lighting control, but again that would involve buying some sort of hardware. Software wise, ones I am aware of: there is Elation Compu Ware Pro, which can do exactly as you ask, play mp3s in a timeline view, and comes with Easy View, a 3D visualizer, however, it is really rather expensive at around £700. There are also ones called Chromateq LED player, Sunlite Suite, and VenueMagic, all have similar features, and I am sure there will be others. All of those mentioned above do also just come up from just googling "lighting software mp3", so perhaps have a browse yourself too and see what you like. If you don't fancy any of those, a fair few control softwares have a timeline editor, so it could just be a case of hitting go in that software and then quickly playing the song in whatever media playback you're using. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james01 Posted July 8, 2013 Author Share Posted July 8, 2013 Ah, okay. Perhaps take a look at LightJams, they offer a load of solutions for lighting control, but again that would involve buying some sort of hardware. Software wise, ones I am aware of: there is Elation Compu Ware Pro, which can do exactly as you ask, play mp3s in a timeline view, and comes with Easy View, a 3D visualizer, however, it is really rather expensive at around £700. There are also ones called Chromateq LED player, Sunlite Suite, and VenueMagic, all have similar features, and I am sure there will be others. All of those mentioned above do also just come up from just googling "lighting software mp3", so perhaps have a browse yourself too and see what you like. If you don't fancy any of those, a fair few control softwares have a timeline editor, so it could just be a case of hitting go in that software and then quickly playing the song in whatever media playback you're using. Thanks again Craig , will check them out now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrboo Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Martin Lightjocky will do that. there also DMXIS that will take feeds from Logic, Ableton Live, Cubase or Mixmeister Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxjones2000 Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Don't hold me to it, but I think SCS Platinum does this. I know it can definitely output DMX and audio simultaneously (from one 'Go' button), so I'd imagine you could do this. If that fails, you could always program a series of states that are cued at specific time intervals after the track has been fired. Would be slightly more complicated to program, but would give the same outcome http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james01 Posted July 8, 2013 Author Share Posted July 8, 2013 Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated will check out everything that has been suggested and see what suits best . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peza2010 Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 +1 for dmxis.. you open it up inside a DAW and can sync up really easily. your never going to get complex shows from it but certainly a nice start on a budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 ShowMagic av definitely does music and lights, and does both well, but again is not a value proposition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james01 Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 thanks again guys, all information is invaluable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpk Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 Take a look at VenueMagic http://www.venuemagic.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_korman Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Don't hold me to it, but I think SCS Platinum does this. I know it can definitely output DMX and audio simultaneously (from one 'Go' button), so I'd imagine you could do this. If that fails, you could always program a series of states that are cued at specific time intervals after the track has been fired. Would be slightly more complicated to program, but would give the same outcome http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif SCS Pro+ and Plantinum currently only receive DMX as a cue trigger, they cannot send DMX. SCS Pro uprwards can send MIDI, RS232 and Telnet messages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxjones2000 Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Don't hold me to it, but I think SCS Platinum does this. I know it can definitely output DMX and audio simultaneously (from one 'Go' button), so I'd imagine you could do this. If that fails, you could always program a series of states that are cued at specific time intervals after the track has been fired. Would be slightly more complicated to program, but would give the same outcome http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif SCS Pro+ and Plantinum currently only receive DMX as a cue trigger, they cannot send DMX. SCS Pro uprwards can send MIDI, RS232 and Telnet messages. Ah, fair enough. My apologies to the OP. I honestly thought it did....we had something like SCS spitting out DMX last year for a show then. Will see if I can find out what it was http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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