DMX scene setter

[Rob the Spark]

Hi all.

 

My local am dram group have a small lighting rig in our community centre.

 

We are looking for something which with allow a non-technical person such as a caretaker to operate the lighting rig without needing to go in the control room and try and fathom out how to use the desk.

 

I'm imagining something like a five or ten button plate similar to the Zero88 chillinet or ETC paradigm push button stations which could be installed at prompt corner and will allow someone to recall a few simple pre programmed DMX scenes.

 

I'm struggling to find something super simple which fits the bill. Everything I've seen so far looks over complicated. Also, being an amateur group, cost is a priority for us.

 

Any recommendations or pointers towards suitable products would be greatly appreciated.

[sandall]

Have a look at Artistic License - I think they do what you are looking for.

[mac.calder]

ELC do some great ones - they are basically a button panel, a fader panel or the combo of the 2. You can set how the unit merges (HTP, LTP or "priority") - this gives you the ability to 'enforce' minimum levels - or allow the SM to 'override' the lighting operator in the event of an incident or if they want to set a minimum working level on some lights for rehearsal purposes.

[ianknight]

Have a serious look at the Anytronics Anyscene here - they're a cracking little unit, UK designed and built and fit in to a UK standard double wall box. You can program it by grabbing scenes from your lighting desk and then leave it to it's thing - you can also leave it in the data chain for your desk, dimmers and LED's and when it senses a DMX signal will let that signal take over.

 

If you use it with the AS180 PSU then installation is easy by using CAT 5 cable (no soldering required) and just provide mains and some DMX.

 

If you want eye candy on the wall then the Eaton/Zero88 ArchiDMX here is also worth looking at but the front panel is limiting because it only has ready access to 5 scenes.

[musht]

Anytronics Anyscene, might need to add seperate merge

 

http://www.anytronics.com/anyscene-overview.html

 

E2A beaten to it so take it as +1 for Anytronics gear built like a traditional outhouse.

[ianknight]

Anytronics Anyscene, might need to add seperate merge

 

http://www.anytronics.com/anyscene-overview.html

 

E2A beaten to it so take it as +1 for Anytronics gear built like a traditional outhouse.

 

Shouldn't need to - we've installed one this last week in this type of situation - whilst we did install a merge, it was to allow the customer to use either a Jester ML or a Scenesetter without worrying about replugging. The AS180 actually makes it all very easy :)

[johnhuson]

You should also take a look at Strand Accent if you don't need any more than 48 channels.

 

Very cost effective and we've installed many over the years and all still going strong.

[Rob the Spark]

The anytronics scene setter looks ideal for us thanks.

 

We have a hard patch between the desk and the DMX splitter so re-plugging isn't a problem and will save buying a merger.

 

Thanks very much for all the replies.

[Rob the Spark]

Just as a follow up to this, I'm now looking for a single channel DMX fader to control the house lights independently from the scene setter which will control the stage lighting system.

 

Our house lights sit on DMX channel 48 which is a generic dimmer circuit.

 

So far all I've found are very basic 6 channel DMX lighting desks which would be ok, but there seems to be no facility to address the faders to a specific channel.

[timsabre]

Just as a follow up to this, I'm now looking for a single channel DMX fader to control the house lights independently from the scene setter which will control the stage lighting system.

 

Our house lights sit on DMX channel 48 which is a generic dimmer circuit.

 

So far all I've found are very basic 6 channel DMX lighting desks which would be ok, but there seems to be no facility to address the faders to a specific channel.

 

If I am understanding correctly, you will need a DMX merger to be able to connect both devices at the same time. Most DMX mergers (such as this one)

https://www.thomann.de/gb/botexdmx_merge_dm2512.htm

 

will allow you to offset the address of one of the DMX devices, so you could buy a simpe 6 channel lighting desk and offset the start address to channel 48.

[MarkPAman]

Give the need for a merger with an offset function, this may be a much neater solution for the controller than any of those 6 channel thingies.

 

 

E2A Corrected link.

[Rob the Spark]

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't aware that you could offset the DMX channel on a merger so this definitely looks like something I could use.

 

The controller Mark linked to is exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for, except I'd like it to output DMX and even better if it could be addressed and if it ran on ELV rather than mains.

 

Our dimmers are zero 88 chilli dimmers, so one other option I've thought about is using a chillinet controller to recall scenes of the house light channel at varying levels stored in the dimmer, but I don't know if this can operate at the same time as a DMX signal controlling the rest of the generic rig?

[Glyn Edwards]

There are various options for running Chillinet alongside DMX. You can either run them simultaneously (which is great until somebody knocks the houselight controls in the middle of a show and sends everyone scrabbling for the nearest Chilli panel), or set the racks up so that if DMX is present they ignore the Chillinet.

 

Both the Venues here have this set up so that House & Cleaners lights can be operated by the non technical staff, but as soon as a lighting desk / other DMX source appears on the system it grabs control for shows etc.

 

Further details on request.