Hi
I'm using version 2 to control the lighting for a band and we want to include some moving head spot lights.
Does anyone have any experience of doing this and can you tell us what spots you are using and how you made them work with DMX Control
Thanks
Will H
I've just bought a Beamz ICE 1800 low lying fog machine and cannot get it working using DMX Control. I've been using the software successfully for 3 years to control my lights show.
I couldn't find a DDF for the Beamz unit so I used the DMX4All fog control. it has just 1 channel to control the fog intensity (0 to 255), which is what the Beamz unit specifies. However, I can't seem to get the unit to turn on the smoke. I also tried the generic ON/OFF DDF but that didn't work either.
Has anyone got any experience with this, or any other, fog machine?
Will H
Hi Uwe,
Thanks for the reply. As always you are a source of good information. I'm not using the Submaster at all so shouldn't have a problem.
I'll think about waiting until the new year. Was there any significant change between V2.11 and V2.12?
I'm currently running V2.11 and have been doing so for over a year. I run the lights for my band from it using a midi foot controller to change the chases. It's a great piece of software and enables scenes and chases that just can't be achieved using a lighting desk.
I've just seen that V2.12 is available and need to know if the upgrade will retain all my scene and chase settings as well as my midi control configuration.
Has anyone dome this and did it work smoothly without loosing anything?
Thanks
Will H
Hi to All,
Just tried my Kam Parbar without changing the device description and it now works. So the problem must have been tied up with the DMX4All interface cable not transmitting correctly.
Many thanks to all who helped me through these problems and gave me guidance on how to correctly use DMXC. When you know how to use it properly then it's a great piece of software.
Regards
Will H
Hi Stefan,
OK I downloaded that piece of software but it hasn't helped. There is an option under Settings /Hardware Settings to limit the number of channels but as soon as you close the window the information is lost and it doesn't store it on the DMX4All cable interface. This app really just seems to be a simple way to control the lights - and it does work.
However the good news is that, by trial and error, I have found a method to remove the delay in sending the DMX signal. This method seems to be a consistent and re-usable so I have documented it and attached it to this post.
So for anyone who might encounter the same problem using a DMX4All mini USB / DMX interface cable here is how to work around the latency problem:
1. plug in dmx cable to the PC
2. plug in midi cable to the PC
3. open DMXC - displays the message about the wrong baud rate - Press OK
4. open Chasers tool
5. Play a chase - time delay about 4 seconds
6. If no light then-
6.1. go to settings / output plugins
6.2. select DMX4all Transmitter and press Configure button
6.3. Press connection testing button
6.4. If message saying no connection
6.4.1. unplug DMX cable - wait 5 seconds and plug back in
6.4.2. Go back to step 5
6.5. If message saying connection OK
6.5.1. Go back to step 5
7. Press the Freeze /unfreeze button.
8. Wait 10 seconds
9. Press the Freeze /unfreeze button again and after a few seconds the lights go out.
10. Press Stop all chasers.
11. Now select a chase and press Play. Lights come on instantly.
12. Now the midi controller can be used
I have tried the above process several times starting from a re-booted PC and from just closing down DMXC. It works each time.
Now if I can work on my problem with the Kam Parbar (lights do not seem to respond to dmx controls from app). I suspect that this is a problem with the device deifnition that I created.
My thanks must go to HOC, Uwe, Stefan and JPK for helping me with this. I could not have solved these problems without your help and advice. If I can solve this last problem then I think that I have a very workable solution in DMXControl.
Regards
Will H
Stopping a chaser when another one starts is no problem for DMXC. Group all the chasers you want to be mutually exclusive by adding a group name in parenthesis (e.g. "Chaser 1 (LEDPAR)"). Then enable the option "Execute only one chaser per group" in the chaser tool.
Hi Stefan,
OK I did misunderstand you with regard to the grouping method. Now I understand it and have tried this method with success.
thank you for your help.
I have spent the last 90 minutes trying to get the dmx interface working correctly. It seems to be a bit inconsistent. At one stage I had a long delay of 4 seconds. Then, after pressing the blackout key a number of times, I got no delay at all (perfect function). Then I tried to power cycle again by unplugging the cable and I couldn't get DMXC to work at all with the cable. I tried re-booting my PC but this didn't work either. After a few more unplug attempts and quite a few presses of the blackout key I'm now back to no delay. If I could maintain this state then I have a working solution.
Can you advise anything to sort this delay problem permanently? You mentioned something about limiting the number fo dmx channels
f I remember correctly, the minimal number of channels to be sent can be configured with the configuration tool from DMX4all.
However I have no idea where to find the configuration tool for the DMX4all cable. Any ideas?
Regards
Will H
Hi JPK,
The definition is up on the DMX Control website listed under Kam with me as the author (Will Hogan).
the manual for the KAm Parbar is attached. I followed the addressing in the manual just as I did when I set up my Showtec lighting desk to use these lights.
Regards
Will H
Hi Stefan,
Ok I've followed your instructions on grouping but I cannot get a chase to stop when I start another chase, either by selecting chases from the chaser tool window or by using my midi controller.
When I select a chase (e.g. with my midi controller) the chase text in the chaser tool window turns to bold text to indicate that it is running. When I press another midi switch on my controller the new chase text turns bold text but the previous chase stays bold, showing that it's still running.
It may be that I have not understood your instructions correctly. I have done a "pack and go" and attached it to this post.
You're right about the power cycle on the DMX4 All USB / DMX Cable. When I unplugged it from my PC the latency reappeared. Pressing the blackout button a few times cured it again. However I just unplugged it again and this time I can't get rid of the latency by pressing the blackout button. And now having unplugged again I can't get the lights on at all. I'm going to re-boot my PC to see if that cures the problem.
Will H
Hi Stefan / Uwe,
Here's something really odd - I just pressed the blackout button on the main menu bar a few times and amazingly the chase now responds instantly to the midi foot controller message. I shut the app down and opened it up a few times and it continues to respond instantly - so no idea what happened there but good news.
Excellent advice about selecting all the channels and setting the values to zero for the colours not being display. this works perfectly.
I'll try the Grouping now and see if I can get this to work.
I'm not using my Kam Parbar device definition at the moment so that will be my next challenge. It could be that there is something wrong that device definition.
Thanks for your help and guidance guys.
Will H
Hi Uwe,
OK now I've got the midi foot controller turning on the light. The fade time was set to "0 0 0". I've set it to "0 0 1" and the delay is down to 2 to 3 seconds. Still not usable unfortunately. I can see from the change of data in the midi remote window that the message from the foot controller is being seen immediately by the software without any delay. So the delay is coming in the software.
Starting and stopping a chase with one button will not give me the solution that I need. I need the current active chase to stop when I press the button for the next chase. I can't see any way to do this in the software. When you are using the "chaser tool" window, as far as I can see, you have to stop one chase before you can start the next. This is crazy.
I've also just noticed something odd about how DMX Control works. I've set 3 cues or a single light, red, green and blue. I want to have a chase that cycles between the colours, first red then green then blue. so I set up a chase and added the cues. when I run the chase red comes on (still after 2 or 3 seconds), next should be green but when green comes on red stays on and likewise when blue comes on. So now the light is white. Surely the purpose of having a scene chaser is that as you move from one scene to another the previous scenes turns off. If you have to turn it off by having a blackout scene then you will have no light for the time it takes to get to the next step in the chase. I just can't see how this could be used in a real world environment. Am I completely misunderstanding how DMX Control works or just doing something fundamentally wrong?
Will H
Hi Uwe,
Thanks again for your response. I had already done the things that you specify in your reply except for the "midi learn", which I will now try. I have now managed to get a dmx signal to a showtec par 56 led light (I used a device description from the DMX Control list). This seems to work if you use the "play selected chaser" button on the Chaser tool window. The only problem is that it takes 4 seconds for the light to turn on after you have pressed the button. Unusable.
I still haven't managed to get the software to turn on lights with my midi foot controller but I'll try to set up a new definition for my controller in the Midi remote control entry window and see what happens. I'll let you know.
Never apologise about your English. It's not bad at all.
Will
Hi to All,
I have another problem.
I have bought the DMX 4 All mini USB to DMX cable. I plugged it in to my PC and it loaded a driver from the included CD. Now how do I get DMX Control to use it?
I have been in to "settings / output plugins" and I can see the DMX 4 All usb listed so I've ticked the checkbox. When I take the option to configure it all the text is in German (understandable as it a German product I suppose) however I can't understand it. I have selected COM1 as the port as i can see the DMX 4 All cable in my device manager under COM1 and it says that it is enabled.
By clicking on one of the on-screen buttons in the configurator I can see some text on the config window that seems to indicate that the cable has been seen. It says this:
Mini-USB-DMX-Interface MKII V1.10
(c) 2009 DMX4ALL GmbH
>>> https://forum.dmxcontrol-projects.org/www.DMX4ALL.eu <<<
USB connected
However when I go to the Effectsequencer (Chaser tool) and select a chase to run nothing happens when I click on the button nor when I press a button on midi foot controller.
I can see the midi msg arriving in the Midi Remote window so I know that DMX Control is receiving the midi msg.
I really need some help to get this working. Thanks.
Will H
Hi Uwe,
Thanks for your answer.
OK I understand what you mean but that's not what I want to achieve. What I want is for one midi button to start a chase and then for that chase to stop when I press another button to start another chase. When you are running this in a live band situation it's impractical to have to press a button on the foot controller to start a chase and then press it again to stop the chase before you press another to start a different chase. What is needed is this:
Press button # 1 = stop the current chase and start chase # 1
Press button # 3 = stop the current chase and start chase # 3
Press button # 5 = stop the current chase and start chase # 5
Can this be done? If not then the midi control function has no practical use. When you use a lighting desk like my Showtec Showmaster if you put the desk in chase mode and select a chase it automatically ends the previous chase. I have used a few desks and they all operate this way.
Will H
Hi HOC,
OK I'm getting the idea of how this works. First I connected my midi foot controller and was then able to define the buttons on it and what signal was being transmitted by each. I could see the signal in the "midi remote window. "Next I added some devices, although I had to create a new device using the DDF creator mentioned by JP earlier in the thread. I think that I did that correctly. Then I created some "scenes / cues" in the Cue list. Then I created some "chasers" with the effects sequencer by adding in cues from the list. Then I configured the controls for the midi using
module = chasers,
device/function = the chase name from the list
channel = start
Now I have a question
1. if the channel value = start turns the chase on does it turn off automatically when I select another chase with a different midi message (e.g. press button 1 - start chase 1 press button 2 - stop chase 1 and start chase 2 ? If not then how do you stop a chase - it would be impractical to have a button on the midi controller to start a chase and then another button to stop it.
I hope that your supported interface page is up to date as I have just ordered the DMX4All Transmitter Mini-USB-DMX as this seems to be the most reasonably priced interface cable.
Hi HOC,
Thanks for the reply.
I can see the "chasers" option in the module dropdown of the midi configurator and can understand how this would be associated with a particular midi command coming from my foot controller. I will read the manual again today and see if I can work out out how to set this up. Thanks for your advice so far. I hope you don't mind if I come back with further questions. It might take a while before I fully understand how to program DMX Control.
OK thanks JP. That looks interesting. I have downloaded this and had a quick look.
I have been reading the manual and am still having problems understanding the principles of DMX Control. I have been using a Showtec 48 channel lighting desk and it's really easy to program for my lights (I cant use this anymore as I no longer have a lighting engineer to operate the desk for me - I'm in a band and now have to control the lights with my feet - hence the need to use my midi foot controller).'
What I'm trying to do is create number of light scenes where lights will show different colours according to which button has been pressed on the midi foot controller (for example button 1 turns all lights to white, button 2 turns all lights to red etc). I have read in the manual that scenes can be created but I not sure if this is the same thing that I want to achieve. I also need to have "chase" sequencies where a number of "scenes" are played consecutively, one after the other, according to pre-set timing, and the chase keeps looping back to the beginning until another midi command causes a different chase / scene to be displayed.
Do you think that this can be done with DMX Controller?
Hi,
I have played with the software now and have found out how to connect a midi foot controller and define what is being transmitted by it - the information was buried in a manual. I have my ART unit connected now (used Midi-Ox to verify as I've used this before).
However now I have seen another problem - you can cannot create a device unless a definition of the device exists in a pre-defined list - and my lights are not in the list (I am using a few KAM Parbars along with some Showtec Par 56 LED cans - there Is a Showtec Par 64 device defintion and I have looked at the device XML file which seems to be the same as a Par56 would be so might be usable). I' wondering if I could create a device definition XML document for the Kam units by copying one of the existing ones and changing the channel values. I know that the Kam unit uses 15 channels and the first three are used for the whole unit with the next 12 being split into 3 channels per individual lamp in the unit. I think that I can see how to do this.
I have just found DMX controller on the web and it seems a good piece of software. I can see from the manual that it is possible to control the software via midi. However, can anyone tell me if it is possible to control with a midi foot controller that only outputs program change messages. I have an ART midi foot controller that I have tested using Midi Ox and can see that it outputs only midi program change messages, as per the manual. I want to be able to control my DMX lighting rig with the foot controller.
Any help appreciated.
Will
