How to activate Sound to light (DMX Operator)

So which one are you trying to run in sound active? the lights or the board?
Welcome to the forums.
Sincerely,

I have found that when using DMX and throwing a fixture into SOUND ACTIVE MODE(assuming the fixture has a sound active mode in DMX mode), then each light acts as their own sound active world, reacting independently to sound.

The only way I've found to get sound active and syncronized is to go master/slave mode, but then you're not in DMX mode.

The other option is if you throw your console into a chase mode that is sound active, in which case the lights will bounce from scene to scene together(and how you programmed them per scene).

Lastly to do your multiple light control, the DMX Operator is not an ideal controller for this, due to the lack of faders and the way they are laid out. Yes, you can control more than 1 fixture at a time and do what you want, but you have to be in PROGRAM mode to do it, and it will take a little getting used to. This is also not the ideal way to control things on the fly. Programming mode is intended for programming your scenes. While it can be used for on the fly control, it's just not great at that. The DMX Operator seems to work best when you have a more scene-oriented design, with some additional control wanted for some "filler" type stuff, say bringing a centerpeice in/out or maybe some wash.

@ jingles: Both. I think it would be cool if I could just controll all the Lightstuff just by the sound to light program of the Controller as the product site mentioned. But I think sometimes the Fx Bar alone (laser!) would look awsome, so I want to blackout those Revo Scanners and thats why I want to hook them up with the FxBar on the same Controller and do the blackout thing by simply pressing a button instead pressing the lightswitch to shut the power for them down.

@ Studio42: I want to learn how to program scenes and Chases but for partysetup I just don't think you need that. For most songs and people (and starters) sound to light is already enough and looks fine. My Problem is how to hook everything together to turn on/out all my stuff in sound to light mode with the controller.

You metioned that the Operator is not an ideal contoller for this (yeah I recognised some lacking when I tested the functions). Do you know any sort/type of controller that would solve my problems(in the not so far future I also want to install some Par 64 LED Spots and controll them by a controllboard).

Anyway thanks for the quick replies and information you gave me

Really, believe it or not, you're already at the stage where you need scene programming.

You have 240 scenes to make, so might as well start getting creative. Plus, you can always over-ride by using the faders, but keep in mind the restrictions tied to the console via way of the scanner buttons(which are really just banks of 16 channels, not really fixtures unless you organize things that way, either way is fine).

I do agree that for many events, especially for DJ's, doing some basic "sound to lights" stuff is sufficient. Even at some of my events, where I am doing more higher-end stuff, having lights that are simply high-tech FX that can do sound to light work wonderful for my events.

This is why I think you need scenes:
1: Using one of the 6 chases you program, you can get sound to light with syncronization. Yes, it's a bit more complicate but I think the effort would be worth it. Chases are driven by scenes, and you need to program scenes to program chases. Sort of a one hand washes the other thing.

2: You want to bring up and do things to multi-channel fixtures, which is great, the controller can do that. But you're spread out over a "larger area" as far as DMX channels are concerned, which is where the console tends to be weak for live control, especially when it comes to multiple "scanners", which as I've explained, may or may not be accurate for your layout. Adding scenes will get around these problems.

3: You're planning to upgrade, and there's nothing wrong with your upgrade path plans and the fixtures you want to add. What you might do is what I think you're already doing: Logical address assignment and arrangement with the 8/16 channel layouts of your controller.(which may result in unused channels). But, again, you'll want some scenes to help simplify things.

Also, you may choose to buy some simple high-tech FX. As I've said, they work great, do what you want(sound active stuff only), are relatively inexpensive. Note that I'm not even suggesting getting rid of anything you've got, I'm only talking about adding options.

I'd also assign any high-tech FX to a single scanner set of channels, and ensure you have switcher packs(say, the DP-DMX20L) for the high-tech FX so you can have that easy access to them.

Another option might be softare-based solutions. I know this is the wrong forum, but I think Jingles will support me on this one(or edit it out), but you might want to consider MyDMX for XP/Vista/Windows7. That, along with a low-cost MIDI controller(such as a Korg nanoKONTROL) might be an option to investigate. You get more DMX channels. While your DMX Operator only has 192, MyDMX allows you access to all 512 DMX channels. There's other goodies in there as well. One of my favorites is the 3D Visualizer, which has really been a life saver for me, letting me design shows without so much as having to fire up a single light.

Regardless, the DMX Operator has a ton of features in it and is a great bit of gear, but it's not a great unit for what you have and how you want to use it. You definately want something with lots of faders since you're insisting on all live control. Even so, you'd still run into problems.

I'd say start getting creative and think "well, I have 240 scenes, what can I program into those" and then get busy. I think once you start getting into it, after the nuisance of the programming, you'll be glad you did it. Just document your settings so just in case something happens, you have fall-back on paper so you can get started quicker the second time around.

It sounds like you have plenty of options. Time to start having fun!