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3 replies

Help my band choose a DMX controller!

T thecomplexMember
Hello, my band currently has a lighting setup that consists of 4 Chauvet COLORstrips, fluorescent lights, and work lights. Consistency and timing of changes and effects is important to us (we don't want to trust the show to sound-activated programs and have specific changes for different songs) and are currently using a combination of a Chauvet FS-1 foot controller for the strips and regular on/off footswitches for the fluorescents and work lights.

We want to get more intricate, add some lights, and remove the need for the bandmembers to control the lights while playing. To this end, we've been considering software-based DMX controllers such as Elation Compu Live, Venue Magic, myDMX, etc.

The only issue is that we play all of our songs to a metronome (which I, the drummer, get in my ears). The light show needs to be synchronized, and it somehow needs to be triggered to begin at the same time as the metronome.
What options exist for us? My current thinking is that we get a laptop with Compu Live (or comparable program) on it, record the metronome for each song as an audio track, and have Compu Live trigger to them. Will this work? Are there other options? We need to move quickly as we have a show late January we would like to debut the new setup at.

Our requirements, after being able to program scenes via DMX and somehow sync them to my click, are:
• stable (low likelihood of "conking out on us" in the middle of a show")
• as easy to learn and use as possible
• and if it meets all the requirements, cheaper is better.

I really appreciate your responses. In fact, if you help us out with a thoughtful suggestion, I'll send you a free digital copy of our EP Big Grin

Chris
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S studio42Member
Go with CompuShow. If you work with pre-recorded backing tracks, you can sync your lights to those tracks, and since you're synced to those tracks, everyone is in sync.

Win-win.

Even with you getting fed a metronome to your ears, have the lighting person work with a stereo mix-down of the same track and same length, so they can program THEIR cues, then they can swap the file out. Now the useful audio cues are diminished, but your timing is spot on. Make sure you generate your metronome file as a new audio file.

Stable? Can't comment. I haven't used it yet. I'm learning Compu Show, after upgrading from myDMX and haven't tried Compu Live yet. In the future i will, but not now, I got too much on my plate for the time being. I would assume for the costs it is stable.
Easy to learn and use? Well, opinions may vary. MyDMX was natural for me, but Compu Show was NOT. But, it's getting easier! But, definately requires time investment for the operator and programmer.

Cheaper is better? Well, don't risk it. Elation makes damn good products, so stick with a company that's going to support what they make.

Oh, CD's only!!

Sorry for the lateness, I got my own shows to work on, and I'm an audio guy anyways.
H hobsonMember
The fact that you play to a click track gives you an almost ideal option. You can have a lot of fun with this and get great results.
Don’t know what you are currently using to generate your click, but I’d suggest that you replace it with software that can create midi files (any version of Sonar would be a good choice – you won’t need for an expensive new version). You can easily create a click track in any midi song software using the midi sounds in your computer as your sound source, i.e., you don't need any sound hardware. You would make a separate click track for each song you play with clicks lasting as long as the song lasts (plus however many clicks you need to get the song started).
You would then need to get a controller that will do the scenes/shows you want to use during your songs. It can be either hardware (e.g., a Magic 260) or software (e.g., MyDMX or an Elation package), and respond to midi commands. [Getting a controller that can do Shows, instead of just scenes, will give you much more flexibility, but is more expensive. I’d recommend you go for it if you can afford it.]
You would then set up the scenes/shows you want to use in controller. Then you can go back to your midi song software and have it send the appropriate midi note info to your controller.
In this way, you will be able to get the light to do whatever you want them to do as you proceed through the song.

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