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[Lance Hallmark]

Thank you for your thorough reply! Okay so I'll just set several different programs with tilt to the far left and right every other program. I suppose the same goes for pan then? Feels like there should be a dmx adress for continuous  pan but maybe not. Yes I will probably look into some software, seems easier to use from what I can see on videos than doing it manually.

Yes, software will definitely be easier. It has a lot of the movements preconfigured so you don't have to program every step.
When programming lighting via a hardware controller like you have you have to think of it like making a stop motion video or frames of a movie. You use the 27 DMX channels to adjust the light where you want it and how it looks,Press record to save that snapshot (that is a step) to a playback position. Clear the recorder, move the light where you want it to go next using the 27 channels (pan, tilt, color, etc...) then record that step. Record as many steps as you like (or the controller will support). When you use the playback that you recorded these steps to it will either step through them or can auto run (and loop). It takes a bit to get your head around how it all works, I'm still sorting a lot of it out myself., I hope some of this is useful, lol.

[Don T. Williams]

Magnus

If I were you, I would use all four of your lights.  You can set all of your lights at the same address.  They will all do the same thing, but that isn't always bad.  I'd set them up stage left and stage right with a pair upstage and a pair downstage (kind of a square around the band).  The upstage pair could be elevated on cases or truss totems with the downstage to give some interest.  You will probably want to reverse the PAN on the stage left pair so the two sides of the stage mirror each other.  Reversing the PAN (or tilt) is done in the light fixture itself - it will be in the menu.  Having more lights mirroring each others movements is much more effective than having just two (or 4) lights that look like they are doing random actions.  Another plus is your programing is easier.  Some lights have built in "programs" that can give you a limited "show or shows", some of which are sound activated, and some will do master/slave set-ups, again making programing easier.  I think all of these look better when using more lights in mirrored configurations.  Ya' got 'em, use 'em!

[Jeff Lelko]

Glad to hear you got things working.

Feels like there should be a dmx adress for continuous  pan but maybe not.

If by continuous pan you mean an unlimited range of pan (spin 360 degrees continuously), then there are very few fixtures on the market that can do this.  The Mac 550 is not one of them.  What I think you mean is that you'd like the fixture to move continuously, and that's a programming thing.  While some lights do have preprogrammed movement macros (Mac 550s don't), you'll want to learn how to do this with your controller.

Once again, reading the manual for your controller will reveal that in fact your controller does have in-built effects for pan/tilt control.  See section 8.6.  How this will be impacted by the fact you need to split each Mac 550 across two fixtures of control is anyone's guess, but I think it will work to some degree. 

As an aside, while programming via a software controller might come across as being easier, there is generally a very steep learning curve associated with this too.  If you don't mind spending $100 for an interface so that you can "learn by doing", which is something that I generally recommend, giving this a try might be very worthwhile to you. 

Trying to say this in a friendly helpful way, you might want to spend some time reading about DMX and trying to understand the nature of how you use it to control lights before spending any more money.  While most software has excellent documentation and even video tutorials, this won't be of benefit to you if the basics of DMX are hazy at best.  Hope this helps!

It takes a bit to get your head around how it all works, I'm still sorting a lot of it out myself., I hope some of this is useful, lol.

Does your controller include palettes?  If so, that's a MUCH better technique to leverage for building programs/sequences then the keyframe approach.  Good luck!

[Tim McCulloch]

Greetings, Magnus-

You need to understand more about the DMX lighting control protocol.  I'm not sure of your general technical depth so if this above your understand or seems condescending, it's not meant in those ways.

Originally DMX was created to replace various multiplex control methods that were proprietary to each manufacturer and allow more elaborate patching than had been available with off-the-shelf analog lighting desks... it was basically a way to get all lighting devices to speak a common language between the desk and dimmers.  The concept was still very much "1 DMX channel per receiving device", so Channel 1 on your lighting desk was probably DMX Channel 1, and in the dimmer rack a module was given the address of DMX 1.  It functioned a whole lot like the 1-10v analog system it replaced but allowed the desk designers a whole lot more patching capability (no more diode pin cribbage boards!).  That's a very brief history and background, but how does it work?

DMX is a stream of digital serial data that moves slowly by contemporary standards (around 256kb/sec) and is mostly a *broadcast* protocol - the sending device (a lighting console) has no idea if the target device has received the data and therefore has no error correction.  Data is sent to all devices in the signal chain and each device "listens" for its DMX address and responds to whatever data (a number from 1-256) comes with its address.  DMX is limited to 512 addresses so to accommodate situations that required more control the concept of "DMX universes" was created; each universe has 512 channels.

That's important because as has been said, movers use 1 DMX channel for each *function* available so each light is waiting for its 27 DMX addresses.  When you set a DMX address on a device you're specifying the *starting address* the device will listen to.  In the case of your movers you might start with the first mover at DMX 001, the next mover at DMX 028, the third DMX 55, etc.  If you want pairs of device to respond *identically* you can give them the same starting address.

DMX works best with using interconnecting cable designated as being for DMX.  Don't let the microphone XLR connector fool you, you really don't want to use mic cables.  I'm sure there will be responses from users who do this but it's one of those "it will work until it doesn't" and that will assuredly be the gig where you don't have time or spare stuff to troubleshoot with.  Buy or build cables with real DMX-spec wire.

There's plenty of good advice from Jeff, Don and Lance regarding other aspects of moving lights.  Read on!

[Steve Garris]

Magnus

If I were you, I would use all four of your lights.  You can set all of your lights at the same address.  They will all do the same thing, but that isn't always bad.  I'd set them up stage left and stage right with a pair upstage and a pair downstage (kind of a square around the band).  The upstage pair could be elevated on cases or truss totems with the downstage to give some interest.  You will probably want to reverse the PAN on the stage left pair so the two sides of the stage mirror each other.  Reversing the PAN (or tilt) is done in the light fixture itself - it will be in the menu.  Having more lights mirroring each others movements is much more effective than having just two (or 4) lights that look like they are doing random actions.  Another plus is your programing is easier.  Some lights have built in "programs" that can give you a limited "show or shows", some of which are sound activated, and some will do master/slave set-ups, again making programing easier.  I think all of these look better when using more lights in mirrored configurations.  Ya' got 'em, use 'em!

I was going to say the same about mirroring the light show.

Additionally the OP asked about a footswitch controller. I've recently moved from hardware to software control (Luminair), but there's no option to plug in a footswitch and control Luminair. As far as I know, the only way to do that is with midi, which is beyond my knowledge. It seems the popular choice for the midi foot controller is the Behringer FCB1010.

[Allen Smith]

I was going to say the same about mirroring the light show.

Additionally the OP asked about a footswitch controller. I've recently moved from hardware to software control (Luminair), but there's no option to plug in a footswitch and control Luminair. As far as I know, the only way to do that is with midi, which is beyond my knowledge. It seems the popular choice for the midi foot controller is the Behringer FCB1010.

I control Luminair with a behringer foot controller and it's not as difficult as u might think.  I had never used midi in my life prior to purchasing the fcb1010 and it's tedious but doable.

[Steve Garris]

I control Luminair with a behringer foot controller and it's not as difficult as u might think.  I had never used midi in my life prior to purchasing the fcb1010 and it's tedious but doable.

Eventually I am going to learn it. I need to sync a band's light show to a click track. Glad to hear that Luminair can be used. It took me a while to figure out the program, but I'm liking it more as I use it.

[Jeff Lelko]

Eventually I am going to learn it. I need to sync a band's light show to a click track. Glad to hear that Luminair can be used. It took me a while to figure out the program, but I'm liking it more as I use it.

Has Luminair adopted palette programming yet?  If not, that's a potentially major setback you'd have to contend with.

[Magnus Andersson]

Thank you all for the generous amounts of input! Would reply to each post but would be too much spam haha so will try to summarize it.

I now understand DMX better, with the universes, fixtures, chasers etc. I will as mentioned above use four movers in a square around the band, I suppose you meant front with upstage yes? And downstage being in the back of the band? Will either way have the front pair elevated ontop of my PA and program so that the audience won't get the lights in their eyes as it's really bright. I managed to change the right pair so that it mirrors the left pair so that's cool. Although there is one of the four not really working with the commands, got the other three working with using the same DMX adress (65). All the four is bought used so should I factory reset it? Maybe it works then. I've checked the obvious things as changing cable, adress being right and lamp/shutter being on. Maybe the error lies in something more advanced so that a factory reset would be easier to just do?

I will programme it at different points so I get a "continuous movement" with pan.

*Would you recommend having the moving heads at the start of the "light-chain" before my static LED lights etc or does it matter(As in at for example adress 1 instead of 65)? Feels like there could be a little delay and it would be better to have the slight delay at static light instead of moving heads right? Since they need to be more synced.

**Does it matter whether I use 5-pin or 3-pin DMX? Does it transfer data faster with 5-pin?

Thanks!

[Jeff Lelko]

I suppose you meant front with upstage yes? And downstage being in the back of the band?

Upstage is the "back" of the stage.  Downstage is the "front" of the stage (closest to your audience).

Will either way have the front pair elevated ontop of my PA and program so that the audience won't get the lights in their eyes as it's really bright.

That's up to you to figure out, but I generally frown on any moving lights being set on top of loudspeakers.  It can work if the fixtures are small and light enough, but if my memory is correct a Mac 550 is about 70 pounds.  Rigging one safely is not trivial. 

Although there is one of the four not really working with the commands, got the other three working with using the same DMX adress (65). All the four is bought used so should I factory reset it? Maybe it works then. I've checked the obvious things as changing cable, adress being right and lamp/shutter being on. Maybe the error lies in something more advanced so that a factory reset would be easier to just do?

What do you mean by "not really working"?  Assuming you truly did the right troubleshooting to isolate the fixture as the problem, sure, you can try a factory reset, but I suspect something deeper is going on.  What are the problematic symptoms?  Buying used lights can be a good bargain if you know what you're doing and know what you're buying, but can also be a rabbit hole of problems if you don't.  Mac 550s are not new fixtures, so be prepared to spend some time and money to diagnose and fix problems, especially if you only "kind of" know what you're doing.

I will programme it at different points so I get a "continuous movement" with pan.

You can, but again, your controller has the built-in capability to do this for you.  Learning how to leverage that will only work in your favor. 

*Would you recommend having the moving heads at the start of the "light-chain" before my static LED lights etc or does it matter(As in at for example adress 1 instead of 65)? Feels like there could be a little delay and it would be better to have the slight delay at static light instead of moving heads right? Since they need to be more synced.

DMX is digital - it makes no difference how you order the fixtures so long as you don't have issues with units not playing nicely together.  The speed of DMX is high enough where there is no discernible delay.  If you're seeing that, you have other problems that you need to sort out.

Does it matter whether I use 5-pin or 3-pin DMX? Does it transfer data faster with 5-pin?

No and no.  Per the DMX Specification, pins 4 and 5 are unused.

[ProSoundWeb Community]