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[Chris Anderson]

I'm just looking into going software based and trying to see what is out there computer based that will do what I want it to Midi wise. I'm pretty sure there are a lot that can, but I have some questions.  I'm looking at the ADJ myDMX now, seems to fit my needs and we somewhat of a small show I think.

My current band light set up is a Opeartor 192 midi to a Macbook running Digital Performer. DP send midi notes to the Operator 192 and we have a Roland Octapad that can also trigger the 192. Most of our show is sequenced drums, and some are played live so the lights are synced in the computer, and trggered with the Octopad when there is a drummer.
We are only running 8 fixtures, 4 ADJ PRO 64 LED's, 2 Performance Scan 250's and just added 2 DJ SCAN 250 EX's. So it's not a huge show, it may grow though in the future.
Basically the way I run midi now is all Midi notes. The Operator is set up that there are 8 scenes that are assigned to midi notes 12-19 , and 32 banks assigend to midi notes 20-49. So that gives me 256 scenes while only using 40 midi notes, pretty cool way to set it up and the only DMX controller I could find set up this way.
This set up is working great, the only thing I want to change is to be able to add more movement and control to the scanners, circles, sweeps, figure 8 etc.

What I'm looking to do is add a PC Laptop, and basically have that replace the Operator 192. Can I set up scenes within myDMX and trigger the scenes by note number? Can 1 scene contain scanner movement from the effect generator?

Also, I don't think mydmx would be set up as banks of scenes so would I be limited to the 128 midi notes, so in a sense 128 scenes? That actually would probably be enough, I'm maybe using 30 scenes right now for our whole show.

Also, how stable is myDMX? I can't have lock ups and crashes, that means no lights and a dark stage. Is this based on what I get for a PC laptiop? What can I get away with spec wise? Can I get a cheap 300-400 PC laptop with a lot ram?

Lastly, is it possible to keep the opeator 192 in the set up with a DMX splitter as a back up in case the PC crashes?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Chris Anderson

[E. Lee Dickinson]

Chris, I can answer your last question: You don't want a splitter to keep the board in there, you want a DMX combiner. These can be set to highest-takes-precedence or latest-takes-precedence and allow two devices to feed the chain at once.