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[Steve Garris]

There are some blurred lines between product offerings. I’ll do my best to simplify it:

DMXIS - this allows you to create a light show that uses a virtual light controller on your computer. It comes bundled with the DMXIS hardware interface. In only works with that interface.

Show Buddy - extends the functionality of DMXIS by letting you map lighting events into a song.

Show Buddy Active - think of it as the new improved DMXIS... except you don’t need to use the DMXIS box (although you can if you want). You can use your DMX King Pro with Show Buddy Active, but you can’t use it with DMXIS. You don’t need to get DMXIS if you get Show Buddy Active. Show Buddy Active does everything DMXIS does and a TON more. You can use Show Buddy with either DMXIS or Show Buddy Active.

The programming that can be done in Show Buddy Active blows away DMXIS. HERE is just one example.

If you have a program like Abelton Live, then you don’t really need Show Buddy. DMXIS and Show Buddy Live can be used as plug ins with Abelton Live.

You can try Show Buddy Active as a full featured demo, except it doesn’t transmit any DMX or ArtNet data- all the Midi stuff still works.

Thank you! Just so I'm clear, Show Buddy Live is all that's needed for the midi playback and dmx control, aside from a laptop (and my dongle)? The drummer would then start each song with a button push on that laptop?

For only $200 that's pretty impressive. I'm going to play with the demo a bit on my pc. This looks really promising!

[Mal Brown]

When I looked at the website.  Showbuddy Active is on sale for $99 through some date in early 2019 as I recall.  The demo video sure looks impressive.

[Rich Grisier]

Thank you! Just so I'm clear, Show Buddy Live is all that's needed for the midi playback and dmx control, aside from a laptop (and my dongle)? The drummer would then start each song with a button push on that laptop?

For only $200 that's pretty impressive. I'm going to play with the demo a bit on my pc. This looks really promising!

Show Buddy Active does DMX control and you can control most everything with MIDI... however, it does NOT do MIDI playback.  That's where Show Buddy (non-active) comes in.

An example setup might be if the band were playing to a click track, and you wanted to control synchronized lights along with the playback... you need both Show Buddy Active AND Show Buddy like THIS, or Show Buddy Active AND Abelton Live like THIS. That example is with DMXIS, but Show Buddy Active will work the same way.

In my case we don't play to a click.  I have a dedicated MIDI Foot Controller that transmits PC messages to DMXIS. The PC messages select different scenes. So, if you wanted to control Show Buddy Active using a MIDI controller, it can be done.

Side Note: The midi signals are transmitted via BlueTooth from a MD-BT01 to the PC running DMXIS on Windows 10. Yamaha states that they don't support using the MD-BT01 on Win10 since Win10 doesn't officially support BLE devices. After jumping through several hoops, I got it working.  Haven't had any problems with it once I got it ironed out. If anyone is interest I can help walk down that path in a different thread.

[Steve Garris]

Show Buddy Active does DMX control and you can control most everything with MIDI... however, it does NOT do MIDI playback.  That's where Show Buddy (non-active) comes in.

An example setup might be if the band were playing to a click track, and you wanted to control synchronized lights along with the playback... you need both Show Buddy Active AND Show Buddy like THIS, or Show Buddy Active AND Abelton Live like THIS. That example is with DMXIS, but Show Buddy Active will work the same way.

Thank you for that clarification - sure is confusing! I think I understand now, and yes, every song will be programmed to a click and started by the drummer.

[Jeff Lelko]

Definitely confusing, and correct me if I'm mistaken, but despite owning the dmxis.com domain this product has no affiliation with Enttec - the maker of DMXIS.  Right?

[Rich Grisier]

Definitely confusing, and correct me if I'm mistaken, but despite owning the dmxis.com domain this product has no affiliation with Enttec - the maker of DMXIS.  Right?

That's correct.  When Show Buddy Active first came out it was called DMXIS Platinum.  That made sense because it was like the upgraded version of DMXIS software... however, this naming raised a lot of "Do we NEED the DMXIS hardware box to use DMXIS Platinum?" questions.  Since the answer was No, you don't need the DMXIS box (You can use any other USB-to-DMX or ArtNet Node box), They wanted a division created between DMXIS and DMXIS Platinum... so DMXIS Platinum became Show Buddy Active.  Enter FURTHER confusion.  At this point I'm thinking Show Buddy Active (aka: DMXIS Platinum) would have been better off with a completely new product name. Maybe something like ViDMX (Pronounced Vid-em-ex) to emphasize it's visual control capabilities of lighting and video.

[Eric Lambert]

I'm looking to purchase DMXIS and I found your Show Buddy Active review very intriguing. My band uses a click track and eventually I would like to be able to use a midi foot controller to switch to the next backing "Track" in Show Buddy. So far I've been lead to believe that's only capable by using some sort of Midi Controller that has a 1/4" input which gets plugged into a jack on the DMXIS box itself. I was wondering if you knew of a way to trigger "next track" using an ArtNet interface instead? Or can a new track be triggered by different method?

It's odd that DMXIS allows midi capable triggering of Scenes, but not Tracks...

[Mal Brown]

If you have Facebook, here are a couple of videos. Please be advised that our LD is in training!! He loves pressing buttons but doesn't quite grasp verse/chorus/drum fill scenes. I have to yell at him all night to back off on the specials.

https://www.facebook.com/fallenangel1986/videos/200922824185352/

Before the sweepers - close to the stage:
https://www.facebook.com/100009587670297/videos/1990487191280851/

Looks like fun Steve.  Yeah, a little blinky for my taste but I could see thoseor something like them working into my thing.

[Steve Garris]

Looks like fun Steve.  Yeah, a little blinky for my taste but I could see thoseor something like them working into my thing.

The venue is quite the place. I mix bands in there a couple times a month, and it’s always packed! Just their light show alone (the wash lights on the truss), really looks great, and they have a hazer. The club has added a ton of soundproofing as well. It’s only a 10 minute drive for from my house.

[Allen Smith]

I'm looking for a Mac-based dmx lighting program that will allow me to control via midi. I see a few out there at a quick glance. I currently use Luminair3, but I want to do more. I do not have any idea how midi works, so I need to learn that.

The band uses Mac files for tracks, backing vocals and click, so they want the system to remain Mac based. Look forward to your recommendations.

I control my Luminair app with a behringer fcb1010 via midi.  It works very well.  I have used the apple connector as well as midi over Bluetooth.

[ProSoundWeb Community]