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'To DMX or not to DMX, that is the question…'

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  • December 6, 2015 at 4:47 pm #2309891
    Bob Daniel
    Participant

    DMX can be boring if all the Lighting Director(LD) does is sync the lights to each other. Just like your music sets, the lighting needs variety as well as matching the emotion of the music.

    I feel the lighting can enhance the music and emotion of the floor or be repetively boring. As a mobile, I travel with another dj. My role is DJ/MC and his or her role is DJ/LD. I guide the LD such as slow song next or blackout for a pause in the song, but they know that are responsible for mirroring the song being played however they see fit.

    So far, I have been happy with the results. Sometimes we trade off because I need a break from the song selection and I want to operate the lights for a change of pace. It works good, but I pay my DJ/LD fairly well. Typically 10-15% of the gross of that show for someone who is experienced. Which usually ends up being similar pay as if they worked for a multi-op as a DJ.

    DMX can be boring if the palette of light options are limited, but in my opinion not as boring or visually confusing as letting the lights go on “sound active” all night. For me color selection is the most important part of dmx whether it is complimentary colors or similar colors.

    December 6, 2015 at 6:31 pm #2309951
    Todd Oddity
    Participant

    Simply put, if your DMX’ed lights are boring – you haven’t programmed them properly.

    December 7, 2015 at 8:47 am #2310281
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    What Todd said. If it is boring, it is your fault not the DMXs… hard truth.

    December 7, 2015 at 9:12 pm #2310741
    bob6397
    Participant

    Always DMX.

    A decent LD can make any lighting look interesting using DMX – and even if it isn’t particularly interesting, it will definitely look more professional.

    When I DJ, I normally have a few lights on a t-bar above me, plus uplighters around the room. The uplighters I have adapted to have wireless DMX built in (using £10 adaptors off ebay) so I don’t have to lay miles of cable, and the lights on the T bar are wired in directly.

    I bought a cheap USB-DMX adaptor from eBay – about £15 – and it works perfectly with Freestyler.

    Then I used a plugin for VirtualDJ and linked it to Freestyler, meaning that I can control every command in freestyler from virtual DJ, as well as sync the beat to the lights without having to use sound-to-light protocols – which never really work right.

    Then I put the hours in programming and voila – a professional looking show which gives a “wow” effect when you enter the room.. Goal achieved!

    DMX always looks better than a load of lights all doing S2L on thier own, doing random stuff..

    bob6397

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