Automated DMX Controller Feasibility

[stevegarris]

> The lights don't need to flash on every beat, but you want them changing scenes on beat, even if random.

Having trouble understanding that statement... did you mean they should change scenes on a beat, not necessarily every beat, and the beat they change on can be random?

 

My reasoning is this: Let's say you are using the sound of the drums to trigger the scene changes. It would be pretty busy if the scene changed on every snare beat, so you set the sensitivity low enough that it only triggers on the louder beats or cymbal crashes. This is how my ADJ Mega Bar works. I have the sound sensitivity set very low as it is placed right behind the drummer. So the light changes many times during the song, but not on every beat. It's a matter of setting the sensitivity just right. And yes, unfortunately the scene changes will be somewhat random.

 

Ideally, the scene changes would happen on cymbal crashes. But the built-in mic's used to detect sound don't always respond to this type of sound, and many trigger from sub sounds (kick drum).

[rickso234]

Agree that scene changes on every beat is busy, but can look good at times, just not for an entire song.

 

I assume the ADJ Mega Bar changes scenes on a sound trigger, and that its scenes are somewhat random, i.e. different colors, strobes,sweeps? Being able to trigger on different frequency bands like kick drum and cymbals, and only changing scenes if above a trigger threshold would provide that "every several beats" behavior. Changing the trigger threshold automatically during the song would provide additional variety.

[Jimbo_Keys]

What I would want to see is for the controller to sync to the tempo of the song. Then you could select a program that would chase or change colors every beat, or every 2 beats, or every 4 beats, etc. I've programmed this sort of thing as part of a drum track and it looks pretty decent (though again you don't want it running this same way all the time). So it'd be great to have a controller that could do this automatically.

 

​- Jimbo