Best Controller?

[Guitar Slim]

Hey Lighting Gurus,

I think I would like to get a software controller for my light show. I currently use an Obey 40 and would like better options and control. I am thinking about Entec or DMXIS or similar.

 

My curent fixtures are 2 Pucks, 2 Flurries, 2 Colorstrips, and 8 Par fixtures.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thank you,

[stevegarris]

I spent a lot of time trying to select a controller. The computer based controllers give you the most flexibility, and are superior in every way but at a higher cost. I needed something that would simply allow me to select scenes, and fade between them while mixing the band's audio. I needed something that I could set somewhere in the club but not have to worry about it disappearing while I'm walking the room mixing on my iPad. I ended up getting a good buy on a Magic 260 (used). I use it with the Donner wireless units sold on Amazon & Ebay, so I don't have any long dmx cables to run.

 

As far as the software solutions go, if I were looking that route I would get DMXIS and a cheap, touch screen laptop. The Entec dongle is highly regarded BTW.

[bigjd]

I use DMXis. Works well. Do touring bands with it too. It's really a cool little program for the money. The deeper we get into this small/mid sized production stuff it's held up well.

[Rikv]

What are you looking for a more sophisticated hardware controller? Or software? There is free dmx-software freestyler http://users.telenet.be/freestylerdmx/

[StratGuy22]

I went with DMXIS as well. I needed something that worked and was easy to use. Free is free but you pay in frustration. I've been happy with DMXIS and even bought a second one to send out with rental loghts.

[katienido]

Check this one out! Really cool looking Akai Contoller Keyboard.

 

http://musicplayers.com/reviews/keyboard/2016/1216_AkaiAdvance61.php

[mate_stubb]

I had a similar quest recently. I used to use DMXIS but hate having to take a laptop to the gig. In addition, the USB interface box hanging off is clunky.

 

I ended up springing for an Elation Show Designer 1. It's built like a tank, and is very logical to program. I love that I can have a bunch of color presets for individual elements and reuse them again and again instead of having to reenter them manually every time.

[Quintin Li]

DMX512

[Quintin Li]

what controller you get now?

[Axisplayer]

I have owned a fair number of controllers including DMXIS, Show Designer 1, Martin Freekie, Leviton MLC128R, and a few others. I never found what I really wanted, which was something VERY powerful, feature laden, and cheap. Realize that whatever you get that you won't grow out of is going to have a learning curve. Finally I settled on Chamsys MagicQ. It is fabulous. Chamsys is a pro level company. Their consoles can cost $40-50K, and entry level is $5K . The best thing was that their software which is in those same consoles is made available for Mac or PC for free. Yes, free. Their concept is that if you learn their software, you can (and they hope you will) move up to their hardware with ZERO effort because it runs identically to their consoles. You can take what you program in their software, save it to USB and load it into their consoles, and the same show will run.

 

You do need a dongle. They are compatible with a number of them from 3rd parties, but they also sell their own called MagicDMX. Theirs do not work with other software as far as I know, but it doesn't matter if you use their software anyway. The normal dongle is $100 and that will let you do everything the software can do, except for a few high end features like remote focusing through your iPhone. To get the top couple of features to work, you need their $800 interface. The $100 version will run unlimited time. If that price is too high, they make what they call an educational dongle, which only cost $15. It is identical to the $100 version except that it runs for 5 hours and then you must reboot the software to continue for another 5 hours. That is long enough to program at home, and for most shows with no issue.

 

Pro level software that you cannot outgrow, and dongle for $15 is a steal. You won't regret it. They also have online short lessons (5 minutes each) to get you up to speed using it. I moved to it and have no regrets. Good luck with whatever you get.

[Guitar Slim]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I finally purchased DMXIS and am about to purchase the Showbuddy program so all is synced to a click. I need this to be hands free as I am the guitarist and I already tap dance all over. Thank you for all the responses!