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Thread: DMX for a Newbie

  1. #1
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    Smile DMX for a Newbie

    I will shortly be recieving my first DMX laser and have no idea what is possible with DMX.

    The laser that I have just bought is a Laserworld EL-150G (I know, I know, but its just a starter laser whilst I get some more £££ together)

    Would someone be kind enough to point me in the right direction in regards to learning about DMX control, as I have not a clue on this subject.

    Or possibly give me some vague idea on the amount of control I will be able to have over my EL-150G.

    Thanks,
    James

  2. #2
    soforene's Avatar
    soforene is offline The Troll formerly known as Herbert Von Poople-Futtocks
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    Default

    You'll need some kind of DMX controller to start with.
    That will allow you to select the inbuilt patterns of your laser.

    Do a google for something like "Beginners guide tp DMX" to pick up the basics.

  3. #3
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    Thanks, that's great.

    I was thinking of getting one of those USB interfaces for my laptop, so I won't need to invest too much more £££ than I need to in hardware.

    There are 7 channels of DMX on the EL-150G

    The following parameters are controllable via DMX

    Channel Value Function


    1
    0 – 63 Sound mode (see chapter 3)
    64 – 127 DMX Mode
    128 – 191 Automatic mode (see chapter 3)
    192 – 255 Blanking

    2
    0 - 255 Pattern
    3


    0 - 255 Dot Speed
    4


    0 - 255 Line Speed
    5


    0 – 255 X location
    6


    0 - 255 Y location
    7


    0 -255 Size

    Sorry for being a dummy, but can I choose exactly which pattern I want to display, or just "the next" pattern in line. I am sure all will become clear when I buy the DMX software and interface, but right now I feel a bit confused. Lots of reading to do me thinks...

    Thanks
    James


  4. #4
    soforene's Avatar
    soforene is offline The Troll formerly known as Herbert Von Poople-Futtocks
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    Thumbs up

    If you spend teeny dosh in buying gear you will have an inversely proportionate amount of hassle with it.
    When I was first starting out on my journey with lasers I too thought I'd cut corners and buy the economy gear.
    Big mistake.

    I'd recommend buying a dedicated DMX controller such as this one to start out with (and even something like that is at the cheaper end of the scale).

    Once you've set it all up correctly you'd have channel 1 (or the first slider) set between 64 - 127 and then channel 2 (Slider 2) would allow you to run through your patterns.
    The other channels would allow you to control the redraw speed and position of the image.
    Doddle !!

    But after a week or two you'll be wanting more control and that's when the ole wallet realy takes a battering.

  5. #5
    mixedgas's Avatar
    mixedgas is offline Creaky Old Award Winning Bastard Technologist
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    Default

    Get something that can memorize cue and assign them to buttons, sliders are sometimes bad for lasers in clubs.

    If you have a laptop, the velleman module is not bad, provided you like .1 second resolution in what you program (stock vellemand demo program)or you use it with one of the other third party programs that support it, and if you do that, its very fast.

    I own one and am happy when using it to troubleshoot projectors.

    http://www.apogeekits.com/dmx_controller_vm116.htm

    Steve

  6. #6
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    @JimmyV,

    Try the DMX Wiki has quite a lot of information about DMX control etc. I have contributed alot of the information on there, still needs more, but has the majority of needed informatin.

    The Velleman interface is OK for just a few fixtures, a more robust solution is the Enttec Open DMX interface. Neither of these two have an onboard processor so relise on the computer to convert all the signals in the program to DMX signals, so can slow down if you have a lot of fixtures sending non zero data. One of the most flexible interfaces (price/perfromace) is the Enttec USB DMX Pro. I have 2 of them along with various other USB DMX Interfaces and would recommend these over others because of their robustness, used by most prefessional and has the greatest number of program available that utilise this interface.

    the Pro version can be seen here on the Enttec website can be purchased from many places.

    Any questions about DMX do not hesitate to ask.

    Hope that helps,

    Onge (André)
    Last edited by Onge; 04-18-2009 at 13:01. Reason: added link
    350mW RGB, 180mW RGY Moving Head, 180mW RGY, 10mW Green, 5mw Green, 4x5mW Red
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  7. #7
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    Default re

    hiya mate

    If your new to dmx id recommend getting a small dmx controller first and get a feel for setting the channels and messing then id advise upgrading to a laptop setup using the vellemann dmx to usb interface with a simple program like freestyler to start with then maybe upgrade to magic q pc which is an emulation of a top spec lighting desk. both these work with vellemann.

    http://www.quasarelectronics.com/vel...erface-kit.htm
    http://users.telenet.be/freestylerdmx/


    here is some links and info on magic q i got from blue forum


    Hardware: MagicQ Consoles, MagicQ PC, MagicQ Mac (Intel and PPC), MagicQ Linux
    MagicQ is a range of powerful intelligent lighting consoles and PC Wings offering great support for generic, moving and LED fixtures, close integration with media servers and top spec features to suit any price range. Manufactured by ChamSys Ltd

    Wiki page: MagicQ
    Console product page: www.chamsys.co.uk/consoleproducts.asp
    PC Wing product page: www.chamsys.co.uk/pcwingproducts.asp
    Manufacturer's website: http://www.chamsys.co.uk

    Announcement supplied by: Matt Lemon - tvi675 - matt@chamsys.co.uk
    Software release:
    v1.3.4.0
    Stable release date: 4th December 2007
    Supported platforms:
    MagicQ Mac (Intel and PPC) and MagicQ Linux
    Link: www.chamsys.co.uk/downloads.asp


    im still using freestyler as iv tried using magic q and it needs alot of sitting and playing with, amazing bit of software but hard to get used to

    try some of these options as this is the order i did things and it all flowed nicely getting better and better interfaces until i got pangoed

    enjoy

    cheers ollie
    2 x 10w full colour laser systems
    2 x 4w full colour laser systems
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    1 450mw pinkem rgb 30k scanner
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    4 x 1 watt blue 445nm laser systems
    3 watt rgb .

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