DJ lighting advice needed

[67baja]

So I am dabbling with a dj lighting setup. I currently have:
a 10' Monoprice truss (http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=1 ... 1&format=2),
2 old American DJ Vertigo halogen moonflower lights (like these but not LED http://www.americandj.com/ProductDetail ... umber=1838),
2 small white light moonflowers that just spin the white pattern in circles,
a new 50 watt monoprice LED strobe (http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=1 ... 1&format=2),
and I have 2 - 400 watt fog machines ordered (I accidentally added the fog machine to the shopping cart twice so 2 are on the way).

I have no DMX controller, no laser, no LED lighting, no wash lights, etc. This is not my day job, just a hobby, but I want it to be great. The lights will be run with my t30s and otops or sla pros for parties, or *whatever*. My friends are throwing a "Class of 1987 Prom" next month that I will be playing music for. I have a friend that DJs locally that I could probably pimp out with my gear and make a few buck$ at some point if we tried. I expect to replace the Vertigo lights with some kind of LED fixtures if only to cut down on power consumption. The Vertigos use around 900 watts each(!).

Any ideas or suggestions? Keep in mind I am new to all this and am learning as I go. A DMX setup sounds like the best, but I honestly won't take to the time to program all the lights to play nice with each other. If a DMX controller has some auto setup that would work. Of course I don't want to spend another thousand dollars on the lights, but as mentioned I want this to be a really nice setup when it is all done.

Thanks!

[Grant Bunter]

A DMX setup sounds like the best, but I honestly won't take to the time to program all the lights to play nice with each other

There is no genius controller that does stuff automatically sorry, because there are options with each light. For example, a 5 channel light may have channel 1 as colour, 2 as blackout, 3 as brightness (or dimming) and so on.
Even if all you used was the dipswitches on the lights themselves (ie in order to not have a controller), you still need some way to turn them on and off (unless you're happy to have everything run all the time).

I'm thinking along the same lines as you, and, with limited research so far, have come to the conclusion that:
A freeware DMX controller lighting computer programme on a laptop, combined with an add on DMX/USB adaptor is how I'll go.
The reason I think this is because one can select an individual fixture, and do all the DMX addressing (ie the 5 channels) with that light and move onto the next fixture, create a scene, then go again and create another scene etc etc, with less limitation than a DMX controller.
Changing from scene 1 to scene 2 gives you different lighting. You only have to do this once, and set up the same time every time, and all the work is done.

I guess you could do the same with a saved setting on a controller, but, with my limited research so far, I think one needs a lot of channels, like at least 256 (because each light needs to use, say, 5 channels, to get the most out of them) and a lot of the simpler controllers don't have that many channels.

Since I'm thinking mostly par cans, I'll stay away for suggestions for DJing lights, other than a mini Kinta...

[67baja]

Even if all you used was the dipswitches on the lights themselves (ie in order to not have a controller), you still need some way to turn them on and off (unless you're happy to have everything run all the time).

Thanks Grant. I will look into a computer controlled setups. I forgot to mention I have an American DJ powerstrip/relay set up (don't remember the name or model of it), so I have a series of switches to turn on each light from my rack.

[David Raehn]

Here is one to consider:
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/28-12976
comes with the software.

[DJPhatman]

Pay more attention to the weight of each fixture. Your truss is rated to hold 220 pounds evenly distributed. My guess is your foggers and the 2 ADJ Vertigos are pushing 90 pounds.

The DMX/USB adapters are rather pricey (US$300 +) but the software is usually free. Stay away from the inexpensive adapters offered online. Like all Chinese knock-offs, the quality just isn't there.

I never used DMX. I had it loaded on a laptop, but all I ever used were the light on/off controllers with the 9-pin RS-232 connectors. I'm not an active mixing DJ, more of a human jukebox, so I had time to turn lights on and off.

[Gauss]

I've written about my lighting before on here, but I don't mind doing it again.

I have an inexpensive DMX controller (Chauvet Obey 40) and preprogrammed 8 scenes for dancing (and 8 for slow dances.) Some nights I push a button to change the lights every few songs, other nights I change them with each movement within the song. I run my music through a laptop, and I don't want to dual purpose my laptop or bring another when a rack-mounted unit can work with physical button pushes. I haven't seen any user-friendly DMX software, but I haven't looked since I bought my gear a few years back. All DMX controllers use 256 channels, by the nature of DMX, but they are limited on how many channels they can run per light. Some controllers can handle lights with 3 channels (they have 3 faders and are really cheap,) others handle 8 channels or even more. The one I have has 8 faders and a button that allows you to swith them to run 8 more channels (1-8 or 9-16.)

The job of lighting is setting the mood and enhancing the tempo of the music, so here's my breakdown in order of importance.

1st light, color wash: Change the room totally by making it colorful. I like color wash lights that have programmed movement, like Colorstrips or panels. You get both atmosphere and eye candy.

2nd light, movement: Moving dots or gobos make the room move. I have a Kinta X that does a great job filling the room with movement. The coolest I've seen is the Martin Wizard that one of the DJ's on this board has -- super bright and lots of movement. Lasers can do this, but you are limited on color.

3rd light, eye candy: Effects to add to the atmosphere. Scanners moving lights across the floor, dots blinking on and off, spinning patterns on the ceiling, lasers, strobes, mirror balls, etc.

[CoronaOperator]

Until you get into DMX this will help you control what you have. Those vertigos have nice colours but they do suck the juice! You do need a wash light, people need to see in the dark. All the other effects add texture to the wash.

[NukePooch]

I use QLC+ software... Free software, you just need a computer and a DMX interface. Yes, there's programming involved, as Mr Grant stated.... but once it's programmed, it's done.

http://qlcplus.sourceforge.net/

[whines]

Freestyler DMX is a good freeware package. I use the Entech DMX pro interface with it but have heard good things about the DMXKing interfaces.

There is a definite learning curve with DMX. It's worthwhile, but be sure you have the time to sink in to it before you jump in. Sometimes you just want to put stuff on auto or music reactive mode and not worry about it.

Having wash lights hooked together to light the room in color really transforms spaces, and that's a great starting point!

[jimbo7]

1. Download http://musicbeam.zepplab.net/
2. Acquire a projector
3. Acquire a fog machine
4. Success

[Grant Bunter]

I'd like to know more from users of the DMX controllers too then please.

I thought that, while yes, controllers have 256 channels (as DMX does), that doesn't neccessarily mean you have sufficient ability to run, eg only, say more than 5 fixtures on a base model, because it takes up "memory" so to speak.

I see some controllers stating they will control 10 fixtures.
AS long as you only use 2 or three DMX aspects of each light/fogger blah blah blah.

But if you have 10 scanners and want to use all the DMX features, forget it...

[David Raehn]

The Velleman one says 256 levels on all 512 channels.... Guess I'll have to pick one up and try it out.

[doncolga]

I have a very simple simple lighting rig that gets the job done for my gigs. It's just two Chauvet DMX 4 Bars, point a few to the floor and a few to the walls, and ceilings. I also have four DMX uplights as well that look great too. This is really minimalist compared to other rigs, but my clients enjoy it, it looks great, sets up easy, moves easy, operates insanely easy. I used to have a more complex rig; it was nice, but a PITA to setup . The effect of the simpler rig works just fine.

[whines]

The Velleman one says 256 levels on all 512 channels.... Guess I'll have to pick one up and try it out.

The Velleman interface starts having timing problems if you're running a lot of DMX channels...some fixtures don't care, some do and will start glitching.

Not a huge issue if you're just getting it to try it out, but that's one of the reasons why the better interfaces cost more...they buffer DMX data so that they can feed it out at a constant rate. Also the lights will stay lit (if unchanging) if your application or PC crashes.

[67baja]

First up to buy are wash lights. Any recommendation on specific lights i should be considering?