At the very low end of things are a couple of controllers that actually give you a lot of bang for the buck.
The Chauvet DMX55 ($199) is pretty simple to use and will control 12 sets of lights (16 channels per set) and has 240 programmable scenes.
The Elation
DMX Operator Pro ($329) gives you that, plus includes a dedicated section to run standard DMX stage dimmers as well.
Depending on who you are renting to, sometimes simple is better! (I like the Technobeam controller above, but something about having a key switch on a rental board worries me! .... 5 minutes to showtime, "Hey! Who has the key??)
