Control/Dimming - DMX Lighting software for Mac

[the1rmdman]

Not a question but FYI for Mac theater geeks

I know there are several posts about the many different lighting software options out there but there is very little in way of doing so with a Mac. I bought a Mac to be able to use Qlab for sound. I then discovered that there is really nothing that is simple and easy to use for lights on the Mac.

The only program I found so far was Mini stage Console, a free program that is a bit unstable and only has 24 channels. It does work well with midi so I could use Qlab to run it.

I can run my lights with my iphone thanks to Synthefx's Luminair app which works great as a remote focus unit and 2.0 is going to allow it be as close to a lighting console as you can get and carry it in your pocket. Having the faster processor of the 3GS helps a lot. But I would like something that I can run on my laptop and have Qlab running together for a simple booth setup.

If you have a very complicated show do not run lights and sound from same computer, you are just asking to crash in the middle of a big number.

I came across a program called D::light.
D::Light
It is made by some french company and so was not able to read the manual or the user forum due to my lack of speaking french. I was frustrated because I could not select channels and there were no faders. I went back to their site and used Google Translate and they now have an english manual and found that when you select a channel or the Grand Master you can scroll on the trackpad or with a scroll mouse and it acts like a fader.

It can use a enttec dmx to usb pro or Artnet (so will work with my iphone setup) to send DMX signal and is multi platform. It has midi capability and I can use Qlab to control it or use my Korg kontrol board. It will send out a full 512 universe and has 10 books of subs with 25 pages per book and 10 subs per page giving a very large 2500 library of sub masters at your control. It can also do cues, groups, sequences, and effects.

I'm going to be testing it out in my theater this week. Hopefully it will be what I'm looking for.

It takes a little getting used to but so far not a bad little program.

[Footer]

Chamsys MagicQ runs great on PC, Mac, and Linux. It will work with your current Enntec DMX and is by far the most complete PC OS out there. Might be worth a look....

[the1rmdman]

I've looked at MagicQ and I can't quite wrap my head around it. It takes me awhile to finally break through some learning curves. MagicQ is still not relenting to me. It took me a long time to figure out D::Light. I had actually tried it before but could not do anything with it and decided it was not worth the time. When I google translated the web site I found how much I can do with the program. Maybe down the road MagicQ will click in my brain and all will be great. Thanks for the input

[Footer]

If you are used to conventional theatre consoles, MagicQ is a completely different way of thinking. Its a programmer based console just like Hog and GrandMA.

[GuruRo]

Hi the1rmdman,

I'am using MagicQ on my Macbook with OSX 10.6.2 with a Enttec DMX Usb interface and we are very, very happy with it.
At the moment we are doing 4 different shows similtanius the last few month's with this set-up and we never had any failure. Just change show 1 to show 4 and go for it. This is a really nice program, but as with all new things you have to study a little bit to get the most out of it. We are now working to trigger MagicQ with QLab, when we solve this then the we can go for the stars.

GuruRo

[millamber]

The Jands Vista line of consoles has a dongle/usb to DMX version that works well off of a Mac. It is the same software that the larger boards (T2, T4) use and gives you a full universe of DMX out and 128 channels.

[JChenault]

As I reread your post, there is one thing that is of concern to me. I would discourage you from trying to use the same computer to run both sound and lights. Sure the machine might handle it, but things somehow tend to work better when you have a dedicated system for each operation.

If you accept this philosophy - there is no reason to prefer a Mac lighting system, unless you have another mac box you are trying to use.

My experience has been that if you want to use a standard computer to control lights, or sound, or whatever - then you should devote that computer to that function and not try to do anything else with it. Things are just a lot more stable if you take that approach.

[avkid]

We've had good luck with the LanBox from CDS Advanced Technology.
Stand-alone DMX controllers and DMX dimmer pack with RDM

[Nigel]

Hi the1rmdman,

We've just brought our Chameleon lighting control software for Mac OSX out of Beta: you can download a release candidate from our web site:
Professional Lighting Control. Now on OSX. (Chameleon : Mac Lighting Software).
If you send a mail to sales [at] vanilla [dot] net, we'll send you an activation key to allow it to output DMX.
It's been over three years in development, and we *think* it's the only lighting control software designed for OSX from the ground up, making use of native OSX interface controls etc. It would be great to hear what you think about it.

Nigel

[sl1200mk2]

D::Light works on Mac, Win, Linux
2.2 is out !!

++
nicolas

[igsanchez]

How is Chameleon working for you?

[skienblack]

How is Chameleon working for you?

I downloaded it and am playing with it. Currently my biggest complaint it not being able to map keys. As well as the different windows reverting to their defaults whenever you change from playback to record even though I set their sizes. Though it looks promising. After having to run a show off of a Smartfade I am desperately looking for an alternative I can bring with me to theatre gigs.

[johanvelthuis]

I released Lightning DmxControl for Mac recently. It's a simple dmx controller that works with Enttec Open DMX Usb and is midi controllable.
You can download it on Lightning DmxControl for Mac/OSX for free and it will be available in the Apple App Store soon (hopefully).

[derekleffew]

I released Lightning DmxControl for Mac recently. ... You can download it on Lightning DmxControl for Mac/OSX for free ...

From the site cited:

You can create presets by rightclicking a preset fader and choose 'Channels to Preset' from the context menu.

• Since the typical Mac mouse only has one button, by "rightclicking" do you mean [ctrl][click], [option][click], [command][click], [shift][click], or other?
• Can the program be used for lighting effects also, or will it only do lightning effects?

__________

ControlBooth is a Spam-Free zone.

[cpf]

From the site cited:

• Since the typical Mac mouse only has one button, by "rightclicking" do you mean [ctrl][click], [option][click], [command][click], [shift][click], or other?
• Can the program be used for lighting effects also, or will it only do lightning effects?

__________

ControlBooth is a Spam-Free zone.

Not sure what you're on about, the mouse attached to my Mac has not 1 not 2, but 5 buttons. Even if I had to use the built in trackpad I'd still have two. Furthermore, there's only one way to right click on a 1-button mouse, that would be Control+Click.

[chausman]

Not sure what you're on about, the mouse attached to my Mac has not 1 not 2, but 5 buttons. Even if I had to use the built in trackpad I'd still have two. Furthermore, there's only one way to right click on a 1-button mouse, that would be Control+Click.

Most current Apple computers (and mice) have the ability to right click. It is just off by default in system preferences. Even with trackpads there is a way to enable right clicking.

[avkid]

Does this program only work on OSX Lion?

[johanvelthuis]

Hello Derek,

if you use a mouse with one button, I think [ctrl]click is the way to go. But on my 2011 MacbookPro I can just click in the lower right corner and so does my magic mouse (my previous mighty mouse also). You can also hold two fingers on the trackpad.

I'm sorry that the name of the software caused confusion. LightNing is just a play upon words. So to answer your question: Lightning DmxControl is just another light controller. It's actually pretty similar to a simple hardware dmx desk. It's not ment to do lightNing effects, unless you connect a dmx stroboscope to it.

If I can find sometime next week, I will do a video tutorial with some conventional and LED-lights to show what it can do.
I will also translate the videotutorial that is on the website to english.

If you have any more questions I am happy to answer them for you.

Greetings Johan Velthuis

[johanvelthuis]

Does this program only work on OSX Lion?

Hello avkid,

I made it on Snow Leopard and that works.
I just tried it on a Lion Mac Mini from 2010, and that works too.
Couldn't you get it to work?

[avkid]

I can't get it to work to with OSX 10.6.8.
"You can’t open the application “jvLightning” because it’s not supported on this type of Mac."

[johanvelthuis]

Hello Philip,

I've done some digging into your error and it seems a 32bit/64bit error. I don't understand why your computer is complaining about the 64bit version but I made an update which should have 32bit support also.
Can you try this version for me?

Link removed: the 32-bit version is available now from http://lightning-dmxcontrol.com/download.php

[avkid]

That version works.

[chausman]

That version works.

So, assuming you've tried it a little, what are your opinions on it?

[avkid]

So, assuming you've tried it a little, what are your opinions on it?

24 channels of basic control for free.
If I had one of those Behringer MIDI controllers is it possible to fully map the control surface, or am I stuck with a default configuration?

[johanvelthuis]

Great to hear that this version works!
On this link Mac OS X Snow Leopard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia one can read that Macs from before 2008 can only run 32-bit mode. Since the application was compiled as 64-bit only, it wasn't able to start. I will put the 32/64 version on the site for everyone.

MIDI
Actually you can use any midi controller you want. For instance a modulation wheel on a keyboard would work.
One remark though, it's not hot pluggable (yet). So you have to attach at least the midi interface before starting the application.

The Behringer is a relative cheap device with 8 motorized faders, which I think is very handy for controlling a lot of things. I used it a lot to control things like Arkaos(.net) of Steinberg's Nuendo or Cubase.

I recently discovered that there is a so called NRPN mode in the BCF2000, which gives it 127 * 127 steps in the fader instead of 127 steps. This should make the fading much smoother (since dmx is 255 steps and not 127).
I will try to make support for this in a pro-version that should be available in a few months, it should cost about 10 or 20 euro's in the App Store. It will be parallel available to the current version and I'll try to make both interesting.

A few features of the Pro version will be:
DMX patchbay, so you can patch all 512 dmxchannels to the channelfaders.
MIDI 14-bit NPRN support
Cuelist, so one can step or fade from preset to preset with one fader (like a Spark Top)
Document-based, so you can save multiple 'shows'.
32 instead of 24 channel faders and 16 instead of 12 preset faders.

Does anyone have wishes or great idea's for the Lightning DmxControl Pro?

[joeyfergie]

This is great! I have been looking for something like this for a while, and it has a lot of potential. (anxiously awaiting the pro version). Here are some suggestions:

Ability to see levels (both DMX and Percent) either above or below each of the faders. This is easier to view than on the side of the window.

Ability to move faders by scrolling.

Bump buttons for all channels and presets.

Blackout button.

Easier way to record cues/presets. Perhaps have an EDIT and LIVE screens, where EDIT screens will have simple Record Preset buttons under each preset, as well as buttons to record cues. In LIVE, these wouldn't exist, so that you don't accidentally overwrite/erase something.

Ability to control channels and levels using a number pad. EX. able to bring up Ch1 by going Ch 1 At 100, and have the fader react appropriately. This will give greater and easier control over channels.

More than 32 channels. Most venues I have worked at use at least 48 channels. My current uses 48 plus DMX devices. For larger venues, this would be necessary.

Full Screen Mode

Ability to change backgrounds. I like my booth as dark as possible, and would prefer a black background for the program to help reduce light.

Ability to name/label channels as well as presets.

Support for Enttec DMX USB PRO.

These are just a few suggestions. I am very interested in this software, and can't wait until it is available.

[avkid]

1) Ability to see levels (both DMX and Percent) either above or below each of the faders. This is easier to view than on the side of the window.

2) Bump buttons for all channels and presets.

3) Ability to control channels and levels using a number pad. EX. able to bring up Ch1 by going Ch 1 At 100, and have the fader react appropriately. This will give greater and easier control over channels.

4) Ability to name/label channels as well as presets.

1) could be as simple as a scale along the fader travel

2) absolutely critical for the concert world

3) would be lovely, but for less than $30 US I can live without it

4) this isn't necessary if the ability to print a patch sheet exists

I want to be a Beta tester!

[chausman]

I want to be a Beta tester!

I can/would like to as well.

[johanvelthuis]

Hello People,
Some interesting thoughts there.
I've got a few questions about it (and some answers).
First of all, there will be Enttec DMX Pro support, as soon as I can get my hands on one of them (also in this version).

Move faders by scrolling: great idea, but with a preference to turn it off. Nuendo (DAW) has it in the mixer and if I accidentally slide across the top of my magic mouse, my settings are changed. But I imagine it can be great with track pad.

Labels on channels also: that was already on my mind. (I was playing with the idea to make it look like a piece of tape with marker writing on it, for old times sake

First question: Bump buttons: do they have to be onscreen? It seems to me, that they should be on a midi remote or reacting to keystrokes (that one could choose himself).

Dark background: also a great idea.

More faders: What screen resolution are you guys working on? It should fit most screens?

The image below is just an idea, not software yet! (I don't want to make you happy with a dead sparrow (dutch expression).

[derekleffew]

The "Masters, Channels, and Presets" sliders need scales too! I'd prefer numerals 0,1,2...10 with - half marks in between so I don't have to count little lines. Alternatively/additionally, make where it says "100%" display the actual current level of the slider.

Add me to the beta tester pool! Hardware: 2GHz Intel CoreDuo2 MacBook, OS10.6.8 (or Lion), Enttec Open DMX USB Interface. Various dimmers/LED units.

[chausman]

Add me to the beta tester pool! Hardware: 2GHz Intel CoreDuo2 MacBook, OS10.6.8 (or Lion), Enttec Open DMX USB Interface. Various dimmers/LED units.

I have an Intel Core2Duo iMac, OS X 10.6.8 or 10.7.1. I can probably borrow an i5 laptop with Lion as well.

In that picture, there are eight buttons that say BO. Are those potential Blackout buttons, or are they just mis-labeled?

[joeyfergie]

This mock up looks great! I agree with being able to turn on and off scrolling. I have used it with some similar programs with a touchpad, and it works really well. As for bump buttons, visible ones would be useful to those without an interface and just wants to test a channel, or for someone controlling it on a touch screen.

For more faders, there is always the option to make "pages" of faders, for ex, 1-24, 25-48, etc. And just clicking on a button opens up to a new page (while MIDI devices can still control faders on unopened pages). Perhaps leave the presets, and just have the channels have pages that can change. This will also make it easier for users with just a few channels (not having to look at dozens of channels), but also give more control to those who need it. I personally use a 1920 by 1200 resolution, but I know that is very high compared to most.

I too would be down to beta test. 17in Macbook Pro 3.06Ghz Core2Duo with 8GB Ram, running OSX 10.7.2. I have mostly conventional lights, with a few dmx devices (scrollers, mirrors, etc). Also soon to be owner of Enttec USB DMX PRO and Behringer BCF2000

Also really like the idea of marker on masking tape. I do this all the time!

[avkid]

That mock up looks great, with on screen bump buttons I would use it.

[johanvelthuis]

Hello people,

I've updated the design for the pro version. Made a black leather look (for those who want it as dark as possible).
What do you think of this?

Some explanation and thoughts:
The buttons were just for design purposes. Black Out could be one of them, but I also like a Fade In and Fade Out and maybe a speedslider with that.

I combined the channel number and label in a button. The idea is that for example OptionClick could be used to set the label. Clicking without a key would make it a bump button. As the button is bumped, (through midi, keystroke or onscreen) the edge lights up (green in my example here).
The percentages on the channel faders can be displayed as actual dmx value or percentage and they display the actual output. If for instance the fader is completely up, but the master fader is 50%, then the percentage on the channel fader also shows 50%.
Also the channelfader could be down, but if there's a preset active, the percentage could display for instance 65%.
The same applies to the green VU meter in the fader track. The fader button has a hole inside, so the vu-meter will shine through.

The preset and (sub)master faders don't have a VU-meter, because they are not coupled to actual dmx output. The percentage corresponds with the fader.

Derek, I don't agree on putting numbers along the scale, I think it clouds up the available space. I could use different indent levels for 0,25,50,75 and 100%. And make a small tooltip appear right above the fader button with the actual fader position (in dmx or percentage, depending on the preference setting).

I divided the faders in groups of 8, which conforms to most midi controllers i know.

I think I'd also like a show/hide 25-48 possibility for a small venue, so it can fit on a 13" laptop screen at 1280x800.

This is still just an image yet, there's no programming for it. It can change without notice

Joey, I think the tape is off the table. Because I integrated the label in the bump button now. Besides,you don't stick tape to a leather background (I could know, my girlfriend is a bag designer. (http://kristas.nl).

[joeyfergie]

I really like this design!! It looks very much like a real lighting board, and I feel the faders and "VU-meter" stands out more against the dark background, which I like. I also like the integrated label/bump idea. Great use of the space.

Can't wait to see it when it is working!

[douglasheriot]

Interesting. I'd probably recommend you work on the interface design a bit more – there's not much contrast, and it sort of all feels a little messy and the separate sections aren't clearly defined. It's good it's nice and simple though.

I just had a bit of a play around with my Korg nanoKontrol2 MIDI controller, and your app doesn't seem to be handling it very well. It's using over 130% of my processor at times, and is lagging quite a bit. I don't actually have an Enttec Open DMX connected, and I'm running OS X 10.7.2 with a Core 2 Duo.

Regarding the App Store, DMX Assistant has only been stuck in review for at most 2-3 days, so hopefully you won't have too much trouble either.

[johanvelthuis]

Hello Douglas,

I will look into that processor issue. When I debug the application without the Enttec device connected, it constantly retries to connect to one. I will try to put a sleep period, so that it polls every few seconds. I didn't think of that yet.

Regarding the AppStore. It's my first application and I renamed the project after I started. That caused two rejections sofar, first because the About Menu had the old name and the second time because the data directory has to be the same name as the application in the AppStore. So I started a complete new project this weekend and I copy pasted the files into it one by one, making shure I don't get any more naming issues.

[johanvelthuis]

Hello People,
I posted a new version of Lightning DmxControl (v1.0.4). It adresses the high processor use when no dmx interface is connected. It is also renamed for AppStore purposes.
It's downloadable at http://lightning-dmxcontrol/downloads.php

[RandallCook]

What about Elation's Emulation? No one posted any opinions on it yet.

[johanvelthuis]

Hello People,
I made a new version available at Lightning DmxControl for Mac/OSX
It has a black leather look, bump buttons with integrated labels and a black out button. The buttons are also midi controllable. It has NRPN support (14bit steps on the faders) and of course the integrated 'VU Meter' in the sliders.

I would love to hear what you think of it.

Joey, about the Enttec usb pro: This version does not support it yet, but I found somebody nearby who's device I can borrow for a few days, so I will try to support it soon.


Further I've been working on some tests with document based applications. If I can make that work, than the pro-version is getting in sight, since that will be the most important difference with this version, together with of course more channels (probably 64) and presets (32) and a patchbay, so you can use a whole dmx-universe.