DMX question

[Mplunket]

hi...i'm trying to put together a small light setup for my band for a concert. We were going to get 4 Chauvet Omega intelligent lights & a DMX-40 controller. I guess I'm just confused in general about how it all hooks up. Can you plug the daisy chain of lights strain into the controller? or do you have to plug the lights into a dimmer, and then that into a controller? if someone could just briefly describe how this works, that would be great, but i'm sure more questions will arise ;-) thanks

[Mplunket]

ok, here are some more pointed questions:

- What exactly is the function of a dimmer? in relation to a controller?

- In order to have a complete setup, with intel. lights & chases/scenes and everything, what all equipment do I need? (bare bones)

well, i guess that's it for now

[cruiser]

With moving lights, you don't need to plug them into a dimmer. It is much advised to run each fixture of a power point, if possible try to put each light on another circuit.

And yes, the lights will connect together in a daisy chain fashion then straight into the controller box.
Im not too sure about controller boxes but you might have to set the fixtures all too different address, eg. Fixture 1 is channel 1-24, Fixture 2 is channel 25-36 etc.

Someone else might know more about the controller boxes??

[Mplunket]

coo, i just didn't want to throw down $180 for a dimmer, when it didn't seem to really add anything necessary hehe, well everything should work out pretty well. now i just need to learn the controller in & out ;-)

[cruiser]

What kind of controller is it, make/model?

[Mplunket]

i haven't decided for sure yet...i wanted to get something thats fairly inexpensive, but could allow us to expand with more lights...that would also be easy to create chases/scenes and whatnot, i was looking at the DMX-40 and the Behringer Eurolight LC2412. Any recommendations?

[Nephilim]

We're using a Martin Freekie with three Chauvet Legend 150R units... overkill but it lets us grow (HA!).

Make sure you buy 3-pin DMX cable and not microphone cable to join the Omegas together.

[Mplunket]

for now, that controller's a little out of our price range. our budget is like $800, and $600 we are throwing in to the lights.

[Nephilim]

Chauvet's own controller will suit you fine; it's designed for their fixtures and shouldn't cost too much.

[Mplunket]

coo, thanks for helping with the q's!