DON'T BUY THE
iRFR APP. Seriously, it won't work with your light board, it would be a total waste of $50.
Now that that is out of the way, I'm going to apologize for any poor spelling or grammar. It's been a crazy long week full of dance recitals and other events, my brain isn't quite fully functional and I'm struggling to remember what my bed looks like.
It looks like your board supports
artnet and
sACN, that's a big positive for this to work. First check with Horizon and see if they have an iOS remote app. I can't find anything with a quick search in the app store or on horizons site, but ask them to make sure. If they have an app then that's what you want to use, it will let you control parts of your light board and work with it. Apps like that are usually capable of bringing up dimmers, channels, maybe moving light focus,
etc. Then all you should have to do is
plug a wireless
router into the
console maybe do a little configuration and go.
If they don't offer an app, what you will need to do is get a wireless
router, a
switch, and an
artnet/
sACN to
dmx converter. The converter might not be a bad idea anyway since it will allow you to control extra universes with your
console. DMXking,
Enttec, and others make them. They start at $140 for a one
universe model, and can go into the thousand dollar and up range for lots of universes. Make sure it does
DMX merging, that's a critical feature for you.
Once you have all of that stuff the converter will need to be configured for the proper input and output, and have an IP
address that works with the
console and
router. Here's what do. I use a one
universe box from DMXking and it's been solid for 2+ years I'm happy with it. So you output
artnet or
sACN from your light board, the
manual should tell you how to set that up. That cable goes into the
switch. The wifi
router goes into the
switch. And then the
dmx converter gets plugged into the
switch. Then
DMX out from the
switch to wherever you need it to go. Getting all of this configured and working can be a pain in the
butt, but for me it was worth it in the end. Now this last method won't talk to your light board at all, it will be like having 2 separate light boards, and the converter will merge them into one signal that goes to your lights.
Finally software, I use 2 apps on a regular basis and one occasionally. The primary app I use is called focus remote, as the name implies you get a basic keypad that will bring dimmers up to the
level you specify. It also has a memory feature that will let you save a "look" and bring it up later, there is no
fade time so it will just come up to whatever
level the lights are supposed to be at instantly. It also has a highlight feature that will let you go in order from
dimmer to
dimmer by pressing one
button. I use this all the time for focusing rigs. It's nice not having to shout out to the guy at
FOH to bring up the next light instead it happens right on
stage, usually by the guy calling the focus, or the genie
pusher. It's really simple to use and I can show anyone how to use it in under a minute. Which is nice for those time when you don't have someone extra handy that knows how to run your
console. I also use it to focus light by myself from my
FOH positions and side booms.
The next app I use a lot is called Luminair, it's kind of expensive but can be worth it depending on your needs. It's basically a full on light board, you can make cues,
submaster buttons, kind of control moving lights, the whole deal. I use this on lights up lights down kind of shows in the theater when I don't need to have someone sitting at the lighting
console. I also use it for events in spaces other than the theater. With the wireless capability it's easy to tuck it away somewhere out of the way and control lights in ballrooms for weddings, and such. I've even used it with guided access mode (setup on the phone, not part of the app) to leave with someone else at the event so I didn't have to stick around. Be it the DJ, someone in the wedding party, or someone else running the event. With guided access mode it won't let them exit the app, and controls which areas of the
screen they can and can't press buttons on. So I can lock everything out except for the faders or scene buttons they are going to actually want to press. Makes everything all but fool proof. Some people go crazy with the app and control all kinds of LEDs and moving lights and have tons of scenes that use. I think it's a little clunky for that, but if that's your only option it could work. I just prefer to have a physical
console if I'm going to get that far into things.
The last app that I only occasionally use is Alcorn Mcbrides lighting pad. It's kind of a little
bit of both of the apps above. If you hold the phone horizontal you get 512 faders that you have to manually move up and down, you can't just type in
dimmer numbers like on focus remote, or touch the numbers like on luminair. So it can be slow going if you have a lot of dimmers in each look. You can jump around some on the bottom of the
screen, so at least you don't have to manually scroll through all of those faders. What it does have going for it is that when the devices is held in portrait mode it has a real
cue stack so you can record a
cue and set
fade times. So if you only need really basic cues with a few lights it could be a good alternative to Luminair since it's only $10 instead of $130 for Luminair.
There are a couple of other apps out there like the one from Osram, but I've never been able to get it to work for me, and don't really like the UI even if I could get it to. There are lots of apps geared towards DJ's and basic control of
LED lights, I haven't like any of the 3 or 4 I've tried out. The three apps above have all worked great for me and never given me any issues that weren't user error. Ultimately you'll just have to decide what works for you and what's in your budget. If you have any questions or something doesn't make sense let me know and I'll do my best to help you get it figured out.