Chauvet DMX 50?

[MidStateTheatre]

Has anyone really worked with this, I have been designing the light show for a local night club where I live and the ower has 5 Coemar ProSpots, He has read where this particular controller has worked well with this type of light, I have tried to get the manual from the Chauvet website but the website seems to be down or not resonding to me. Any input would be appreciated, god or bad.


Confused Designer?

Rob

 

[avkid]

Quick start:
http://www.chauvetlighting.com/system/pdfs/dmx50_start.pdf

manual:
http://www.chauvetlighting.com/system/pdfs/dmx50.pdf

Product page:
http://www.chauvetlighting.com/system/fixtures/dmx50.html

 

[sound_nerd]

Is this controller already installed at the club? If not, I'd suggest a Martin Freakie controller instead. Same basic layout, but so much easier to use.

If not, be advised that the programming is a bit difficult but once that's done it will work fine.

 

[MidStateTheatre]

No its not installed or purchased. I current use software developed for intelligent lights, its called DASLight. www.daslight.com Its a little combersome to program but once you get used to it, its rather easy. The owner just doens't understand how that program works and would rather have hardware to controll the lights. Here is the funny part he purchased DASLIGHT to run the Technobeams that he has bought. Go figure? DASLIGHT can controll just about anything that requires DMX. I ahve already programmed for the Coemar's, but he insists because it has a joystick it would be a better choice since you can grab on the fly and work with a light, well you can do the same thing with DASLIGHT, just you use the mouse? Oh well just trying to get some input if someone has used one in the past.



Rob

 

[sound_nerd]

No its not installed or purchased. I current use software developed for intelligent lights, its called DASLight. www.daslight.com Its a little combersome to program but once you get used to it, its rather easy. The owner just doens't understand how that program works and would rather have hardware to controll the lights. Here is the funny part he purchased DASLIGHT to run the Technobeams that he has bought. Go figure? DASLIGHT can controll just about anything that requires DMX. I ahve already programmed for the Coemar's, but he insists because it has a joystick it would be a better choice since you can grab on the fly and work with a light, well you can do the same thing with DASLIGHT, just you use the mouse? Oh well just trying to get some input if someone has used one in the past.



Rob

Yah, I'm a bit familiar with DASLIGHT. Is there a way to configure a PC joystick to run the system? That would be ideal for your situation. He's better off to run it all from one controller, but I'm sure you know that.

 

[len]

The smaller controllers are very limited in running shows, and I've read about some reliability issues with the dmx-50 as well. Go to http://start.prodj.com/index.php and do a search on chauvet or dmx 50 and you should find some. I didn't look at the specs of the controller or the fixture, but that controller, I think, has a pre-determined number of channels assigned to each fixture. For me, to do a club install, that's just not acceptable. At the least, I would go up to the Martin Xciter, or some pc based solution where you aren't restricted in how many channels each fixture can have. I know the owner doesn't like pcs, but I'd look at LJ, since you already have a pc in there, and LJ is only $1200 where Xciter is about $1000.

 

[BillESC]

The DMX 50 available for under $ 200.00 delivered can do a fine job for a club if the number of fixture groups is 12 or less.

As to reliability the defect rate as comparable to most other electronic gadgets in the price range. The chatter on the boards is probably due to the hugh quantity of DMX 50 that are being sold, we sell 2 or 3 every week.

For me, programming the DMX 50 is easier than the Martin Freekie and I've used both. I'd suggest your club owner buy two DMX 50's, program one and download the programming into the second for a back up if ever needed. The cost will be about the same as buying one Freekie.

 

[sound_nerd]

The smaller controllers are very limited in running shows, and I've read about some reliability issues with the dmx-50 as well. Go to http://start.prodj.com/index.php and do a search on chauvet or dmx 50 and you should find some. I didn't look at the specs of the controller or the fixture, but that controller, I think, has a pre-determined number of channels assigned to each fixture. For me, to do a club install, that's just not acceptable. At the least, I would go up to the Martin Xciter, or some pc based solution where you aren't restricted in how many channels each fixture can have. I know the owner doesn't like pcs, but I'd look at LJ, since you already have a pc in there, and LJ is only $1200 where Xciter is about $1000.

The problem he's having is that the owner doesnt like pc based systems, and would like a joystick controlled system. So LJ or Xciter are pretty much out of the question. The currnet pc software that he's running is just as reliable, and flexible as LJ, but the owner still complains about the lack of joystick for manual-override option.

 

[MidStateTheatre]

That is correct, the owner just doesn't understand how DASLIGHT works, or how to program it, that is why he hired me. ON the other hand he has a controller now for the Coemars but this has been in the bar for a long time and the buttons are getting to the point that they are not working, even after taking the unit apart and cleaning all the components. I ahve tried to convince the owner to let me just add the coemars into the system and do a test run, if he likes it and I can teach him how to use the software. If not it looks like I am stuck with getting the DMX 50. BTW what we have installed in the bar is 4 technobeams, 4 trackspot(I), 4 coemars, and 10 dataflashes. The only thing that the software is running at the moment is the Techno's, We have 1 universal controller for the tracks and some off brand dmx controller for the coemars, and of course the dataflash controller. I was attempting to put all the lights into the DASLIGHT software and controll everything, from it with the exception of the dataflashes, I just need the versatlilty of its own controller. We are going to be getting 4 more tracks and possibly rebuild the intellibeams that the techno's replaced. But the intelli's have been ran down into the ground, we started out with 6 and now I am down to 4, the other 2 have been of course gutted to fix the other's. Who know's what we are going to do.


Rob