Lighting Control Protocol

[chawalang]

I was curious what most people are using for their lighting control protocol in their venue. I’m specifically asking about a console that lives in one space and never leaves. Over the years I have seen various protocols used. ArtNet, ETC NET, Streaming ACN, Path Port, and the like. What are people finding to be the pros and cons when using a specific protocol with their control console?

 

[RickR]

>90% of the systems I've seen, repaired, installed, designed (since network has been common) have been ETC sACN. The big benefit is the their legendary tech support. The drawback is cost.

There's a bit of a 'age of system' component. Few that I'm aware of have changed protocols.

 

[Rob]

I think the hands down winner is now sACN. Even we, Pathway Connectivity - the authors of the Pathport Protocol, suggest people use sACN. Some advantages:

• Multiple sources (consoles)
• Multiple sinks (as many outputs as you need - most protocols support this)
• Priority levels per Universe (1-200)
• Priority levels per slot (ETC variant only - supported by Pathway)
• Makes good use of IGMP. See explanation here.
• Widely supported ANSI standard maintained by ESTA TSP
• Extensible (see our security extensions here)

 

[chawalang]

I was curious if the ETC tech support is any different in your experiences for ETC sACN? I’ve been told by various people that ETC customer support isn’t as good as it was before Fred passed away. If also been told the company as a whole has changed a lot since his death.

 

[Rob]

IMO - there is still a lot of Fred DNA left at ETC.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

We have an IonXe, driving a CD80 rack (I think) by DMX, and a bunch of movers, spots, and cycs, connected by (what I think is) sACN to a bunch of nodes on electrics and in other places.

Sorry for the anomalous answers; we're on a 5 minute hold; I'll check them after.

 

[SteveB]

In 5 spaces it was all Ions and either Unison (1 space) or Paradigm, everything was ETC sACN excepting the 1 old ETC Net 2 and the Unison on DMX into a node.

 

[Crisp image]

All the venues I am employed at use sACN. 2 venues use pathport gear and the 3rd is using ETC response gateway and 2 copper lines. sACN is so versatile but you need to have nodes and the network cable infrastructure. I try and avoid artnet if I can simply because of it's broadcast method.

 

[danTt]

There's not really such a thing as "ETC sACN" for almost all purposes. sACN is standardized at this point (It would be like saying Strand DMX).

 

[danTt]

All the venues I am employed at use sACN. 2 venues use pathport gear and the 3rd is using ETC response gateway and 2 copper lines. sACN is so versatile but you need to have nodes and the network cable infrastructure. I try and avoid artnet if I can simply because of it's broadcast method.

Artnet does not require using broadcast. Artnet1 (as implemented by ETC for quite a number of versions) did require either unicast or broadcast.

Fun fact: Many networks with sACN on them still end up using broadcast to transmit data. It's really irrelevant until your system is quite large.

 

[techieman33]

We use sACN for in house stuff. But with our Luminex stuff we can pretty easily support just about anything a tour wants to use. That being said all but one tour have been perfectly happy using sACN.

 

[EdSavoie]

There's not really such a thing as "ETC sACN" for almost all purposes. sACN is standardized at this point (It would be like saying Strand DMX).

Not entirely true, ETC "Net 3" contains *more* than just standardized E1.31 sACN. But broadly speaking, yes.


In our venue, we just got an Ion Xe to refresh our primary desk (Which was a Win 7 Ion), in large part to finally displace the MA 1 Ultralight that we use in our Ballroom.

The update to EOS that dropped Net 2 (EDMX) compatibility happened right before we got our Xe in (Which is inherently incompatible with Net 2 because it's a Win 10 based desk), so our architecture is now as follows:

Desk into lighting switch, with one sACN node outputting three ports in FOH: one to plug into the input going to the ENR dimmers, and two DMX outputs feeding into a Net 2 Node, which gets data to our 4 LX pipes + Cyc lights via the corresponding Net 2 nodes we have in the air.

Elsewhere, we have sACN nodes each side of stage (downstage, behind proscenium) for feeding anything we need on the deck, as well as one output which makes it's way up to a truss we have suspended over the pit.

Technically, the FOH sACN node is redundant, but feeding it all this way allows for renters touring with their own desk to only need one ethernet line run to their desk. As opposed to one ethernet and three DMX lines.

I'll try and make a pretty little diagram later, but the simplified summary is this:

As far as any console is concerned:
E1.31 sACN.

The complete internal architecture summarised as:

1x DMX line (Universe 1)
2x Net 2 Universes (2 and 3)
4x sACN Universes (1 through 4)

EDIT: not that anyone has needed it, but I can also accept ArtNet through the same nodes as well.

 

[Edward- Z88]

I try and avoid artnet if I can simply because of it's broadcast method.

An Art-Net 4 controller will unicast ArtDmx to Art-Net devices that subscribe to a universe. ArtDmx can only be broadcast if more than 40 devices subscribe to a single universe.

 

[Edward- Z88]

Fun fact: Many networks with sACN on them still end up using broadcast to transmit data. It's really irrelevant until your system is quite large.

If you're using standard Layer 2 Ethernet Switches, sACN data will be broadcasted, which in smaller systems is absolutely fine.

To multicast sACN, you'll need Layer 3 Ethernet Switches, all with IGMP snooping enabled and one with an IGMP querier enabled. A multicast group is required for each sACN universe. Therefore, you'll also need to ensure the Ethernet Switches have a multicast group for each universe being sent.

 

[macsound]

Although I've used and installed this gear so many times, I can't count, I can't wrap my head around the difference between ArtNet and sACN.
Even on ArtNet's website, it isn't very clear.
I also commonly use DMX nodes that support both ArtNet and sACN https://dmxking.com/artnetsacn/edmx4-max-din

 

[Edward- Z88]

Although I've used and installed this gear so many times, I can't count, I can't wrap my head around the difference between ArtNet and sACN.

We've created the video below, which discusses configuring sACN & Art-Net on our ZerOS consoles. This highlights some of the differences...

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There are many differences, and many pros and cons. Personally, if I am configuring a system that features multiple controllers/consoles, I'll use sACN, due to the customisable universe priorities for each controller. However, for anything else, I'll use Art-Net, due to the monitoring, management and RDM capabilities. Just to make life more confusing, Art-Net 4 does allow a hybrid, as it doesn't have to send ArtDmx. This means sACN data can be used for the DMX, including the universe priorities, and Art-Net can just be used for the monitoring, management and RDM.

 

[Calc]

The update to EOS that dropped Net 2 (EDMX) compatibility happened right before we got our Xe in (Which is inherently incompatible with Net 2 because it's a Win 10 based desk),

If you have the 2-port Net2 nodes it's possible to upgrade them- I've done it. Neither manufacturer will tell you how to do it (likely due to contract agreements), but the ETC branded nodes were actually built by Pathway, and have standard Pathway internals. If I'm reading your comment correctly, that would let you get everything talking the same language. There are hints here, but if you google around you can find instructions.