Control/Dimming Martin M-PC For Free

[doctrjohn]

This is copied from Paul's post over on the LightNetwork and I thought it may be of interest to some of us over here:

Martin Professional Offers M-PC™ Lighting Control Software for Free

Martin Professional is proud to be able to offer a new version of its powerful M-Series lighting controller software (M-PC) with an unrestricted free Universe of DMX.

With an ever-growing M-Series line of controllers like the M1™ and new M2GO™, demand to learn Martin’s M-Series has grown tremendously. M-PC Free Edition™ allows users to access all of the same functionalities of Martin’s M-Series range of consoles via the Windows-compatible M-PC for free.

The Free Edition of M-PC was designed to open the M-Series platform to a wider audience and allows educational environments, or anyone with a limited budget, access to a leading professional lighting control system via a simple download.

There are 3 ways to run M-PC for free:
-Using any Art-Net compatible device, Universe 1 is accessible for free.
-Using any Martin Universal or Duo DMX device, Universes 1 and 2 are accessible for free.
- Additionally, Martin has partnered with ENTTEC to support their popular range of USB-DMX converters for the M-PC Free Edition, including the new ENTTEC USB-DMX Pro MK2 to be introduced at LDI.

The M-PC Free Edition can be downloaded soon after LDI at: Product - M-PC™

Paul Pelletier
Product Manager Controllers
Martin Professional A/S

 

[porkchop]

Well isn't that interesting... To anyone that wants to use this as a control interface I HIGHLY recommend a dual monitor setup so you can have all your informational views on one monitor and have the virtual console widget open on the other.

 

[cbrandt]

As soon as they actually release the software for download, I'll let you know how it works with an enttec widget. Dug one out of the back closet when I heard about this.

 

[doctrjohn]

I have a beta version of the software and have had it working with the USB Pro as well as over Artnet with an Enttec ODE and one universe from a DMX EtherGate MK2. I also was able to have it work with ESP Vision on the same machine. I see this as an excellent marketing strategy for Martin in gaining some additional awareness of the product family; it has certainly worked for Chamsys...

Best,
John

 

[porkchop]

I'll be interested to see how this plays out, it kinda sounds to me like Martin might be after some unpaid testers for the software side of their M2PC control solution.

 

[doctrjohn]

I don't think that is the case; they have a beta program in place already that has seemed to work well for them. I think they are trying to gain recognition and market share and they see that this approach has worked well for another particular player in this field. I don't think they want a bunch of people not familiar with beta testing, and who don't know when it is appropriate to use beta software on a live show and when it isn't, having a bad experience with unproven software and being turned off to an otherwise legitimate option in the marketplace.

Best,
John

 

[SanTai]

Is there any word on how much will be included in the free edition?

I could not any info on what will set it apart from a M1 except the hardware faders and knobs...
Can you feed it midi inputs?

The Chamsys way of requiring expensive hardware is a working solution to stop people from running real shows from the free edition only. Is Martin doing anything similar except limiting it to 1 universe?

 

[porkchop]

Midi is kinda a pain even with an M1 so my guess is you would need hardware, but with the right stuff you could make it work for M-PC.

 

[mhinrichs]

Is there any word on how much will be included in the free edition?

I could not any info on what will set it apart from a M1 except the hardware faders and knobs...
Can you feed it midi inputs?

The Chamsys way of requiring expensive hardware is a working solution to stop people from running real shows from the free edition only. Is Martin doing anything similar except limiting it to 1 universe?

Hi!

I am the other product manager for the controllers at Martin.

The M-PC Free Edition was designed to allow a wide range of users to utilize the M-PC software, from technicians to test some fixtures to educational users and of course entry level shows. We feel the software has a lot to offer and we hope users will find it useful and enjoy it.


Limitations are few and depend on the hardware used.

All functions are enabled with the following exceptions:

- only Universe Number 1 is available for free and the Universe is fixed to #1 on Art-Net
- No DMX Input from Enttec devices
- No RDM support for Enttec devices.

Besides this all networking and external I/O features like MIDI and TouchOSC are supported. We didn't block or reduce any software features and there is no time limit on the dmx output.

The free edition is not at all about beta testing, we have a dedicated beta group in place. There are no secrets there, its just about not having beta software on our product page and avoid potential confusion.

We chose to work with Enttec because they are a great company with well engineered products and have proven to be very popular in the market with various software solutions.
Don't forget the free Universe of Artnet which works great with all the visualizer s out there, as well as many products that take Artnet natively like media servers and quite a few fixtures.

If you have questions about M-PC please email us at [email protected] and we'll be glad to help.


Matthias Hinrichs
Product Manager Lighting and Media Control