Control/Dimming PC Movers program to fire GO on Expression 3

Hi all,

Noob here! lol

Been working with static lights for most of my professional career and now I am starting to get into the complicated world of moving lights, after several shows and working on the Perl Tiger and Titan, I was working with an LD who used a Pc to control everything, the only trouble with that was, in this venue dimmers 1 - 250 are used in the general rig, 300 - 325 are IND switch's and 400 - 450 are working lights, blues etc...

The reason why I'm posting this is I am looking to getting a program and USB 2 DMX adapter to save costs / make some money. However, from what I have read, USB to DMX is only able to control 1 universe at a time, so my question is.....

is there a program or a way that I could press GO on the Laptop program and then it in turn would fire the GO on the ETC Expression 3 (the desk we have here)??

EG:

Q1 - Go (fires ETC Go) preset out on both desk F/O
Q1.5 - Movers to next Position
Q2 - Go Movers Up
Q3 - Go (Fires ETC Go) Wash up

I hope this makes sense and that you lovely people out there can offer some advice

ta

Paul :)
 
Usually ( at least with our software ) it works the other way around. You can configure the Expression to spit out Midi Show Control ( MSC) and tell the laptop to listen to MSC signals.

So you go Q1 on the ETC - and it sends a message to the software to execute Q1 on the laptop.

If there is no change in Conventional lights ( what we usually call static ) for Q2 - then you write a dummy cue 2 on the expression that changes nothing. When you fire Q2, the laptop executes Q2.

And so on.

Note that in a well designed software program there is not need to have a Q1.5 to reposition the movers to the new location for Q2 while they are dark. That should happen automagically. ( reading between the lines assuming this is what you were intending with Q1.5 )


As to your other question ( usb to DMX) - yes each USB device will only do one universe. However, many software packages support the use of more than one dongle. Alternatively you can usually configure the laptop to spit out Artnet or ACN ( think of it as an ethernet protocal) and get and adapter to convert to DMX.

All of these options being available depends on whose control program you are running.
 
Hey JChenault

Thankx for the advice, just taken a look at the ETC manual, of course they assume you have worked with Midi before!! Maybe I'm getting a head of my self, do you (or anyone else) have any suggestions to which programs I should be looking at???

Hmm a bit more research into midi is required I think! lol (why cant things be plug and play! lol)

Ta Paul :)
 
It seems that the most popular programs out there are QLab by Figure 53 (If your on a mac) and SFX by Stage Research (If your on a PC).

I have used SFX quite a few times for some sound to light cues before(Fireworks, Thunder i.e.) and it has worked well for me......



Hope this helps!
-Lightingguy1
 
Hey JChenault

Thankx for the advice, just taken a look at the ETC manual, of course they assume you have worked with Midi before!! Maybe I'm getting a head of my self, do you (or anyone else) have any suggestions to which programs I should be looking at???

Hmm a bit more research into midi is required I think! lol (why cant things be plug and play! lol)

Ta Paul :)

Show control is hard. However, how every device sends and receives midi is different. There are standards such as MSC, but how much those devices work with MSC is hit or miss. So, the real question is what is your budget? There are programs out there that can handle multiple universes. Chamsys magic Q can have both midi and multiple DMX universes, but its going to be at least a grand or two. HogPC will do it as well, but thats going to be at least 3-4k. None of these consoles will use off the shelf midi hardware, they all require their own midi dongle.
 
Hi

@Footer

my budget is extremely limited, and so the £1000+ options are not on the cards :( as much as I would like to get them! lol

@lightingguy1

Cheers I will look at SFX :)
 
Hi

@Footer

my budget is extremely limited, and so the £1000+ options are not on the cards :( as much as I would like to get them! lol

@lightingguy1

Cheers I will look at SFX :)

Keep in mind, SFX is NOT a lighting controller. It can do video and audio but not lighting. Your really not going to find what you want for under a grand. Your best bet would be to get another board op or just press two buttons at once while running chamsys on an Enntec dongle.
 
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