DMX in TV studio

[Rory Lane]

Should every light in a tv studio be on a separate channel?

[Edward Carlson]

Yes, probably.

If you're not going to run out of addresses, then it makes sense to make each fixture separate. If all your fresnels (for example) are the same address, then you won't have individual control. If you want to group them, you can do that in the lighting console.

[Paul R Johnson]

The only answer is 'it depends" If you have lots of cyc lights, the answer is of course no - I've got quite a lot of LED bars to wash cycs, and all 12 are on the same DMX address for convenience, but I have 12 universes available if I need them. I'm quite content with three faders controlling 12m width of cyc lights.

On the other hand, everything that comes from a different direction, or is focussed in a different location are better as individual. Anything you need to control separately has it's own address, unless you know it won't happen.

[David Barnett]

Funny, I clicked in this threads title with the expectation it was about the 90s rapper of the name 'DMX' visited a studio someone worked at.

Was wondering what he'd be like in real life.

[Rory Lane]

That's funny, David!! I guess I should have been more clear....

One last question regarding the DMX in the studio.....

I have the Chauvet Obey 40. It controls 12 fixtures with 16 channels of control on each fixture. I have 8 lights in my anchor area. How should I address the lights:
1. Make each light be its own fixture. Light one is on channel 1-2, Light 2 is on 17-18, Light 3 is on 33-34, etc....That way I can control all the lights with one fader but still have individual control when needed. (I was thinking this would be good so I did not have to individually set the color temp for each light. I would just have to set it on one fader and it would turn all the lights to that color)

2. Make each light consecutive so that "fixture 1" controls all the lights - Light 1 is channel 1-2, Light 2 is 3-4, Light 3 is 5-6, etc

Thanks in advance. This forum has been a God-send for a lighting newb.

[Paul R Johnson]

The trouble is that control is not really that handy for simple stuff in a studio, but what are the actual fixtures? If you have colour changing fixtures, then you have multiple control possibilities, but if they are simple single channel one colour types, then I'd just do a one to one patch - In fact 8 separate lights with a master would be the simplest way to control them. That control is a little over specified with the usual way of working to be to set up multiple states each one with colour, effects, chasing, strobing - and the usual disco Dave style operation. If you do have single colour fixture that have a dimmer mode, and use one channel - look for a proper lighting control on Ebay - old manual one fader per light/per dimmer - 12 or 18 channel versions with a master often go for silly money now people want flishy=flashy stuff.

This kind of thing that nobody even bid on!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pulsar-12...IAAOSwssRc-GQj

[Rory Lane]

I understand what you are saying. I do have a simple 24 channel controller that I can use. The only reason I was thinking the obey 40 was simply so all lights in the studio are controlled by a single controller. In this studio, we have 2 other area (green screen and interview area). My biggest complaint with obey 40 is the lack of a master controller.

Paul, would you recommend ditching the obey 40 and going with another 24 channel controller for the green screen and interview area? Even with the color lights, 24 channels would be enough

[Paul R Johnson]

Personally, I think I would look at other products. If all your fixtures are single channel, or dual channel with alternate colours on the next DMX channel, I would go for something like a proper DMX control - it doesn't need to be that modern. Using a few examples from the past 20 yrs, these controls would do the job very well. A mix of manual, memory and kind of half way - Strand GSX/LBX - move on in time and we get to the MX24/48 and then the more modern 200 series. You can do exactly the same evolution with Zero 88 products.

However, with the rose tinted specs off, there is another solution. I'm totally comfortable with the products from Chamsys - Magicq. They have a unique design philosophy. They give the software away for free. They charge for hardware with real knobs. For less than £20 they will sell you a DMX USB Dongle that runs for 5 hours then needs pulling out and starting up again, or for less than £100 you get the pro version that has no time limit. The software is fully functional and can be operated from the screen with a mouse, or of course you can use a touch screen.

The software can be downloaded from their site and you can try it. The learning curve is a bit tricky if you've not programmed lighting, but you can use the system as loads of faders, or you can have groups, or pretty well every way of operating it. if you want to, you can also add the facility to have a fader for brightness, and have the two colour channels on a knob and mix between the two if you need that. The system can memorise states and you could if you wish, have a sequence of different setups that will cope with even complex studio setups.

A range of hardware add ons for PC or Mac based systems can give you real knobs for modest sums, or you can have a dedicated hardware unit for four grand upwards, but they all use identical software. learn it once and it works on them all.

To make it simple there is even a special mode where you have a range of buttons on the touch screen, and you can put the software into a mode where these are the on ly visible controls. You could have, for example, news, single presenter, two presenters, interview and somebody can walk up, touch the screen button and the right lights come on, at the right level.

For a very small investment - you can have something really worth having.