DMX Lighting

We will be using digitally-controlled light fixtures and electric fans operated by digitally-controlled dimmer packs to augment our fabric performers. This equipment uses the DMX protocol to communicate, a standard in stage and theater.

Each DMX fixture must have a DMX channel address manually configured. Our usual mode uses non-overlapping addresses so each fixture can be individually controlled. The DMX bus uses XLR cables which chain from device to device; each retransmits the data stream, but the configured address is what controls the mapping, not the physical ordering.

Enttec DMXUSB Pro

The ENTTEC DMXUSB Pro is a USB to DMX interface. The hardware is bidirectional and can both send and receive DMX signals, although we generally only use it for output. It is based on a FTDI USB to serial chip and has wide driver support; to a host computer it appears as a serial port. We use kf.dmx.QtDMXUSBPro for output from Python.

ADJ DP-DMX20L

The American DJ (ADJ) DP-DMX20L is a four-channel dimmer pack which we can use to control electric fans or individual incandescent light fixtures.

It can occupy up to four DMX channels. Please configure as follows:

  1. Make sure it is DMX (not chase) mode: press the Mode button until the display begins with ‘A’.

  2. Make sure it is configured for four channels: use the Menu button until you see ‘CH’ followed by digits. Press up or down as needed until it reads ‘CH04’.

  3. Set the address: use the Menu button until you see ‘A’ followed by digits. Press up or down as needed to set the base channel address.

SlimPAR Pro Q USB

The Chauvet SlimPAR Pro Q USB is a four-channel RGBA light fixture with red-green-blue-amber LEDs.

It can occupy four to ten DMX channels. Please configure as follows:

  1. Make sure it is configured for four channels: press the MENU button until you see ‘4-CH’, followed by ENTER.

  2. Set the address: press UP or DOWN buttons until you see ‘d’ followed by the desired channel number, followed by ENTER.

Please note: if you neglect to press ENTER to commit a change, the newly configured setting will revert after a short period.

ADJ Mega Par Profile Plus (with UV)

The Mega Par Profile Plus is a four-channel RGB-UV light fixture featuring an array of red, green, and blue LEDs with a single UV LED in the center.

It can occupy four to ten DMX channels. Please configure as follows:

  1. Make sure it is in DMX mode: press the MODE button until you see ‘d’ followed by three digits. The digits represent the current DMX channel address.

  2. Set the address: press UP or DOWN buttons until you see ‘d’ followed by the desired channel number.

  3. Make sure it is configured for four channels: press SETUP followed by UP or DOWN until ‘Ch04’ is displayed.