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| ADJ myDMX
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Somewhere back in time, I used to cut my teeth writing bespoke database applications for the commercial market. You would think, with a background like that, DMX programming would be simple. Far from it, I never understood it. I've had numerous hardware DMX controllers in the past, as well as other software solutions, but it was still a grey area for me. That was until I got my hands on a little known product from American DJ called myDMX.
It arrived in a little grey cardboard box containing a USB dongle which you attach to your MS Windows-based laptop or desktop computer. This little box of tricks contains the components necessary to output DMX signals that your lights understand. And that's about it, there's nothing really exciting about it. The exciting bit is in the software.
You don't actually get a CD or a manual, this is one of the reasons why it's so cheap - you actually download the software from the ADJ website. It's so simple to setup as well, just run the installer and all the necessary drivers are installed for it to work. Once the installation is complete, plug in the dongle to finalise the installation and you are good to go.
One of the biggest criticisms about DMX Software in general is that with such a wide variety of DMX fixtures available, more often than not, you need to create your own fixture profiles so that the software works with your lights. myDMX helps in this area by providing over 2,000 built-in fixture files covering a wide variety of the most popular lights from Abstract, Martin, EVL, American DJ, Prolight, iSolution and so on. If you can't find one for your particular fixture, you just find an existing profile with the same amount of DMX channels and edit it, it really is that simple. And it's not just lights in this massive library, I found settings for hazers such as the Look Unique and the Jem ZR 24/7.
The software itself supports up to 512 DMX channels in a single universe. Adding your fixtures is as simple as dragging and dropping. Each one is given a different background colour so you can distinguish each fixture from its neighbour. myDMX tells you what DIP switch settings to use to set the channel numbers on your fixtures, or if you have a digital addressing system, you can use that instead. Once you've set up your lights, you can now make them "do stuff".
Written by Ian Forest |
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The full article can be found in Pro Mobile Issue 33, Pages 70 - 71 |
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Copyright EJ Media 2003 - 2010
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