DMX Have an uplighting question

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DJ Forbes

DJ Extraordinaire
Jul 30, 2021
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So I bought a pair of Rockville Rockwedges and have been trying them out. I've been testing them with the 2.4ghz from light to light (master/slave) and I've also tested them with a donner 2.4ghz transmitter wirelessly as well. I've been pretty pleased for the most part, for the price. One thing has been bugging me a little, so I wanted to see how others are doing it. Let's say we're in a venue that's 100'x100 and I want to put out 16 wedges around the outside of the room. All fine and good.

Scenario 1 - Master/Slave mode
Pro: I can keep all the lights in sync at all times with color, speed, and function. If I want to do a slow fade or dim color for dinner, I can do just that.
Con: I have to change these settings via the little IR remote or on the master light itself, or so I believe.

Scenario 2 - ShowXpress - wireless dmx
Pro: I can control all the lights from my dj booth.
Con: whether I put all the lights on their own channel, or all on the same dmx channel (I think this is the preferred method), if I do certain functions, the light colors get out of sync, or so it seems so far.

Is there a way to dmx the master, and then have the slaves still stay in sync with it? Is there a better way to set up my uplights for DMX? Also, if I just want to set the lights to sound activated, I've found that in dmx mode, the mic doesn't pick up real well on these... so the ones further away don't seem to change as much as the ones closer to the speakers. Other than master/slave and setting the master right at or near my booth, I'm not sure how to counter this...?

I'm still very new to dmx and ShowXpress. If there is an easier way, I'm all ears. I was thinking about going with Mydmx Go, but there are a ton of mixed opinions on that.

Any advice?
 
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With wireless DMX, all lights should be controlled by a single transmitter. I would not attempt to put one light in master and slave the rest. They all should be put in slave mode and you'll have a transmitter (Donner?) hanging off your controller. In a 100X100 foot room you may find that some units are out of range. About the only thing you can do is to use a stronger transmitter or to run a DMX cable and hang the transmitter towards the center of the room. BTW 16 units for a 100X100 room is WAY under what's needed. You're looking at more like 30-40 fixtures for that size room.
 
With wireless DMX, all lights should be controlled by a single transmitter. I would not attempt to put one light in master and slave the rest. They all should be put in slave mode and you'll have a transmitter (Donner?) hanging off your controller. In a 100X100 foot room you may find that some units are out of range. About the only thing you can do is to use a stronger transmitter or to run a DMX cable and hang the transmitter towards the center of the room. BTW 16 units for a 100X100 room is WAY under what's needed. You're looking at more like 30-40 fixtures for that size room.

The room size was just for a "mental picture" sort of thing. Just trying to explain that they are spaced out in a large area. In theory, I'd have the same issues if there were 5 or 65 lights, lol.

My wireless transmitter has no problems reaching the lights in any size room that I've been in. So my question then would be, if I want to put them into sound mode, or to change colors to the beat of the music, what's the best method for that? Especially if the ones furthest away aren't picking up the sound like the ones closer to the speakers....
 
The room size was just for a "mental picture" sort of thing. Just trying to explain that they are spaced out in a large area. In theory, I'd have the same issues if there were 5 or 65 lights, lol.

My wireless transmitter has no problems reaching the lights in any size room that I've been in. So my question then would be, if I want to put them into sound mode, or to change colors to the beat of the music, what's the best method for that? Especially if the ones furthest away aren't picking up the sound like the ones closer to the speakers....

Again, you don't let each fixture operate independently. You use a controller with a single transmitter then have all fixtures in slave mode.
 
Because I don't have a DMX controller I use the first scenario. The Master light is always near me so that I can change the lighting pretty quickly. I have a MYDMX Buddy dongle but the computer I planned to use it with is on Windows 11 and apparently my dongle isn't compatible with Win 11. The MYDMX program keeps crashing. I may eventually get a DMX controller but for now the remote control works just fine. Because the Master light is always near me, it is always close enough to pick up the sound and the rest of the lights stay in sync with the master.
 
Having all of your uplights on the same channel is the easiest way to get control over your lights. They all do the same thing, easy programming.

But you'll unlock all the wow factor when you individually address them and program accordingly. I'm still at the very beginner stage with Wolfmix (ADJ WMX1) and had the lights doing this in my dining room this afternoon. All the power comes from the ability to do color chases and sequences with them.

 
Just wanted to throw out a little update. I sat down with my ShowXpress laptop, my Serato laptop, and some lights last night. I spent 3 or 4 hours trying different things, reading forums, watching YouTube videos, and finally got my head wrapped around things was able to get some things working like I "thought" they should. I'm actually able to turn on the mic on my lighting laptop and that picks up sound well enough that ShowXpress picks it up. With that, I created a step-scene and then set that button to beat mode and wha-la! I got the action I knew it should be able to do. I fought with it for while trying to run audio from my mixer into the lighting laptop, but wasn't having much luck. The line in sound just wasn't loud enough. Once I unplugged it, the standard laptop mic picked it up perfectly. Still some more testing to do, but I'm definitely on a better track now.

I'll say, what had me so confused was what a mentor showed me months ago... and how they used it, without much explanation. Once I forced myself to forget what I learned and just use the tools in front of me, it all started to click. Big thanks to @Albatross for your video. I was about to give up honestly, and for some reason, your video and post just stuck in my head and drove me to give it one more try. Thank you for that.

If anyone else chooses to use ShowXpress and ever wants to compare notes, I'd be open to that.
 
I have my four Color Strips set to 3 channel and addressed to 292, 300, 308, and 316. Works fine with the PFX.
 
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