Hey all,
Sorry for the long post. This is probably going to be the weirdest thread on the forum, but I hope anyone with ideas or suggestions will chime in. I was going to post all my questions in ways that would hide what I'm really doing, but I figured some people might get a kick out of this, so I'll just be a bit vulnerable here and fill you all in.
What started out as a joke has turned into a full-blown project. I'm turning the upstairs of my home into a nightclub. I've put about $2500 into this. I'm willing to spend about $10-12k on the whole thing, which I think would be pretty tough to do, so really the sky is the limit here.
Right now I've got a bunch of Chauvet light fixtures, and I've just been putting them on "auto" or "sound active" mode. If my wife is gone for the evening, I set the lights to "sound active" and put the music on over the Sonos system. If my wife is home, I wait for her to go to bed, put headphones on, and set the lights to "auto". (She thinks I'm crazy but she's not talking divorce yet!) I basically just party by myself or with a couple friends - listen to EDM and dance the night away in the privacy of my own home!
So far I've just been controlling the light show with the handheld remote from Chauvet (for compatible fixtures) or unplugging and plugging in lights as the mood dictates. I just ordered some "smart outlets" that would allow me to turn lights on/off with an app on my phone.
I'm wanting to take things to the next level. I'm not entirely sure what that entails and how to get there, and that's where I'd like all of your help. I'm most likely going to order the X-Laser Aurora Caliente, and that will be my first device that can't operate as a stand-alone unit - it needs a DMX controller to activate either the "auto" or "sound active" modes. I don't yet own a DMX controller and I don't know anything about DMX.
A few requirements for the "club":
1) Anything that stays put or is permanently or semi-permanently installed needs to be fairly small or inconspicuous. So far my wife is OK with all this weirdness but it still needs to look like a living room/kitchen.
2) Things that aren't permanently or semi-permanently installed should be easy enough to set up in around 15-20 minutes.
3) The more wireless capabilities the better. The more wires my wife sees the more annoyed I'm sure she will get.
4) I'm willing to hire an electrician to install plugs/cable routing through the walls if need be. I'd want to wait to do this until I'm sure of the final setup.
5) The setup should ideally work in both "stealth" mode (me with headphones on) and with music playing out the sound system in the house.
Current Gear (mostly Chauvet at this point):
Swarm 5 FX
Shocker 2
Wash FX2
FX Array q5
Mini Kinta IRC (2)
Shocker Panel 180 (2)
4Play (arriving tomorrow)
Scorpion Dual RGB (arriving tomorrow, may return for X-Laser Aurora Caliente)
Hurricane Haze 1DX haze machine
Blacklight strips (Amazon)
I'll post photos of the current setup in a few minutes.
Sorry for the long post. This is probably going to be the weirdest thread on the forum, but I hope anyone with ideas or suggestions will chime in. I was going to post all my questions in ways that would hide what I'm really doing, but I figured some people might get a kick out of this, so I'll just be a bit vulnerable here and fill you all in.
What started out as a joke has turned into a full-blown project. I'm turning the upstairs of my home into a nightclub. I've put about $2500 into this. I'm willing to spend about $10-12k on the whole thing, which I think would be pretty tough to do, so really the sky is the limit here.
Right now I've got a bunch of Chauvet light fixtures, and I've just been putting them on "auto" or "sound active" mode. If my wife is gone for the evening, I set the lights to "sound active" and put the music on over the Sonos system. If my wife is home, I wait for her to go to bed, put headphones on, and set the lights to "auto". (She thinks I'm crazy but she's not talking divorce yet!) I basically just party by myself or with a couple friends - listen to EDM and dance the night away in the privacy of my own home!
So far I've just been controlling the light show with the handheld remote from Chauvet (for compatible fixtures) or unplugging and plugging in lights as the mood dictates. I just ordered some "smart outlets" that would allow me to turn lights on/off with an app on my phone.
I'm wanting to take things to the next level. I'm not entirely sure what that entails and how to get there, and that's where I'd like all of your help. I'm most likely going to order the X-Laser Aurora Caliente, and that will be my first device that can't operate as a stand-alone unit - it needs a DMX controller to activate either the "auto" or "sound active" modes. I don't yet own a DMX controller and I don't know anything about DMX.
A few requirements for the "club":
1) Anything that stays put or is permanently or semi-permanently installed needs to be fairly small or inconspicuous. So far my wife is OK with all this weirdness but it still needs to look like a living room/kitchen.
2) Things that aren't permanently or semi-permanently installed should be easy enough to set up in around 15-20 minutes.
3) The more wireless capabilities the better. The more wires my wife sees the more annoyed I'm sure she will get.
4) I'm willing to hire an electrician to install plugs/cable routing through the walls if need be. I'd want to wait to do this until I'm sure of the final setup.
5) The setup should ideally work in both "stealth" mode (me with headphones on) and with music playing out the sound system in the house.
Current Gear (mostly Chauvet at this point):
Swarm 5 FX
Shocker 2
Wash FX2
FX Array q5
Mini Kinta IRC (2)
Shocker Panel 180 (2)
4Play (arriving tomorrow)
Scorpion Dual RGB (arriving tomorrow, may return for X-Laser Aurora Caliente)
Hurricane Haze 1DX haze machine
Blacklight strips (Amazon)
I'll post photos of the current setup in a few minutes.
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