Quickest Way to Configure Moving Heads to Not Look Terrible

To many ads? Support ODJT and see no ads!
C

camarofleet

DJ Extraordinaire
Jun 26, 2018
134
107
38
Hey everyone,

In the past I used effect/chase lighting using (as we call it here in Ohio) "Hillbilly DMX". Basically you'd just stick them on sound active mode and/or daisy chain them together so they would kind of sink up but at least look somewhat in-sync and symmetrical.

I've purchased moving heads - the manuals on them are garbage. I roughly understand how DMX works, but was wondering if anyone had a simple solution to control moving heads without getting into controllers, extra laptops, show files etc. Basically I just want to target them towards the dancefloor and have them mostly synced up. I don't need anything too fancy at the moment.

The moving heads are mostly MARQ brand (obtained from DJ Expo last year at the MARQ stand).

Thanks!
 
Not a whole lot you can do without software or an automatic movement generator like the SoundSwitch or the new Pioneer Rekordbox DMX controller. I run my 2 small movers on master-slave sound active, but the movements are pretty lame.
 
  • Like
Reactions: camarofleet
steve149 said:
Not a whole lot you can do without software or an automatic movement generator like the SoundSwitch or the new Pioneer Rekordbox DMX controller. I run my 2 small movers on master-slave sound active, but the movements are pretty lame.
Click to expand...

Yea...unfortunately all I want to do is set some sort of restriction on the movement angle, sound activate and either sync two lights of have them mirror each other. This is not that intuitive of a process using the built in controls on the lights with the next to no info in their manual.
 
not familiar with much of the Marq line of moving heads... but with the chauvet intimidators...there was tons of stuff i could do with the irc remote ....i ended up dmxing them tho...and i can promise you its worth the time... grab a chauvet obey 70 for 100 or so bucks and your in business.

cc
 
Moving heads are pretty much worthless without DMX control. The installed factory programs will have them doing things you don't want them to. Maybe you can Master/slave them so that they both do the same movement. And it might even be possible to set the slave to move opposite of the master. Is there anything in the manual about master/slave?
 
  • Like
Reactions: SEDJ and djcrazychris
yeah....if u simply cant bring yourself to go dmx....youre better off with a gig bar of some sort...something built for hillbilly dmx....

cc
 
Check to see if your fixtures have totem mode, or something similar. That will keep more light on the dance floor.

But I'm a big fan of SoundSwitch. Or, potentially Rekordbox DMX... What software are you DJing with?
 
Don't feel bad, I've been in pretty much the same boat. Been using movers for about 6 months and on sound-active mode (non-DMX). In the past few days, I have finally gotten around to getting them to work with FreeStyler and realizing I have a good amount of work to do to get comfortable with DMX on these things. Incidentally, I did just buy 2 more movers, all of them are Chauvet Intimidator Spot 255s. I will add one thing, 2 movers on non-DMX isn't good. It's true, they spend too much time somewhere besides the dance floor (even in totem mode). I believe 4 heads would be minimum if you want to keep running non-DMX. The other thing, and I mean no disrespect to your gear, I've seen a pair of small Marq movers (one of my other DJs brought a pair to a gig) and was highly un-impressed. No gobos and the optics were very bad. I'd say they were exactly worth the price. Not sure about yours but if you're sticking with cheap movers then it's not worth the time to try and program them. I'd tell you to save some cash and invest in better quality units, then setup the programming.
 
I hate lights. I wish they interested me, but they don’t. If they interested me, I’d probably invest in some better lights and put some time into the DMX programming. I don’t know if having a better light show is worth the time and money. Half of the events I do don’t even require lights. I follow these lighting threads with hopes I’ll be inspired, but so far, NOTHING gets me excited about doing a lighting project. How difficult would it be for the lighting manufactures to check out what a few good mobile DJ’s do with their lights, and pre-program their lights to do THAT right out of the box???... The sound active programs in most lights just look... random.[emoji1]
 
DJ Bobcat said:
I hate lights. I wish they interested me, but they don’t. If they interested me, I’d probably invest in some better lights and put some time into the DMX programming. I don’t know if having a better light show is worth the time and money. Half of the events I do don’t even require lights. I follow these lighting threads with hopes I’ll be inspired, but so far, NOTHING gets me excited about doing a lighting project. How difficult would it be for the lighting manufactures to check out what a few good mobile DJ’s do with their lights, and pre-program their lights to do THAT right out of the box???... The sound active programs in most lights just look... random.[emoji1]
Click to expand...

Frankly, I think scanners are probably a better choice if you don't want to fool with DMX. At least you can keep the beams pointing in the general direction of the floor. The other opinion I have is that 4 lights will generally give good coverage, even in non-DMX mode. I'm coming to the opinion keeping the dance floor darker (i.e. no colored dots fixtures) and hitting them periodically with a strong, quality beam is a much better presentation.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SEDJ and DJ Bobcat
Self-automation is the future, but the future ain't here yet.

If you look at SoundSwitch, or the new Pioneer Rekordbox DMX unit (or even the Aeon Raven I bought from Cap), the goal is to automate the process of building decent lighting programs based on the music. Yes, you can do better with a light person, but these new boxes work with DJ software, analyze the music, and allow you to select things from a library of routines. A lot of manual effort right now, but they seem to be getting better,
 
  • Like
Reactions: SEDJ, DJ Bobcat and djcrazychris
steve149 said:
Self-automation is the future, but the future ain't here yet.

If you look at SoundSwitch, or the new Pioneer Rekordbox DMX unit (or even the Aeon Raven I bought from Cap), the goal is to automate the process of building decent lighting programs based on the music...
Click to expand...

I agree with you Steve... Automation is where it’s going, it’s just not GOING there fast enough. And I sometimes wonder if any of the lighting manufacturers even talk to single-OP DJ’s to find out what they need or want. I look a what Pioneer has in the Rekordbox DMX capability, and think that would make my life easier... but sadly, Rekordbox is exclusively Pioneer, and I don’t have a controller I could use with it (my DDJ-T1 is not supported). Not gonna buy a new Pioneer controller (or any controller for that matter) any time soon. If one of the other (more open) DJ software comes out with something similar, I MIGHT be willing to ditch Traktor and go with that.
 
DJ Bobcat said:
I agree with you Steve... Automation is where it’s going, it’s just not GOING there fast enough. And I sometimes wonder if any of the lighting manufacturers even talk to single-OP DJ’s to find out what they need or want. I look a what Pioneer has in the Rekordbox DMX capability, and think that would make my life easier... but sadly, Rekordbox is exclusively Pioneer, and I don’t have a controller I could use with it (my DDJ-T1 is not supported). Not gonna buy a new Pioneer controller (or any controller for that matter) any time soon. If one of the other (more open) DJ software comes out with something similar, I MIGHT be willing to ditch Traktor and go with that.
Click to expand...
SoundSwitch apparently will work with Traktor, though not as cleanly as with Serato .. SoundSwitch Now Syncs With Traktor, Ableton Live - Digital DJ Tips
 
  • Like
Reactions: Albatross, ittigger and DJ Bobcat
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back