customsounddj
Which is better I'm wanting to run 8 to 16 adj led par cans
Posted Fri 20 Jul 12 @ 11:45 am
synthet1c
the learning curve for hardware is a couple of hours, for software it's more like a couple of weeks for something like freestyler, but a little shorter for ADJ's MYDMX.
Software especially freestyler with sbdj's plugins is much more powerful than hardware could ever be without someone constantly controlling it live. With scotts plugin vdj can send the beatgrid information to freestylers "sound to light" function so your lights blink on beat, then to further that his other plugin allows preset cue points to trigger scenes in freestyler, so you can create a real light show that is synced to the actual beatgrid and tailored to specific tracks, not just a few banks of lighting effects that respond to a microphone listening to the beat.
It is a real revolution for VDJ that hasn't yet been widely adapted but there is a lighting company "Venue magic" that make a bridge to VDJ to do the same thing but with a better interface built for VDJ.
http://www.virtualdj.com/addons/effects.html?category=other&order=default&platform=all&search=
Software especially freestyler with sbdj's plugins is much more powerful than hardware could ever be without someone constantly controlling it live. With scotts plugin vdj can send the beatgrid information to freestylers "sound to light" function so your lights blink on beat, then to further that his other plugin allows preset cue points to trigger scenes in freestyler, so you can create a real light show that is synced to the actual beatgrid and tailored to specific tracks, not just a few banks of lighting effects that respond to a microphone listening to the beat.
It is a real revolution for VDJ that hasn't yet been widely adapted but there is a lighting company "Venue magic" that make a bridge to VDJ to do the same thing but with a better interface built for VDJ.
http://www.virtualdj.com/addons/effects.html?category=other&order=default&platform=all&search=
Posted Fri 20 Jul 12 @ 12:19 pm
groovindj
I second what synth says....
If you just have PARs and need basic quick control then go hardware. It's cheap, it's tactile and it's plug & play (in terms of any DMX light will react to the controls being moved). Just make sure you buy a controller that has more channels than your lights.
With software, different s/w tends to be tied to different dongles, so if you buy dongle A then you have to use s/w A.
There are universal s/w progs.....free ones tend to be quirky and perhaps more limited.
The big thing with s/w though is that it requires "fixture files" for each light.
If your particular lights are not available in the default fixture files, you have to either write your own or post on forums whining like a little girl that you need someone to write one for you. :-)))
If you just have PARs and need basic quick control then go hardware. It's cheap, it's tactile and it's plug & play (in terms of any DMX light will react to the controls being moved). Just make sure you buy a controller that has more channels than your lights.
With software, different s/w tends to be tied to different dongles, so if you buy dongle A then you have to use s/w A.
There are universal s/w progs.....free ones tend to be quirky and perhaps more limited.
The big thing with s/w though is that it requires "fixture files" for each light.
If your particular lights are not available in the default fixture files, you have to either write your own or post on forums whining like a little girl that you need someone to write one for you. :-)))
Posted Fri 20 Jul 12 @ 1:18 pm
djsherz
Not that it takes long to create a fixture file for something like an LED par can though, typically 4 channels - r, g, b and dimmer/strobe/fx. Freestyler is handy as it works with just about any dmx box, although I concede that the learning curve can be a little steep if you've never done this kind of thing before!
Posted Fri 20 Jul 12 @ 5:31 pm
Martin FourS
A standard RGB LED-can is a default device in Freestyler. So there's no need to create one. But you're right on one thing: A LED-Par uses at least 4 channels. If you want to control them individually, you'll need a hardware controller that has 8 (or 16) times 4 channels, so you'll need at least 32 channels. You'll probably be better of with a software solution like Freestyler and a decent USB-dongle. (it is, without a doubt, the cheapest solution ;) )
Freestyler is, just like any other software, not the easiest thing to use, but it is way more flexible, especially if you plan on expanding your lightshow. If you buy a hardware controller that controller is the limit on what you can do.
Freestyler is, just like any other software, not the easiest thing to use, but it is way more flexible, especially if you plan on expanding your lightshow. If you buy a hardware controller that controller is the limit on what you can do.
Posted Fri 20 Jul 12 @ 7:39 pm
customsounddj
Is freestyle also available as a plug in for vdj and what be a decent usb dongle. Is running a dmx software and vdj on the same PC a bad idea.
Posted Mon 23 Jul 12 @ 8:00 am
groovindj
Freestyler itself doesn't plug into VDJ but there's a plugin written by SBDJ that allows VDJ to send sync info to freestyler.
If that's what you plan to do, make sure the dongle you buy works with Freestyler...
If that's what you plan to do, make sure the dongle you buy works with Freestyler...
Posted Mon 23 Jul 12 @ 8:21 am