DMX Priorities
Comprehensive guide to DMX control layers and overrides
DMXDesktop uses a priority system to determine which commands take precedence when multiple lighting effects or controls are active simultaneously. Understanding this system helps you create more predictable and professional lighting shows.
Priority Order (Highest to Lowest)
| Priority | Layer | Controls | Used By | Overrides |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DMX Input | All DMX channels | External console (Pro) | Everything Below |
| 2 | MIDI Input | Any mapped channel | External Controller | Everything Below |
| 3 | Manual Overrides | Any channel | Live Controls | Everything Below |
| 4 | Live Edits | Any channel | Stored Live Edits | Everything Below |
| 5 | Blackout | Dimmers → 0 | Live Button | Everything Below |
| 6 | Blinder | Dimmers → Full | Live Button | Everything Below |
| 7 | Effect | Effect Channel | Live Button | Everything Below |
| 8 | Strobe | Shutter/Strobe Channel (Strobe Mode) | Live Button | Everything Below |
| 9 | Fog | Fog/Smoke Channels | Live Button | Everything Below |
| 10 | Position | Pan / Tilt | Used by FX | Color → Default |
| 11 | Color | RGB / Color Wheel / CMY | Used by FX | Beam → Default |
| 12 | Beam | Dimmer, Focus, Zoom, Iris, Shutter | Used by FX | Gobo → Default |
| 13 | Gobo | Gobo Wheel, Rotation | Used by FX | Prism → Default |
| 14 | Prism | Prism Selection / Rotation | Used by FX | Default Only |
| 15 | Default Values | Fixture-defined startup values | Frame Start | - |
🧊 Freeze - Freezes current output instantly. Not part of queue. Overrides everything.
ℹ️ DMX Input is a Pro feature, and it is live, not reserved. Art-Net or sACN arriving from another console or a show-control system sits at the top of the stack and wins over everything below it, channel by channel. Channels it is not sending are still driven by your show as normal. See Unified DMX I/O.
See it happening: the Sources view
The table above is the rule. The Output window's Sources view is the same thing drawn as a picture of your rig right now: everything acting on it at once, sources down one side in the order they take precedence, the groups they are acting on down the other, and a line between them saying what each one is actually achieving.
Where something is being blocked, the line is broken and names whatever is blocking it. There is nothing to select and nothing to drill into. If a group is dark and you cannot work out why, the answer is one row.
- ▸ Every active source, in precedence order, exactly as listed in the table above.
- ▸ The groups each source is acting on, and what it is achieving on them.
- ▸ A broken line wherever a source is being blocked, naming what is blocking it.
- ▸ Live Edits sit above Blackout and are not affected by Dark On Silence. That is why a Live Edit works as a standby look: it stays visible when a cue-based fallback would be dimmed away.
For a layer-by-layer walkthrough with worked examples, read DMX Channel Priorities.
