Where to find it
The stethoscope icon in the main header opens DMX Doctor. It is the first icon in the cluster and it is never hidden, however narrow the window gets.
The badge on the icon tells you what it found without you opening anything:
- No badge. Nothing needs your attention.
- A number. How many errors and warnings are waiting.
- An exclamation mark. No light is reaching your rig at all. Counting is the wrong response to that, so it stops counting and says so. Hover it and the tooltip names the fault rather than the tool.
Suggestions it treats as optional are listed inside but never counted on the badge, so the badge can always reach zero. A badge that can never clear is a badge people learn to ignore.
Open it and the first thing you get is a one-line verdict: Everything is reaching your lights, Output is running, but something needs your attention, or Your lights are not receiving output.
DMX Doctor replaces the old Health tab and the separate DMX Output Health window. Everything those reported is here, alongside the fixture checks.
The five system checks
Across the top of the panel are five checks covering the desk itself. A check that passes stays as a single chip, so you can still see what was tested without clicking anything. A check that fails opens out into a card with a button that takes you to the fix.
| Check | What a failure means | Where it sends you |
|---|---|---|
| Internet | The app cannot reach the DMXDesktop cloud. Your show keeps running. | Retry connection |
| Account | You are not signed in. | Sign in |
| Licence | Expired, unverified at startup, or no active licence on this machine. Output stops. | My Account |
| Engine | The lighting engine has not started, so nothing can be sent. | Retry |
| Drivers | No output driver is transmitting. Nothing is going out on the wire. | DMX I/O |
Licence, Engine and Drivers stop your lights. If one of those is red, that is the thing to fix first and everything else can wait. Internet and Account are counted on the badge because they matter, but neither stops DMX output.
If Drivers is the failing check, the fix is in DMX I/O: add an output, or enable one you already have. See USB DMX, Art-Net or sACN for setting one up.
Interfaces are named properly in the I/O diagnostics from v1.0.52. A DMXKing ultraDMX MAX now shows as itself rather than as type8, which matters when you have several interfaces and need to know which one dropped.
Fixture checks
DMX Doctor reads every patched fixture and reports anything in its profile that will cost you behaviour later. Each finding names the fixture and the channel, and explains the consequence in plain language rather than quoting a rule at you.
| What DMX Doctor says | What it means |
|---|---|
| Channel name does not match its channel type | The desk drives channels by type, never by name. A channel called Red that is typed as something else behaves as the type, not as the name. This is the most common reason a colour comes out wrong, and it has a one-click fix. |
| Colour channels belong to no lamp | Colour emitters on the fixture are grouped into no lamp, so nothing can drive them. Usually a channel type was wrong at the point the grouping was worked out, and the grouping needs rebuilding. |
| Colour segments are not identical | A bar or pixel fixture repeats a colour block per segment, but one segment uses a different emitter from the rest, so it cannot produce the same colours as its neighbours. The finding names the segment and the channel. |
| Colour set has green and blue but no red | A colour set with nothing red in it, so the fixture cannot mix red, amber or white. A red channel is almost always typed as another colour, and the finding names the channel it suspects. |
| DMX address does not fit the universe | The start address plus the channel count runs past channel 512. Re-address the fixture, or move it to another universe. |
| Fixture has no drivable output | No drivable or physical output channel at all, so effects and cues have nothing to drive on it. |
| Fine channel has no coarse pair | A 16-bit fine channel with no matching coarse channel, so the extra resolution cannot be used. Usually shows up as movement that is not as smooth as it should be. |
| Wheel channel has no slots defined | A colour, gobo or prism wheel with no positions defined, so its positions cannot be selected until they are added to the profile. |
| Static channel could be driven | The channel is typed as a static value but its name matches a drivable type. Re-typing it lets automation drive it. One-click fix. |
| Options channel could define its ranges | A Shutter or Rotation channel with no option ranges defined. See the section below, because this one changed in v1.0.52. |
| Fixture profile contradicts itself | The lamp grouping and the pixel layout disagree about how many segments the fixture has. One of the two is wrong, so effects will not address its segments the way you expect. |
Findings appear in two places: in the DMX Doctor panel, and as a strip under the fixture row on the patch screen, with the same Fix button. Errors always show on the patch screen. A Show warnings toggle governs the rest.
Laser checks
Lasers get their own checks, because the consequences of getting one wrong are not the same as a PAR being the wrong colour.
- Laser has no kill/blackout path. Reported as an error. The profile gives the desk no way to shut the beam off: no dimmer, no colour emitter, no shutter, no effect and no laser blackout or off mode. That means the laser cannot be blacked out, which is an eye-safety hazard. Fix the profile before the fixture is used.
- Laser Mode has no DMX-controllable mode. The Laser Mode channel offers modes, but none of them lets the desk take control, so automation cannot drive the laser at all. Add a DMX or Laser On mode option.
- Laser channel has no step data. A channel that selects patterns or modes by DMX value with no ranges defined, so those patterns cannot be selected until the ranges are added.
Shutter and Rotation: the ranges finding
One finding, Options channel could define its ranges, used to appear on any channel that picks modes by DMX value, whether or not defining them achieved anything. Mostly it did not: a plain slow to fast strobe on a single 0 to 255 channel is how a great many fixtures ship, and it works perfectly well as it is.
From v1.0.52 it is reported on two channel types only, the two where the missing ranges genuinely cost you automatic behaviour:
- Shutter. With no ranges defined, an automatic strobe has to treat the whole channel as its rate ramp. On a shutter that span usually also covers closed, pulse and sound-active, so the strobe can land on a value that shuts the fixture instead of strobing it.
- Rotation. With no ranges defined there is nothing to map a rotation direction or speed onto, so the channel sits at its default value and never rotates.
If you see it on either of those, defining the ranges in the fixture profile is worth the five minutes. You will no longer see it on Macro, Auto Program, Strobe and the other option channels where it was noise.
Live checks: what is happening right now
The fixture checks look at your setup. These look at the desk as it is running, which is where most of the "it worked yesterday" problems actually live.
- Master Dimmer is at 0. Playback is being scaled to black at the desk master. This is the single most misread state in the app: people assume their licence has lapsed. There is a Raise master button next to the warning.
- A live control is overriding this fixture. A Live Controls fader, a Live Edit, a channel override or an external DMX or MIDI input is winning over the normal output for that fixture, so cues and effects cannot drive it. You get one finding per fixture, not one per channel, and it names what is holding it.
- Output is darkened because the room went quiet. Dark On Silence is on and no audio is playing, so output is held dark until sound returns. Nothing is broken.
A live control beats almost everything else, which is why one fixture can ignore a cue while the rest of its group obeys. DMX channel priorities sets out the order.
Dragging a fader to zero is not the same as clearing it. A fader at zero is still an override, and it will hold that channel at zero against anything trying to drive it. Clear the control rather than pulling it down.
Reading a finding
Findings are sorted into three bands:
- Errors - fix before the show. Something will not work.
- Warnings. Something is probably not doing what you expect.
- Improve these fixtures - optional. Worth doing when you have a moment, never counted on the header badge.
Chips at the top of the list filter to need fixing or could be better, with a count on each. Tap a filter again to go back to everything. Above them is a count of findings and how many fixtures they are spread across, which is often the useful number: twelve findings on one fixture is a profile problem, twelve findings on twelve fixtures is a habit.
Every finding names the fixture, and where it is channel-specific, the channel number and the channel name. Nothing is reported as a code you have to look up.
Applying and undoing fixes
Where a finding can be corrected safely, it carries a Fix button. Where several fixtures have the same problem, Fix all applies them together and tells you how many fixes across how many fixtures it is about to apply before it touches anything.
As soon as a fix has been applied you are offered Undo, or Undo all after a bulk apply. Nothing is applied silently, and nothing is applied without showing you what it will change first.
Not every finding has a Fix button, and that is deliberate. One is only offered where the change can be reversed exactly. Where correcting it would mean discarding something the app could not put back for you, DMX Doctor tells you what needs changing and leaves the change to you.
The channel table: what is really going out
When the desk and a fixture disagree, the DMX table settles it. It shows what is genuinely going out on the wire, live, per universe and per output. Not what the patch says should be there, and not what a cue believes it is sending.
Its Sources view answers the other half of the question. Rather than only showing you the value on a channel, it traces what is driving that channel and what, if anything, is blocking it.
In v1.0.52 the table reports the show timeline properly. Channels that a timeline was actively driving used to read as though nothing was driving them at all, which sent people looking for a fault that was not there.
See DMX table for how to read it, and DMX channel priorities for why one source wins over another.
Recent problems
Every live check only ever sees this moment. An interface that dropped out an hour ago and recovered leaves every check green. A show that failed to load leaves nothing on screen. An engine that stopped and restarted looks exactly like one that never stopped. All of that used to be invisible.
The Recent problems panel covers the last few days, and states the exact window on the panel itself (three days as of v1.0.52). Each row names what happened, when it was last seen and how many times. Open a row for a plain-language explanation and, where there is somewhere useful to go, an Open button that takes you straight there.
None of the raw log text is shown to you. The panel reports a curated set of conditions, the same ones the guided checks use:
| What it says | What it usually is |
|---|---|
| Your DMX interface stopped responding | The interface was open and stopped accepting data. Almost always the USB cable, a USB power-saving setting, or the adapter losing power. Reseat the cable, try a different port, avoid unpowered hubs, then check the driver shows as open in DMX I/O. |
| A DMX output driver failed to start | An output could not claim its universe at startup. Usually another program already holding the interface, or the same universe number configured twice. Check the driver list and re-enable it. |
| A saved show file could not be read | A show file on disk is damaged and that show will need regenerating. Everything else, including your patch and your cues, is unaffected. |
| Your audio input disappeared | The audio device being used for beat detection stopped responding or was disconnected, which stops anything that reacts to music. Reselect your input device. |
| The lighting engine restarted unexpectedly | The engine stopped and recovered by itself. Output resumes, but anything running at the time will have stopped. Worth sending to us, because the details of what happened are already captured. |
Clear hides the entries until they happen again. It does not delete anything: if you do end up contacting us, your logs still arrive intact.
Deep network scan
If your output is Art-Net or sACN, the problem is often not the app or the fixture but the network between them. Run deep network scan checks that ground.
- On Windows it checks whether the firewall is blocking DMX traffic, and offers to fix the rules for you.
- It lists the network adapters it can see, and flags adapter or subnet problems. That is the usual reason a node is plainly visible on the network and still receives nothing.
For the settings the scan is checking against, see Art-Net, sACN and DMX I/O.
Troubleshoot a problem: the guided checks
Troubleshoot a problem asks one question, What is happening?, with five answers:
- Nothing lights up at all
- Some fixtures are dark
- One fixture is dark or wrong
- Lights work but automation does nothing
- The wrong thing happens
From there it runs the checks itself rather than asking you to run them. It looks at your licence, the engine, your outputs, the master, blackout, Dark On Silence, live overrides and your patch, in the order that finds the cause fastest, and it can send a full-on test signal straight to the DMX output, past the patch, effects and master. If your fixtures light up under that test, the problem is in the show rather than in the cable, the address or the fixture.
When it reaches the end of a line of enquiry it consults your recent problems before offering you a support ticket, and it can usually give you an answer instead.
Get help, and why it is last
Get help raises a support ticket with your diagnostics already attached: your system status, any flagged fixtures and their details, and your setup diagnostics. You do not have to describe the problem twice, and you get a ticket number back straight away.
It sits at the end of the panel rather than the top, on purpose. Nearly everything above it answers itself, and a ticket that starts with an answer already found is a slower route to the same place.
Two things worth knowing. You need to be signed in and online for the ticket to be created. And if nothing was detected at all and your system checks are healthy, it will decline to send, because the report would contain nothing we could act on. Use the Support option in the menu for anything else, for example a question about a feature rather than a fault.
Copy report puts the same information on your clipboard if you would rather send it yourself, or paste it into an existing conversation with us.
Common problems and what DMX Doctor says about them
The fastest way to use this article: find your symptom, check what DMX Doctor is showing, act on that.
| Symptom | What you will see | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing lights up at all | The Drivers check red, no drivers transmitting | Open DMX I/O and enable or add an output. |
| Drivers are green and it is still dark | Master Dimmer is at 0 | Press Raise master. This is the master, not your licence. |
| The rig went dark between tracks, then came back | Output is darkened because the room went quiet | Dark On Silence is doing exactly what it is for. Turn it off or retune it if you do not want it. |
| One fixture ignores every cue while the rest of the group obeys | A live control is overriding this fixture, naming what is holding it | Clear the control it names. A fader dragged to zero is still an override. |
| A fixture is dark and nothing in the checks explains it | No fixture findings, all five system checks passing | Use Troubleshoot a problem and let it send a test signal past the patch. If the fixture lights under the test, the fault is in your show, not your rig. |
| Red comes out as another colour, or a colour is simply missing | Channel name does not match its channel type, or Colour set has green and blue but no red | Use the Fix button. It re-types the channel, it can be applied to every affected fixture at once, and it can be undone. |
| Half a bar is a different colour from the other half | Colour segments are not identical, naming the segment and channel | Correct that segment in the fixture profile, or take the Fix where one is offered. |
| Effects do not spread across a bar the way they should | Fixture profile contradicts itself, or Colour channels belong to no lamp | The lamp grouping and the pixel layout disagree. Correct whichever of the two is wrong. |
| A strobe closes the fixture instead of strobing it | Options channel could define its ranges on a Shutter channel | Define the shutter ranges in the profile so the strobe knows which band is the rate. |
| A rotation channel never rotates | Options channel could define its ranges on a Rotation channel | Define its ranges. Without them the channel sits at its default value. |
| A neighbouring fixture flickers when you drive this one | DMX address does not fit the universe, or two fixtures sharing addresses | Re-address the fixture, then re-run the check. |
| A gobo or colour wheel will not select positions | Wheel channel has no slots defined | Add the wheel slots to the fixture profile. |
| Movement is not as smooth as it should be | Fine channel has no coarse pair | Pair the fine channel with its coarse channel in the profile, or drop to 8-bit. |
| A laser cannot be blacked out | Laser has no kill/blackout path, reported as an error | Treat this as urgent. Give the profile a shutter, dimmer or laser off mode before the fixture is used. |
| It worked, stopped mid-show, and looks fine now | Recent problems: Your DMX interface stopped responding | Reseat the USB cable, use a different port, avoid unpowered hubs, and check USB power saving. |
| An Art-Net node is on the network but receives nothing | Deep network scan flags the firewall or the adapter | Take the firewall fix, or correct the adapter and subnet in DMX I/O. |
| Nothing reacts to the music any more | Recent problems: Your audio input disappeared | Reselect your audio input device. |
If your symptom is not here, run the guided checks: they cover more ground than this table, and they end with a ticket that already carries everything we would otherwise ask you for. There is a wider list of preventable problems on the troubleshooting page.
