Konductor
Your lights already react. Now they perform.
DJ Mode already takes a track and generates an autonomous lighting show. Konductor is the layer on top — directing the whole rig like a small lighting team, with roles, idioms and volume-aware dynamics that respond to what each section of the song is actually doing.
DMXDesktop's DJ mode already takes a track and generates an autonomous lighting show. Konductor is the layer on top — it directs the rig like a small lighting team rather than running the same chase end-to-end. One group fades in, another takes over, blinders punctuate, wash holds the room, movers sweep into formation. Each fixture type contributes what it's musically good at, when the music asks for it.
It also listens — not just to the song's tempo and structure, but to its actual loudness moment by moment. A slow piano intro gets calm restraint. A wall-of-sound chorus opens up the rig. A climax stands out because everything around it pulled back first.
Turn Konductor on and the show you already had gets ambition, restraint, and shape. No new programming — just label what each fixture is for (mover, wash, beam, blinder, etc.) and Konductor takes it from there.
How it works
Three things Konductor does that other auto-show tools don't.
small wash Build-up
ramp Drop
full event Sustain
schedule idioms Outro
ease off
It assigns roles like a real lighting designer
Before generating a show, Konductor looks at your rig and decides what each group is for — wash, beam, key mover, blinder, ambient, effect. From there it knows the difference between a fixture that should hold a colour and one that should punctuate the kick drum. You can override any role assignment if you want.
It builds a whole show, not just a chase
Konductor doesn't pick one effect and loop it. It schedules different idioms across the track, so the rig tells a story:
- Slow build washes during opening verses
- Sweeping mover arcs across choruses
- Punchy beat hits through energetic sections
- Spotlight isolations during quiet moments
- Expanding fan formations during chorus alternates
- Audience reveals at drop moments
- Build-to-climax movements
- Music-adaptive finales — calm fade, sustained hold, or chaos cut to black, depending on what the song actually does
Each idiom gets scheduled where it musically belongs. The rig tells a story over the track, not the same chase for four minutes.
It listens to volume — not just BPM
This is the big one. Most auto-lighting runs every section at the song's headline BPM. But every song has quiet bits, loud bits, ramps, fades. Konductor compares each section's actual loudness against the rest of the track and adjusts:
- Quiet sections — punchy effects sit out, movers drift slowly with tight arcs, beat-driven patterns (rainbow flows, colour sweeps) cycle two to four times slower while staying perfectly beat-locked.
- Loud sections — full speed, full punch, full schedule.
- Outros — the engine spots whether the song fades, holds a long note, or ends with a bang, and responds appropriately.
The result: a Queen ballad's piano fade ends gracefully, a hardcore track's drop still hits like a hammer, and the same Konductor handles both correctly with no per-song settings.
When to use it — and when not to
Konductor is built for music-driven shows. Here's where it shines and where you should reach for something else.
Reach for Konductor when…
- + You're running a DJ-mode show — back-to-back tracks, no time to programme each one.
- + You want lights to react to the music more than to a fixed cue list.
- + You're at a venue with diverse music — Konductor handles dance, rock, hip-hop, ballads, electronic, acoustic from the same configuration.
- + You need fast turnaround — adding a track to your set means dropping a file in, not an hour of programming.
- + You're operating a small-to-medium rig solo and can't watch the lights while also DJing.
- + You want shows that vary per song — every track gets a different show because every track has different dynamics.
Use the manual programmer instead when…
- − You're cueing a theatre show with specific timing per line or scene change.
- − You have a must-hit-this-exact-moment vision the engine can't possibly guess — for example, a blackout at the bridge, or a specific colour during the second chorus.
- − You're running spoken-word, presentation, or non-musical content — Konductor needs music to work.
- − You want artistic specificity that overrides what the music suggests. Konductor will follow the audio; a designer can ignore it.
- − You need identical shows every time for a touring production. Konductor is dynamic — same track gives the same show, but it doesn't apply one programmed show across many tracks the way a cue list does.
You can also mix both approaches: Konductor as the default behaviour with manual cues overriding it at specific moments. Many users run that way.
Rig sizing guide
Konductor scales — but it shines at different sizes for different reasons.
Small · 3 washes
Medium · mixed roles
Large · full variety
Small rig
1–3 groups, mostly washes / pars, no moversKonductor still works but most of the "designer feel" comes from coordinating movement and role contrast. With just wash fixtures, Konductor will:
- ▸ React to volume — calmer washes during quiet bits, brighter during loud sections.
- ▸ Cycle colours across the section structure.
- ▸ Schedule colour shifts at chorus boundaries.
You won't get sweeps, fan formations, or spotlight isolations — those need movers. Useful as an automatic colour engine, but not the full experience.
Medium rig
4–8 groups, a mix of washes + movers + maybe blinders / effectsThis is Konductor's sweet spot. Enough groups to coordinate across, enough role variety to create contrast. You'll see:
- ▸ Sweep events across the movers during choruses.
- ▸ Wash builds on verses while movers hold position.
- ▸ Beat-pulse accents on blinders during energetic sections.
- ▸ Different idioms cycling through different sections.
- ▸ A clear "the rig is doing different things at different moments" feel.
If you're choosing what to add to your rig with Konductor in mind, two or three mover groups + two or three wash groups + a couple of blinder / effect groups is a great target.
Large rig
8+ groups, full role variety, multiple movers, beams, washes, blindersKonductor opens up on a big rig. The full idiom library becomes visible:
- ▸ Expanding fan formations across mover groups.
- ▸ Spotlight isolations with the rest of the rig pulling back.
- ▸ Audience reveals at drops.
- ▸ Layered effects — sweeps, chases, and accents all running across different roles.
- ▸ Spatial-aware patterns — left-to-right, back-to-front rolls across the room.
A big rig running Konductor feels like a small lighting team: different sections of the rig doing different jobs at the same time. This is where the difference between Konductor and a basic chase engine becomes obvious.
Single fixture / no movers / pixel bars only
One group, one voiceKonductor will produce a competent colour show — volume-aware, beat-locked, with the right pattern selection per section. You won't get the orchestration feel because there's only one "voice" to orchestrate, but it's still better than a fixed chase.
What's inside
The toolkit a real lighting designer reaches for — automated.
Slow Build Wash
Calm colour wash builds across the rig during verses and opening sections.
Sweeping Sky Beams
Wide mover arcs across choruses and drops, mirroring in the second half.
Pulse Hit Accents
Quick blinder / effect hits aligned to the strong beats.
Colour Chase
Colour band flowing left-to-right across the rig during energetic sections.
Audience Reveal
Movers turn out toward the audience at the moment of a drop.
Spotlight Isolation
One mover solos while the rest of the rig pulls back during a quiet moment.
Expanding Fan
Movers fan out into formation during a chorus.
Adaptive Finale
The engine picks the right ending — calm fade, sustained held note, or chaotic cut-to-black, based on what the song actually does.
Every idiom respects the volume-aware layer. If the music is quiet in a section that would normally trigger an idiom, the idiom holds back. You don't get a punchy spotlight reveal during a fade-out.
FAQ
Will it work with my brand of mover / wash / blinder?
Yes. Konductor works at the channel level on any fixture in DMXDesktop's library. The fixture's role — mover, wash, etc. — is what Konductor cares about, not the brand.
Do I have to tell it what each fixture is for?
Konductor auto-detects roles based on fixture capabilities. You can override any assignment in the Konductor settings if you want a specific group treated differently.
Can I tune the behaviour?
Yes. Konductor settings expose an intensity slider (how much orchestration vs. independent groups), a max-movement slider (cap on mover speed at full loudness — drag up to find your sweet spot), an energy override for the whole track, a colour theme override, kill switches for each automatic behaviour if you want the old behaviour back on a specific track, and per-track overrides for any setting.
Will it always pick the right thing?
Most of the time, yes. When it doesn't, it's usually because the music analyser misjudged a section boundary or a section type. There are tunable thresholds we can ship adjustments for — if you find a track Konductor consistently gets wrong, let us know.
Is it free?
Konductor is included with Standard and Pro subscriptions, and is also available to Beta testers and the Schools program. There's no separate add-on charge.
Where can I see it in action?
Sample videos and demo clips are linked from the DJ mode page. More are on the way.
Ready to let the Konductor take the wheel?
Konductor ships with DMXDesktop v1.0.50, included with Standard and Pro subscriptions.