# DMXDesktop - full knowledgebase dump > DMXDesktop offers cutting-edge DMX lighting control software, perfect for DJs, bands, event venues and many more. Streamline your lighting setup with our user-friendly desktop DMX interface. Canonical site: https://www.dmxdesktop.com Language: English (en_GB). Translated equivalents at /de/, /fr/, /es/, /it/, /pl/. This file concatenates every English knowledgebase article into a single document for ingestion by language models and retrieval systems. HTML tags are stripped. For the authoritative rendered article, use the URL beneath each heading. --- # AI-Powered DMX Lighting: How Live Wire Builds Automatic Light Shows https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/live-wire Live Wire is the part of DMXDesktop's DJ Mode that turns any live audio into an automatic light show in real time - no DJ software, no pre-analyzed tracks, and no programming. It listens to whatever's playing and drives your whole rig itself, following the music's tempo, energy and mood. This article explains what it is, how to set it up, and how it differs from the dedicated "AI lighting" hardware boxes on the market. ## What is Live Wire? Live Wire is software-based, AI-assisted lighting that reacts to live sound. Where a traditional show needs you to program cues and chases, or to pre-analyze every track, Live Wire builds the performance live: it reads the audio as it plays and drives colour, movement, beams and accents to match.It pairs proven lighting logic with machine listening that analyses the incoming audio in real time - reading tempo, energy, build-ups and drops. The result is a show that feels like a human operator ran it, with none of the setup.Live Wire is included with the Standard and Pro subscriptions at no extra charge. It isn't part of the Free plan, though DMXDesktop itself is free to download. ## Do you need AI hardware or a special box? No. Many automatic "AI light show" products are single-purpose hardware boxes that cost $800 or more and do one job. Live Wire is software: it runs on the Windows or Mac computer you already own and outputs to the DMX hardware you already have.Runs on Windows 10/11 and macOS 14+ (Apple Silicon and Intel)Outputs over USB-DMX (interfaces from around $15), Art-Net or sACNScales from a single fixture to unlimited universes on a Pro subscriptionIncluded with Standard and Pro subscriptions - no separate hardware to buyIf you already run DMXDesktop, Live Wire is built in - there's nothing extra to carry to the gig. ## How to set up an automatic light show Getting a live, automatic show running takes three steps:Pick your audio input. Choose any audio source - a mixer, an audio interface, or your computer's own playback.Choose a mood. Band, DJ or Ambient. Each sets the overall feel and the colour palettes Live Wire draws from.Turn it on. Live Wire locks onto the beat and starts driving your whole rig automatically.Because it reacts to sound in the room, it works with un-prepared music - a live band, a streaming set, vinyl, or background playback - with no DJ software feeding it data.Using a sound mixer? Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop shows how to send Live Wire a music-only feed from your console, with a guide for each popular model. ## What Live Wire reacts to Live Wire follows the music rather than running on a fixed timer:Tempo & beat - effects move in time with the groove, not at random.Energy & mood - the show grows and relaxes with the music's intensity.Build-ups & drops - it senses tension building and the moment it releases, landing the big moments with you.Song structure - when the music moves to a new section or track, the look refreshes so it never gets repetitive.Colour - it pulls from coordinated palettes that match the music and spreads them across your fixtures.Silence - it fades down cleanly when the music stops and returns when it does. ## Controls you can tune Live Wire is automatic by default, but never a black box. You stay in control:Mood profiles - Band, DJ or AmbientSensitivity, so it ramps up correctly for any audio feedMaximum brightness and movement-speed ceilings for venue-friendly levelsStrobe is opt-in and off by defaultPer-mode colour palettesPer-group overrides - wash-only, effects on/off, and moreYou can drop into full manual control at any time. Live Wire also replaces Auto Pilot, which has been retired, and it does not need cues built in advance the way Auto Pilot did. ## How is it different from DJ Mode's other modes? DMXDesktop gives you several ways to automate lighting. Pre-analyzed auto-shows shine with prepared tracks, where the show is timed to a song you have analysed in advance. Live Wire is the option that builds the whole show for you, live - choosing roles, colour and accents itself - for bands without click tracks, mobile DJs on streaming, or venues on ambient playback. It also replaces Auto Pilot, which has been retired. Explore the full Live Wire page to see it in action. ## Per-mode settings, accents and beam behaviour Band, DJ and Ambient are not just three palettes. Each mode carries its own complete settings: energy, drop sensitivity, every beam attribute and its cycle time, the accent layers, what happens when the music stops, and the per-group overrides. Your existing configuration is copied into all three the first time you run the new version, so the first mode switch after updating changes nothing, and they only diverge when you make them.Two sliders, both live. One sets how sensitive drop detection is, the other sets the overall energy, which changes how fast and how hard effects move. Both take effect immediately while Live Wire is running.Accents. Auto Strobe and Auto Blinder have their own switches, each with its own cadence and its own minimum gap. Auto Blinder drives colour emitters as well as dimmer channels, so a blinder with no shutter, or one whose light comes out of coloured LEDs rather than a white lamp, actually flashes. Kick detection punches individual kicks through the current look on the beat, and you can pick one special effect to fire on every drop.Beams and movers. Gobo, prism, rotation and frost each have a Low, Medium or High frequency beside the switch. The switch says the attribute may be used, the frequency says how often it actually is, and Medium is the default. Phase and Fan are two separate controls with a frequency each: Phase offsets the heads in time so a movement travels across them, Fan makes alternate heads sweep wider and tighter. While one of your own cues is running, Live Wire carries on decorating it with kicks and peaks but leaves gobo, prism, rotation and frost alone, because those are part of the look you built.Timings in musical time. The drop effect hold and the strobe and blinder cadences can be set in seconds, beats or bars, so they stay in time when the tempo changes.Colour. Pick which palettes each mode may use. Color Override now works over the top of Live Wire: the look keeps moving and only the colours change, with multi-colour themes spread across your fixtures. Strobes, blinders and kick flashes stay white on purpose, because they are accents rather than the main look.Audio input and confidence. The audio input picker sits at the top of the Live Wire tab, ASIO devices included. A BPM Confidence meter tells you when the tempo reading can be trusted, and a live feed lists what Live Wire heard as it happened, filled in from before you opened the tab. ## Hold: pause it without switching it off A band talking over a mic between numbers is still audio, and left alone Live Wire will light every consonant. Hold parks it on your standby look and leaves it there until you press it again.No strobes, no blinders and no movement while it is held.Live Wire keeps running and the audio input stays open, so releasing Hold picks straight back up. Switching Live Wire off and on again does not.It engages the moment you press it, ignoring your activation delay, because a control you reach for mid-sentence has to work mid-sentence.Hold is on the Live Wire tab, and can also be bound to a pad, sent over OSC or pressed from the mobile remote.It needs a standby look to sit on. With When the music stops set to Stay lit there isn't one, so the button greys out and tells you why, and a pad refuses rather than pretending.The three moods can be driven the same way. Band, DJ and Ambient each take a pad, and pressing one while Live Wire is switched off starts it in that mood, so a single pad takes you from silence to a running rig. The same is true over OSC and from the mobile remote. ## What happens when the music stops One control on the Live Wire tab, When the music stops, decides what the rig does in the gaps. It has four answers:Stay lit - keeps running on calmer looks and never goes dark on its own, so a changeover doesn't leave the room black.Fade to black - the default, and what Live Wire has always done. The rig stays dark until audio returns.Run a cue - hands the rig to a cue you choose and takes it back when the music comes in. Only infinite cues are offered, because a finite one would end part way through the silence.Run Live Edits - raises one or more Live Edits you built yourself and lowers them again when the music returns. Tick as many as you like and they come up together. One you already have up by hand is left alone.If you run Dark On Silence, use Live Edits. A fallback cue is built from effects, and Dark On Silence is what dims effects, so the two have never worked together. A Live Edit sets its values directly and is unaffected, so it stays visible with Dark On Silence switched on.Whichever you pick, Live Wire lets go cleanly: beams, movement, gobo, prism, rotation, frost and any accent still running are all released the moment it stands down, so nothing of its own is left painting over your standby look.This one setting replaces the separate Dark On Silence switch and the DJ fallback cue setting as far as Live Wire is concerned. Those lived on other tabs, said they did not apply to Live Wire, and drove it anyway. ## Now Recognized: naming the track in the room (macOS only) While Live Wire runs, Now Recognized identifies the music playing in the room and shows it on the Live Wire tab: track, artist and cover art, with a link to open it in Apple Music. It listens to the same sound Live Wire is already lighting, so it names tracks nobody in the building loaded, whether that is a hired DJ on their own gear or a playlist over the PA.The card stays hidden until the first time it recognises something, so it never appears as an empty box, and a track it has already named is not looked up twice.Two things to know before you count on it. Now Recognized is macOS only. It uses Shazam music recognition on the Mac and there is no Windows version yet. It is also gated to Live Wire, so it only runs while Live Wire is running, which means a Standard or Pro subscription. It is new in this release, so treat it as something to try rather than something to build the night around. --- # Stream Deck Plugin: Setup and Connection https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/stream-deck-setup The DMXDesktop Stream Deck plugin puts 34 lighting actions on an Elgato Stream Deck, so you can run blackout, effect cues, cue stacks, colour and QuickShow from the keys instead of from the laptop. This article covers what you need, how to install it, the one DMXDesktop setting it depends on, and what to do when a key or a dropdown is not behaving. For what each action does, see the actions reference. ## What you need DMXDesktop v1.0.52 or later, running, with its HTTP server switched on.Stream Deck 7.1 or later, on Windows 10 or later, or macOS 12 or later.The Stream Deck and DMXDesktop on the same network. They do not have to be on the same machine, which is useful if you run the desk from a rack and keep the Stream Deck at front of house.The plugin itself is free. Most of its actions work on any DMXDesktop licence including Free; see Licence requirements below for the two groups that do not. ## Turn on the HTTP server The plugin talks to DMXDesktop's built-in HTTP server, and nothing works without it. In DMXDesktop, go to Settings and then General, and switch the HTTP server on.This is the same server that powers the mobile web interface, so if you already control lights from a phone or tablet it is almost certainly on already. ## Install the plugin and add a key Install the DMXDesktop plugin from the Elgato Marketplace.Drag any DMXDesktop action onto a key.Open its settings and choose what it should drive. The dropdowns are filled from your own rig, by name, so you pick "Front Wash" rather than group 294.Only the groups that can actually do the thing you picked are offered, so a key you can configure is a key that will work. Leave the title blank and the key names itself after whatever it drives; a title you type is never overwritten. ## How the connection works There is nothing to configure. The plugin tries the address it used last, and if that fails it looks for DMXDesktop on the network by itself. It remembers where it found it.When DMXDesktop goes away, keys go neutral rather than pretending. When it comes back, they resume on their own without being pressed. You do not need to restart the Stream Deck or reconfigure anything after a desk restart. ## Reading the marks on a key The plugin distinguishes three kinds of wrong, and paints each one differently so you can tell at a glance which one you have.Muted blue-grey circle-and-slash. DMXDesktop cannot be reached. Nobody's fault and pressing harder will not help. It clears itself when the desk returns.Red warning triangle. The key is pointed at something that no longer exists, for example a cue stack or fader you deleted. A dial shows MISSING on its strip. It clears itself when the target comes back.Padlock. The key drives a feature your DMXDesktop licence does not include. The padlock names the feature, and appears before you press the key rather than after.A key is only ever marked on positive evidence. If DMXDesktop cannot be asked, nothing is marked, because not being able to ask is not the same as knowing something is gone. ## Licence requirements Most of the plugin works on any DMXDesktop licence, including Free: live control, special effects, effect cues, QuickShow, colour and position overrides, live edits, master dimmer, macro faders, and the audio and BPM keys.DJ Mode, DJ Deck and the DJ Crossfader need Standard or above.Programmer keys and cue stack keys need Pro. That covers Programmer: Cue, Cue Stack (GO), Cue Stack Flash, Programmer: Function, Programmer: Fader and Cue Stack Level.See pricing for what each plan includes. ## An empty dropdown, and what it means If a dropdown in a key's settings is empty, the panel says why. There are three causes and they are not the same.DMXDesktop is not reachable, or its HTTP server is switched off. The panel falls back to a plain text field so you can still configure the key by id if you know it, and the key will work once the desk is back.Your licence does not cover it. The Programmer and DJ panels say so and do not offer a text field, because a key for a feature you do not have cannot be made to work by typing the name correctly.Your rig genuinely has none. No cue stacks means no cue stacks to list. ## When something is not working Work through these in order.Is DMXDesktop running, and is its HTTP server on under Settings, General?Are the Stream Deck machine and the DMXDesktop machine on the same network and subnet?Does the key show a mark? Match it against the list above before assuming a fault; a padlock is a licence answer, not a bug.Restart the Stream Deck application. It caches the plugin manifest, so a version upgrade sometimes needs it.If it still is not right, the plugin's log is the fastest way to say what happened. It records which desk was found, whether state was seeded, and which features your licence covers. Get in touch and we will tell you where to find the newest log file for your platform. --- # Stream Deck Plugin: All 34 Actions https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/stream-deck-actions A reference for every action in the DMXDesktop Stream Deck plugin: 27 that run on any Stream Deck, and 7 that sit on the encoders of a Stream Deck +. Each entry says what the action does and, where it matters, what your key will show. For installation and connection, see setup and connection.Actions marked Dial need a device with encoders. Groups that need a paid licence are marked; everything else works on any licence including Free. ## Live control Works on any licence.Live Control. Blackout, strobe, blinder, freeze, fog or effect, on the whole rig or only the groups you choose. It follows the control's own momentary or latching setting in DMXDesktop, so a blinder you hold and a blackout you set. See live controls.Special Effect. Wave, thunder and the rest. Always momentary, so it stops on key-up.Live Edit. Fire a live edit.Live Edit Group. Fire a whole group, press again to drop it. The lamp follows the desk. ## Effect cues Works on any licence.Effect Cue: Play. Play a named effect cue, picked from a list read off your own rig.Effect Cue: Transport. Stop, next or previous. Each verb draws its own icon.Effect Cue: Now Playing. Displays the cue that is playing, and blanks when nothing is.Effect Cue Stack. Play, stop, pause or toggle an effect cue stack. ## The Programmer and cue stacks Needs a Pro licence. These six keys are the reason a lot of people want a Stream Deck in the first place.Programmer: Cue Stack (GO). GO, BACK, HALT or STOP, each on its own key. Run a show the way a lighting desk expects to be run.Programmer: Cue. Fire a Programmer cue.Programmer: Cue Stack Flash. Held while the key is down, released on key-up.Programmer: Function. Fire a Programmer function by position.Programmer: Cue Stack Level. Dial. Ride a stack's level rather than jumping it. Press for full, press again to release.Programmer: Fader. Dial. Any cue, fixture, group or executor fader. ## QuickShow Works on any licence. See the QuickShow page for what these drive.QuickShow Beam Effect. 38 beam effects. Carries the current spread, phase and speed rather than resetting them.QuickShow Movement Effect. 15 movement effects.QuickShow Direction. Forward, reverse or bounce. Changes a running effect without interrupting it.QuickShow Theme. Switch colour palette, built-in or your own.QuickShow Preset. Recall a whole look.QuickShow Stop All. Stop beam and movement together.QuickShow Slider. Dial. Eight sliders, including beam speed as a note timing. ## Colour, position and levels Works on any licence.Color Override. Apply a palette, built-in or custom, and hand the fixtures back with the same key. See colours and themes.Position Override. Apply a position preset. Centre means cleared.Master Dimmer. Dial. Press for full, press again to restore.Macro Fader. Dial. One of DMXDesktop's own macro faders. ## DJ Needs Standard or above. See DJ Mode.DJ Mode. On, off or toggle, and optionally choose which DJ application runs. On a Free licence this key can still follow the desk, it just cannot toggle it.DJ Deck. Play, pause or stop either deck. The lamp follows the deck.DJ Crossfader. Dial. Press to centre. The strip reads -100 to 0 to +100. Needs the built-in Music Player. ## Audio and BPM Works on any licence. This group mirrors DMXDesktop's Audio and BPM controls, and all of it is the capture side, meaning what DMXDesktop listens to. See live audio detection.Audio Capture. Whether DMXDesktop is listening at all. Drives level and energy.Audio Capture Device. Which device it listens to. One key per device, and the lit one is in use. Output devices are included, which is loopback, and usually what you want for a DJ set.BPM Source. Where the tempo comes from: the captured audio, Ableton Link, or OS2L. The three are mutually exclusive, so a row of them shows exactly one lit.BPM. Displays the current BPM.Re-scan Audio Devices. For an interface plugged in after DMXDesktop started.Audio Capture Level. Dial. Input volume or energy. ## The seven dials Pulled together for convenience. These need a Stream Deck with encoders, such as the Stream Deck +. Turn for fine, press for full. Dial speed is adjustable (off, gentle, normal or fast), per dial or for all of them at once; on Off, one detent is exactly one step.Master DimmerProgrammer: Fader (Pro)Programmer: Cue Stack Level (Pro)Macro FaderQuickShow SliderDJ Crossfader (Standard or above)Audio Capture Level ## What has no key, and why Three DMXDesktop controls are not available over the network, so the plugin has no action for them: deck EQ, jog wheels and AutoMix. These are listed so their absence is not a surprise rather than a fault to report.Two more are worth knowing about. A macro fader moved by MIDI may lag until the next update. The capture level and energy sliders in DMXDesktop's own Audio popup announce nothing, so a dial will not follow a change made there; save the same change on the Settings page and the dial follows it. --- # 3D Visualizer System Requirements https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/visualizer-system-requirements The DMXDesktop 3D Visualizer renders your rig live as you program. It scales from a backup laptop to a dedicated workstation through two simple controls: a Quality preset (Low / Medium / High) and a Shadows toggle.Visualizer quality only affects the on-screen preview. Your DMX output to real fixtures is unaffected - you can pick any preset, or close the visualizer entirely, and the show keeps running. ## Quality presets Low - keeps the visualizer smooth on integrated graphics, older laptops, or modest hardware. Edges look slightly jaggy and beams a touch faceted. Use this if you see stutter or hear the fan working hard.Medium (default) - sharp on Retina and 4K displays, with smooth edges and standard beam detail. Tuned for typical modern laptops with a discrete GPU. The right starting point for most users.High - 60 fps target, smoother beams, tighter ground impacts, and shadows on by default. Pick this if you have a discrete GPU and you want the cleanest look during programming sessions.Quality settings save per-layout, so a programming layout can run on High while a "lights-up at the venue" reference layout uses Low. Changes are instant - no restart required. ## Shadows Shadows are a separate on/off switch that works alongside any preset. With shadows on, beams visibly cut around trusses, stage objects, and walls. The look is dramatic and reads well in promo screenshots, but the cost is real - shadows can reduce frame rate by 30-50% on weaker GPUs.Leave shadows off if you're already at the visualizer's frame limit. Turn them on when you have GPU headroom and want the polished look. ## Suggested machines Low preset - integrated graphics, 8 GB RAM, any modern CPU. Best suited to older laptops, backup machines, or venue laptops that need to last a long evening.Medium preset - discrete GPU with 4 GB VRAM, 16 GB RAM, 6-core CPU. Best suited to most users programming a typical rig.High preset with Shadows - discrete GPU with 6 GB+ VRAM (RTX 3060 / RX 6600 / Apple M2+), 16 GB RAM, 8-core CPU. Best suited to studio programming sessions and promotional screenshots.Apple silicon punches above its weight thanks to unified memory and the Metal graphics stack. An M1 handles Medium comfortably, and M2 / M3 chips handle High with Shadows well even without a separate GPU. ## Tips for under-spec'd machines If you're at a venue on a lighter laptop and want to free up frame rate, drop the Quality preset to Low and turn Shadows off. That single change is enough to keep the visualizer responsive on integrated graphics.If the visualizer is still struggling, you can close the visualizer window entirely. The DMX engine, programmer, and execute grid all keep running independently and your show output continues uninterrupted. ## Visualizer quality never affects your show This is worth saying twice. The visualizer is a preview. DMX output to your real fixtures is independent of the preview's frame rate, so picking a lower quality preset, disabling shadows, or even closing the visualizer never affects what arrives at the lights. ## Projected gobos and GPU warm-up Gobos are now projected onto whatever the beam hits rather than painted onto the floor, which is the single biggest change to what the visualizer draws. It is also the most demanding, so the Quality preset decides how many fixtures may project a real gobo at once: more of them at higher presets, fewer at Low. On modest graphics hardware DMXDesktop lowers that ceiling on its own rather than asking for more than the machine can give, so the feature costs nothing on a laptop that cannot afford it.Everything else in the rig still lights the stage normally. The limit only governs how many fixtures cast a patterned projection.Shader compilation is visible now too. Warm-up reports real progress instead of an indeterminate wait, shaders compile in parallel, and DMXDesktop warns you if one has to compile part way through a session, which is the usual explanation for a single unexpected stutter. --- # Signing in to DMXDesktop https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/signing-in-to-dmxdesktop DMXDesktop uses social sign-in instead of traditional username/password accounts. This is an intentional choice to improve both security and privacy while keeping control of your identity in your own hands. --- # Getting Started https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/getting-started Welcome to DMXDesktop! Whether you're a DJ, lighting tech, or just starting out with DMX control, this guide will walk you through everything you need to get up and running. You'll learn how to:IntroductionInstall the softwareConnect your DMX interface or controllerPatch your first fixturesLaunch a simple light show in just a few minutes ## Introduction DMXDesktop is designed to be powerful yet beginner-friendly. Let's dive in and light up your stage!When you first run the application, it comes with some example data in the Default stage, to get you started faster!This includes:Several Effect Cues of different styles (Chilled, Party, Dance etc)3 Groups - Primary, Secondary and the Alternate Group. You can add as many Groups as you like via the Add Group function on the Arrangement tab.Default General settings, such as Strobe and Blinder behaviours.To send messages to your lighting, you must setup a method to communicate, you can do this via the Settings page, where you can configure Art-Net, sACN or USB DMX interfaces (or Drivers). If you do not have a DMX Driver enabled, you cannot run any effects and will see a message warning you that there are no active interfaces. ## Install the Software Visit www.dmxdesktop.com and click Download.Choose the version for your operating system (Windows or macOS).Run the installer and follow the prompts.After installation, launch DMXDesktop from your Applications or Start menu.πŸ’‘ Tip: You don't need any hardware connected to explore the interface. You can patch fixtures and preview scenes even offline. ## Connect Your DMX Interface Plug your supported USB DMX interface or connect to Art-Net/sACN over the network.DMXDesktop will detect most compatible devices automatically.Go to Settings β†’ Interfaces to view and configure your DMX output.If your interface doesn't appear, make sure the correct drivers are installed (especially on Windows).πŸ”Œ Supported protocols: USB DMX, Art-Net, sACN, RDM🧰 For a full list of compatible hardware, see our Hardware Support page. ## Add and Patch Your Fixtures Once your DMX interface is connected, the next step is to patch your lighting fixtures. You can either:Use built-in fixture profilesImport your own custom profilesDownload ready-made profiles from the Profile Library (requires a free or paid account) ## Using the Profile Library DMXDesktop includes almost 30,000 fixture profiles covering most major brands. Here's how to find and add the right one:Go to the Profile Library tab.Search or browse by name, brand, or mode.Click the Clone icon to add the profile to My Fixtures.It will now be available offline for patching.πŸ’‘ Note: You can only "edit" profiles in My Fixtures - downloaded copies are fully customizable. ## Patch Fixtures to the Stage After adding your fixture profiles:Click Patch Fixture at the top of the screen.Select fixtures from My Fixtures.Choose the Universe, Mode, and Start Address (auto-filled to avoid overlaps).Click Add to patch them into your virtual stage.DMXDesktop will warn you if a fixture overlaps with one already patched - be sure to check spacing and channel range.Once you have the fixtures you need, the next step is to "Patch" the fixtures to your stage. You can use the default stage that comes preloaded, or create a new one via the Add Stage button on the Stages tab.To patch a fixture, simply click the "Patch Fixture" button on the top of the page, and search through all the fixtures in "My Fixtures". Then select the fixture you want to patch, set its Universe ID, Group, the Mode (different modes usually require different numbers of channels), then set the DMX Starting Address. The Start Address is usually prefilled with the next available space in the selected universe, but you can adjust it according to your needs.If you attempt to patch a fixture with channels which would overlap another already patched fixture, it will show you a warning and you will need to fix the DMX address before you can continue.You can repeat this process for all of your Profiles until you have your Stage and Groups set up how you want them.Remember that it's always good to group fixtures by their positions and not just their types, as you will run effects later by group. If you want to have different effects on different clusters of fixtures, you can achieve this by sensibly planning your fixture groups.Once you have patched all your fixtures, you can start testing and adjusting. The main things you want to do are:Adjust their Positions via the Arrangement Tab. Here you can "Drag and drop" fixtures by grabbing them with your mouse (or finger, if you have a touchscreen enabled device!) and move them around, you can also move them to different groups.Once the positions are set up how you want them, remember to click the "Save Layout" button to store the positions.You can also click the Bulb icon on any fixture to make only that light up, so you can check its position.You can start an "Identification" process via the "Identify" function, which will cycle through every light from left to right lighting each one for 1 second, this helps you make sure your lights are in the order you need them.Once you have completed these steps you are ready to test! ## Finding Your Way Around DMXDesktop names its screens in lighting vocabulary, so if you have not used a lighting desk before, some of those names will mean nothing at first. Two things help with that.Every screen carries a short explanation of what it is for, in ordinary language, with a Learn more link into this knowledgebase where there is more to say.Explain mode is switched on by default on a new installation. Instead of the short tooltip labels, you get a full description of each control, and every side menu entry gets a description of its own. It is there so that a first look round the app explains itself.Once you know your way around, turn it off in Settings, Appearance, Tooltips: pick Instant, Short, Medium, Long or Off and you get the ordinary short tooltips instead. See General Settings. ## Launch a simple light show in just a few minutes Check out the sections on Effects and Effect Cues for more information on testing the effects, and how you can run your very first light show in a matter of a few clicks. --- # Layout (Arrangement) https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/arrangement To ensure your fixtures respond in the correct sequence regardless of their DMX channel configuration, it is important to organise them in the right Group and in the correct order. You can do this in the Arrangement tab.Simply 'drag & drop' the fixture to the position you need, and you can also drag them to different groups, it's that simple. ## Highlighting and Identification You can "Highlight" a fixture by clicking the bulb icon, and only that fixture will light up all its RGB Channels and set its dimmer to max.You can also trigger an "Identification" effect, which will highlight every fixture for 1 second in sequence, so you can better track if the fixtures are correctly ordered.You can Edit the Group or add a new group also from the Arrangement page. ## Grouping objects in the 3D view The Arrangement tab orders your fixtures. Stage objects such as truss and props are arranged separately, in the 3D Visualizer's inspector panel, and two things there changed in v1.0.52.Group and Ungroup are buttons now. Grouping objects was Ctrl+G only, hinted at by a line that disappeared as soon as you had one group, so most people never found it. The shortcuts still work.Object rows also take Ctrl+click to multi-select, which fixture rows have always done. --- # Groups https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/groups Groups can be added or edited from the Arrangement page. ## Understanding Groups Groups are how you combine Fixtures, you normally apply effects and actions on a per-group level rather than to specific fixtures. This means you can automatically apply the same effects to a collection of fixtures. It would be quite normal to group fixtures based on their positions or types. Every time you add a new Stage, three base groups are automatically added, but you can add as many Groups as you wish per Stage. You cannot delete the built in three groups, but you can rename them. ## Group Settings You can rename a group or give it a description. You can also disable the Live Controls per Group. For example, if you do not want the Strobe to affect fixtures in a particular Group, you may disable it in the Group settings. ## Deleting a group Deleting a group used to leave its gobo, prism and channel selections behind in the show file, where nothing could ever read them again. They are now cleaned up along with the group. --- # Live Controls (Flash Buttons) https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/live-controls ## Master Dimmer The Master Dimmer is the overall control for all effects in the entire setup, all Effects will respect the Master Dimmer which will limit the Brightness of everything, nothing can set a value above the Master Dimmer, with only one exception; Manual Overrides (See Live Controls & Live Edits)Strobe, Blackout, Blinder, Freeze, Fog & Effect - Toggles are available from the Top Menu on every page, and again on the Console. ## Flash (Momentary) or Latching(Toggle) Buttons All the Live Control buttons can be set to work as a Flash (Momentary) button or as a Latching (Toggle). You can specify how each button works via the General tab in Settings.The setting is stored per-Stage, so you can have different setups for different Stages. ## Strobe Will trigger any Strobe channel on any fixture in All Groups, unless the Group has been set to disabled for Strobe in the Group Settings. ## Blackout Will turn off all lights on any fixture in All Groups, unless the Group has been set to disabled for Blackout in the Group Settings. ## Blinder Will raise all lights to their maximum (subject to the max value set in the fixtures channel configuration), limited to the Master Dimmer if it is set lower than 100%. You may also set a global limit to the Blinder in the Settings -> General Tab, where you can set a level lower than the normal maximum of 255 which will never be crossed even if the Master Dimmer is set to 100%. You may also decide in Settings if you want the Blinder to work on only White Channels or all RGB channels via the toggle switch. ## Freeze Will stop all effects and "Freeze" the lights and movers at their current position and lighting. Unfreeze them to continue. ## Fog Will trigger any Fog channel which is active and available in your fixtures on any Group, unless the Group has been set to disabled for Fog in the Group Settings. ## Effect Will trigger any Effect channel which is active and available in your fixtures on any Group, unless the Group has been set to disabled for Effect in the Group Settings. ## Button Interactions The Strobe, Blackout and Blinder are tied together, and only one can be active at any time, if for example the Strobe is active and you click on Blackout it will activate and cancel out the Strobe.Whereas, The Freeze and Fog buttons are independent, and can be activated without cancelling any other buttons. ## Flash from a phone or a Stream Deck Group flash can now be triggered remotely as well as from the desk, so the mobile remote and connected apps can flash a single group rather than only the whole rig.The flash buttons are also available on an Elgato Stream Deck: strobe, blackout, blinder, freeze, fog and effect, either across the rig or limited to the groups you choose, each following its own momentary or latching setting. See the Stream Deck plugin. --- # Effects https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/effects You can manually run Beam Effects and Move Effects via the respective tabs on the Console.The Move Effects and Beam Effect tabs are Manual Controls only. ## Move Effects You can apply the effect to one or many groups, by selecting/deselecting the Groups name. Selected groups are highlighted in Green.You can then adjust the Speed, Size and Fan of the effect(only applies to Fan Effects). ## Speed The speed setting will increase or decrease the speed of the movement. Can be adjusted live whilst the effect is running. ## Size The size setting will change how wide or narrow the moving heads will move, the smaller the size the closer to their center point they will remain, the higher the more wide and sweeping the effect. Can be adjusted live whilst the effect is running. ## Phase (Fan) The phase setting option allows you to alter the timing of each movement for each moving head, 0 is in phase and all heads should move in the same way, but as you adjust the phase positive or negative they will move in/out of phase. ## Fanning (Fan) The fan setting will adjust either the Pan or Tilt so that fixtures are "Fanned Out" or "Fanned In", 0 is no fanning applied. Depending on the effect, this will either fan the Pan or Tilt channel. For example, when using the Up/Down effect it will fan the Pan channels, whilst when using the Left/Right effect, it will fan the Tilt channels. ## My Sequences If you have defined any custom movement sequences, which is possible from the Pan/Tilt Finder tab, they they will appear in this section, you can activate/deactivate them the same as any other Move Effect. ## Gobos & Prisms If your movers have Gobos or Prisms defined, you can control their activation by clicking on the item you want to activate. By default, none are activated. ## Beam Effects You can apply the effect to one or many groups, by selecting/deselecting the Groups name. Selected groups are highlighted in Green.You can then adjust the Speed and Background Lighting using the sliders.You can switch on and off any single effect by clicking on the effect in the effects panel. ## Colors If you select no Color then the effect will default to RGBWAUV or whatever base colors are available from your fixtures configuration.If you select 1 single color this color will be applied to every fixture, if available. Selecting multiple colors will light multiple lamps. --- # Effect Types https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/effect-types DMXDesktop effects fall into two families: Beam effects (intensity + color) and Move effects (Pan/Tilt movement). Combine one of each to build a complete look.If you’re new: start with Chase or Wave for energy, then add Circle or Figure of 8 for motion. --- # Effect Cues https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/effect-cues ## What is an Effect Cue? Unlike traditional lighting cues that store static looks or single actions, an Effect Cue in DMXDesktop is a powerful tool that lets you:Combine multiple dynamic effects (movement & beam) into one packageAssign different effects to different fixture groupsTrigger complex multi-effect shows with a single click ## Key Features Group-specific effectsMix movement and beam effectsSelect single or multiple beam or movement effects, and specify how frequently they are rotated.Customizable timing and transitionsOne-click activationSave and reuse your favorite effect combinations ## Hands-free Effect Cues: Auto Pilot is now Live Wire Auto Pilot used to run your Effect Cues for you from live audio. It has been retired in v1.0.52, and Live Wire replaces it.Live Wire listens to the live audio in the room and builds the show as it playsIt needs no Effect Cues prepared in advance, and if you run one of your own cues underneath, Live Wire adds to it rather than fighting you for controlIt is on Standard and Pro, the same plans Auto Pilot was on, so nobody loses accessLearn more about Live Wire β†’ or read what happened to Auto Pilot. ## Common Use Cases Create dynamic looks combining movement patterns with color effectsSet up different effects for front lights vs back lightsBuild complex shows with minimal live operationSave your favorite effect combinations for quick access ## Effect Cue Playback When played back, the Cue will activate every Effect defined for each group simultaneously, and keep them in sync.Effect Cues can also be set to be timed, so they will run only for a set period, or to run indefinitely. This is good if you want to match Effects to a specific track or event. At the end of a timed Effect Cue, it will then jump to the next Effect Cue in the list.Alternatively, you can set the Cue to have an infinite run time, meaning you have to stop or skip to another Cue manually.Inside the Effect Cue you can define different configurations per group, if you organise your fixtures well this can allow you to have extremely powerful control over your lighting effects, with the option to keep it as simple or make it as complex as you desire. ## Strobe on Peaks You can enable this feature to allow the Cue to trigger the Strobe on audio Peaks. The setting when set is by Cue, not by Group. You may also override this setting globally via the Audio Configuration tab on the Settings page. This feature will only work when Direct Audio Detection is Enabled and active. ## Select Beam Effect(s) You can select as many or as few Beam Effects as you wish, or you can even select none. If you select none, then the Fixtures in the Group will be dark.If you select multiple Effects then the Effects will be rotated, how frequently they rotate depends on the setting you apply to "Effect Frequency" slider at the bottom of the Cue configuration. 0 = Never, and 100 = Every Minute and the values in between are proportional. ## Move Effects Similar to beam effects you can also set up Move effects, and again you can select one or many, they will also be rotated based on the same time frames as per Beams set in the "Effect Frequency" when multiple are selected. You can apply move effects to a group, even if that group does not contain any fixtures with Movement functionality, so in case in future you do decide to add a moving head type fixture to the group the previously defined effect cue would work on that fixtures movement, if none are found it will silently take no action. ## Color Theme Here you can select the colour(s) to use for the group, there is a long list of different colours including multi-color effects. Some fixtures only have fixed colours, for example those with colour wheels in this scenario colours cannot be mixed and as such they will be static or rotating depending on the colour theme selected.If you select a theme without any colours matching your device then they will default to white or open. ## Settings Fade In: When set the lights will fade in over the period of time defined on startup.Fade Out: When set the lights will fade out over the period of time defined on stop.Effect Frequency: When multiple effects selected for move or beam effects, this will define how often they rotate (0=Never, 100=Every 1 minute)Dimmer: Overloads the dimmer for the Group. It is proportional to the Master Dimmer. e.g. if Master dimmer is set to 100% but the group is set to 50% then the output will be DMX Value 127 (or 50% of the master dimmer value of 255)Background: Defines a minimum threshold below which the lights cannot go, in proportion to Dimmer and Master Dimmer. This can be used to create a background light effect and lights will never go dark.Beam Speed : the Speed of the lighting effects will be looped.Mover Speed : The speed at which the movers will execute the selected effect.Fan Rate : Only applies to Mover Effects which contain a Fan option, and is used to fan in or out the moving heads.Phase : Applies a delay to the moving heads, so they move more or less in or out of phase.Gobo Frequency : How often the Gobos will be rotated, if Gobos are ENABLED. Similar to Effect Frequency, 0=Never, 100=Every 1 minute, and all values in between are proportional.Prism Frequency : Same as Gobo Frequency.Randomize Effects : When you have select multiple Move or Beam effects for the Cue, the order in which they are triggered will be randomized.Enable Gobos : Enable or disable Gobos (if available) for the Group.Enable Prisms : As per enable Gobos.Dark On Silent : Shuts off the lights when the music stops, and resumes when the music restarts.Dynamic Energy: Will adaptivly change the speed and impact of the Cue based on the live audio input. ## Linked Groups By default, each fixture group in an Effect Cue runs its own independent effect. For example, a Chase cue with 3 groups produces 3 separate chases - one per group. With Linked Groups, you can merge multiple groups into a single unified effect. That same chase would then run across all the fixtures from the linked groups as one continuous chase.Setting Up Linked GroupsOpen the Effect Cue editor (create a new cue or edit an existing one).Look for the small link icon (chain link) on each group tab.Click the link icon on the group you want to be the leader - this is the group whose effect settings will be used for all linked groups.A popup will appear listing all other groups in the cue. Check the boxes for the groups you want to link.Click Apply.The linked groups' tabs will display a "Linked to [Group Name]" banner, and their beam and movement controls will be greyed out since the leader's settings are used instead.What Stays IndependentEven when groups are linked, the following settings remain per-group and fully active:Gobo cycling selectionsPrism cycling selectionsAuxiliary values (Focus, Iris, Zoom, Frost, etc.)Unlinking GroupsTo unlink a group, click the Unlink button in the banner on any follower tab, or click the link icon on a follower tab. When unlinked, the group's original settings are preserved and restored, and it will return to running its own independent effect.Note: Linked Groups is a paid feature. ## Color Override A Color Override repaints the rig from a palette of your choosing while the cue keeps running: the look carries on moving, only the colours change.An override now holds until you clear it. It used to be applied once, then quietly overwritten by the next cue step, rotation or effect change.Clearing it restores the cue's own recorded colours, which never happened before.The buttons survive changing page. They only ever lit up in response to a click, so navigating away and back looked as though the override had been released while the rig was still driving it.A cue that clears the override now tells you it has done so, rather than the control appearing to switch itself off.See Colors & Color Themes for the palettes an override can draw on. ## Fallback Cue: why Stop restarts it Pressing Stop on a cue marked as the Fallback Cue made it restart immediately, which looked like a broken button. It still restarts, because that is exactly what the setting is for, but the app now says so and tells you how to stop it. ## Blinder Two blinder faults are fixed. Its fade time was being read in the wrong units, so it ran ten times shorter than the figure you had set. And the blinder now releases back to the cue instead of pulling the whole rig to black for the length of its fade and then snapping the cue back.That was worst on automated paths, where a track cue point defaults to a half-second blinder against a five-second fade: a flash became a five and a half second near-blackout with nothing pressed.Blinder fade speed also reaches sub-second now, on a logarithmic slider, so the short end of the range is usable. ## Spread Spread behaves the same everywhere now. It is only offered on effects that actually support it, and QuickShow seeds each effect's own default when you pick it, the way the Programmer always has. Setting it from the desk, a phone, MIDI or a Stream Deck gives the same result. ## Effect Cues on the Show Timeline You can drop a whole Effect Cue onto a Show Timeline. Pick the cue from the effects list, drag out how long you want it, and it fills in the clips for every group that cue covers. You can then tweak or delete the individual parts, so it is a starting point rather than a black box.Hybrid Pulse and Emergency previously did nothing when used on a timeline. They now run as they do everywhere else. The Show Timeline guide covers the rest. ## Fixed in v1.0.52 Cue faders no longer dim everything. A cue fader was overriding the brightness you recorded into the cue rather than scaling it.Saving a cue twice no longer creates a broken copy. The Save button stayed live while the first save was still running, so a second click wrote a whole new cue that appeared in the list and fired from MIDI and the timeline, but rendered black. Existing damaged cues are repaired automatically.Save Cue no longer disappears after previewing a cue, which used to leave no way to keep an edit without triggering the rig.The gobo and prism "N Selected" counters count gobos, not fixtures. One gobo picked across four fixtures read "4 Selected".Movement settings are hidden on groups that cannot move, rather than offering controls that did nothing.Background brightness reaches the lighting engine. The setting was there and was being saved, and nothing was reading it. --- # Live Edits https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/live-edits Live edits allow you to combine DMX Level overrides into a simple button. You can use the Live Controls tab to adjust any setting of any device in the group, and then by clicking the Disk icon save those settings in a Live Edit. ## Creating Live Edits When you save the Live Edit you can name it, select a color code for the swatch displayed on the button as well as decide if the Live Edit should be triggered by another action; Strobe, Blackout, Blinder Freeze or Fog, you can select one or none of these actions.As of v1.0.29, you can also specify if the liveedit should be faded in or out.Live Edits have a very high priority, only Manual Controls and direct DMX Input will override a Live Edit. ## Triggered Actions If you specify a Triggered By value, then when that action is active it will also trigger the live edit. This could be useful for example, if you wanted the Fog machine to fire every time you pressed the Blinder, or if you wanted some lights to be enabled/disabled when you pressed the Flash. The options are endless as you have total control down to the DMX Channel of any device.Once saved you will see the new Live Edit button on the Live Edits page. There is no limit to how many you can create.To activate/deactivate the Live Edit, simply Click it! ## Managing Live Edits The colour you selected is shown on the Swatch, there will also be an icon showing if the live edit is bound to an effect trigger (Strobe, Blackout, Blinder, Freeze or Fog).You can reorganise the Live Edits by "Dragging & Dropping" them, simply by grabbing the direction handle with your mouse, or finger if you use a touchscreen.You can change the colour of the swatch at any time by simply clicking on it.You can Edit the Channels by clicking on the faders icon. ## Group Triggers As of v1.0.29, you can also Group triggers together, you can select several live edits, then the Create Group icon will appear, allowing you to create a Group Trigger which can be used to activate/deactivate multiple livedits at once. ## Cue Triggers As of v1.0.29, you can create Cue Triggers. This allows you to map Live Edits to specific Effect Cues, which when active would also activate the live edits. You can add/modify these triggers at any time from the Cue Triggers tab in Live Edits. ## Conflict Viewer The Conflicts tab in the Live Edits panel shows you where your edits overlap on the same channels and fixtures. See at a glance which edits set conflicting values (one ON, one OFF), different values, or identical values. Each conflict is color-coded by severity, with fixture counts and expandable detail rows so you can resolve overlaps quickly. ## Live Edits as a Standby Look From v1.0.52 a Live Edit can be what the rig falls back to when the music stops, in two places:Live Wire: choose Run Live Edits under When the music stops on the Live Wire tab.DJ Mode: the Fallback Cue section can raise Live Edits alongside the fallback cue, or instead of it with no cue picked at all.Tick as many as you like and they come up together when every deck stops, then go back down when one starts playing again. A Live Edit you already have up by hand is left alone.Live Edits are not affected by Dark On Silence. A fallback cue is built from effects, and Dark On Silence is what dims effects, so the two have never worked together. A Live Edit sets its channel values directly, so it stays exactly where you put it. That makes a Live Edit the only way to keep a look visible with Dark On Silence switched on.A Live Edit raised this way now shows as lit on MIDI controller pads and on the mobile remote as well as on the desk, so the rig and your controller no longer disagree for the length of the break. --- # Live Controls (Faders) https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/live-controls-sliders The Live Controls allow you to modify real-time any DMX Value for any channel of any fixture in any group!They are Manual Overrides and have a very HIGH priority, which means that anything you specify in the Live Control will take charge, regardless of what other Effects or actions may be running. ## Using Live Controls You can modify as many settings as you wish, by dragging the fader controls. They are organised by their Fixture Group and wherever information is available, such as color settings, gobo settings it will be overlaid when you move the toggle so you can see what action your triggering.You can save the current overloaded settings as a Live Edit, and recall them later using the Live Edit functionality, by clicking on the red Disk icon.You can reset all changes by clicking the "Reset all Live Controls" link. If a DMX Channel has a "default" value specified in the Fixture Profile, channel setting it will be respected.Grouped Faders allow you to control all channels of the same type per Group.You can also control the faders by using your Scroll Wheel on your mouse, just hover over the fader and scroll. ## Operating faders remotely Faders are no longer desk-only. Programmer faders can be driven from the mobile remote and from connected apps, and on an Elgato Stream Deck a dial can hold any cue, fixture, group or executor fader. Programmer faders and cue stacks need a Pro licence.Macro Faders can be operated remotely too, on any licence. See the Stream Deck plugin. --- # Macro Faders https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/macro-faders One fader handle, many DMX channels. A Macro Fader is a virtual control that drives any number of DMX channels at once, each with its own range and direction. Perfect for "everything dim", "the back row only", "all strobes", or any other multi-channel grouping you reach for repeatedly.Available from v1.0.50. Included on every tier. ## Where to find them Macro Faders appear as a strip of vertical fader tiles inside the Master Dimmer block on every Showtime sub-tab (Manual Cues, Auto Cues, DJ Mode, Programmer). The strip sits directly below the Master Dimmer slider.Collapsed by default when you have no Macro Faders on the current stage.Expanded by default once at least one Macro Fader exists.The collapse chevron in the sub-header lets you hide the strip if you need the screen real estate.You can also pop out the strip into its own window via the Pop-Out button - ideal for multi-monitor setups where you want the faders on a dedicated touch-screen. The pop-out window mirrors live state in both directions.On the Cues page (where the Master Dimmer block is replaced by a compact indicator), Macro Faders are reachable via the popover that opens when you click the Master Dimmer indicator. ## Creating a Macro Fader Click the + Add button at the top of the Macro Fader strip.Give the fader a Name (max 32 characters). This name appears under the fader handle on the strip and in MIDI binding dropdowns.Pick a Curve - Linear is the default.Add channels using either the Smart Pick tab or the Manual tab.Click Save.The new tile appears at the right end of the strip. Drag tiles to reorder; the order persists per stage. The gear icon on each tile reopens the modal for editing; the duplicate icon clones a fader; the trash icon deletes it. ## Smart Pick vs Manual Smart Pick is the recommended way to build a Macro Fader. Instead of typing universes and channel numbers, you tick boxes in a matrix:One row per Fixture Group on the current stage.One column per Channel Type any fixture in the group exposes (Dimmer, Red, Green, Blue, White, Pan, Tilt, Strobe, Gobo, and so on).Ticking a cell expands to one member per matching channel on every fixture in that group. Min/max/invert are prefilled from the fixture's declared channel range.Example: ticking (Front Pars, Dimmer) expands to one member per front par, each with its actual Dimmer channel address.Manual mode is for when you need precise control over which DMX address goes in, or when adding channels that don't belong to a patched fixture. The Manual table lets you add a single row, or add a contiguous range of channels in one universe with a shared min/max/invert. Both modes coexist on the same fader. ## Member range and invert Each channel the fader controls is called a member. Every member has three parameters:Min - the DMX byte the channel outputs when the fader is at 0.Max - the DMX byte the channel outputs when the fader is at maximum.Invert - swap min and max as the fader rises.Between Min and Max the value is interpolated, then shaped by the response curve.Example uses:Min=0, Max=255 - full range, fader sweeps the channel from off to full.Min=30, Max=200 - fader keeps the channel inside a safe zone. Never below 30, never above 200.Min=100, Max=100 - fader is irrelevant; the channel always outputs 100. Useful when grouping a fixed-value channel for symmetry.Min=128, Max=200 - fader sweeps a Pan or Tilt over a specific physical range.Invert ON on half your fixtures - symmetric tilt sweeps where the back row tilts up while the front row tilts down. ## Response curves The Curve dropdown sets how the fader position translates into the value used between Min and Max.Linear (default) - direct 1:1. Output rises in lockstep with the handle.S-curve - smooth ease-in / ease-out. The most natural-feeling curve for general fades. Slight cushion at top and bottom.Exponential - dim-fast. Output stays low until roughly halfway, then ramps up steeply. Useful when you want most of the fader's travel dedicated to subtle low-end control.Logarithmic - dim-slow. Output rises sharply at the bottom, then plateaus near the top. Useful when full output is reached early and the top of the fader is for fine-tuning.Sample points for a member with min=0, max=255. The number in each cell is the DMX byte output at that fader position.Fader %LinearS-curveExponentialLogarithmic0%000010%26738125%64401612850%1271276418075%19121514322190%230248207242100%255255255255Tip: S-curve passes through the same value as Linear at 0%, 50% and 100% by design - they only diverge in between (up to about ±24 bytes). If you want a more visibly different curve, pick Exponential - at 50% travel you only get 25% output.The curve applies to the fader position before each member's Min↔Max interpolation, so the curve choice affects every member uniformly. ## Working with Macro Faders Reorder and colour-tag. Drag tiles to reorder them within the strip - order persists per stage. Each tile has a small coloured stripe along the top edge; click it to pick a swatch, or clear to remove. The colour is cosmetic, but useful for spotting tiles at a glance when you have many of them.Conflict badge. When two or more Macro Faders include the same fixture-and-channel-type combination, both tiles show a small badge. Hovering reveals the conflicting fader names. Conflicts aren't errors - the most recently moved fader wins for the affected channels - but the badge surfaces the situation in case it was unintentional. A typical legitimate conflict: a "wash master" controlling every dimmer plus a "front row only" controlling the front-row dimmers.Master Dimmer attenuates brightness output. Brightness channels driven by a Macro Fader (Dimmer, Master, RGB, White) are scaled by the Master Dimmer percentage before output. Non-brightness channels (Pan, Tilt, Gobo, Prism, Iris, Zoom, Focus) pass through unattenuated. This means you can build a kill-output by sliding Master Dimmer to 0 while leaving any Macro Fader untouched - the faders keep their position, the brightness output just attenuates to nothing.Position 0 releases channels. A Macro Fader at position 0 releases its channels - they fall through to whatever cue, programmer or Live Edit is writing them. Move the fader off zero and it claims the channels again.Persistence. Macro Faders and their last positions are stored per stage and survive app restart, stage switch and crash recovery. To reset all positions at once, use Clear All Cues.Fixture changes. Members are anchored to fixtures, not raw DMX addresses. Moving a fixture's patch address auto-remaps every member. Deleting a fixture (or changing its mode in a way that drops channels) opens the Fixture Dependents dialog so you can review and confirm before any change is applied. ## MIDI mapping To bind a hardware MIDI fader or encoder to a Macro Fader:Open Settings → MIDI.Switch the controller to MIDI Learn mode, or click an existing binding to edit it.Pick the DMX Channel binding type, then the Macro Fader sub-option.Choose Bind to existing Macro Fader and pick one from the dropdown.Save.The in-app fader handle updates live to mirror the MIDI position, so the on-screen and physical handles stay in sync.Restrictions:Faders or encoders only. Macro Faders need continuous values - buttons aren't supported.One Macro Fader per MIDI control, but a single Macro Fader can be driven by multiple MIDI controls (handy if several physical surfaces drive the same logical fader).For general MIDI setup see Midi Controls. ## Patterns and ideas Front wash master. Smart-Pick the (Front Group, Dimmer) cell. One fader controls every front-of-house dimmer at once. Bind to a hardware fader for tactile fade-ins.Smoke trigger combo. Manual mode: add the hazer's Fog channel (min=0, max=255), the Fog Volume channel (min=0, max=200 to cap intensity), and a Strobe channel inverted (min=0, max=128, invert ON) so the strobe goes from full to half as smoke rises.Position park / Kill movers. Smart-Pick (All Movers, Pan) and (All Movers, Tilt). Edit each member's max to the parked-position DMX byte. Move the fader to max → all movers park; back to 0 → movers wherever the cue or programmer left them.Quick blackout with kill switch. Two Macro Faders: a "main wash" with Smart-Pick (All Fixtures, Dimmer), and a "blackout override" with the same membership but invert ON and min=255, max=0. Bind each to its own hardware fader. When the blackout fader rises, it forces dimmers down regardless of the main wash. Return it to 0 to restore main wash control.Per-song bus presets. Build one Macro Fader per section of your show (Verse Wash, Chorus Punch, Bridge Reds, Outro Sweep). Each is a curated grouping of channels with carefully tuned mins and maxes. Bind them to MIDI faders on a multi-track controller and performing a song becomes "ride the relevant faders" rather than waiting for the cue stack to fire. ## Things to know Fader resolution: 0-127 (matches MIDI native fader resolution).Members per fader: no hard limit. For most shows you'll have 5 to 50.Faders per stage: no hard limit. Pop out the strip if the tile count gets unwieldy.Name uniqueness: unique per stage. Two stages can share a name without conflict.Tier gating: none. Macro Faders are available on every tier.Channel-cap enforcement: Macro Fader writes count toward your tier's channel cap the same as any other channel write.Per-member curves: not supported - the curve is fader-wide.Audio reactivity / BPM / Cue triggers: not supported. Macro Faders are user-input controls only - use Live Edits, Cues or Effect Cues if you need automation. ## Remote control and Stream Deck Macro Faders are no longer desk-only. The mobile remote and connected apps can move them, and a move made anywhere, including from a MIDI controller, is announced to everything else, so the desk, your phone and your controller all agree on where the fader is.On an Elgato Stream Deck, a Macro Fader can be bound to a dial and ridden like a physical fader. See the Stream Deck plugin. Dial actions need a device with encoders, such as a Stream Deck +. --- # Pan/Tilt Finder https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/pan-tilt-finder This handy little tool allows you to move all your moving head fixtures, or any fixture that has a Pan or Tilt channel.This tool is a LIVE CONTROL, it will immediately take charge of any moving fixture and override any other effects currently active! ## Using Pan/Tilt Finder You can drag the dot around the box and the movers will follow you, alternatively you may move the Sliders for Pan or Tilt.The Fan slider will adjust how much the fixtures are fanned in or out depending on how you move it.When moving the Fan you can see below a live calculation for the DMX Values being sent to each fixture, the Fan is capped at the lowest point. so if you move your fixtures in such a way they are far set, the amount of space left for fanning will be reduced. Conversely, when they are centered the fan limit will be the maximum.In all cases the Pan/Tilt values DO NOT RESPECT any Width or Size limits set in the fixtures channel settings, you can manually override their position anywhere within the full range of the movers.The settings you set on the Pan/Tilt Finder will be updated live on the Live Controls tab, so if you wish to save the setting as a Live Edit, you may adjust the Fixture Positions on the Pan/Tilt tab then go to the Live Controls tab and click the red Disk icon to save the current live settings as a Live Edit.You can also Reset the Pan/Tilt finder, which will reset ONLY the Pan/Tilt values, it will not Reset the settings on the Live Controls tab. However, the "Reset All Live Controls" link on the Live Controls tab, will reset everything including Pan/Tilt Finder. ## The Recorder: movements and positions The Recorder saves what your movers are doing so you can use it again later. It has two tabs: Static Positions for a single saved aim, and Sequences for a movement made of several aims played one after another.To record a movement: set a position, press Record Step, and repeat. A Sequence needs at least 4 steps and takes a maximum of 32, and the recorder counts them as you go rather than refusing the save at the end. Press Save Movement Sequence, name it, and it is stored.To save a single aim: aim your movers on the Pan/Tilt Control tab, then press Save Static Position in the Recorder.Recorded steps are shown as small pictures of where the lights are pointing rather than a list of numbers, so a figure of eight looks like one. Hover a step to send the lights back to it, which lets you fix one you fluffed without starting over.Both kinds of recording offer a Travel In and a Travel Out time. Travel In is how long the heads take to glide from wherever they are pointing to the saved position, so a recall reads as a move rather than a jump. Travel Out glides them back to the centre of their travel when you stop it. Both default to zero, which is the instant behaviour recordings have always had, and everything you have already saved is untouched.Everything you save appears under My Recordings, which was previously called My Sequences. Enable or disable a Sequence at any time from the Move Effects tab, use a recording inside an Effect Cue, or place it on the Show Timeline.Note: the Pan/Tilt Finder is a live control, so an aim you set by hand overrides a recalled position. Press Reset in the finder before you recall a recording, or nothing will appear to happen.Please also note that a recording is made per moving fixture (any fixture with Pan/Tilt channels). If you modify, delete, or add moving fixtures, the recording will NOT apply to those fixtures, and you will be required to record it again. ## Using a recording on the timeline Movement Sequences you have recorded appear in the Show Timeline effects list under "Sequences", and can be placed like any other movement effect. Each is labelled with the group it was recorded on, and the timeline makes sure a clip is long enough for the lights to actually travel the path.Static Positions work the same way. Two clips in a row are a move and a gap between them is a hold, so you can point at the dancefloor for eight bars, then at the bar, then back, without building a movement effect at all. --- # Focal Points https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/focal-points Focal Points lets you teach a moving head the exact focus for each of its beam elements, so gobos, prisms and animations always land sharp - automatically, in every cue and show. ## Why Focal Points? On many moving heads, each optical element sits at a slightly different distance behind the lens, so a focus that's crisp for one gobo wheel looks soft for another - and adding a prism shifts it again. Focal Points lets you set the right focus once per element. From then on DMXDesktop applies the correct focus automatically whenever that element is used, so your beams stay sharp without manual tweaking mid-show. ## Opening Focal Points Open the menu on a moving-head fixture and choose Focal Points. The option appears for fixtures that have a focus channel plus at least one gobo wheel, prism, animation wheel or zoom. ## Quick calibration (fixtures without zoom) For each beam element listed, click Preview to project it live on the real fixture, drag the focus slider until the beam is sharp, then click Set focal point. A green tick and value confirm it's saved. Click Stop to release the fixture, and Done when you've calibrated each element. ## Zoom-aware calibration (the wizard) If the fixture has a zoom channel, focus changes as the beam zooms, so DMXDesktop opens a guided wizard. Pick an element on the left - Base (open beam), each gobo wheel, prism and so on - then work across the zoom steps (Zoom 0, 64, 128, 192, 255). For each step, ramp the focus, hit Sharp when the beam is crisp, nudge by Β±1 or Β±5 if needed, and Save. The app builds a focus curve across the zoom range and fills in everything in between. Use Add point if a particular zoom needs extra precision. A note appears if the fixture has frost, which releases auto-focus while it's engaged. ## Combination corrections (advanced) Some elements focus differently when used together - say a gobo plus a prism. Expand Combination corrections (advanced), tick two or more elements that can be on at the same time, click Calibrate selected combination, and save a point or two. These fine-tune the rare cases where the standard curves aren't quite right - most rigs never need them. ## Re-use across your rig Calibrated one fixture? Click Apply to matching Fixtures to copy every focal point to identical fixtures in the same show. Use Clear all to start over. ## Where your focus is used Once set, your focal points apply automatically in cues, effects, DJ and automatic shows, and Timeline playback. If you ever set focus manually or program it into a cue, that always wins - Focal Points only fills in the focus when nothing else has. See also the Pan/Tilt Finder for aiming your movers. ## Focal points or a saved position? These answer different questions, and it is worth knowing which one you want.Focal points are about sharpness. You set them once per beam element and DMXDesktop applies the right focus automatically whenever that element is used. There is nothing to recall: it simply happens.Static positions are about where the heads point. Aim a group in Pan/Tilt Finder, press Save Static Position, and it becomes a named look you can recall from My Recordings, place on the show timeline, or use inside an effect cue.They work together. Recall a static position to aim the movers at the bar, and your focal points keep the gobo sharp when they get there. --- # Colors & Color Themes https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/colors-themes You can view the built in colors and color themes via the Colors tab in the console.These themes are the palette library used by effects everywhere. To map them to music genres in DJ Mode, and to set energy, strobe, variety and timings per genre, see DJ Mode: Per-Genre Settings. ## Built-in Colors You can view the built in colors and color themes via the Colors tab in the console. ## Color Themes You can also view all the built in Color Themes, which are all available from the EffectCue's ## Custom Themes You can also create your own Theme, which can have anywhere from 1 to 6 colors, to create your own special color or theme.Your themes will be available just like the built-in themes in the EffectCue editor. ## Color Override A Color Override repaints your rig from this same palette library while a look keeps running: the movement carries on, only the colours change.It now works with Live Wire, where it previously did nothing at all. Strobes, blinders and kick flashes deliberately stay white, as they are accents rather than the main look.An override holds until you clear it, and clearing it restores the colours recorded underneath.Multi-colour themes are spread across your fixtures properly, and are no longer refused while Live Wire is running.The override buttons survive changing page, so an override that is still driving the rig no longer looks as though it has been released. ## Colour wheel fixtures Two long-standing faults on fixtures whose colour comes from a wheel rather than from emitters:Colour presets now work. Clicking any swatch on a wheel-based fixture gave you red whatever you clicked, and the colour canvas did nothing at all. It had been that way since April, and the constant answer of red is largely why nobody spotted it. Fixtures with real emitters, and fixtures with both, are unchanged.Colour wheel movers no longer flash white on a solid colour cue. On the dark frames of an effect the wheel used to fall back to slot 0, which on many fixtures is white, and the motor set off towards it. The wheel now holds its colour through dark frames, on every effect. --- # DJ Mode: Per-Genre Settings https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/dj-genre-colours In DJ Mode you can map your colour themes to music genres, so the colours are predictable and on-brand for every style you play. Load a track and DMXDesktop reads its genre, then the show builder only uses the themes you picked for that genre. ## Themes vs. genre colours Your colour themes are the shared palette library used by effects everywhere. The DJ Mode Colors tab is different: it doesn't create colours, it maps those themes onto genres - so House might lean blue and purple while Drum & Bass goes green, automatically, as tracks change. ## The Colors tab Open DJ Mode and select the Colors tab. You'll see a card for each genre family, each showing the colours it will use. A card marked Using defaults hasn't been customised yet. Use How genres map to colours to see the genre lookup, or Reset all to defaults to start fresh. ## Choosing themes for a genre Click a genre card to choose which themes it may use. Tick the themes you want and the card updates to show your selection. For multi-colour themes you can pick how they render: Blend for a smooth wash that fades between the colours, or Solid for distinct stepped colours. Single-colour themes are marked Single and always show their one colour. Click Reset to default on a genre to undo your changes. ## How genres map to colours Each track's file genre is matched to one of 13 genre families (Electronic, Rock, Hip Hop, Pop, Funk / Soul, Jazz, Latin, Reggae, Blues, Classical, Folk World & Country, Stage & Screen and Non-Music). The How genres map to colours screen shows the keywords and subgenres each family catches. Type any genre tag into the tester - for example Drum & Bass or R&B - and it tells you which family it lands on and the colours it will play. Tracks whose genre matches nothing fall to the Unmatched tracks card, so you can control their colours too. ## Genre badges on your tracks Your tracks now carry a colour-coded genre badge, so you can see at a glance what each one will play. Badges appear as you browse, and you can right-click a badge to re-scan that track's genre tag if you've just edited it. ## Sharper colour on real fixtures Colours now sit better on real-world fixtures. Colour-wheel fixtures snap to the nearest matching slot for the chosen colour, single-colour genres stay true instead of drifting on loud beats, and dedicated Amber or UV emitters only fire when the colour genuinely calls for them - no accidental rainbows or white-outs. ## When the colours play Once it's set up, it's automatic: load a track, its genre is detected, and the show builder builds the lighting from that genre's enabled themes in the blend or solid style you chose. The same colours feed your Magic Cues and automatic shows. ## Beyond colour: show settings per genre Genres are no longer only about colour. Choose Edit show settings for this genre on a genre card and you can override Energy, Strobe, Group Variety and the Gobo, Prism & Rotation Times for that genre alone.Turn on a section to diverge from your global DJ settings; anything left off follows the global default. So a drum and bass set and a soul set no longer have to be lit the same way, and you only have to state the parts that differ. --- # Magic Cues Generator https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/magic-cues Magic Cues builds a set of ready-to-run effect cues for you, tailored to your fixtures and their features. Tell it how many cues you want and the style you're after, and it generates a varied batch in seconds. ## Opening the generator From the Effect Cues panel, click Magic Cues to open the Magic Cues Generator. The cues it creates are ordinary effect cues - you can edit, rename, group or delete them like any other. ## Choosing an action Pick what the generator should do:Add New Batch - generate more Magic Cues alongside the ones you already have.Replace All - clear your existing Magic Cues and generate a fresh set.Update - re-apply the Fixture Behaviour settings to your current Magic Cues, keeping their colours and movement.Remove All - delete all Magic Cues. ## Shaping the cues Set the overall feel of the batch:Number of Cues - 5, 10, 20 or 40 cues per batch.Energy Level - slide from Chill to Energetic to bias the mix towards mellow or high-energy looks.Color Preference - keep all colours, or steer towards warm, cool, vibrant or pastel palettes.Speed Preference - run effect and movement speeds slower, normal or faster. ## Fixture behaviour The right-hand side controls how your fixtures' features are used:Brightness - let it vary automatically, set a minimum floor, or push everything to full.Gobo Frequency - how often gobo-capable fixtures use a gobo: None, a custom percentage, or Always.Prism Frequency - the same control for prisms.Strobe - None, Subtle or Aggressive. Strobe flashes on loud moments, so it needs Strobe on Peaks enabled in Quick Controls (see Audio Configuration). ## Tuning cues you already have Happy with your cues but want less gobo or a brighter floor? Choose Update, change the Fixture Behaviour settings and apply - your existing Magic Cues keep their colours and movement and just take on the new behaviour. ## Phased Pulse Phased Pulse can now be picked by the generator. It was previously left out of every automatic selection, so an effect you could choose by hand never turned up in a generated batch, however many batches you generated. Fixed in v1.0.52. --- # Account https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/account-settings ## Account Management From the Account page you can manage various aspects of your account;Active Sessions - shows you a list of all instances of the Application which are signed in to your account.Licences - shows you a list of all active licences you have available in your account, and whether they have been assigned to a machine or not.Subscription History - shows you a list of any subscriptions you have active on your account and their status, date of renewal etc. ## Active Sessions If you have left your account logged into another machine; you can click the Logout button next to that session to terminate it. The session will be ended the next time the app on that machine connects to the Cloud, or when its current login token expires, at most up to 7 days.Cloud services will be blocked immediately. ## Licences If you have an active subscription for a licence, here you will see a list of available licences and whether they are assigned to a machine or not.You may only assign 1 licence per machine, however you may have as many licences as you wish, subject to active subscriptions per licence.You can Revoke a licence from a machine at any time, and the licence will become available again.You can assign and revoke a licence a maximum of 1 time per rolling 30-day period. If you have difficulties with this, please Contact Us for support.(We may offer discounts for bulk purchases, please contact us if you wish to enquire further on this topic) ## Subscriptions You can view here a list of any subscriptions you may have and their current status.Please note if you terminate a subscription, it will remain active until the next billing cycle, we do not offer partial refunds.Subject to statutory legislation and Consumer Protection legislation, you always have within the European Union a cooling off period where you may cancel and refund your purchase within 14 days from subscribing. After this time, we will accept any cancellation during the subscription period as mentioned above. When outside of the cooling off period, if you cancel the subscription it will be terminated from the next billing cycle when the subscription will not renew.Despite this being mainly a European Union consumer protection, we will follow this approach in general Globally and offer all our subscribers the right to trial and the right to cancel at any time for a full refund within 14 days of the start of the first subscription. ## Cancelling a subscription When you cancel, the app now tells you exactly what happens and when, before you confirm, rather than leaving you to work it out afterwards.A paid subscription runs to the end of the billing period you have already paid for, and then does not renew.Cancelling during a trial ends the trial immediately. That is deliberate rather than a fault: there is no paid period left to run out, so the change takes effect at once. The confirmation now says so before you commit. ## Support tickets You can choose whether replies read newest first or oldest first, whichever suits a long thread. Attachment limits are now shown correctly, and the priority support wording is clearer about what it covers. ## Licence checks and where your licence is kept Licence checks now recover properly from a dropped connection instead of retrying needlessly, so a brief network problem no longer turns into repeated attempts in the background.On macOS your licence is now held in the system keychain rather than in a file. See Signing in to DMXDesktop. --- # sACN Setup and Configuration https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/sacn DMXDesktop supports sACN (E1.31) natively. Works with CHAUVET, Enttec, Netron, and any standard sACN receiver. Mac and Windows.sACN configurations are stored per Stage, so you can configure different sACN endpoints for different Stages. You can configure different sACN server configurations per active universe - if you add a new fixture mapped to a universe which has never been used, a new config for that universe will become available on the sACN page. ## sACN Configuration Screen The default settings are usually the correct settings, except for the IP address, which you usually need to set for your sACN enabled receiver.You can enable/disable any sACN configuration via the Enable checkbox button, but remember to click "Save" to store the changes - the change will be applied live!Sometimes a receiver can lose connection, in this case you can try restarting the sACN service via the green rotation icon in the top right corner of each sACN configuration. ## Universe-Level Priority Each sACN universe can have its own priority setting, which determines how data from multiple sources is handled: the source with the highest priority is accepted by receivers. If another source sends data with an equal or higher priority, it will override the current one. Use this feature to manage overlapping outputs or backup feeds. ## Using sACN Multicast (Recommended) To broadcast an entire sACN universe across your network:Set the IP address to match the target interface's subnet, ending in .255.Example: If your interface is 192.168.1.0/24, configure 192.168.1.255 as the IP.Upon saving, DMXDesktop will detect that .255 indicates multicast mode and automatically compute the correct multicast group (based on the universe number) and send accordingly. ## Specifying a Custom sACN Multicast Address If you'd prefer manual control:Input the exact multicast IP address for the universe you need.You are responsible for calculating and entering that address correctly (e.g., 239.255.<universe_high>.<universe_low>).Note: When a proper multicast address is provided directly, DMXDesktop respects your input-there's no automatic calculation. ## Recommended sACN Nodes Recommended, 1 to 8 universes:DMXKing eDMX MAX nodes (buy direct) - the eDMX1, eDMX2, eDMX4 and eDMX8 MAX series has been officially supported since DMXDesktop v1.0.51. Every model speaks both sACN and Art-Net, handles DMX in as well as out, and RDM is verified on our test bench.Budget, 2 universes:Chauvet DJ DMX-AN2 - sACN and Art-Net, no RDM. New to it? The Chauvet DJ DMX-AN2 setup guide walks through the whole process.Also compatible:Enttec ODE Mk3, 2 universes. Check the model carefully if you need RDM: some ODE Mk3 units we tested did not support RDM successfully and may need a firmware update.Obsidian Netron EN4 and EP4, 4 universes each with RDM. Both speak sACN and Art-Net; the EN4 adds a front panel display, the EP4 is configured through its web page.Any standards-compliant sACN receiver works, so this list is a starting point rather than a restriction. See the supported hardware matrix for everything we have tested. ## See the Full Unified DMX I/O Guide sACN configuration lives in the new Unified DMX I/O table alongside Art-Net and USB DMX - with live status, inline editing, per-row diagnostics, and Pro-only features like multi-node mirroring and DMX input. Available from v1.0.50.For the complete list of compatible interfaces and nodes, see the Supported Hardware matrix. ## Universe Numbering sACN numbers universes from 1, and so does DMXDesktop, so what you set here is what goes out: Universe 1 is sACN universe 1. Art-Net is the exception, because it starts at 0, so the same Universe 1 leaves as Art-Net Universe 0.New in v1.0.52: universe numbers above 64 can now be used, so you can match the numbering your rig or venue already uses. This is about the numbers you are allowed to enter, not about how many universes your plan includes.If a receiver is configured and nothing is arriving, DMX Doctor checks the whole chain, from your fixture setup to what is actually going out. --- # Art-Net Setup and Configuration https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/artnet DMXDesktop works with any Art-Net node out of the box. Connect your hardware, assign a universe, and you are running in minutes. Mac and Windows.Art-Net configurations are stored per Stage, so you can configure different Art-Net endpoints for different Stages. You can configure different Art-Net server configurations per active universe - if you add a new fixture mapped to a universe which has never been used, a new config for that universe will become available on the Art-Net page. ## Art-Net Configuration The default settings are usually the correct settings, except for the IP address, which you usually need to set for your Art-Net enabled receiver.You can enable/disable any Art-Net configuration via the Enable checkbox button, but remember to click "Save" to store the changes - the change will be applied live!Sometimes a receiver can lose connection, in this case you can try restarting the Art-Net service via the green rotation icon in the top right corner of each Art-Net configuration. ## Recommended Art-Net Nodes Recommended, 1 to 8 universes:DMXKing eDMX MAX nodes (buy direct) - the eDMX1, eDMX2, eDMX4 and eDMX8 MAX series has been officially supported since DMXDesktop v1.0.51. Every model speaks both Art-Net and sACN, handles DMX in as well as out, and RDM is verified on our test bench.Budget, 2 universes:Chauvet DJ DMX-AN2 - Art-Net and sACN, no RDM. New to it? The Chauvet DJ DMX-AN2 setup guide walks through the whole process.Also compatible:Pknight bi-directional Ethernet interface, the cheapest way in.Enttec ODE Mk3, 2 universes. Check the model carefully if you need RDM: some ODE Mk3 units we tested did not support RDM successfully and may need a firmware update.Obsidian Netron EN4 and EP4, 4 universes each with RDM. Both speak Art-Net and sACN; the EN4 adds a front panel display, the EP4 is configured through its web page.Any standards-compliant Art-Net node works, so this list is a starting point rather than a restriction. See the supported hardware matrix for everything we have tested.Art-Netβ„’ Designed by and Copyright Artistic Licence Engineering Ltd ## See the Full Unified DMX I/O Guide Art-Net configuration lives in the new Unified DMX I/O table alongside sACN and USB DMX - with live status, inline editing, per-row diagnostics, ArtPoll node discovery, and Pro-only features like multi-node mirroring and DMX input. Available from v1.0.50.For the complete list of compatible interfaces and nodes, see the Supported Hardware matrix. ## Universe Numbering DMXDesktop numbers universes from 1 for every protocol and converts on the way out, so your Universe 1 leaves as Art-Net Universe 0, Universe 2 as Art-Net Universe 1, and so on. Entering 0 in DMXDesktop is the classic mistake.New in v1.0.52: universe numbers above 64 can now be used, so you can match the numbering your rig or venue already uses. This is about the numbers you are allowed to enter, not about how many universes your plan includes.If a node is configured and nothing is arriving, DMX Doctor checks the whole chain, from your fixture setup to what is actually going out. --- # USB DMX Setup and Configuration https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/usb-dmx Got a USB DMX controller and looking for software? DMXDesktop works with most USB DMX interfaces including Enttec, Eurolite and FTDI-based devices. Interfaces start from around $15. Mac and Windows. ## Supported Devices DMXDesktop works with most USB DMX interfaces - including Enttec, DMXKing, Eurolite, Yarilo and FX5 devices, plus generic FTDI FT232-based controllers with a DMX output stage (select the Enttec USB Open driver).See the full Supported Hardware matrix for every supported interface and Art-Net / sACN node, with universes, RDM and DMX input/output at a glance. If your device isn't listed, contact us and we'll do our best to add it.We do not support UART-only USB DMX interfaces (FT232RQ / FT232RLU without a DMX512 stage). ## Tested USB DMX Controllers (These links are to Amazons USA Store, however, you can usually find the same devices in different Amazon regional stores or other retailers)Budget:DSD TECH Lighting Equipment ControllerInterface Computer Lighting Controller ConverterStandard:Open DMX USB Interface ControllerPremium:DMX USB Pro Interface SIRSDMXKing (buy direct):DMXKing USB-DMX interfaces - ultraDMX MAX, ultraDMX2 PRO and more.The DMXKing ultraDMX MAX (and MAX series) is officially supported as of DMXDesktop v1.0.51.Please bear in mind, some devices are specific to their manufacturers software only and are effectively 'locked-down' so they cannot be used with other software. In such cases we are unable to support those devices. ## Configuration The default settings are usually correct when we're able to detect the type of USB DMX device you have connected, however you can change any of the settings as required, but remember to click Save to store the settings after changing.To apply changed settings, you need to click the Restart icon in the top right corner to restart the USB DMX service.Similar to sACN and Art-Net, if you add fixtures to new universes, then a config for that universe will become available. However, unlike other drivers, the USB configuration is limited to 1 usb device per universe, to run 2 universes you must connect 2 seperate USB DMX interfaces. ## Output Rate Each universe has its own DMX output rate, set on the DMX I/O page. 40 Hz is standard and 44 Hz is about the maximum the protocol allows, and you would only lower it if a fixture drops commands.Fixed in v1.0.52: every USB output ran at 30 Hz regardless of what the universe was set to. If you set 40, you got 30. USB now runs at the rate you choose, and the timing is considerably steadier than it was.If something is not reaching your lights and you are not sure where the problem is, DMX Doctor checks the whole chain, from your fixture setup to what is actually going out. --- # Midi Controls https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/midi-controls You can use any generic Midi device as a remote controller for the software, so long as it is compatible with USB Midi.When you connect a Midi device, the selection box should appear to let you select your Midi device.Once selected and saved, you can then modify the Midi settings. Unlike some software where you need to bind keys on the Midi device to match the setup of the DMX Controller, we allow you to specify any unique value you wish. ## Supported MIDI Bindings We currently support binding midi controls to:Master Dimmer, Strobe Rate, Live BPM, Live Beam SpeedLive Effects (Strobe, Blackout, Blinder, Freeze and Fog)Effect CuesLive EditsMidi Clock (See Midi-Clock for more info)Remember, if you setup a live edit with a binding to a Live Effect key (for example Strobe) then it will also fire when triggered from Midi!The Master Dimmer, Strobe Rate, and BPM should be bound to an Encoder or Fader only, a single button will not work as expected.Live Beam Speed will override the Beam Speed set in the currently running Effect Cue, it will apply to ALL Groups in the Effect Cue, and be reset once the cue is stopped or another cue started. ## Binding MIDI Controls To bind a button, simply place your cursor in the box for the command you wish to program, and then press the key on your midi device you wish to bind to that command.Remember to click Save on the section once you have filled in all the commands you wish to use. Each section is saved separately. ## Network MIDI (RTP-MIDI) Support As of DMXDesktop v1.0.30, you can now connect to Network MIDI (RTP-MIDI) devices over your local Wi-Fi or LAN. This makes it easy to control DMXDesktop wirelessly or from other networked devices-no USB cables required.Compatible with Popular ToolsDMXDesktop now works seamlessly with any device or software that supports RTP-MIDI, including:Ableton Live – for triggering lighting cues alongside your musicStage Traxx 3 – commonly used in live performance setups to send MIDI cuesMidiclock – for syncing tempo over the networkTouchOSC/ Lemur / Playtime Engineering / iOS apps – as control surfacesAny Mac, PC, or mobile device with RTP-MIDI capabilityHow It WorksMake sure both DMXDesktop and your MIDI-capable device/app are on the same Wi-Fi or wired network.On macOS, open Audio MIDI Setup > Network and create or join a session.On Windows, use the free rtpMIDI driver by Tobias Erichsen to set up a session.Once connected, DMXDesktop will list your network MIDI session as a standard MIDI input.πŸ’‘ This is ideal for wireless MIDI controllers, syncing with show control software, or running fully automated cue-based setups. ## Understanding How DMXDesktop Binds MIDI Messages DMXDesktop is designed to be flexible, allowing you to use a wide variety of MIDI controllers. To do this effectively, it interprets different types of MIDI messages for different kinds of controls.Standard Controls: Buttons vs. Faders/KnobsThere are two primary ways MIDI controls are handled:Buttons (Note On/Off Messages): For any action that is a simple toggle (like turning a strobe on or off, or activating a specific cue), the application expects a Note On message to activate and, in some cases, a Note Off message to deactivate. Most MIDI controllers with pads or buttons send these types of messages by default.Variable Controls (Control Change - CC Messages): For any control that requires a range of values (e.g., setting the master dimmer, adjusting the BPM, or changing the strobe rate), the application expects a Control Change (CC) message. These messages send a value between 0 and 127, which DMXDesktop intelligently maps to the appropriate range for that control (e.g., 0-255 for a dimmer, or a specific BPM range). ## Advanced Binding: Using Faders or Knobs as Buttons We understand that some MIDI devices, especially foot pedals, may only send Control Change (CC) messages, even for their "buttons". To support these devices, you can bind a CC-sending control to functions that typically expect a button, such as Live Edits and Effect Cues.When you do this, DMXDesktop interprets the CC message values as follows:A value of 127 is treated as ON.A value of 0 is treated as OFF.Any other value between 1 and 126 is ignored.Behavior for Live EditsLatching (Default): When you press the control (sending a value of 127), the Live Edit will toggle its state (turning on if it was off, and off if it was on).Momentary: If you have configured the Live Edit as "Momentary" in the binding settings, pressing the control (value 127) will activate it, and releasing it (value 0) will deactivate it.Behavior for Effect CuesWhen a CC message is bound to an Effect Cue, it is always an "ON" trigger.Sending a value of 127 will start the selected cue.This binding cannot stop the cue. To stop cue playback, you must create a separate MIDI binding (for another button, fader, or knob) and assign it to the "Stop Effect Cue" function. ## Manually Mapping MIDI Controls If you prefer to manually assign MIDI controls instead of using Direct Button Mode, you can do so by entering the MIDI message details directly into the input fields.Valid MIDI Message RangesYou can specify MIDI messages using the following ranges:MIDI Note On messages:Status byte range: 144 to 159 (MIDI channels 1–16)Note number: 0 to 127Control Change (CC) messages:Status byte range: 176 to 191 (MIDI channels 1–16)Controller number: 0 to 127Value: 0 to 127Understanding Manual Button MappingWhen entering a Note On message manually (e.g., 144-50 for MIDI channel 1, note 50), DMXDesktop will automatically calculate the corresponding "Note Off" message by reducing the status byte by 16. This is based on the MIDI standard where:144 = Note On (Channel 1)128 = Note Off (Channel 1)So:ON = 144-50OFF (assumed) = 128-50⚠️ When mapping manually, only the ON message is recorded. DMXDesktop will assume the OFF message is the same note with a status byte reduced by 16.Difference from Direct Button ModeDirect Button Mode captures both ON and OFF messages from your MIDI device automatically when you press and release a button.Manual Mapping requires you to enter the ON value yourself. The OFF value is inferred and not captured from the device, which may lead to issues if your device sends non-standard OFF messages (e.g., velocity 0 Note On instead of actual Note Off).Please Note: If you experience difficulties opening the midi device, please make sure you are not running other software which may have already exclusively opened the midi device, this is particularly a pottential issue if you start some DJ Software before you open DMXDesktopAs of v1.0.27 you may also configure Midi Feedback, to control the backlights of some devices ## Prefer labelled keys? Use a Stream Deck A MIDI controller gives you physical faders and knobs, which is what you want for riding levels. If instead you want labelled keys that rename themselves with your rig, DMXDesktop also has a first-party Elgato Stream Deck plugin from v1.0.52, with 34 actions covering live control, effect cues, Programmer cue stacks, QuickShow, overrides and DJ transport.The two are not exclusive. DMXDesktop drives both at the same time, so a common setup is a MIDI surface at the desk and a Stream Deck out on the floor. See setup and connection and the actions reference. ## Which controllers get extra support Any class-compliant MIDI device works, and you can map anything to anything. That has not changed. What is new is that a shortlist of controllers gets device-specific integration on top: pad colours, displays, motorised faders and feedback back to the unit.SoundSwitch Control One (new) - per-pad colours, the visualiser ring, the OLED status screen showing live status and the Ableton Link display, and both of its DMX outputs. It is a lighting interface and a control surface in the same unit.Akai APC Mini MK2 - one colour when the bound effect is off and a different colour when it is on, so you can tell at a glance what is running.Akai APC Mini (original) - the Scene Launch buttons down the right-hand side now light up properly when you map something to them. They used to show correctly on screen and stay dark on the unit itself. The colour picker also offers only the colours that model can actually show, instead of a full palette it cannot produce.Pioneer DJ DDJ-FLX4, Pioneer DJ DDJ-1000 and Numark DJ2GO2 Touch - input from these has been restored.Also mapped in detail: Akai APC40 MK2 and MPD218, Behringer X-Touch, and Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol F1, Maschine Jam and Maschine MK3.A controller that is not on that list still binds to everything. It simply does not get the colour and display extras. The full picture is in the hardware compatibility list. ## Pad colours, blink and default mappings Each pad can carry two colours: one for when the bound thing is off, and a different one for when it is on. Right-click any pad in the MIDI visualiser to set them.Any pad can also be set to blink, in whichever colour you gave it, so the ones you reach for most stand out on a dark stage.Supported controllers can now arrive with a sensible default mapping already in place, so a new unit does something useful before you map anything. The SoundSwitch Control One ships with a full default map. Seeded bindings are ordinary bindings, so rebind or delete any of them you do not want.On a controller with a limited palette the colour picker only offers the colours that unit can genuinely produce. Single-colour buttons, such as the row down the side of an APC Mini, can only be on or off. ## The Audio Apps tab The DJ Player tab is now Audio Apps. The four app switches sit at the top, with separate panes underneath for Music Player and Live Wire, rather than one long list where the deck controls and everything else ran together.Bindings are grouped by the app they belong to, so finding the control you want no longer means scrolling past every other app. ## Driving Live Wire from your pads Live Wire, which is on the Standard and Pro plans, can be bound to pads like any other source.Live Wire mode. Band, DJ and Ambient behave as one group with exactly one pad lit, showing the mode that is actually running. Pressing one while Live Wire is not running starts it in that mode.Live Wire Hold. One pad, toggling. It shows held, listening, or unavailable when the mode has no standby look to hold.The active mode lights in a different colour from the pad that says which audio app is running, so on a controller with both bound you can tell the two apart at a glance. Devices with a smaller palette use the nearest distinct colour they have.Single-colour buttons, such as the row down the side of an APC Mini, can only show on or off. A Hold pad placed there cannot show all three states, so put Hold on the main grid. ## Half and double tempo Half and double tempo is one setting that the desk, MIDI pads, OSC and the mobile remote all read and write, so they can no longer disagree about the speed the rig is running at.On a controller the three pads behave as one group with exactly one lit at a time, and Normal Tempo never blinks. A pad flashing all night while nothing is engaged is just noise on a dark stage.Settings gains its own Tempo Control card for the three bindings. They used to sit in the middle of the Global Controls grid, which made them look like three independent switches rather than one value with three positions. ## My controller has stopped responding A binding is learned against a specific MIDI channel. If your controller or your DAW moves to another channel, the bindings stop responding, and nothing used to tell you so. The log was written as messages arrived, before the binding was looked up, so you could watch every note come in and reasonably conclude the fault was further down.The MIDI log now shows the channel each message came in on, and marks any message that resolved to no binding. If your notes are arriving on channel 2 and your bindings were learned on channel 1, the log says so.DJ controls are mapped automatically and have no binding of their own, so they are never flagged. ## Fixed in v1.0.52 The MIDI Feedback switch could show off while feedback was working. On a rig that had never touched the setting, the switch read off although pad lighting was on. Turning it on from there wrote the opposite, and from that point no pad on any surface updated its colour again. Bound pads still lit at their resting colour when a controller connected, so the surface read as stuck rather than off.Cloning a controller's bindings dropped some of them. Copying your mappings from one controller to another silently lost every position preset and colour palette binding, along with any custom pad colour and blink setting. The rows were still created, so the bindings appeared in the list and on the unit and simply did nothing."MIDI is unavailable" on a machine with no MIDI hardware. Windows only starts its MIDI service when something asks for it, so on a rig with nothing plugged in the app gave up waiting too early and declared the whole subsystem broken. It waits properly now, and the notice that followed no longer reappears on every page. --- # Audio Configuration https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/live-audio You can configure several ways of using real time Audio.Ableton LinkOS2LDirect Audio Detection.For specific instructions for Rekordbox please click hereUsing a hardware sound mixer? See Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop for step-by-step guides to the X32, WING, XR18, Yamaha TF and DM3, Allen & Heath SQ, Qu and CQ, Soundcraft Ui24R, Mackie DL, Zoom LiveTrak, and any analogue desk. ## Audio Methods If you enable Ableton Link, or OS2L it will disable all other methods.We have successfully tested Ableton Link with VirtualDJ and djay Pro. Rekordbox and Serato DJ Pro both support Ableton Link as well. Behaviour does vary between applications and versions, so watch the message log and confirm the tempo is arriving and following before you rely on it live.OS2L is mainly supported by VirtualDJ at this time, but it does work very well. ## Direct Audio Detection Direct Audio Detection listens to a sound input on your computer, tracks the tempo, and watches for kick drum and heavy bass events, adjusting your lighting effects and their timing as the music moves. You can use a microphone, but room noise and poor sound quality will give noticeably worse results and we strongly recommend against it.Most people want DMXDesktop to listen to the music already playing on the same machine. It can do that on its own on both platforms, with nothing extra to install.On Windows:Tick Include Outputs (Loopback) on the Audio settings tab, then pick your normal output device, your speakers or your interface, from the Audio Device list. Stereo Mix still works if you already use it, but it is a fallback rather than the way to do this.On macOS:macOS 14.2 and later can capture system audio directly, described below. On macOS 14.0 and 14.1 you need a loopback driver such as BlackHole, which you can also install with brew install blackhole-2ch. Once it is installed you can combine it with your real output in the "Audio MIDI Setup" app, usually found in Applications > Utilities, then select that device from the Audio Device list.Direct Audio can be combined with Ableton Link or OS2L, so you can take a perfectly beatmatched BPM from Link or OS2L while Direct Audio tracks energy and volume, which is what drives dark on silence and auto strobing.Where a direct beat source is available, Ableton Link or OS2L is still the most reliable way to lock to the beat, because nothing about it depends on the sound reaching a microphone or a loopback. Live tempo detection is considerably more accurate than it used to be, though, so Direct Audio on its own is a perfectly sound choice when there is no beat source to take. ## ASIO low-latency input (Windows) On Windows you can capture audio through an ASIO driver for low-latency input from a professional audio interface, or from a loopback driver such as ASIO4ALL, FlexASIO or Voicemeeter. Install an ASIO driver first, then in Settings β†’ Audio open the Audio Device list and pick your device from the ASIO section.For ASIO devices a Configure ASIO… button appears, which opens the driver's own control panel where you set the buffer size and channels. Input gain is handled by the driver, so the volume slider is disabled and the loopback option doesn't apply. If the device is already in use elsewhere, DMXDesktop lets you know so you can free it up first. ## macOS system audio capture (macOS 14.2+) On macOS 14.2 and later, DMXDesktop can listen to your Mac's system audio directly, with no third-party loopback tool such as BlackHole. Choose your normal output device in Settings → Audio and DMXDesktop captures what is playing, while your audio stays audible as usual.This brings macOS level with Windows rather than ahead of it. Windows has captured system audio through its own loopback for about a year; what has changed is that a Mac no longer needs an extra driver to do the same thing.Note the version gap. This needs macOS 14.2, while DMXDesktop itself runs on macOS 14.0, so on 14.0 or 14.1 the option will not appear and BlackHole remains the way to do it.The first time you use it, macOS asks for permission to capture audio and for microphone access. Grant these once and you are set. Only real output hardware is offered, so virtual and aggregate devices are filtered out of the list. ## Auto Strobing When Direct Audio Detection is enabled, the Strobing option will also be available. From here you can configure the global settings for the Strobe On Peaks function, which can be activated per effect cue. ## Choosing your input and output devices There are two audio devices in DMXDesktop and they are easy to confuse. The input is what DMXDesktop listens to for beat and audio detection, and it lives in Settings → Audio. The output is where the music player sends audio, and it lives in DJ Mode settings. Both are now labelled as such, each one points at the other, and both note that with ASIO a single interface usually cannot do both at the same time.Every audio device list in the app now groups devices the same way, so ASIO, loopback and ordinary devices are easy to tell apart wherever you are looking.Several long-standing annoyances have gone. Device lists no longer come up incomplete, missing your inputs entirely, until you press Refresh Devices. Output devices are listed whether or not the music player happens to be running, which is exactly when you would be configuring it. Refresh Devices keeps working instead of responding only to the first press. And changing the input while detection is running switches to it immediately instead of waiting for a restart.If a device is unplugged, goes to sleep, or drops out over a remote desktop connection, DMXDesktop now recovers instead of going quietly silent, and it tells you plainly when a device is unavailable. ## Choosing ASIO channels (Windows) On a multi-channel interface you can now choose exactly which Input channels are captured, and which Output channels the music player plays to, instead of being stuck on channels 1 and 2. The lists show the real names your driver reports, such as "MAIN OUT L", so you can tell which socket is which.The same ASIO options, including the button that opens your driver's own control panel, are now on the Live Wire tab as well as the audio settings pages.If audio detection and the music player are both pointed at the same ASIO interface, DMXDesktop warns you. Most ASIO drivers allow only one program at a time, so one of the two will not start. ## Audio cannot be switched off underneath a running feature Live Wire, which is available on Standard and Pro, needs both Audio Capture and BPM detection. Either could previously be turned off while it was running, leaving it enabled but deaf. That can no longer happen, and the same protection covers OSC, the mobile and remote interfaces and Stream Deck, so a remote button cannot silence a running feature either.Changing the audio device also no longer flashes "Audio Capture has been disabled" at you before succeeding. The three places you can pick the input device, Settings, the Audio and BPM panel and the Live Wire tab, are three views of one setting and now stay in step with each other. ## Live tempo detection and BPM Confidence Live tempo detection is significantly more accurate on difficult material: ballads, acoustic sets, brushed drums and live bands. House and techno were never the problem and behave as they always did.Alongside the reading is a BPM Confidence meter, which tells you when the tempo can be trusted. It is worth watching as closely as the number itself. A low reading is the app telling you it cannot hear a clear pulse, which is useful information in itself on a quiet acoustic set.Detection now takes a couple of seconds longer to settle at the start of a track. That is deliberate.Also fixed: the reported tempo jumping every couple of seconds, and the four-bar tap tempo box appearing alongside the live audio meters when a cue with a fixed BPM started. ## Half and double tempo Running the rig at half or double time is one setting. The desk, MIDI pads, OSC and the mobile remote all read and write the same value, so they cannot disagree about what speed the rig is running at. The detected tempo itself is never changed.Settings has its own Tempo Control card holding Half Tempo, Normal Tempo and Double Tempo. On a MIDI controller the three pads behave as one group, with exactly one of them lit at a time. --- # DMX Table https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/dmx-table The DMXTable helps you to diagnose issues with your fixtures, it shows a live representation of the output to each Universe, per each device (Art-Net, sACN, or USB DMX) which is updated every 100ms.You can see a representation in a table format of the live output per channel, and if you hover over a channel you can get information about what that channel is assigned to.This can be extremely useful in helping to debug issues with your lighting fixtures configuration.You can access the DMX Table either from the Settings, DMX Table tab, or as a pop out window via the DMX Table link on the Stages panel of the Console. ## DMX Table Views The DMX Table can be accessed from Settings or as a pop-out window from the Console. ## Pop-out Window Open the DMX Table as a pop out window, from the Stages panel. ## What is driving a channel Hovering a channel tells you what it is assigned to and what is currently driving it. Channels driven by the Show Timeline used to report nothing at all, which read as "nothing is driving this" while the timeline was actively driving it. Fixed in v1.0.52.For the whole picture rather than a single channel, see DMX Doctor, which has its own channel table showing what is genuinely going out on the wire, and the Output window's Sources view, described on DMX Channel Priorities, which shows every source acting on the rig at once and what is blocking what. --- # General Settings https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/general-settings ## OSC - Open Sound Control Configure the Open Sound Control (OSC) server to enable external control of DMXDesktop.Interface: Select the network interface/IP address to listen on.Port: Set the listening port (default: 8000).Protocol: Choose between UDP (default) or TCP.Click Enable to activate the OSC server, then Save to apply your settings.Note: If you enable Ableton Link, OS2L or Live Audio Input, and send simultaneous BPM Commands to OSC there may be conflicts.This is a Subscriber only feature. ## Mobile Control Enable the HTTP Server to allow Mobile Control. This lets you control DMXDesktop remotely from your mobile or tablet device.When enabled, the status will show as Active with a link to access the mobile control interface (e.g., dmxdesktop.local:80).Click Show all addresses to see all available network addresses you can use to connect.Please note you must be on the same local network for this to work.For more details see: Mobile Control ## Interface Options Display Settings:Show Footer: Toggle the global footer at the bottom of the app.Pro Mode: Full interface with all features. Simple Mode is beginner-friendly.Show Scrollbar: Toggle scrollbar visibility.System Tray:Minimize to tray on close: Keep DMXDesktop running in the background when you close the window.Hide from dock/taskbar: Hide the app icon from your dock or taskbar.Start minimized to tray: Launch DMXDesktop minimized to the system tray. ## Appearance Theme Selection: Choose between the classic DMXDesk interface or the enhanced Funky Theme with vibrant colors and enhanced animations. Theme changes are applied immediately.Display Zooming: Adjust the zoom level of the display to make it fit better on your screen. The default is 100%.Shortcut: Ctrl + '+'/'-' to zoom, Ctrl + '0' to reset. ## Security & Diagnostics Lockscreen Password: Set a password to lock the screen. This is useful if you need to leave your machine running in a public location but do not want anyone to interfere with the running software. Lock the screen by pressing Ctrl+L or clicking the Lock icon in the toolbar.If you haven't set a password, the default password is DMX.Note: Passwords are case sensitive.CAUTION - If you forget the password you will lock yourself out!Send Diagnostics: If you have been asked to submit diagnostics to DMXDesktop support, you can do so here by clicking Submit Diagnostics.Note: All diagnostic data is automatically deleted after 30 days. ## Notifications The Notifications setting in Settings, General decides how chatty the app is. There are four levels:Everything: every message, including the confirmations that say something finished.Hide confirmations: drops the "done" messages and keeps the rest.Warnings and errors only.Errors only.Errors are never hidden, whichever level you choose, so you cannot accidentally set this in a way that makes you miss a real failure mid-show. ## Tooltips and Explain Mode The Tooltips control in Settings, Appearance sets how long a tooltip waits before it appears: Instant, Short, Medium, Long or Off. Slow them down if they get in your way, or turn them off entirely once you know your way around.Explain mode is a sixth setting on the same control, and it is the one chosen by default on a new installation. It swaps the short tooltip labels for full descriptions, and gives each side menu entry a description of its own, so a first look round the app explains itself rather than needing to be explored. Turning it off leaves you with the ordinary short tooltips.This is deliberately not a guided tour. A tour is a list of steps pointing at controls from the outside, so it breaks quietly every time something moves, whereas an explanation attached to a control travels with it.Tooltips also behave better than they did. One no longer appears seconds later on top of the panel or dialog your click had just opened, only one can be shown at a time, and any click dismisses it. ## Window Behavior and About The main window now remembers its position, its size and whether it was maximized, between sessions, as the other windows already did. The "display sleep" messages that appeared every time it was maximized or restored are gone.The About window has a Copy button that puts the version and the build number on the clipboard together. That pair is what actually identifies a build, so it is the thing to paste when you report a problem or raise a support ticket. --- # Backups https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/backups ## Database Backup On the Backups tab you can take a complete backup of your entire database configuration(we can store up to the last 10 backups, as you add new ones the oldest will be deleted automatically), which will be securely stored in our Cloud. It is not accessible to anyone but you. ## Local backup & restore (free) You can also export your entire setup to a file on your own computer - completely free, with no upload and no subscription needed. It's ideal for a safety copy before a big change or a show, or for moving your setup to another machine.On the Backups tab use Export to File to save everything - your stages, shows, fixtures, playlists and settings - as a single file. You can set an optional password to encrypt it; keep it somewhere safe, because a lost password can't be recovered.To restore, click Import from File and choose your backup (entering the password if you set one). Importing replaces your current setup, so DMXDesktop saves a restore point of your existing data first, then offers to restart to apply the changes. This is separate from the cloud backups above and works without signing in. ## Stage Backups You can also take Backups of Stages, via the Backup Stage link on the Stages tab. This way you can keep a snapshot of your Stage at that moment in time, and restore it later if you want to undo any changes for example, or you can use the backup to restore your Stage to another machine if you login elsewhere. ## My Fixture Backups You can take backups of your personal My Fixtures library and store them also in the cloud. You can always restore any fixture if you delete it, but when you restore the My Fixtures backup it will not overwrite any matching fixtures in your library, if you want to force the restoration to restore the fixture, simply delete it from your My Fixtures library before you run the restoration. ## Managing Backups All your Backups are visible on the Backups page. You can restore a backup by clicking the Restore icon, in the case of a Stage it will be restored as a new Stage, it will NOT overwrite the original stage it was backed up from, but will create a new copy.You can Delete a backup by clicking the bin icon next to it. ## Reliability in v1.0.52 Backups and restores are more reliable in v1.0.52. If the database cannot be read at startup, the app now repairs itself and carries on instead of refusing to open, and old cue data that nothing could reach any more is cleaned up at the same time. On a healthy database it does nothing at all.Several things that a restore used to lose now come back with it:Per-group Live Wire settings, which were kept but not read back after restoring a stage.Gobo and prism selections after a restored or duplicated stage. The gobos and prisms came back correctly, but the cues pointed at the previous stage’s copies of them, so nothing was ever selected. Backups taken before this fix cannot have those selections recovered, but nothing further is lost.QuickShow preset groups. A preset from a restored backup lit its button, did nothing to the rig and cleared the group selection everywhere.Re-recorded cues after a stage restore, which came back in a shape the engine ignored. --- # Keyboard Shortcuts https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/can-i-use-keyboard-shortcuts DMXDesktop has a comprehensive set of keyboard shortcuts you can use to control your lighting live. Shortcuts are active when not typing in input fields. ## Live Flash Toggles These shortcuts activate live effects. They work in both toggle and pulse (hold) modes depending on the button configuration.F1 - StrobeF2 - BlackoutF3 - BlinderF4 - FreezeF5 - FogF6 - EffectF7 - Special Effects (momentary - active while held) ## Cue Control Ctrl+P - Play/Start current cueCtrl+S - Stop current cueLeft Arrow - Skip to previous cueRight Arrow - Skip to next cueCtrl+1–9 - Select cue stack 1–9Ctrl+Shift+1–9 - Select cue stack 11–19Space - Step next on selected cue stack (when cue stack panel is visible)Shift+Space - Step back on selected cue stack ## Master Dimmer Numpad + - Increase master dimmerNumpad βˆ’ - Decrease master dimmer ## Panels & Windows Ctrl+A - Show Audio Control PanelCtrl+Q - Show Quick ControlsCtrl+M - Show Quick MIDI Control PanelCtrl+T - Open DMX Table (live DMX output debugger)Ctrl+F - Popout Floorplan window ## Navigation F10 - ConsoleF11 - DJ ModeF12 - SettingsCtrl+L - Lock screenCtrl+R - Reload application ## Zoom Controls Ctrl+Numpad + - Zoom inCtrl+Numpad βˆ’ - Zoom outCtrl+0 - Reset zoom ## Floorplan Layout These shortcuts are active when the floorplan layout/arrangement tab is open.Ctrl+A - Select all fixturesCtrl+D - Deselect all fixturesCtrl+Z - Undo layout changeCtrl+Scroll - Zoom floorplan ## Programmer These shortcuts are active in the Programmer window.I - Intensity tabC - Colors tabP - Positions tabB - Beams tabQ - Faders / Cue Select viewS - Faders / Cue Stacks viewR - RecordD - Clear RecordCtrl+H - HomeEscape - Cancel current mode ## Timeline Editor (DJ Mode) These shortcuts are active in the Timeline Editor.Space - Play/PauseDelete / Backspace - Delete selected clip(s)Escape - Deselect all clipsCtrl+ +/βˆ’ - Zoom in/out timelineCtrl+Shift+L - Shift all clips left (close gaps)V - View tool (cue mode)C - Create tool (cue mode) ## 3D Visualizer (stage objects) These shortcuts are active in the 3D Visualizer's inspector panel, where truss, props and other stage objects are arranged. Group and Ungroup now have visible buttons as well, so you no longer have to know the shortcut.Ctrl+G - Group the selected objectsCtrl+Shift+G - Ungroup the selectionCtrl+click - Add an object row to the selection --- # DMX Channel Priorities https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/dmx-channel-priorities DMXDesktop layers many sources of DMX data on top of each other - a playing show, live effect buttons, manual fader nudges, MIDI commands, and more. They can all run at the same time, and they can all try to drive the same channel. The priority system decides which one wins, one channel at a time.Every channel in every universe is evaluated independently. On each output frame the engine asks the same question for each channel: which active layer has the highest priority for this channel? The value from that layer is what gets sent to the fixture.You'll usually only notice the layering on channels that more than one feature wants to drive - typically a fixture's dimmer (touched by the show, Blackout, Blinder, Strobe, effects and your manual faders) or its colour (touched by colour effects, the show and your overrides). Most channels are only driven by one thing at a time, so the layering is invisible.Priority numbers run from 0 (highest priority - wins everything) to 100 (lowest - used only when nothing else is active). Where layers share a priority number they cover different channel types, so they don't actually compete with each other. ## The Six Priority Groups Layers are organised into six groups by purpose. The group decides roughly when the layer wins: overrides come first because they represent something the operator is doing right now, and default values come last as a safety net for channels nothing else is touching.GroupPriorityWhat it coversOverrides0 – 15Anything the operator is touching live: external DMX input, MIDI/OSC, Lamp Control, the manual fader bank, Macro Faders, and Live Edits.Effects19 – 24Big-picture lighting moments - Blackout, Blinder, Strobe, Fog, plus Effect and Special Effect cues.Preview34The preview output from the Cue Editor while you're auditioning a cue before saving.Show35The active show or cue stack playing back.FX40Cue output broken out by channel type - Position, Colour, Beam intensity, and Beam Attributes. These four sub-layers don't conflict because each one only writes to its own type of channel.Wheels90Slow-moving wheel and option channels - Gobo, Prism, Options Cycle, and Auxiliary. Like FX, these split across different channels so they don't compete.Default100The channel's home value from the fixture profile, used only when nothing else is touching it. ## Full Layer Reference (Highest to Lowest Priority) The table below lists every layer in priority order. Lower number = higher priority.#LayerGroupWhat activates it0DMX InputOverridesIncoming Art-Net or sACN data from an external console or another lighting system being passed through DMXDesktop.5MIDI / OSCOverridesA MIDI or OSC binding driving a single DMX channel from a hardware controller.8Lamp ControlOverridesStrike or Douse commands sent from the Lamp Control button on a group (discharge fixtures only).10Manual OverridesOverridesA channel value you've dragged or locked in Live Controls, the DMX Table, or any single-channel control.14Macro FadersOverridesA Macro Fader's current position - either dragged in the UI or moved by a bound MIDI fader.15Live EditsOverridesA saved Live Edit snapshot that's currently active.19Special EffectEffectsA pre-programmed whole-rig effect cue (Wave, Aurora, Paparazzi, Fire, etc.).20BlackoutEffectsThe Blackout button on Live Controls (or a Blackout cue) - forces fixture intensities to 0.21BlinderEffectsThe Blinder button - flashes fixture intensities to full.22EffectEffectsA generic Effect-type cue applying a programmed effect to selected fixtures.23StrobeEffectsThe Strobe button or a Strobe cue - rapid on/off pulsing of fixture intensities.24FogEffectsThe Fog button or a Fog cue - drives fog and haze machine channels.34PreviewPreviewLive output from the Cue Editor while you're auditioning a cue before saving it.35ShowShowThe active show - your DJ-mode lighting timeline, cue stack playback, or whatever your main programme is.40PositionFXCue output for pan/tilt channels (movement effects, position presets).40ColourFXCue output for colour channels (RGB, CMY, colour wheel).40BeamFXCue output for beam intensity (dimmer) channels.40Beam AttributesFXCue output for non-intensity beam channels - zoom, focus, iris, frost, shutter and similar.90GoboWheelsGobo wheel selection - set manually or driven by a gobo-cycling auxiliary effect.90PrismWheelsPrism wheel selection - set manually or driven by a prism-cycling auxiliary effect.90Options CycleWheelsCycling through option channels such as auto-programs, animation wheels, or macro patterns.90AuxiliaryWheelsAuxiliary channel overrides - anything that doesn't fit the other categories (zoom holds, iris holds, focus, energy or BPM-driven channels).100Default ValuesDefaultThe channel's home value from the fixture profile. Used only when no other layer is touching the channel. ## Worked Examples Example 1 - Manual fader vs the showYou're running a show with a programmed look. You grab the dimmer fader for one fixture in Live Controls and pull it down to 30%.The Show layer (priority 35) is sending the programmed dimmer value.Your manual move writes to the Manual Overrides layer (priority 10).10 beats 35, so your value wins. The fixture stays at 30% until you release the override.Example 2 - Blackout while an effect is runningAn Effect cue is running a colour chase, and you hit Blackout.The Effect cue writes to the Colour layer (priority 40) and the Beam layer (40).Blackout writes intensity 0 to the Blackout layer (priority 20).For dimmer channels, Blackout (20) beats Beam (40) β†’ fixtures go dark.The colour channels are still being driven by the Effect layer because Blackout doesn't touch them - but you can't see colour without intensity, so the visible result is "everything off". Release Blackout and the chase is exactly where it was.Example 3 - An external console takes overAnother console is feeding Art-Net into DMXDesktop on the same universes as your show.DMX Input is priority 0 - the highest possible.For any channel the external console is sending, that value wins over everything: show, effects, manual overrides, blackout, the lot.For channels the external console isn't sending, your show continues to drive them as normal.Example 4 - Two FX layers at the same priorityA cue is running a Movement effect (Position) and a Colour chase (Colour) at the same time.Both sub-layers sit at priority 40.They don't conflict because Position only writes to pan/tilt channels and Colour only writes to colour channels - different channels entirely. ## When a Channel Isn't Behaving as Expected If a fixture or channel isn't doing what you expect, walk down the priority list and ask "is anything at this level active for this channel?". The first match is the cause.Is an external console connected and sending DMX? DMX Input (priority 0) beats everything.Is there a MIDI or OSC binding on that channel? Priority 5 - check Settings β†’ MIDI Config for any bindings on the fixture's channels.Is Lamp Control mid-strike or mid-douse? Priority 8 - holds for a few seconds after you press the button.Is the channel manually locked or pulled in Live Controls? Priority 10 - the most common reason a channel "won't respond" to the show. Release the override on the channel to drop it.Is a Macro Fader bound to that channel? Priority 14 - check the Macro Faders panel for active faders covering this fixture.Is a Live Edit active? Priority 15 - clear it from the Live Edits panel.Is Blackout, Blinder, Strobe, or Fog engaged? Priorities 20 – 24 - check the Live Controls bar.Is the Cue Editor previewing a cue? Priority 34 - close the preview.Is the show or cue stack playing? Priority 35.If nothing above is active and the fixture is still sitting at a non-zero value, that value is coming from the channel's default in the fixture profile (priority 100). Edit the profile to change it. ## Seeing It Live: the Sources View Everything above describes the rule. From v1.0.52 the Output window can draw it for you as a picture of the rig right now.The Sources view puts every source acting on the rig down one side, in the order they take precedence, and the groups they are acting on down the other. A line between them says what that source is actually achieving on that group. 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, just the whole picture at once.It answers the question this article answers in words, but in one glance:Which sources are live at this moment, and in what order.Which groups each one is reaching.What is being stopped, and by what.The case it was built for is the one that is hardest to find by hand: a group that stays dark through a whole show because an unrelated Live Edit is quietly holding its colours at zero. In the priority table that is Live Edits at 15 beating the FX layers at 40. In the Sources view it is one broken line with a name on it.Live Edits, Blackout and Dark On SilenceOne consequence of the order is worth knowing on its own. Live Edits (15) sit above Blackout (20), and Live Edits are not affected by Dark On Silence, because a Live Edit sets its values directly rather than through effects, and Dark On Silence is what dims effects.That is what makes a Live Edit a reliable standby look. A fallback cue is built from effects and will be dimmed away when Dark On Silence engages; a Live Edit stays where you put it. See Live Edits and Dark On Silence.A note on DMX InputDMX Input is priority 0, the top of the whole stack, and it is a Pro feature rather than something reserved for later. Receiving Art-Net or sACN from another console or a show-control system is configured in the Unified DMX I/O table. See Unified DMX I/O. ## FAQ Why does a lower number mean higher priority?Think of priority numbers as a queue position - 0 is at the front of the queue, 100 is at the back. The first layer in the queue with an active value wins.Multiple layers share priority 40 (Position, Colour, Beam, Beam Attributes). What happens if they fight?They can't. Each sub-layer only writes to its own type of channel - a dimmer channel never receives a value from the Colour layer, a pan channel never receives a value from the Beam layer. Sharing a priority number just means they're equally important within the FX group.Same question for the four wheel layers at priority 90.Same answer. Gobo, Prism, Options Cycle, and Auxiliary each write to their own channel types.If two cues both write to the same channel, which wins?Within a single layer, the most recent value wins. Across layers, the priority number wins first.I want a channel to ignore everything except the show. Can I do that?The priority order itself is fixed, but you can prevent conflicts by not engaging the overriding feature on that channel - don't bind MIDI to it, don't pull a manual fader on it, and don't include it in any Live Edit or Macro Fader.Is DMX Input really available, or is it reserved?It is available, on Pro. Art-Net and sACN receive are configured in the Unified DMX I/O table. --- # DMX Crossfader Logic https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/crossfader-logic The DMX crossfader is a winner-takes-all system. At any given moment, exactly one deck is selected as the DMX master. Only that deck's lighting show plays. There is no blending or interpolation of DMX values between decks.Four inputs combine to determine which deck wins:Crossfader position - the primary left/right signalDeck play state - whether each deck is actively playingDeck audio output level - the post-fader audio level (what actually comes out after the channel fader is applied), used as a tiebreaker in the center zonePlayback duration - how long the deck has been playing, used as a final tiebreakerImportantThe channel fader (deck volume) influences master deck selection indirectly in the center zone - because it reduces the deck's audio output level, which is what the tiebreaker reads. However, the channel fader does not scale the DMX output values of the winning deck. DMX brightness is controlled separately by a global master dimmer. In the left and right zones, the channel fader has zero influence on deck selection at all. ## Terminology TermMeaningCrossfader position0.0 = full left, 1.0 = full right, 0.5 = centerLeft deckThe deck assigned to the left side of the crossfaderRight deckThe deck assigned to the right side of the crossfaderPlayingThe deck is actively playing (transport running, track loaded)ActiveThe deck has a track loaded, whether playing or notLevelThe deck's post-fader audio output level - the signal after the channel fader is applied. Turning the channel fader down lowers this value. Used only in the center zone.Channel faderThe per-deck volume fader on the mixer. Affects audio level and therefore influences center-zone deck selection indirectly. Does not affect DMX output values directly.Master deckThe single deck whose lighting show is currently driving DMX outputDisable crossfaderA setting that ignores crossfader position and forces center-zone logic ## Deck Side Assignment In 2-deck mode:Left side = Deck 1Right side = Deck 2In 4-deck mode:Left side = Deck 3 (if Deck 3 is playing and Deck 1 is not), otherwise Deck 1Right side = Deck 4 (if Deck 4 is playing and Deck 2 is not), otherwise Deck 2 ## Crossfader Zones LEFT ZONE0.0 - 0.40CENTER0.40 - 0.60RIGHT ZONE0.60 - 1.00.00.400.601.0Center zone width: Β±0.10 either side of 0.5 ## Master Deck Selection Logic LEFT Zone (position ≀ 0.40)Is the left deck playing?YESβ†’ Left deck winsNOβ†’ Is the right deck playing?YESβ†’ Right deck wins (playing beats stopped)NOβ†’ Is the left deck active (track loaded)?YESβ†’ Left deck winsNOβ†’ No master deck (show stops)RIGHT Zone (position β‰₯ 0.60)Is the right deck playing?YESβ†’ Right deck winsNOβ†’ Is the left deck playing?YESβ†’ Left deck wins (playing beats stopped)NOβ†’ Is the right deck active (track loaded)?YESβ†’ Right deck winsNOβ†’ No master deck (show stops)CENTER Zone (0.40 < position < 0.60)The crossfader position is ignored. The winning deck is determined by audio level, play state, and playback duration - in that priority order.Step 1 - Find the loudest deck(s)Collect the current audio level of each active deck.Identify the highest level.Group all decks within a 0.05 tolerance of that highest level β†’ "tied decks"Step 2 - Resolve ties among loudest decksIf only one deck is loudest:Is it playing?YESβ†’ That deck winsNOβ†’ Continue to Step 3If multiple decks are tied for loudest:Find which of the tied decks are playing:Exactly 1 playing β†’ that deck winsMultiple playing β†’ the one playing longest wins (highest elapsed time)None playing β†’ the tied deck with the lowest deck number winsStep 3 - Fallback (no level data, or loudest deck is not playing)Count how many decks are playing:Exactly 1 β†’ that deck winsMultiple β†’ the one playing longest wins (highest elapsed time); tie on time β†’ lower deck number wins (1 beats 2, 2 beats 3, etc.)None β†’ no master deck (show stops) ## When the Crossfader Is Disabled When the Disable Crossfader setting is enabled, the system ignores whatever position value is being received from the connected DJ software - whether from VirtualDJ, Traktor, or any other source - and forces the position to 0.5 (center) for every calculation.This means:Center zone logic applies at all timesThe deck with the highest audio level winsIf levels are tied, the playing deck wins; if both playing and tied, the longer-playing deck winsMoving the physical crossfader or sending crossfader automation has no effect on which deck drives the lightsThis is useful when the user wants lighting to follow audio energy rather than crossfader position, or when using the crossfader purely for audio mixing without it influencing the lighting. ## Full Decision Matrix Crossfader settingCrossfader positionLeft deck stateRight deck stateDMX masterNormal≀ 0.40 (left)PlayingAnyLeftNormal≀ 0.40 (left)Stopped / no trackPlayingRight (playing overrides position)Normal≀ 0.40 (left)Stopped, track loadedStopped / no trackLeftNormal≀ 0.40 (left)No trackNo trackNone - show stopsNormalβ‰₯ 0.60 (right)AnyPlayingRightNormalβ‰₯ 0.60 (right)PlayingStopped / no trackLeft (playing overrides position)Normalβ‰₯ 0.60 (right)Stopped / no trackStopped, track loadedRightNormalβ‰₯ 0.60 (right)No trackNo trackNone - show stopsNormal0.40–0.60 (center)Playing, louderPlaying, quieterLeft (higher level)Normal0.40–0.60 (center)Playing, quieterPlaying, louderRight (higher level)Normal0.40–0.60 (center)Playing, equal levelPlaying, equal level, shorter timeLeft (playing longer)Normal0.40–0.60 (center)Playing, equal level, shorter timePlaying, equal levelRight (playing longer)Normal0.40–0.60 (center)StoppedPlayingRightNormal0.40–0.60 (center)PlayingStoppedLeftNormal0.40–0.60 (center)Neither playingNeither playingNone - show stopsDisabledAny (input ignored)Playing, louderPlaying, quieterLeft (center-zone rules always)DisabledAny (input ignored)Playing, quieterPlaying, louderRight (center-zone rules always)DisabledAny (input ignored)PlayingStoppedLeftDisabledAny (input ignored)StoppedPlayingRightDisabledAny (input ignored)Neither playingNeither playingNone - show stops ## Key Rules Summary Winner-takes-all - one deck drives DMX entirely, no blending.Playing beats stopped - in left/right zones, if the favored deck is stopped but the opposite deck is playing, the playing deck wins regardless of crossfader position.Level breaks ties in the center - the deck outputting the loudest post-fader audio signal wins. Because this is post-fader, turning the channel fader down reduces a deck's chances of winning in the center zone.Channel faders only matter in the center zone - in the left or right zones, the channel fader has zero influence on which deck wins. Only crossfader position and play state decide.Playback duration is the final tiebreaker - if levels are equal and both are playing, the deck that has been playing longer wins.Deck number is the last resort - lower number always wins (Deck 1 > Deck 2 > Deck 3 > Deck 4).Disabling the crossfader freezes position at center - all incoming crossfader data from any connected DJ software is ignored; center-zone logic applies permanently.Channel faders do not scale DMX output - they only influence deck selection indirectly via audio level. The actual DMX brightness of the winning deck is controlled by a separate global master dimmer and optional per-group dimmers. ## Fixed: a deck could start silent After moving the crossfader, the next track could begin playing with no sound at all. Fixed in v1.0.52. --- # Lamp Control - Managing Discharge Lamp Strike & Douse https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/lamp-control DMXDesktop supports dedicated Lamp Control for managing discharge lamp Strike (turn on) and Douse (turn off) commands on beam fixtures with gas-discharge lamps (7R, 10R, 15R, etc.). This is channel type 139 ("Lamp").Discharge lamps (Clay Paky Sharpy, Robe Pointe, Martin MAC Viper, etc.) are fundamentally different from LED fixtures. They contain a gas-filled arc tube that must be explicitly "struck" to ignite and "doused" to turn off. This is independent of the dimmer - the dimmer on discharge fixtures is typically a mechanical shutter, while the lamp itself stays lit even at 0% intensity. Operators need to strike/douse lamps at specific times during events (e.g., strike 10 minutes before the show, douse during breaks) to preserve bulb life - discharge lamps have finite lifespans of 750–2000 hours. ## What Are Discharge Lamps? Discharge lamps use a gas-filled arc tube to produce light - fundamentally different from LEDs. They must be explicitly struck (ignited) and doused (extinguished) via dedicated DMX commands.Common fixtures with discharge lamps include:Clay Paky Sharpy (7R beam) - dedicated Lamp Control channelRobe Robin Pointe - shared "Power/Special Functions" channel with Lamp On at DMX 130–139 and Lamp Off at DMX 230–239Martin MAC Viper ProfileElation Platinum Beam 5RChauvet Intimidator Beam 355 IRCAny moving head or spot fixture with a discharge (non-LED) lamp sourceDo I need this for LED fixtures? No - LED fixtures don't have discharge lamps and don't need Strike/Douse commands. ## Setting Up Lamp Control Lamp channels can be set up in two ways:GDTF Import: When you import a GDTF fixture profile, the LampControl attribute is automatically detected and mapped to the Lamp channel type. Hold times are extracted from the profile when available.Manual Setup: You can add a Lamp channel to any fixture profile via the Channel Editor. Select channel type "Lamp" and configure the option steps to match your fixture's DMX chart.Option ModesThe Lamp channel supports six preset types:PresetValueDescriptionNo FunctionoffDefault/safe stateLamp OnonStrike the lamp (ignite)Lamp OfflampoffDouse the lamp (extinguish)Lamp StrikestrikeAlternative strike command (some fixtures differentiate strike vs on)StandbystandbyLow-power standby modeOtherotherManufacturer-specific functions ## Configuring Hold Times in the Channel Editor Each Lamp option step has a configurable hold time (in seconds). This is how long the DMX value must be held on the control channel before the fixture executes the command. Most fixtures require 3–5 seconds.When editing a Lamp channel in Step Mode:Each option step has a "Hold" field (in seconds) next to the Enabled/Default togglesThe hold time defines how long DMXDesktop will hold the DMX command before releasingLeave empty to use the default (3 seconds) ## Using Strike/Douse from the Group Layout In the Arrangement tab β†’ Group Layout, groups containing fixtures with Lamp channels show a yellow power button in the group header (next to the Identify button).Clicking it shows Strike (green) and Douse (red) buttons. The command is sent to ALL lamp fixtures in the group simultaneously.What Happens When You Click Strike/DouseDMXDesktop sets the control channel to the correct DMX value on all lamp fixtures in the groupHolds that value for the configured hold time (typically 3 seconds)Automatically releases the channel back to normalWhile a command is in progress, clicking the button shows the status with a Cancel option. Only one lamp command can run at a time - starting a new command cancels any in-progress command. ## FAQ Do I need this for LED fixtures?No - LED fixtures don't have discharge lamps. They turn on and off with the dimmer channel. Lamp Control is only for fixtures with gas-discharge lamp sources.What happens if I strike a hot lamp?This depends on the fixture. Most discharge lamps have a "hot re-strike" time - after being doused, they need a cooling period (typically 5–15 minutes) before they can be struck again. Attempting to strike a hot lamp usually just results in a longer ignition time rather than damage.Can I automate strike/douse in cues?Not yet - Lamp Control is currently manual only, triggered from the Group Layout. Cue-based automation is planned for a future update. --- # Chauvet DJ DMX-AN2 Setup Guide https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/chauvet-dmx-an2 The Chauvet DJ DMX-AN2 is a two-port Art-Net and sACN node. It takes lighting data from your computer over Ethernet and puts it out on two 3-pin XLR DMX lines. This guide takes a factory-fresh AN2 all the way to a working two-universe sACN rig in DMXDesktop, on Windows and on macOS.Set aside about ten minutes. You need an Ethernet cable, the AN2 power supply, and DMXDesktop. ## Before You Start What you needA Chauvet DJ DMX-AN2 with its power supply, or a Power over Ethernet sourceOne Ethernet cable, run directly between the AN2 and your computerDMXDesktop v1.0.50 or later, where Art-Net, sACN and USB DMX all share the one DMX I/O tableLicence requirementThe AN2 has two DMX ports, so driving both of them means running two universes. Universe capacity follows your licence: Free covers one universe, Standard covers two, and Pro goes far beyond that. On a Free licence the AN2 still works, but only one of its two DMX ports will carry data. See pricing for the full breakdown.Feeding DMX back into DMXDesktop, by setting an AN2 port to Input, is a Pro feature. Everything else in this guide is output only. ## Step 1: Connect the Node Plug the AN2 straight into an Ethernet port on your computer. On a Mac with no built-in port, a USB-C or Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter is fine. Power the node from its supplied adapter or from a PoE switch.Use a direct cable for this first configuration. Going through a venue or office network makes first contact harder than it needs to be, because the AN2 arrives on an address that almost certainly does not match that network. ## Step 2: Give Your Computer a Temporary IP Address A factory AN2 sits at 2.0.0.1. Your computer cannot reach it until it holds an address in the same range, so set a temporary manual address before anything else.Do not give your computer 2.0.0.1. That address belongs to the AN2, and assigning it to both creates a conflict where neither is reachable.SettingTemporary valueIP address2.0.0.2Subnet mask255.0.0.0Router / default gatewayLeave emptyDNSLeave emptyWindowsOpen Settings β†’ Network & Internet β†’ Advanced network settings. Pick the Ethernet adapter the AN2 is plugged into, open its IP assignment settings, switch to Manual, turn IPv4 on, and enter the values above.macOSOpen Apple menu β†’ System Settings β†’ Network. Select the Ethernet service, click Details, open TCP/IP, set Configure IPv4 to Manually, and enter the values above.This link carries lighting data only, so it needs no gateway and no DNS server. ## Step 3: Open the AN2 Web Interface Browse to http://2.0.0.1. Sign in with Admin as both the user name and the password.If the password has been changed and then forgotten, CHAUVETDJ works as both user name and password. Treat that as a recovery route rather than the everyday login.If the page will not loadDisconnect any VPN. VPN clients frequently capture the whole 2.x range and swallow the request.Turn Wi-Fi off for a moment, so your computer stops trying to route 2.0.0.1 through a different adapter.Confirm the Ethernet service is genuinely connected and is holding 2.0.0.2. ## Step 4: Move the AN2 to a Permanent Address The factory 2.x range is unusual and easy to collide with later. A small private subnet on a dedicated cable is tidier and easier to remember:DeviceIP addressSubnet maskGatewayComputer Ethernet10.20.0.1255.255.255.0Leave emptyDMX-AN210.20.0.2255.255.255.0Empty, or 0.0.0.0Why 10.x rather than 192.168.x? Chauvet's documentation states that the AN2's Art-Net function only works on addresses beginning with 2 or 10. Staying on 10.x keeps the door open if you ever switch a port over to Art-Net.In the AN2 web page, set IP Mode to Manual IP, IP Address to 10.20.0.2, Net Mask to 255.255.255.0, and leave Default Gateway empty (enter 0.0.0.0 if the field insists on a value). Click Apply.The page will stop responding at that point. That is expected: the node has moved to the new subnet and your computer has not followed it yet. Change your Ethernet adapter to 10.20.0.1 with the same mask, then reopen the configuration page at http://10.20.0.2. ## Step 5: Set Both DMX Ports to sACN Use sACN on both ports. It carries exactly the same lighting data as Art-Net, and its universe numbering starts at 1, which removes the single most common source of confusion when patching a node.AN2 settingDMX Port ADMX Port BPort StatusOutputOutputProtocolsACNsACNFrame Rate40 Hz40 HzUniverse12Click Apply. The AN2 offers frame rates down to 10 Hz, but 40 Hz is the fastest setting it has and the one to use for smooth fades and clean movement. ## Step 6: Configure DMX I/O in DMXDesktop Open Settings β†’ DMX I/O. The table columns are Uni, Dir, Driver, Target, Out Uni, Priority, Merge, Status and Enable.On Standard, the rows you need are usually already sitting there, switched off. When a stage has no drivers configured yet, DMXDesktop lays out Art-Net, sACN and USB rows for universes 1 and 2 in advance. Find the two sACN rows and turn Enable on rather than adding duplicates. On Pro, universe 1 is laid out for you and the Add Driver button covers whatever else you need.ColumnPort A rowPort B rowUni12DirOutputOutputDriversACNsACNTargetMulticast onMulticast onOut Uni12Priority100100EnableOnOnYou never type the AN2's IP address. With Multicast on, DMXDesktop derives the destination group from the Out Uni value, and the AN2 picks up whichever universes its ports have been told to listen for. Priority starts at 100 and can be set anywhere from 1 to 200 if you ever run a second source against the same universe.Your edits are staged, not applied as you type. The Save Changes button shows a count of everything pending, and nothing reaches the wire until you click it. If two rows would send the same universe to the same place, that button turns into Fix clashing rows until you resolve it.Last step: patch the fixtures on Port A to Universe 1 and the fixtures on Port B to Universe 2. ## Universe Numbering: sACN and Art-Net This detail catches out more rigs than any other setting on a node.sACN starts at 1. Set the AN2 ports to Universe 1 and Universe 2 and match them in DMXDesktop. Nothing is shifted anywhere.Art-Net starts at 0. DMXDesktop always presents universes to you as 1, 2, 3 and so on, and converts on the way out, so user-facing Universe 1 leaves as Art-Net Universe 0.So if you later switch the AN2 to Art-Net, its Universe fields become 0 and 1 for the same two universes. On sACN they stay 1 and 2. Entering 0 and 1 for sACN is the classic mistake, and it leaves Port A silent.New in v1.0.52: universe numbers above 64 can now be used, so you can match the numbering your rig or venue already uses. This is about the numbers you are allowed to enter, not about how many universes your plan includes.If a port stays dark after all of this, DMX Doctor checks the whole chain, from your fixture setup to what is actually going out. ## Firewall and Network Permissions WindowsWhen Windows asks whether DMXDesktop may communicate on the network, allow it on Private networks. If nothing reaches the node, check that the dedicated Ethernet adapter is classified as Private and that DMXDesktop is permitted through Windows Defender Firewall.macOSClick Allow when macOS asks whether DMXDesktop may find devices on your local network. You can confirm or restore it later under System Settings β†’ Privacy & Security β†’ Local Network. ## Troubleshooting You switched the rows on and nothing changed. Check the Save Changes button. Row edits stay pending until you save them.Nothing is going out at all. Check the Status column in DMX I/O. A failing output shows you the exact error there, and a row that is enabled but idle simply is not being fed, so confirm your fixtures are patched on that universe.One port works, the other does not. Nine times out of ten this is universe capacity. Free covers one universe. On Standard or Pro, confirm both sACN rows show Enable switched on.Fixtures respond on the wrong port. The AN2's port Universe number and the DMXDesktop Out Uni value have to agree. A port set to Universe 1 listens for sACN universe 1 and nothing else.Everything looks correct but nothing moves. Multicast traffic gets blocked more often than people expect. Confirm the firewall allows DMXDesktop, and take VPN software out of the picture while you test.You cannot reach the node after changing its address. Your computer and the AN2 have to share a subnet. Set your Ethernet adapter back to 2.0.0.2 / 255.0.0.0 in case the address change never applied, and try http://2.0.0.1 again.The AN2 web page rejects your login. Use CHAUVETDJ as both user name and password to get back in, then set a password you will keep. ## Final Configuration Checklist Computer Ethernet: 10.20.0.1 / 255.255.255.0, no gatewayDMX-AN2: 10.20.0.2 / 255.255.255.0, no gatewayAN2 Port A: sACN, Output, Universe 1, 40 HzAN2 Port B: sACN, Output, Universe 2, 40 HzDMXDesktop: two sACN output rows, Uni 1 / Out Uni 1 and Uni 2 / Out Uni 2, Multicast on, both enabledFixtures patched to Universe 1 (Port A) and Universe 2 (Port B)With that in place, raise a dimmer or run a test pattern on each universe. The AN2's Ethernet and DMX indicators should flash while DMXDesktop is transmitting. ## Printable PDF Version The same walkthrough as a short PDF, handy to take to a venue:Chauvet DJ DMX-AN2 setup for Windows (PDF)Chauvet DJ DMX-AN2 setup for macOS (PDF)The PDFs are English only. This page is always the current version. --- # DMX Doctor https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/dmx-doctor DMX Doctor is the first place to look when something is not working. It sits in the main header, where the old Health tab used to be, and it checks the whole chain: your fixture setup, the desk itself, and what is actually reaching your lights.Most of what it finds it can fix for you in one click, across many fixtures at once, and anything it applies can be undone. This article covers what it checks, how to read a finding, and what it says about the problems people hit most often. If you are in a hurry, the table of common problems at the end is the short version. ## 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.CheckWhat a failure meansWhere it sends youInternetThe app cannot reach the DMXDesktop cloud. Your show keeps running.Retry connectionAccountYou are not signed in.Sign inLicenceExpired, unverified at startup, or no active licence on this machine. Output stops.My AccountEngineThe lighting engine has not started, so nothing can be sent.RetryDriversNo output driver is transmitting. Nothing is going out on the wire.DMX I/OLicence, 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 saysWhat it meansChannel name does not match its channel typeThe 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 lampColour 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 identicalA 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 redA 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 universeThe start address plus the channel count runs past channel 512. Re-address the fixture, or move it to another universe.Fixture has no drivable outputNo drivable or physical output channel at all, so effects and cues have nothing to drive on it.Fine channel has no coarse pairA 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 definedA 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 drivenThe 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 rangesA Shutter or Rotation channel with no option ranges defined. See the section below, because this one changed in v1.0.52.Fixture profile contradicts itselfThe 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 saysWhat it usually isYour DMX interface stopped respondingThe 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 startAn 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 readA 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 disappearedThe 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 unexpectedlyThe 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 allSome fixtures are darkOne fixture is dark or wrongLights work but automation does nothingThe wrong thing happensFrom 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.SymptomWhat you will seeWhat to doNothing lights up at allThe Drivers check red, no drivers transmittingOpen DMX I/O and enable or add an output.Drivers are green and it is still darkMaster Dimmer is at 0Press Raise master. This is the master, not your licence.The rig went dark between tracks, then came backOutput is darkened because the room went quietDark 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 obeysA live control is overriding this fixture, naming what is holding itClear the control it names. A fader dragged to zero is still an override.A fixture is dark and nothing in the checks explains itNo fixture findings, all five system checks passingUse 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 missingChannel name does not match its channel type, or Colour set has green and blue but no redUse 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 halfColour segments are not identical, naming the segment and channelCorrect that segment in the fixture profile, or take the Fix where one is offered.Effects do not spread across a bar the way they shouldFixture profile contradicts itself, or Colour channels belong to no lampThe lamp grouping and the pixel layout disagree. Correct whichever of the two is wrong.A strobe closes the fixture instead of strobing itOptions channel could define its ranges on a Shutter channelDefine the shutter ranges in the profile so the strobe knows which band is the rate.A rotation channel never rotatesOptions channel could define its ranges on a Rotation channelDefine its ranges. Without them the channel sits at its default value.A neighbouring fixture flickers when you drive this oneDMX address does not fit the universe, or two fixtures sharing addressesRe-address the fixture, then re-run the check.A gobo or colour wheel will not select positionsWheel channel has no slots definedAdd the wheel slots to the fixture profile.Movement is not as smooth as it should beFine channel has no coarse pairPair the fine channel with its coarse channel in the profile, or drop to 8-bit.A laser cannot be blacked outLaser has no kill/blackout path, reported as an errorTreat 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 nowRecent problems: Your DMX interface stopped respondingReseat 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 nothingDeep network scan flags the firewall or the adapterTake the firewall fix, or correct the adapter and subnet in DMX I/O.Nothing reacts to the music any moreRecent problems: Your audio input disappearedReselect 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. --- # Milkdrop-compatible Visuals in the Video Window https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/milkdrop DMXDesktop's Video Window can render Milkdrop-compatible presets through Butterchurn, driven by the same live audio that drives your lights. This article covers switching it on, choosing presets, building playlists, importing your own .milk files, and the two ways the rotation can be made to follow the music. For the overview, see Milkdrop visuals. ## What you need DMXDesktop v1.0.52 or later.A Standard or Pro subscription. The Video tab is not available on the Free plan.An audio source DMXDesktop can hear. Anything that already drives beat detection will drive the visuals. See Audio configuration.A second display is optional but recommended. The video window is an ordinary window and can go on a projector, a TV, an LED processor input or a capture card. ## Switch on the Milkdrop-compatible engine Go to Console, then the Video tab, then Patterns.Turn on Milkdrop-compatible engine (Butterchurn).The preset list changes from the built-in patterns to the Milkdrop library. The two engines have separate preset sets, so your built-in pattern selection is kept and comes back if you switch the toggle off again.Next to the toggle are two pickers. Audio should stay on Live audio (auto) in normal use. Device is for rigs where the DJ master goes to a dedicated interface rather than the default output: choose that output here and the visualizer captures from it. ## Choosing which presets rotate 100 presets are bundled. Each has a checkbox, and the ticked ones are what rotates.Grid or list. The two buttons next to the sort dropdown switch between a thumbnail grid and a compact list. The grid is the fast way to choose, because a Milkdrop preset name tells you very little about what the preset looks like.Search. Type in the search box to filter the library by name.Filter buttons. All, Built-in and Imported. Your last choice is remembered between sessions.Sort. By name, by colour or by movement. Presets with no preview generated yet always sort last, so sorting never hides what is already there.Select all and Deselect all. The quick way to audition: deselect all, then tick the handful you are testing.Everything on this panel applies instantly to an open video window. The LIVE badge on the Pattern Rotation panel is there to confirm it. Nothing needs the window closed and reopened. ## Previews, and pausing them Grid thumbnails are generated in the background, one at a time, and kept once made. A preset you scroll to is prioritised over the background sweep, so looking at something never queues behind it.If you would rather it did nothing at all during a show, use the Pause button next to the progress line. Queued presets are kept, so resuming carries on where it stopped rather than starting over. ## Preset playlists The tick grid gives you one rotation. Playlists give you as many named, ordered sets as you want, and you switch between them from the Preset source dropdown at the top of the panel.Playlist from selection. Tick what you want in the grid, click the button, name it. One step.Manage. Opens the playlist manager: create, rename and delete playlists, add presets from the same preview grid, and drag members to reorder them.Import. The manager can import an existing Milkdrop playlist file, a .txt or .m3u list of .milk presets.Missing members. A playlist entry that is not in your current library is greyed rather than removed. It is skipped when playing and kept in case you re-import that preset later.When a playlist is the active source, the checkboxes in the grid mean membership of that playlist rather than the general enabled set, so ticking and unticking edits the list directly. The playlist also appears as a fourth filter button alongside All, Built-in and Imported, showing its name and how many presets it holds. ## Importing your own .milk presets Click Import .milk and pick one or more files. MilkDrop v1 and v2 presets are supported, as .milk and .milk2.Presets that use advanced pixel shaders or unsupported equation features may not import. You get a per-preset report listing exactly which ones failed, so a preset missing from the library is never a mystery.Imported presets appear in the same grid as the bundled ones, are counted under the Imported filter, and each one has a delete button. Bundled presets have no delete button and cannot be removed by accident. ## Cycle Timing Cycle duration is how long a preset holds before the next one loads. The slider steps through fixed stops: 10, 15, 20, 30 and 45 seconds, then 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 15, 30 and 60 minutes, then Never. A random variation of up to 20 percent is applied on top so rotations do not feel metronomic.Preset order chooses between Next preset, which walks the enabled list in order, and Random preset, which jumps around it.Also switch preset on silence (track change) moves the rotation on when the music stops, which in practice means between tracks. Set the cycle duration to Never and leave this switched on, and you get exactly one new look per track. ## Reactive Presets A timer cannot know where the drop is. Reactive Presets switches the preset when a chosen frequency band spikes past a threshold, which is what puts a new look on the drop rather than four bars after it.When. Bass, Mid, Treble or Overall energy. Bass suits dance music; Overall energy suits a live band, where the whole mix lifts together.Spikes above. How big the spike has to be, as a percentage. Raise it for a dense mix, lower it for something sparse.No more than once every. A minimum gap in seconds between reactive switches. This is what stops a busy track flicking through presets. The default is 3 seconds.Reactive Presets works alongside Cycle Timing and switch-on-silence rather than replacing them. All three can advance the rotation, so a slow timed drift that jumps early whenever the music earns it is a valid setup, and a good starting point. ## The video window Launch Window opens it. Drag it to the display you want and full-screen it.Keep window on top is on by default, because a display output should stay visible. Turn it off if you are on a single monitor and it is covering the desk.Show label on change names each preset on screen as it loads. Useful while building a rotation, worth switching off for the show.Patterns: ON / OFF gives you a clean black screen without closing the window. Your preset selection is preserved, so turning patterns back on restores the exact rotation you had.The window remembers which display it was on, its position and whether it was set to stay on top, and the preset filter you were using is remembered too. ## Presets in the 3D Visualizer Milkdrop presets can also render on the screen source inside the 3D Visualizer. If your previz includes an LED wall or a screen, it shows what the real one will be showing rather than a placeholder. ## Troubleshooting The screen is black. Check the Patterns toggle at the top right of the Pattern Rotation panel. Off is a deliberate black screen, not a fault.Nothing is moving. The visuals follow live audio. If DMXDesktop is not hearing anything, check your audio source in Audio configuration, and check the Device picker next to the engine toggle if your audio goes to an interface other than the default output.A preset did not import. Read the import report. Presets using advanced pixel shaders or unsupported equation features are the usual cause.A playlist entry is greyed out. That preset is not in your current library. Re-import it and the entry becomes active again.The window keeps covering the desk. Turn off Keep window on top.There is no Video tab. It needs a Standard or Pro subscription. ## Credits and licensing Milkdrop-compatible rendering is powered by Butterchurn by Jordan Berg, used under the MIT licence. The bundled presets are the work of the MilkDrop preset community and each keeps its author's name.MilkDrop itself is Ryan Geiss's original music visualizer for Winamp. DMXDesktop does not ship MilkDrop. It renders presets written in that format through Butterchurn, an independent open-source engine that reads them.Preset names are shown exactly as their authors wrote them, author prefix included. That prefix is the credit, so DMXDesktop does not tidy it away. --- # Scheduler: unattended, time-based lighting control https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/scheduler The Scheduler runs your rig to a clock and a calendar so an installation or a venue can look after itself. This guide covers what it needs before it will run, how to build a schedule, how sunrise and sunset anchoring works, what the week view is telling you, and how to check a schedule without waiting for it.The Scheduler is a Pro feature. The tab is visible on Free and Standard so you can see what scheduling does and what it needs, but schedules only run on a Pro subscription. Seeing the tab is not a sign that it is running. ## Before you start Four things decide whether a schedule will actually run:A Pro subscription. Schedules save on any tier, but they will not run without Pro. If you save one on Standard the app tells you so.The Scheduler switched on. The toggle is at the top right of the Scheduler tab. While it is off nothing runs, which is deliberate: you can build every schedule first and switch on when you are happy.A site location, if you want sunrise or sunset anchors. Set it on the General tab. Without it, sun-anchored schedules do not run. Every other kind is unaffected.DMXDesktop running. No window has to be open, but the application has to be up. Launch at login and Start minimised to tray, both in General settings, turn that into something a venue never has to think about.The clock shown on the tab is the controller clock, meaning this computer's own clock. If that is wrong, every schedule is wrong with it. ## Switching the Scheduler on Open Settings and go to the Scheduler tab. The master toggle sits at the top right, next to Refresh and Add Schedule. While it reads Off, the panel tells you plainly that nothing will run until you switch it on.The switch is per stage. It belongs to the stage it was set on, at the same scope as the schedules themselves, so a site with a scheduled facade stage and a hand-driven event stage does not have to run the feature on both. Switching stage starts or stops the matching schedule.Refresh re-reads the schedules and redraws the week. Use it after editing schedules in another window. ## Adding a schedule Press Add Schedule. The editor has three parts.Identity. A name, a priority number, and an Enabled switch. The name is what appears in the table and on the bar in the week view, so make it something a stranger would understand.When. Pick one repeat rule:Weekly, then tick the days.Date range, from and to. Both dates are included.Specific dates, added one at a time.Then set Runs from. Start and End each have an anchor of At a time, At sunrise or At sunset. A clock anchor shows a time field; a sun anchor shows an offset in minutes. Start and End must not be identical: that would run the schedule for a whole day rather than for no time at all, and the app blocks it.What it does. Under Play, choose an effect cue, an effect stack, a cue stack, a macro fader or Blackout, or Nothing if you only want the settings underneath. Then, optionally:Master level as a percentage, with a Fade in seconds. The fade is used for the master level and, where the thing being played has a level of its own, for that too. Leave the master level empty to leave the master dimmer where it is.Colour override, chosen from your colour palettes.Position override, a coarse aim such as Centre, Left or Top Right.A master level on its own does nothing, because the master dimmer scales whatever is already running and a schedule set to play nothing is not running anything. Choose something under Play, or set a macro fader position, and the master level applies to it.Put everything back when this schedule ends is on by default. Whatever the schedule started is stopped, a macro fader fades back to zero, any colour or position override is withdrawn, and the master level returns to 100%, all over the fade time above. Switch it off for a look that should simply stay until something else changes it. Either way, if another schedule takes over, that schedule's settings win. ## Anchoring to sunrise or sunset This is the reason most installations want a scheduler at all. A facade set to come on at 17:00 is correct for about three weeks a year. Set the Start anchor to At sunset instead and the window moves with the season on its own.Set the site location on the General tab. DMXDesktop works a position out from this computer's timezone. Turn on Manual Override and enter latitude and longitude in decimal degrees for a venue a long way from the city its timezone is named after, or if the sunset time shown looks wrong. North and east are positive, south and west negative.Check the line underneath, which shows today's sunrise and sunset for that position. If those times are not close to what you see out of the window, one of the two numbers is wrong. A misplaced decimal point or a missing minus sign are the usual causes.In the schedule editor, set Start or End to At sunrise or At sunset and give it an offset in minutes if you want to be on before it is properly dark. Negative is before, positive is after.The location only decides what time the sun rises and sets, so the nearest town is close enough. Being a mile out moves sunset by a couple of seconds. It is entered by hand rather than looked up, so it keeps working on a machine with no network connection.If no location is set, or the saved one is not valid, sun-anchored schedules do not run and the tab says so. Everything else carries on as normal. ## Priority: what wins when two schedules overlap Where two schedules overlap, the higher priority wins. Give a one-off override a higher number than the daily look it replaces.A worked example. A daily House Lights schedule at priority 10 runs sunset to 01:00 every day. A Private Hire schedule at priority 50 runs 19:00 to 23:00 on one date only. On that date the private hire look takes the rig for its four hours and the daily look picks it back up afterwards. Nothing has to be disabled and nothing has to be put back by hand.The week view colours bars by priority band, so you can see the shape of the layering at a glance. ## Reading the This week view The week view draws each day as a 24 hour row with a bar for every schedule that falls on it, coloured by priority band.Each bar is one schedule's own window, so an override sitting on top of a daily look shows as two bars rather than one. The thin strip under each day is what will actually run once priority has been applied. If you only read one thing on the panel, read the strip.A vertical line marks the current time on today's row. ## Default look and Startup look These two are configured in their own panels rather than in the schedules table, because neither has a repeat rule. There can only be one of each: if you add a second, the app tells you to edit the first, because only the first is ever used.Default look. What runs whenever no schedule applies. Without one the Scheduler asserts nothing between windows and the rig keeps whatever it had. On a permanent install that is usually not what you want, so set one.Startup look. Asserted the moment the application has finished starting, so the rig comes up on something known rather than on whatever it was left on. It hands over to the Default look, or to a schedule if one is already due. Combined with Launch at login and Start minimised to tray, that is a venue that comes back on its own after a power cut.In v1.0.52 the Startup look was fixed: it could previously lose a race with the lighting engine and never appear at all. ## Closure dates Add the calendar days the venue is closed, with a reason if you want one so the next person knows why the lights are behaving differently. On a closure date no schedule runs and the Default look takes over. A window that started the evening before stops at midnight rather than running out its tail.Remove a closure date and schedules run normally on that day again. ## Simulate: checking a schedule without waiting Pick any date and time in the Simulate panel and press Preview. It tells you what would run at that moment. Nothing is sent to the lights.The test worth doing on any sun-anchored schedule is a date in midwinter and one in midsummer. The same schedule should move by hours between the two without any edit. If it does not, the site location is the first thing to check.Simulate also tells you when the answer is nothing at all: no window applies and no Default look is set, so the rig would keep whatever it already had. ## When the Scheduler stands down The moment anyone takes the rig by hand, from a fader, a controller pad or the mobile remote, the Scheduler stops changing the lights. It does not fight the operator and it does not wait for a timeout.A banner then appears in every window: Scheduler suspended, it will not change the lights until you resume it. The banner carries a Resume button, and there is a Resume button on the Scheduler tab as well. Until you press one of them the Scheduler leaves the rig alone.This is the behaviour to point at when a venue worries that a schedule will override staff mid-shift. It will not. ## Common messages and what they mean Saved, but the scheduler is not running. It needs a Pro licence. The schedule is stored and will run as soon as the subscription allows it.No location set. Schedules anchored to sunrise or sunset will not run. Set the site location on the General tab. Clock-based schedules are unaffected.There is already a Default look (or Startup look). Only the first is ever used. Edit that one instead of adding a second, and delete any extras.These schedules point at an effect cue that no longer exists. The cue was deleted after the schedule was made. Edit the schedule and pick a cue that still exists, or the window will do nothing when its time comes. The same warning appears for macro faders.The start and the end are the same. That would run the schedule for a whole day rather than for no time at all, so change one of them.That is not something the scheduler can play unattended. Pick a different target under Play.Scheduler switched off. Nothing was changed on the lights. Switching the feature off never moves the rig. It stops asserting, and the lights stay where they are. ## Scheduling is per stage Schedules belong to the stage they were created on, and from v1.0.52 so does the Scheduler's on/off switch. This matters on any site with more than one stage: a scheduled facade stage and a hand-driven event stage can sit in the same show, each with its own answer to whether scheduling is on. Switching stage starts or stops the schedule to match.If a schedule you expected is not running, check which stage is active before checking anything else. --- # Show Timeline: Building a Programmed Light Show https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/show-timeline The Show Timeline is DMXDesktop's timeline editor: one row per fixture group, clips drawn along the length of a track, and playback that runs the same way every time. This guide covers building a show from an empty grid, dropping in effect cues you have already made, using your own recorded mover positions and movements, and the settings that decide how the lights get from one place to the next.Timeline features are on the Standard and Pro plans. ## Opening the Timeline Editor The Show Timeline lives in DJ Mode. Open the track list, find the track you want to build a show for, and press its timeline button. The editor opens with that track loaded, its waveform ready, and one row for each of your fixture groups.A saved show belongs to the track, not to a folder. If you later move the audio file somewhere else, DMXDesktop finds its timeline again rather than losing it. ## Rows, clips and the inspector Each row is one of your fixture groups. Choose an effect from the palette on the left, then click and drag across a row to draw a clip. Click any clip to open the inspector on the right, where you set timing, colour, speed and the rest of that effect's properties.Waveform shows the audio behind the rows, which is what you time hits against.Duration stretches a clip. It stops when it reaches the next clip instead of running over it, the same as dragging has always behaved.Versions saves snapshots you can return to. Clear Timeline starts again from empty.Save Show stores the timeline against the loaded track. Build compiles it into a playable show. Preview plays the built show so you can watch the rig before anyone else does.A built show takes priority over the shows DMXDesktop generates automatically in DJ Mode, so once you have built one for a track, that is what plays. ## AutoScript: starting from something rather than nothing AutoScript populates the timeline across all your groups from the track itself. It replaces whatever is currently on the timeline, so treat it as a way to start rather than a way to add. Everything it lays down is an ordinary clip: move it, retime it, recolour it or delete it. ## Dropping an effect cue onto the timeline Effect cues appear in the effects list alongside the built-in effects. Pick one, drag out how long you want it to last, and the timeline fills in clips for every group that cue covers, not only the row you drew on.What lands is ordinary clips. Edit or delete any part of it.Where a cue applies several effects to one group, they are laid out end to end in equal segments rather than stacked, which is how the cue itself plays them.If the drop would overwrite clips you have already placed, DMXDesktop tells you how much it would replace and lets you cancel.One thing does not come across: a cue's audio-reactive settings, such as dark on silence or strobe on peaks. A timeline show is authored in advance, so there is no live audio for them to respond to.See Effect Cues for how cues are built in the first place, and Effect Cue Stacks for chaining them outside a timeline. ## Using recorded movements and saved positions Anything you record in Pan/Tilt Finder can be placed on the timeline. There are two kinds:Static Positions are one saved aim. Aim a group, press Save Static Position, give it a name.Sequences are several aims played one after another, recorded step by step. A sequence needs at least four steps, and the recorder counts them for you as you go.Both appear in the effects list under their own headings, labelled with the group they were recorded on, and both can only be placed on that group: it is the set of fixtures whose aim was captured. If you add or remove moving fixtures later, record the sequence again.When you place a sequence, the timeline makes sure the clip is long enough for the heads to physically travel the path. A recording with more steps needs a longer clip.Recorded movements and positions live together under My Recordings, which is what the old My Sequences tab became, with Static Positions and Sequences on separate tabs. If you want the background on aiming movers in the first place, see the moving head position finder. ## Moves and holds A Static Position clip is a move followed by a hold: the lights travel to the saved aim and stay there for the length of the clip. That gives you two patterns worth knowing:Two clips in a row are a move from one position to the next.A gap between clips is a hold. The lights stay where the previous clip left them.Point at the dancefloor for eight bars, then at the bar, then back, without touching a pan value.A gap on a movement row used to recentre the rig. It no longer does, which is most obvious at the end of a show, where the last movement clip used to swing everything back to the middle when it finished. ## Travel Time, Travel In and Travel Out Travel Time is a setting on a movement clip, in the inspector. It decides how long the heads take to get from wherever they are pointing to that clip's first position. Leave it on Auto and the clip behaves as movement clips always have. Set a value and a sweep across a room can be as slow and deliberate, or as immediate, as you want.Travel In and Travel Out are set on the recording itself, when you save a Static Position or a Sequence. Travel In is how long the heads take to glide to the saved position from wherever they are pointing, so a recall reads as a move rather than a jump. Travel Out glides them back to the middle of their travel when you stop it. Both apply wherever the recording is played from, including inside an effect cue, and both default to zero, which is the instant behaviour recordings have always had. Anything you saved before these existed is unchanged. ## Auxiliary channels: gobos, wheels, lasers and fixture programs Auxiliary rows cover everything that is not dimmer, colour or position: gobo and colour wheels, prism, frost, iris, zoom, fog, laser modes and pattern selects, barrel rotation, and a fixture's own built-in programs.The timeline offers every auxiliary channel the clip's group actually has, and nothing it does not. Before v1.0.52 it filtered your patch through its own list of roughly ten channel types and skipped anything outside it without a word, which is why a laser could look as though it had no auxiliary channels at all.Options come from the fixture profile. A clip's dropdown reads the profile's own ranges, named through the same table the Channel Editor uses, so the two screens agree. Existing channels read differently as a result: Rotation used to offer Off, Position, CW and CCW, and now offers the profile's own wording.Speeds and amounts get a slider. An option covering a rate, a position or an amount, such as Clockwise (Slow to Fast) or Manual Rolling, carries a slider named for what the value means. A plain slot selection correctly gets none.Clips release their channels. When a clip ends, its channels return to the fixture's resting value rather than holding the last value written for the rest of the song.Overlaps are per channel. A gobo clip and a frost clip can occupy the same span; two frost clips cannot. Overlapping clips stack into separate lanes and are coloured by channel type.Clips are checked against the target group. Dragging, pasting or retyping a clip onto a group without that channel is refused rather than accepted and quietly ignored.Quick Show and the effect cue editor gained the same catalogue. They offer slightly more than the timeline does: a value inside an option range is something you can aim at while dragging an encoder against real output, so those surfaces expose it, while a timeline clip can only pick a point in advance. That difference is deliberate.Gobo and Prism rotation controls have been removed from timeline clips. They wrote settings the compiler never read, so they did nothing at all. ## Running to timecode, and following a deck There are two ways a timeline keeps time, and which one you use depends on which mode of the editor you are in.The Cue Timeline chases MIDI Time Code. In cue mode the editor lays your Programmer cue stacks along the ruler and takes MTC over MIDI. Press MTC and it waits for code. When code arrives it locks, the SMPTE readout starts counting, and the cue triggers fire against the incoming time rather than a clock of its own. It reads 24, 25, 29.97 and 30 frame timecode, re-anchors if you seek or restart the transport, recognises a pre-roll countdown as pre-roll rather than firing the top of the show during it, and tells you when it has lost sync instead of carrying on regardless. If you have more than one MIDI device connected, MTC Source chooses which one it listens to, separately from your MIDI Clock source.A DJ Mode show timeline follows the deck. With the track playing, Follow tracks the deck position so the timeline moves with it. That is the sync a show built against a track wants, and the MTC control is not part of that mode.DJ timecode is a separate thing. MIDI Time Code from a console, a DAW or a show controller is native. Timecode vinyl is not, and there is no direct hook into a rekordbox or CDJ playhead. For timecode-grade cue sync with rekordbox, an external bridge such as TimecodeSync or the open-source Beat Link Trigger can send OSC or MTC into DMXDesktop. ## Timeline or Live Wire? They solve opposite problems and both ship in the same application.Show Timeline is for when you know exactly what should happen and when. It plays back what you programmed, identically, at every performance.Live Wire is for when you do not. It reacts to whatever audio is in the room, with nothing prepared in advance.A venue with a scripted evening show and an unscripted late night can use both on the same rig. ## What changed in v1.0.52 Effect cues can be dropped straight onto the timeline, filling in the clips for every group the cue covers.Recorded Sequences and Static Positions appear in the effects list and can be placed on the group they were recorded on.Movement clips gained a Travel Time setting. Saved recordings gained Travel In and Travel Out times.A gap on a movement row holds instead of recentring the rig.My Sequences became My Recordings, with Static Positions and Sequences on separate tabs.Stretching a clip with the Duration slider stops at its neighbour rather than overlapping it.Dropping a cue over existing clips asks first, and says how much it would replace.Timelines stay attached to their songs when a track moves to a different folder.Hybrid Pulse and Emergency now run in timeline shows.Every auxiliary channel your fixtures have can be placed on the timeline, with option lists read from the fixture's own profile and sliders on options that cover a speed or an amount.Auxiliary clips release their channels when they end, own them while they run, stack into visible lanes when they overlap, and are refused on a group that has no such channel.Gobo and Prism rotation controls have been removed from timeline clips. They never did anything.Groups can have a colour, shown on the timeline swimlane.Fixed: the inspector could show the wrong clip or refuse to open, the editor window could refuse to close, and setting a shutter or strobe state could wipe brightness that had already been set. --- # Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/connecting-a-sound-mixer DMXDesktop needs just two channels of audio to run Live Wire and its beat and tempo detection. This guide covers getting that stereo feed out of a hardware mixer and into DMXDesktop, and then links to a step-by-step article for your specific console.If the music is playing on the same computer as DMXDesktop, you may not need any of this. DMXDesktop can capture the computer's own audio output on Windows, and on macOS 14.2 or newer, with nothing extra to install. On macOS 14.0 and 14.1 you need the free BlackHole driver instead. See Audio Configuration. ## Find your mixer ConsoleModels coveredUSB audioBehringer / Midas X32 and M32X32, Compact, Producer, Rack, M32, M32R, M32C32 x 32 via expansion cardBehringer WINGWING, Compact, Rack48 x 48 built inBehringer / Midas XR18, X18 and MR18XR18, X18, MR1818 x 18 built inBehringer Xenyx USBQ502USB up to X2442USBStereo onlyYamaha TF SeriesTF1, TF3, TF5, TF-Rack34 x 34 built inYamaha DM3DM3, DM3 Standard18 x 18 built inAllen & Heath SQ SeriesSQ-5, SQ-6, SQ-7, SQ-Rack32 x 32 built inAllen & Heath Qu SeriesQu-16, Qu-24, Qu-32, Qu-Pac, Qu-SB24 x 22 to 32 x 32, by modelAllen & Heath CQ SeriesCQ-12T, CQ-18T, CQ-20BStereo or multitrackSoundcraft Ui24RUi24R only32 x 32 built inMackie DL SeriesDL16S, DL32S, DL32R, DL16SE, DL32SE16 x 16 or 32 x 32Zoom LiveTrak L SeriesL-8, L-12, L-20, L-20R12 to 22 channels built inAny mixer: analogue outputsUi12, Ui16, XR12, XR16, any analogue deskVia a separate interfaceUSB figures are channels sent to the computer x channels coming back from it.Not listed? Almost every mixer has a line-level output of some kind, and the analogue method works with those for the price of a small USB interface. ## Choosing a connection method There are three ways to get audio into DMXDesktop. Pick the first one that describes your situation.Your situationUse thisThe music plays on the same computer as DMXDesktopBuilt-in system audio capture. No mixer connection needed.Your mixer has a multichannel USB audio interfaceA music-only stereo feed on a USB output pairYour mixer has stereo-only USB recordingThe mixer's USB stereo pair, which is usually the main mixYour mixer has no USB audio interfaceA line output into a small USB interfaceDMXDesktop runs on a different computer from the musicThe mixer's USB output, or a line output into an interfaceWherever you have the choice, send DMXDesktop a stereo mix of the music only. Speech microphones, talkback and announcements in the feed make the lights chase whoever is speaking, and they wreck tempo detection because speech and applause read as transients. If the music is a live band, its instruments and vocals are the music, so they belong in the feed. ## The channel rule This one rule explains most of the "I set it up and got silence" reports, so it is worth understanding before you touch the console.Windows: choosing channels needs ASIO. DMXDesktop lets you choose which input channels to capture only on an ASIO driver (Windows) or on Core Audio (macOS). If you pick the mixer from the ordinary Windows device list instead, DMXDesktop captures the first two channels that device offers and nothing else. Which console channels those are is decided by the manufacturer's driver. It is usually USB 1 and 2, but some drivers use a different pair, and a few list extra stereo devices for higher pairs.It matters because several consoles put their main mix high up the USB list by default. A Yamaha DM3 sends its stereo bus on 17 and 18, and a Yamaha TF records it on 33 and 34. Those are reachable on macOS, and on Windows through ASIO. On Windows without ASIO you need a console setting that puts the mix you want on the pair the ordinary device carries, and not every console has one. The Allen & Heath Qu is a helpful exception: its driver feeds the ordinary Windows stereo input from USB 17 and 18, which is where Qu puts Main LR by default.The left and right channels do not have to be next to each other. Select the two channels carrying your intended left and right signals. Each console article says which case applies to it. ## Before you plug anything in Never connect a speaker or amplifier output to an audio interface. Powered outputs carry many times the voltage a line input expects and will destroy it. This includes the speaker outputs on a powered mixer.Beyond that:Use line-level outputs only: Record Out, Tape Out, Aux Out, Matrix Out, Control Room Out, Monitor Out or Main Out.Start with the output level low and bring it up.Do not feed DMXDesktop's own audio output back into the input it is analysing.On a digital console, name the bus you set aside DMXDesktop or Lighting so the next person does not undo it.Use a microphone in front of a speaker only as a last resort, when there is no electrical connection available at all. ## Building a music-only feed Wherever the console allows it, give DMXDesktop a feed with the music in it and the speech left out. There is more than one way to get one:A dedicated stereo bus: an Aux, Mix, Matrix or group pair with only the music channels sent to it. This is the most flexible, and the steps below walk through it.The direct outputs of the music channels, when the music arrives on its own pair of inputs.A subgroup, ALT output or monitor mix that already carries only the music.Capturing the music at its source, for example the audio output of the computer playing it.Throughout these guides, keeping microphones out means speech: a compere, announcements, talkback. If the music comes from a live band, its instrument and vocal channels are the music, so keep them in.A dedicated bus, step by stepPick two unused buses and link them as a stereo pair, or use a stereo bus. Name it DMXDesktop or Lighting.Unmute the bus and set its master fader to 0 dB.On each music channel, set the send to the bus at 0 dB and leave the channel unmuted. Keep the stereo image intact: a stereo source sends left to the left side and right to the right, and a mono source is panned centre.On every speech microphone, talkback and announcement channel, turn the send to the bus fully down or switch it off.Choose pre-fader or post-fader sends, as explained below.If the console asks for a tap point on the bus output feeding USB, choose post-fader so the bus master sets the level.Patch the bus left and right to a USB output pair, and select those two channels in DMXDesktop.Pre-fader or post-faderThere are two separate choices, and they do different things.The send from each channel to the bus. Post-fader sends follow each channel's own fader, so pulling a music channel down in the room also turns it down in the lighting feed. Pre-fader sends ignore the channel fader, so the feed stays steady while someone rides faders. Pre-fader audio does not stop because a channel fader is down.The tap on the bus output. This decides whether the bus master fader affects what reaches USB.Neither choice makes the feed exactly what the audience hears. A post-fader direct output follows only that one channel's fader, not the main master. A dedicated music bus does not pass through main-bus processing unless you route it that way, and nothing captured at the console includes processing further down the line, such as in the PA system. For lighting that rarely matters: the analysis needs the music at a steady, healthy level.If you are not sure, use post-fader sends, so the lights calm down when the music is pulled down. ## Setting it up in DMXDesktop Once the console is sending audio down the USB cable, the DMXDesktop side is the same for every mixer.Open Settings → Audio.Pick your mixer or interface from the Audio Input Device list. The list is grouped, so ASIO devices, loopback devices and ordinary devices are easy to tell apart.On an ASIO device a Configure ASIO… button appears. That opens your driver's own control panel, where the buffer size lives. Input gain is handled by the driver, so DMXDesktop's volume slider is disabled and the loopback option does not apply.If Input channels pickers appear, set the left and right channel numbers to match what you patched on the console. If they do not appear, you are on a device where DMXDesktop always captures the first two channels the device offers.Start the music and check that the input meter moves.Enable Live Wire, or your beat-driven effect cues, and watch a quiet passage and a drop to confirm the response makes sense.Two devices, not one. The input is what DMXDesktop listens to and lives in Settings → Audio. The output is where the built-in music player sends audio and lives in DJ Mode settings. With an ASIO driver, one interface usually cannot do both at the same time, because most ASIO drivers allow only one application at once.Live Wire is available on the Standard and Pro plans. Beat and tempo detection drive effect cues on any plan that includes them. ## Setting the level Turn the interface input gain down, if it has one.Play a loud, representative section of the music, not an intro.Bring the mixer's output level up until DMXDesktop's input meter sits in a healthy range.Back off if it sits at the top. Continuous full-scale readings mean clipping, and a clipped signal has no dynamics left for the analysis to work with.Check both channels respond.Save the console's show file or scene so the routing survives a power cycle.This feed does not need to sound good. It needs to be clean, stable, unclipped and to have the bass and transients intact. That is all the analysis is looking at. ## Common problems on any mixer The device appears but DMXDesktop hears silenceAlmost always the USB output patch. Getting a channel to the main mix and getting the main mix onto a USB output are two separate pieces of routing on most consoles, and doing the first does not do the second.Only one side worksOnly one half of the pair got patched, or the left or right channel selected in DMXDesktop is not the one carrying that side. The two channels do not need to be next to each other, but each must carry the right signal. Check both.The lights react to speechSpeech microphones are in the feed. Give DMXDesktop a music-only feed instead, as described in Building a music-only feed above. Every console article covers the options for that desk.Windows offers no channel choiceYou are on the mixer's ordinary Windows device rather than its ASIO driver, so DMXDesktop captures the first two channels that device offers. See the channel rule above.It worked last week and now the channels are wrongIf you saved a high channel pair and then connected a smaller interface, DMXDesktop falls back to channels 1 and 2 and tells you it has done so, rather than quietly capturing the wrong thing. Re-select the pair you want once the right interface is connected.The mixer meters move but the computer gets nothingCheck you are not looking at the USB return patch, which controls audio going the other way. Check too that no other application is holding the driver: ASIO drivers are frequently single-client, so a DAW left open will lock DMXDesktop out.Feedback or a building echoUSB playback on its own does not cause feedback. A loop happens when audio captured from the console is played back into a USB return, and that return is part of the same mix being captured. Keep USB returns out of the feed you send to the computer, or stop the computer playing the captured audio back.Wi-Fi is connected but there is no audioWi-Fi and Ethernet carry mixer control on almost every console of this type. Audio travels over USB, or over a dedicated audio network such as Dante. Connecting the tablet app does not connect the audio. ## Questions people ask Main LR or a dedicated bus?Main LR is the fastest to set up and is fine if the desk only ever handles music. In every other case a music-only feed is better, because it keeps speech microphones out. A dedicated stereo bus is the most flexible way to build one, but direct outputs, subgroups and monitor mixes can also work.Can DMXDesktop use channels 17 and 18 instead of 1 and 2?Yes, on macOS and on Windows via ASIO. The numbers do not matter, and they do not have to be next to each other. They only have to carry the left and right of the mix you want.Can I use one channel instead of a pair?Yes. Set the same channel number for both left and right and DMXDesktop treats it as mono. A real stereo feed analyses better, so prefer it where you have one.Can a DAW and DMXDesktop share the interface?Sometimes. It depends on the driver. ASIO drivers are often single-client, in which case you have to close the DAW. If DMXDesktop reports the device is already in use, that is what has happened.Why does macOS show so many channels?That is normal for a multichannel Core Audio device. Pick the exact pair you patched.Can I just use the laptop's built-in microphone?It works, and it is the worst option available. It picks up the crowd, the room, the compere and every reflection. Use it to prove the concept, then connect something. --- # Behringer X32 and Midas M32: audio into DMXDesktop https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/behringer-x32-midas-m32-audio The X32 and M32 families carry a 32-in, 32-out USB interface on their expansion card. The card takes its outputs in blocks of eight, so getting the main mix or a music-only bus onto USB 1 and 2 takes one extra routing step, explained below.This article is part of Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the shared rules and the problems common to every console. ## Models covered Behringer X32, X32 Compact, X32 Producer, X32 RackMidas M32, M32R, M32CLIVE variants fitted with X-LIVE or DN32-LIVEAll of these use the same routing pages, with small wording differences between firmware revisions. ## What you need A USB Type-B cable to the expansion card at the rear (X-USB, X-LIVE, DN32-USB or DN32-LIVE).On Windows, the Behringer or Midas USB ASIO driver for the card you have fitted.On macOS, nothing. The card appears as a Core Audio device on its own.Not the front panel socket. The USB Type-A connector on the front is for memory sticks and recording to them. It carries no audio to a computer. The connection you want is the Type-B socket on the card at the back. ## Connect the console WindowsInstall the USB ASIO driver for your card and restart if asked.Connect the USB cable and power the console on.Start DMXDesktop and open Settings → Audio.Pick the Behringer or Midas device from the ASIO group in the Audio Input Device list.macOSConnect the USB cable and power the console on.Open Audio MIDI Setup and confirm the card is listed.In DMXDesktop, open Settings → Audio and select it. ## Fastest setup: the main mix This puts your main mix on USB channels 1 and 2, which works on macOS and on Windows whether or not you are using ASIO. It borrows the first two P16 slots, so read the warning first.This changes card outputs 1 to 8 and P16 slots 1 and 2. The Card Out block replaces whatever was on the first eight card outputs, which breaks a multitrack recording that uses them. Anything assigned to P16 slots 1 and 2 also goes out of the P16 (Ultranet) port, so personal monitor mixers listening on those channels will hear it. Check with whoever uses the desk before changing either.On the console, press ROUTING.Go to the P16 Out tab.Assign Main L to P16 slot 1 and Main R to P16 slot 2.On the same page, set the tap point for both slots. Post-Fader makes the feed follow the main fader.Go to the Card Out tab.Set the first output block to P16 1-8, so card outputs 1 to 8 come from P16 slots 1 to 8.In DMXDesktop, select channels 1 and 2.Leaving P16 alone. Out 15 and Out 16 carry the main mix by default. Set a Card Out block to Out 9-16 and the main mix lands on the 7th and 8th channels of that block: channels 7 and 8 if it is the first block. That still replaces the block's eight card outputs, and channels above 2 need ASIO on Windows. ## Recommended setup: a music-only bus Worth the extra five minutes on any desk that also handles speech. It gives the lighting a feed containing nothing but the music, so nobody speaking makes the rig flash.Pick two unused mix buses, for example Bus 15 and Bus 16, and stereo-link them.Name the pair DMXDesktop, unmute it and set its fader to 0 dB.On each music channel (the playback device, the DJ input, the laptop feed), turn the send to the pair up to 0 dB and leave the channel unmuted.Choose pre-fader or post-fader sends. Post-fader follows each channel's fader.Leave the send fully down on every speech microphone, talkback and announcement channel.In ROUTING → P16 Out, assign Bus 15 to P16 slot 1 and Bus 16 to slot 2, with a post-fader tap so the bus fader sets the level.In ROUTING → Card Out, set the first output block to P16 1-8.In DMXDesktop, select channels 1 and 2.The warning in the section above applies here too: this replaces card outputs 1 to 8 and puts the bus on the P16 (Ultranet) port. Because it lands on card channels 1 and 2, it works on Windows without ASIO as well. ## Troubleshooting Check the direction. Every console has two USB patches and they are easy to confuse. You want the one carrying audio from the mixer to the computer. The other one decides what the computer plays back into the mixer, and changing it does nothing for DMXDesktop.The card appears in DMXDesktop but there is no signalCheck the Card Out tab. Routing audio into channels from the card and routing audio out to the card are separate settings on this console, and having done one does not do the other.Only one side movesOnly one of the two sources was assigned to its P16 slot, or one of the channels selected in DMXDesktop is carrying something else. Recheck both.Moving the fader does not change anythingThe P16 tap point is pre-fader. Change it to post-fader on the P16 Out page if you want the lighting to follow the fader.Personal monitors started playing the main mixP16 slots 1 and 2 go to the Ultranet port as well as to the card. Move the monitor users off channels 1 and 2, or use the Out 9-16 block described above instead.The lights react to speechYou are on the main mix. Build the music-only bus above. ## Still not working Work through the shared checks in Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the faults that are not specific to one console. If you need to contact support, have these five things ready, because they resolve most cases immediately:The exact mixer model.Your Windows or macOS version.How the mixer is connected, and which USB port you used.Which device you picked in Settings → Audio.Which left and right channel numbers you selected.For a console with a multichannel USB interface, a screenshot of the mixer's USB output patch is worth more than any log file. --- # Behringer WING: audio into DMXDesktop https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/behringer-wing-audio WING has a 48-in, 48-out USB interface built in, with no expansion card needed, and a fully assignable output matrix. You can put a music-only stereo bus on any USB pair you like and point DMXDesktop at it.This article is part of Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the shared rules and the problems common to every console. ## Models covered WINGWING CompactWING Rack ## What you need A USB Type-B cable to the WING's USB audio port.On Windows, the current WING USB audio driver.On macOS, nothing extra. ## Connect the console WindowsInstall the WING USB audio driver.Power the console on before starting DMXDesktop.In Settings → Audio, pick WING from the ASIO group.macOSConnect and power on WING.Confirm it appears in Audio MIDI Setup.Select it in Settings → Audio.Check the channel count first. WING has a global setting, SETUP → Audio → USB AUDIO, for how many USB channels (2 to 48) it exposes to the computer. If it is set low, the higher USB channels will not appear in DMXDesktop at all, no matter how you patch them. Raise it, or patch to a low pair instead. ## Fastest setup: the main mix Open Routing → Outputs and choose the USB outputs.Select USB outputs 1 and 2.From the MAIN source group, choose Main 1, or whichever main bus is your mix.The MAIN sources have no tap-point choice. If you need a specific tap point, use a USER SIGNAL source instead, which can be taken from different points in the signal flow.In DMXDesktop, select channels 1 and 2. ## Recommended setup: a music-only bus Create or free up a stereo bus and name it DMXDesktop.Unmute the bus and set its fader to 0 dB.Send each music channel to it at 0 dB, and choose pre-fader or post-fader sends. No speech microphones, no talkback.In Routing → Outputs, assign that bus's left and right to USB outputs 1 and 2.In DMXDesktop, select channels 1 and 2.Any free pair within the USB AUDIO channel count works. If USB 1 and 2 are already spoken for by a recording rig, use 47 and 48, with USB AUDIO set to 48, and select those numbers in DMXDesktop instead.On Windows this needs the ASIO driver. DMXDesktop only lets you choose channels on an ASIO device. On the ordinary Windows device it captures the first two channels that device offers. ## Troubleshooting Check the direction. Every console has two USB patches and they are easy to confuse. You want the one carrying audio from the mixer to the computer. The other one decides what the computer plays back into the mixer, and changing it does nothing for DMXDesktop.No signal at allConfirm you changed USB outputs from WING rather than the USB return sources coming into it. They sit near each other in the routing screen.One side onlyOnly one half of the stereo bus got assigned. Check both.The device will not openSample rate mismatch, or another application is holding the driver. Close any DAW or recording software and try again.The channels you patched are not in DMXDesktop's listThe USB AUDIO channel count is set below the channel you used. Raise it or patch lower. ## Still not working Work through the shared checks in Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the faults that are not specific to one console. If you need to contact support, have these five things ready, because they resolve most cases immediately:The exact mixer model.Your Windows or macOS version.How the mixer is connected, and which USB port you used.Which device you picked in Settings → Audio.Which left and right channel numbers you selected.For a console with a multichannel USB interface, a screenshot of the mixer's USB output patch is worth more than any log file. --- # Behringer XR18, X18 and Midas MR18: audio into DMXDesktop https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/behringer-xr18-midas-mr18-audio The XR18 and its siblings carry an 18-in, 18-out USB interface, and the desktop editor (X AIR Edit, or M AIR Edit on the MR18) lets you choose what goes out of each USB channel. You can send a music-only mix on USB 1 and 2, which works on Windows with or without ASIO.This article is part of Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the shared rules and the problems common to every console. ## Models covered Behringer XR18Behringer X18Midas MR18XR12 and XR16 are different. They do not have the same multichannel USB interface. Use the analogue method for those. ## What you need A USB Type-B cable to the rear USB audio port.On Windows, the X Air USB ASIO driver.The desktop editor, to do the routing: X AIR Edit for the XR18 and X18, or M AIR Edit for the MR18, on Windows, macOS or Linux. The mobile apps lay things out differently.On macOS, nothing extra.Wi-Fi and Ethernet carry control only on this mixer. The audio has to travel down the USB cable, so the computer running DMXDesktop is the one that needs to be physically connected. ## Connect the console WindowsInstall the X Air USB ASIO driver.Power the mixer on and connect the USB cable.Open X AIR Edit or M AIR Edit and confirm it connects.In DMXDesktop, open Settings → Audio and pick the X Air device.macOSConnect the mixer by USB.Confirm it appears in Audio MIDI Setup.Select it in Settings → Audio. ## Fastest setup: the main mix In X AIR Edit or M AIR Edit:Open the routing page (In/Out in current versions) and find the USB Sends. Labels differ a little between app versions.Set USB output 1 to Main L.Set USB output 2 to Main R.If the page offers a tap point, choose post-fader so the lighting follows the main mix level.In DMXDesktop, select channels 1 and 2. ## Recommended setup: a music-only bus Pick a free bus pair, for example Bus 5 and Bus 6, and stereo-link them.Unmute the pair and set its master to 0 dB.Send each music channel to the pair at 0 dB, and choose pre-fader or post-fader sends. Keep the sends fully down on speech microphones.Open the USB Sends.Set USB output 1 to Bus 5 and USB output 2 to Bus 6.In DMXDesktop, select channels 1 and 2. ## Troubleshooting The classic XR18 mistake. The USB return configuration decides what the computer plays back into the mixer's channels. DMXDesktop needs the opposite direction: USB Sends, travelling from the mixer to the computer. Setting up the returns does nothing for lighting.The editor connects over Wi-Fi but DMXDesktop hears nothingControl and audio are separate. The USB cable has to be plugged into the machine running DMXDesktop.The lights react to speechYou are on Main LR. Build the bus pair above. ## Still not working Work through the shared checks in Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the faults that are not specific to one console. If you need to contact support, have these five things ready, because they resolve most cases immediately:The exact mixer model.Your Windows or macOS version.How the mixer is connected, and which USB port you used.Which device you picked in Settings → Audio.Which left and right channel numbers you selected.For a console with a multichannel USB interface, a screenshot of the mixer's USB output patch is worth more than any log file. --- # Behringer Xenyx USB mixers: audio into DMXDesktop https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/behringer-xenyx-usb-audio The USB-equipped Xenyx mixers give the computer a straightforward stereo recording feed. That makes setup very quick, and it also sets a hard limit: what DMXDesktop receives is the main mix, and you cannot pick out individual channels.This article is part of Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the shared rules and the problems common to every console. ## Models covered Any Xenyx with a stereo USB interface, including:302USB, Q502USB, Q802USB, Q1002USB, Q1202USB1204USB, X1204USB, QX1204USBQX1832USB, QX2222USB, QX2442USB, X2442USB ## Setup Connect the mixer's USB Type-B port to the computer.Check the music channels are assigned to the main mix.On models with a 2-TR/USB TO MAIN button, leave it off unless you need to hear the computer through the mixer.In DMXDesktop, open Settings → Audio and select the Xenyx USB input.Channels 1 and 2 are the only option, and are correct.There is no channel picker to worry about here. The interface is stereo, so DMXDesktop captures the pair and that is that. ## What you cannot do DMXDesktop gets the main mix. There is no separate USB feed.Individual channels cannot be selected over USB.If the desk is handling microphones, they are in the feed, and there is no routing option that removes them.Watch for feedback. USB playback on its own is safe. A loop happens when the computer plays the captured audio back into the mixer and the 2-TR/USB TO MAIN button routes it into the main mix, which is also the USB recording feed. If you hear it building, release that button or stop the playback. ## Getting a music-only feed anyway If your Xenyx has two usable aux or subgroup outputs, you can build a music-only mix on them and take that into a separate small interface, bypassing the built-in USB entirely.Build an aux or subgroup mix containing only the music channels.Connect those two outputs to a two-input USB interface.Select that interface in DMXDesktop instead of the Xenyx.Full instructions and cable details are in Using an analogue mixer with a USB audio interface. ## Still not working Work through the shared checks in Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the faults that are not specific to one console. If you need to contact support, have these five things ready, because they resolve most cases immediately:The exact mixer model.Your Windows or macOS version.How the mixer is connected, and which USB port you used.Which device you picked in Settings → Audio.Which left and right channel numbers you selected.For a console with a multichannel USB interface, a screenshot of the mixer's USB output patch is worth more than any log file. --- # Yamaha TF Series: audio into DMXDesktop https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/yamaha-tf-audio TF consoles present 34 channels to the computer over USB TO HOST. Most of that layout is fixed, but two parts can be chosen: what goes out on USB 1 and 2 (firmware V4.50 or newer), and what goes out on USB 33 and 34. Those two choices are the key to a music-only feed.This article is part of Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the shared rules and the problems common to every console. ## Models covered TF1TF3TF5TF-Rack ## How the TF USB channels are laid out This is the thing to understand before you start, because it decides everything else.USB 1 to 32 are the direct outputs of input channels 1 to 32.USB 1 and 2 can instead carry ST L/R, an AUX or a MATRIX output, on firmware V4.50 or newer. The choice is USB 1/2 Output, under Setup → Preferences → Others.USB 33 and 34 carry whatever the built-in recorder is set to record: ST L/R, a pair of AUX buses, or on V3.5 and newer a MATRIX pair. You choose it in the recorder's INPUT/OUTPUT screen, from the RECORD source menu.The direct outs never follow the fader. Each channel's direct out can be taken from Pre DG, Pre HPF, Pre Fader or Post ON, and Yamaha describes all of them as before the fader. A feed taken from USB 1 to 32 ignores the channel faders. The ST L/R, AUX and MATRIX choices for USB 1 and 2 are taken after the fader.Check your firmware version before you start. On firmware older than V4.50, USB 1 and 2 are always the channel 1 and 2 direct outs. ## What you need A USB Type-B cable to the rear USB TO HOST port.On Windows, the Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver. Its ASIO driver is needed for any channel above 2.On macOS, nothing. The TF is class compliant.Not the storage port. USB TO HOST is the Type-B socket that talks to a computer. The Type-A socket is for the USB recorder and memory sticks, and carries no audio to a computer. ## Connect the console WindowsInstall the Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver.Connect the cable and power the TF on.In DMXDesktop, open Settings → Audio and pick the Yamaha Steinberg device from the ASIO group.macOSConnect and power on the TF.Confirm it appears in Audio MIDI Setup.Select it in Settings → Audio. ## Fastest setup: the stereo mix Firmware V4.50 or newer: on USB 1 and 2Open Setup → Preferences → Others.Set USB 1/2 Output to ST L/R.In DMXDesktop, select channels 1 and 2.This works on macOS and on Windows with or without ASIO. It replaces the channel 1 and 2 direct outs on USB, so anyone recording those inputs will lose them.Any firmware: on USB 33 and 34Open the recorder screen, then its INPUT/OUTPUT tab.Check the RECORD source is ST L/R.In DMXDesktop, select channels 33 and 34.Channels 33 and 34 need the ASIO driver on Windows. On the ordinary Windows device DMXDesktop captures only the first two channels the device offers. If you cannot use ASIO, use the V4.50 setting above.Both are the whole main mix, microphones included. If the desk handles speech, use a music-only AUX pair instead. ## Recommended setup: a music-only AUX pair Pick two AUX buses you are not using for monitors, for example AUX 7 and AUX 8, and name them DMXDesktop.Turn both AUX masters on and set them to 0 dB.Send the music to them at 0 dB. For a stereo source on two input channels, send the left channel to AUX 7 and the right channel to AUX 8. Send a mono music channel to both at the same level.Leave the sends fully down on every speech microphone and talkback channel.Choose pre-fader or post-fader sends. Post-fader follows each channel's fader.On firmware V4.50 or newer, set USB 1/2 Output to that AUX pair, and select channels 1 and 2 in DMXDesktop. The pairs offered depend on your model and firmware.On older firmware, set the recorder's RECORD source to that AUX pair instead, and select channels 33 and 34. On Windows that needs ASIO.Alternative: the music channels' direct outsIf the music arrives on its own pair of inputs, for example 9 and 10, then USB 9 and 10 already carry it with nothing else mixed in. Select channels 9 and 10 in DMXDesktop, with ASIO on Windows. These direct outs are before the fader, so the lighting will not follow the channel faders. ## Troubleshooting DMXDesktop offers no channel choice on WindowsYou are on the ordinary Windows device, not the Yamaha Steinberg ASIO driver. Channels 33 and 34 and the direct outs are unreachable that way. On V4.50 or newer, use USB 1/2 Output instead.There is no USB 1/2 Output settingYour firmware is older than V4.50. Update it, or use USB 33 and 34.USB 33 and 34 are silentCheck the recorder's RECORD source, and check the bus it names is on and receiving signal.The level ignores the channel faderYou are on a direct out, which is always before the fader on TF. Use an AUX pair or ST L/R instead.Nothing works after changing driversRestart DMXDesktop. Also confirm no DAW is holding the ASIO driver, since it is single-client.USB IN 33-34 on the console means audio arriving from the computer. It is not what DMXDesktop captures, and changing it will not help. ## Still not working Work through the shared checks in Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the faults that are not specific to one console. If you need to contact support, have these five things ready, because they resolve most cases immediately:The exact mixer model.Your Windows or macOS version.How the mixer is connected, and which USB port you used.Which device you picked in Settings → Audio.Which left and right channel numbers you selected.For a console with a multichannel USB interface, a screenshot of the mixer's USB output patch is worth more than any log file. --- # Yamaha DM3: audio into DMXDesktop https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/yamaha-dm3-audio The DM3 gives the computer 18 channels in and 18 out over USB TO HOST, and unlike the TF it has a proper output patch, so you can decide what goes on each USB channel.This article is part of Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the shared rules and the problems common to every console. ## Models covered DM3DM3 Standard ## What you need A USB Type-B cable to the rear USB TO HOST port.The Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver, on both Windows and macOS. Yamaha's manual says the DM3 needs it to communicate with a computer.Do not select the USB storage recorder. The connection that talks to a computer is USB TO HOST. ## Connect the console WindowsInstall the Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver.Connect the cable and power the DM3 on.Pick the Yamaha Steinberg ASIO device in Settings → Audio.Without ASIO, open SETUP → PREFERENCES and, in the USB section, set Driver Mode to Mode1. Mode1 gives Windows an ordinary stereo device carrying USB 1 and 2, alongside the full ASIO device. Changing the mode needs a restart.macOSInstall the Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver.Connect and power on the DM3.Confirm it appears in Audio MIDI Setup.Select the DM3 in Settings → Audio. ## Fastest setup: the stereo bus By default the DM3 already sends STEREO L and STEREO R to USB 17 and 18, and inputs 1 to 16 to USB 1 to 16.macOS, or Windows with ASIOLeave the patch as it is.In DMXDesktop, select channels 17 and 18.Windows without ASIOOpen SETUP → PATCH → OUTPUT.Assign STEREO L to USB 1 and STEREO R to USB 2.In DMXDesktop, select channels 1 and 2.USB 1 and 2 normally carry inputs 1 and 2. Moving the stereo bus there replaces them, which breaks a multitrack recording that uses them. Check first. ## Recommended setup: a music-only bus In BUS SETUP, set a pair of Mix buses to stereo, or pair them with Pan Link, and name the pair DMXDesktop.Turn the bus master on and set it to 0 dB.Send each music channel to it at 0 dB, and choose pre-fader or post-fader sends. No speech microphones, no talkback.In SETUP → PATCH → OUTPUT, assign that Mix pair's left and right to a USB output pair. USB 1 and 2 work on Windows without ASIO. Any free pair works on macOS or with ASIO.In DMXDesktop, select the same two channel numbers. ## A note on Dante A Dante-equipped DM3 can carry this audio over the network instead, but that needs Dante Controller and normally Dante Virtual Soundcard on the DMXDesktop machine. If the computer is anywhere near the console, USB is simpler and there is nothing to license. ## Troubleshooting Check the direction. Every console has two USB patches and they are easy to confuse. You want the one carrying audio from the mixer to the computer. The other one decides what the computer plays back into the mixer, and changing it does nothing for DMXDesktop.Silence on the patched channelsConfirm the Mix bus is actually receiving signal at the console before blaming the patch.Windows offers no channel choiceYou are not on the Yamaha Steinberg ASIO driver. The Windows-without-ASIO setup above uses USB 1 and 2, so it still works, but the default USB 17 and 18 do not. ## Still not working Work through the shared checks in Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the faults that are not specific to one console. If you need to contact support, have these five things ready, because they resolve most cases immediately:The exact mixer model.Your Windows or macOS version.How the mixer is connected, and which USB port you used.Which device you picked in Settings → Audio.Which left and right channel numbers you selected.For a console with a multichannel USB interface, a screenshot of the mixer's USB output patch is worth more than any log file. --- # Allen & Heath SQ Series: audio into DMXDesktop https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/allen-heath-sq-audio SQ gives you a 32-in, 32-out USB-B interface with a completely open patch: any output or tie line can be sent to any USB channel. Setting up a music-only feed for DMXDesktop takes about two minutes.This article is part of Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the shared rules and the problems common to every console. ## Models covered SQ-5SQ-6SQ-7SQ-Rack ## What you need A USB cable to the rear USB-B port.On Windows, the Allen & Heath SQ USB ASIO/WDM driver.On macOS, nothing extra. ## Connect the console Connect the rear USB-B port to the computer.On Windows, install the SQ USB driver.In DMXDesktop, open Settings → Audio and select the SQ.Older firmware only. From firmware V1.6, audio goes to SQ-Drive (a USB stick or drive in the SQ-Drive socket) and to USB-B at the same time. On older firmware, such as V1.5, the two could not run together, and a setting under Setup → Audio → USB chose between them. If that setting is on SQ-Drive, DMXDesktop hears nothing, however you patch it. ## Fastest setup: the main mix Out of the box, USB outputs 1 and 2 already carry the Main LR mix. If nobody has changed the patch, there is nothing to do on the console.Open the I/O screen and select the USB output tab.Confirm USB outputs 1 and 2 are fed from Main LR. If they are not, patch them back.In DMXDesktop, select channels 1 and 2. ## Recommended setup: a music-only bus Set up a stereo Mix bus and name it DMXDesktop so it does not get repurposed.Unmute the Mix master and set it to 0 dB.Send each music channel to it at 0 dB, and choose pre-fader or post-fader sends. Keep the sends fully down on speech microphones and talkback.Open I/O → USB.Patch the Mix's left and right to USB outputs 1 and 2, in place of Main LR.In DMXDesktop, select channels 1 and 2.Tie Lines are the other option, and they bypass channel processing and fader control entirely. That is occasionally what you want, but for lighting a stereo Mix is easier to reason about and easier for the next engineer to find. ## Choosing the tap point If you feed USB from direct outputs rather than a Mix, the tap point matters. SQ direct outputs can be taken from several points, including post-preamp, post-HPF, post-gate, post-insert return, post-EQ, post-compressor and post-delay, and follow-fader and follow-mute are set globally. Turn follow-fader on if you want the lighting to follow the channel faders. A Mix bus patched to USB already follows its own sends and master. ## Troubleshooting Check the direction. Every console has two USB patches and they are easy to confuse. You want the one carrying audio from the mixer to the computer. The other one decides what the computer plays back into the mixer, and changing it does nothing for DMXDesktop.Nothing arrives at the computerCheck the USB output tab of the I/O screen is patching what you expect. On firmware older than V1.6, also check Setup → Audio → USB is on USB-B, not SQ-Drive.The level ignores the faderThe direct outputs feeding USB have follow-fader off. Turn it on, or use a Mix bus. ## Still not working Work through the shared checks in Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the faults that are not specific to one console. If you need to contact support, have these five things ready, because they resolve most cases immediately:The exact mixer model.Your Windows or macOS version.How the mixer is connected, and which USB port you used.Which device you picked in Settings → Audio.Which left and right channel numbers you selected.For a console with a multichannel USB interface, a screenshot of the mixer's USB output patch is worth more than any log file. --- # Allen & Heath Qu Series: audio into DMXDesktop https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/allen-heath-qu-audio Qu mixers stream up to 32 channels to the computer over USB-B. The one thing to know before you start is that the main mix does not arrive on channels 1 and 2 by default: it is on 17 and 18, on every model.This article is part of Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the shared rules and the problems common to every console. ## Models covered Qu-16, Qu-24 and Qu-32 (classic)Qu-PacQu-SBUSB channel counts differ by model:Qu-16: 24 channels to the computer, 22 back from itQu-24: 32 to the computer, 30 backQu-32, Qu-Pac and Qu-SB: 32 to the computer, 32 backQu-SB has no screen, so do the patching below in the Qu-Pad app.The newer Qu-5, Qu-6 and Qu-7 use different menus and different defaults. The principles here still apply, but the exact menu paths will not match. ## What you need A USB cable to the rear USB-B streaming port.On Windows, the Allen & Heath Qu USB driver. The Qu is not class compliant on Windows, so the driver is needed even for ordinary stereo capture.On macOS, nothing. The interface is class compliant. ## Connect the console Connect the rear USB-B streaming port to the computer.On Windows, install the Qu driver.In DMXDesktop, open Settings → Audio and select the Qu.Qu-Drive does not block USB-B. The Global USB Source setting only decides where the channels' USB returns come from. The recording sends go to Qu-Drive and to USB-B at the same time, whichever source is selected. ## Fastest setup: the default LR on 17 and 18 Out of the box, the Main LR mix is already sitting on USB sends 17 and 18, on every Qu model. If nobody has changed the patch, there is nothing to do on the console at all.Open Setup → I/O Patch → USB Audio.Confirm USB 17 is LR L and USB 18 is LR R.In DMXDesktop, select the Qu. On macOS, or on Windows with the Qu ASIO device, select channels 17 and 18. On Windows with the ordinary Qu stereo input there is no channel choice to make, because that input already carries USB 17 and 18. ## Windows without ASIO: the stereo input The Qu driver gives Windows one ordinary stereo recording input, and it is always fed from USB sends 17 and 18, the same pair Qu-Drive uses for stereo recording. On that input, whatever you patch to 17 and 18 is what DMXDesktop hears.Do not move the mix to USB 1 and 2 for this. The ordinary Windows input would not hear it there. To capture any console channels other than 17 and 18, select the Qu ASIO device instead. ## Recommended setup: a music-only bus Pick a stereo Mix you are not using for monitors, name it DMXDesktop, unmute its master and set it to 0 dB.Send each music channel to it at 0 dB, and choose pre-fader or post-fader sends. Keep the sends fully down on speech microphones and talkback.Open Setup → I/O Patch → USB Audio.On Windows with the ordinary Qu stereo input, assign the Mix's left and right to USB 17 and 18. That is the only pair this input hears.On macOS, or on Windows with ASIO, you can instead use any USB pair nobody is recording on, and select the same two numbers in DMXDesktop.USB 17 and 18 are also the Qu-Drive stereo recording. Assigning a Mix there changes what Qu-Drive records in stereo, and what those two tracks carry in a USB multitrack recording. ## Troubleshooting The level ignores the channel faderBy default the input channels feed USB from their insert send point, which is before the processing and the fader. On the USB Audio screen, set the CH/ST/Grp source to Direct Outs, so the USB sends follow each channel's direct output settings, which follow the fader by default. Or feed USB from a Mix, which is post-fader.Channels 17 and 18 carry the wrong thingSomebody has changed the patch. Do not assume the factory mapping. Open the USB Audio patch and look.Windows offers no channel choiceYou are on the ordinary Qu stereo input, which always carries USB 17 and 18. Patch the mix you want to 17 and 18, or select the Qu ASIO device to choose other channels. ## Still not working Work through the shared checks in Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the faults that are not specific to one console. If you need to contact support, have these five things ready, because they resolve most cases immediately:The exact mixer model.Your Windows or macOS version.How the mixer is connected, and which USB port you used.Which device you picked in Settings → Audio.Which left and right channel numbers you selected.For a console with a multichannel USB interface, a screenshot of the mixer's USB output patch is worth more than any log file. --- # Allen & Heath CQ Series: audio into DMXDesktop https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/allen-heath-cq-audio CQ mixers can present themselves to the computer either as a simple stereo device or as a multitrack one. For DMXDesktop the stereo mode is usually the right answer, and it is the fastest setup of any console in this guide.This article is part of Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the shared rules and the problems common to every console. ## Models covered CQ-12TCQ-18TCQ-20B ## What you need A USB cable to the USB-B audio port.The CQ control interface, on the console's own screen or the app.On macOS, no driver. On Windows the class-compliant device is enough for stereo mode. For the multitrack channels, install the Allen & Heath ASIO driver. ## Easiest setup: stereo stream mode Connect USB-B to the computer.On the CQ, go to CONFIG → USB/SD/BT → USB/SD.Set Stream Mode to Stereo.Check the channel assignment labelled Stereo L/R. It defaults to Main LR.In DMXDesktop, select the CQ, and channels 1 and 2. ## Recommended setup: a music-only stereo source The stereo stream does not have to be Main LR. Point it at a stereo output carrying only the music and you get a clean lighting feed without leaving stereo mode.Link two of outputs 1 to 6 as a stereo pair and name it DMXDesktop.Unmute the output and set its master level to 0 dB.Send each music channel to it at 0 dB, and choose pre-fader or post-fader sends. Keep the sends fully down on speech microphones.In CONFIG → USB/SD/BT → USB/SD, set the Stereo L/R assignment to that output pair instead of Main LR.In DMXDesktop, select channels 1 and 2.The Stereo L/R assignment accepts stereo line inputs, FX units, Main LR, or outputs 1 to 6.Stereo L/R is also the last assignable pair in multitrack mode, and the source for stereo recording to USB-A, so changing it changes those too.This is the best of both worlds on a CQ: a music-only feed that still lands on channels 1 and 2, so it needs no ASIO driver on Windows. ## Multitrack stream mode Use this only if something else needs the multitrack feed at the same time. In multitrack mode the first USB channels are permanently assigned to the mono inputs and cannot be re-patched. Only the stereo pairs at the end are assignable, and the last pair is Main LR by default.ModelChannels to the computerFixed to inputsAssignable pairsMain LR by defaultCQ-12T161 to 1011 to 1615 and 16CQ-18T241 to 1617 to 2423 and 24CQ-20B241 to 1617 to 2423 and 24Set Stream Mode to Multitrack.Check which assignable pair carries the mix you want.Select that exact pair in DMXDesktop.On Windows this needs the ASIO driver. On the ordinary Windows device DMXDesktop captures only the first two channels, which in multitrack mode are permanently inputs 1 and 2. If you cannot use ASIO, use stereo stream mode instead. ## Troubleshooting Silence in multitrack modeYou are probably on the wrong pair. Check the table above and the assignments on your console rather than assuming.Windows offers no channel choice in multitrack modeYou are not on the ASIO driver. Install it, or switch to stereo stream mode.The lights follow the compereThe stereo source is Main LR. Point it at a music-only stereo output instead. ## Still not working Work through the shared checks in Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the faults that are not specific to one console. If you need to contact support, have these five things ready, because they resolve most cases immediately:The exact mixer model.Your Windows or macOS version.How the mixer is connected, and which USB port you used.Which device you picked in Settings → Audio.Which left and right channel numbers you selected.For a console with a multichannel USB interface, a screenshot of the mixer's USB output patch is worth more than any log file. --- # Soundcraft Ui24R: audio into DMXDesktop https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/soundcraft-ui24r-audio The Ui24R presents 32 channels to a computer over its USB DAW connection, with a fixed and rather convenient layout: the masters and all eight aux buses are already on the first ten channels. A music-only feed for DMXDesktop needs no repatching, and in fact the layout cannot be changed.This article is part of Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the shared rules and the problems common to every console. ## Models covered Ui24RUi12 and Ui16 are not the same. They have USB media features but not the Ui24R's multichannel USB DAW interface. Use the analogue method for those. ## How the Ui24R USB channels are laid out USB DAW 1 and 2 are Master Left and Master Right.USB DAW 3 to 10 are Aux buses 1 to 8.USB DAW 11 to 32 are the input channels, from channel 1 onwards.This layout is fixed. The Patching page in the browser interface decides where each mixer channel gets its input from, including audio coming back from the computer. It does not change what is sent to the computer. ## What you need A USB Type-B cable to the USB DAW connection.On Windows, Soundcraft's Ui24R multichannel USB audio driver.On macOS, nothing extra.Not the Type-A sockets. Those are for playback and storage media and carry no audio to a computer. ## Connect the mixer Connect USB DAW to the computer.On Windows, install the Ui24R driver.In DMXDesktop, open Settings → Audio and select the Ui24R. ## Fastest setup: the master mix USB DAW 1 and 2 always carry Master L and Master R. There is nothing to patch.In DMXDesktop, select channels 1 and 2.Channels 1 and 2, so this works on Windows with or without ASIO. ## Recommended setup: a music-only aux Because Aux 1 to 8 are permanently on USB DAW 3 to 10, building a music-only mix is just a matter of using an aux and counting.Link Aux 1 and Aux 2 as a stereo pair and name it DMXDesktop.Unmute the pair and set its master to 0 dB.Send only the music channels to it, at 0 dB. No speech microphones, no talkback.Aux sends are pre-fader by default, so the feed ignores the channel faders. Switch the sends to post-fader if you want the lighting to follow the channel faders.Aux 1 is USB DAW 3 and Aux 2 is USB DAW 4. No patching required.In DMXDesktop, select channels 3 and 4.On Windows this needs the ASIO driver. On the ordinary Windows device DMXDesktop captures only the first two channels, which on the Ui24R are always the masters. An aux cannot be moved onto USB DAW 1 and 2, so without ASIO take the aux pair's physical outputs into a small interface instead, using the analogue method. ## Troubleshooting Check the direction. Every console has two USB patches and they are easy to confuse. You want the one carrying audio from the mixer to the computer. The other one decides what the computer plays back into the mixer, and changing it does nothing for DMXDesktop.Feedback risk. The USB DAW inputs carry audio from the computer back into mixer channels. That only causes a loop if the computer plays back the audio it is capturing, and that return channel is sent to the same master or aux being captured. Keep USB returns out of the lighting mix unless you meant to include them.Silence on channels 3 and 4The sends to Aux 1 and 2 are down, the Aux 1/2 master is down or muted, or the sends are post-fader and the channel faders are down or muted. Pre-fader sends keep working with the channel faders down.Windows offers no channel choiceThe multichannel driver is not installed, or you selected the ordinary Windows device instead of its ASIO device. ## Still not working Work through the shared checks in Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the faults that are not specific to one console. If you need to contact support, have these five things ready, because they resolve most cases immediately:The exact mixer model.Your Windows or macOS version.How the mixer is connected, and which USB port you used.Which device you picked in Settings → Audio.Which left and right channel numbers you selected.For a console with a multichannel USB interface, a screenshot of the mixer's USB output patch is worth more than any log file. --- # Mackie DL Series: audio into DMXDesktop https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/mackie-dl-audio The DL mixers carry a multichannel USB interface, 16 channels on a DL16S and 32 on a DL32S, and everything is patched from Mackie's Master Fader app. Sending DMXDesktop a music-only mix is straightforward once you are on the right tab.This article is part of Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the shared rules and the problems common to every console. ## Models covered DL16S and DL16SE (16 in, 16 out)DL32S and DL32SE (32 in, 32 out)DL32R (32 in, 32 out; its USB drive port and computer USB port cannot be used at the same time) ## What you need A USB Type-B cable to the mixer.On Windows, Mackie's current USB driver.On macOS, nothing extra.The right control app, connected to the mixer, to do the routing: Master Fader 5 for the DL16S, DL32S and DL32R, or Master Fader SE for the DL16SE and DL32SE. ## Connect the mixer Connect the USB port to the computer.On Windows, install the Mackie USB driver.On macOS, confirm the mixer appears in Audio MIDI Setup.Open the control app and connect it to the mixer.In DMXDesktop, open Settings → Audio and select the DL. ## Fastest setup: the main mix In the control app, open I/O Patch.Select the USB tab. Not Input A, not Input B.Assign Main L to USB output 1.Assign Main R to USB output 2.In DMXDesktop, select channels 1 and 2.These tab names are from Master Fader 5. Master Fader SE may lay the patch out differently, but you are still looking for the USB outputs. ## Recommended setup: a music-only aux Create a stereo-linked Aux bus and name it DMXDesktop.Unmute the Aux master and set it to 0 dB.Send each music channel to it at 0 dB, and choose pre-fader or post-fader sends. Keep the sends fully down on speech microphones.In I/O Patch → USB, assign the Aux left and right to USB outputs 1 and 2.In DMXDesktop, select channels 1 and 2.If a recording rig already owns USB 1 and 2, use any other free pair and select those numbers in DMXDesktop.On Windows this needs the ASIO driver. DMXDesktop only lets you choose channels on an ASIO device. On the ordinary Windows device it captures the first two channels that device offers. ## Troubleshooting The classic Mackie mistake. The Input A and Input B tabs in I/O Patch choose what feeds the mixer's channels. They have nothing to do with what the computer receives. DMXDesktop needs the USB tab, which is the patch going out to the computer.The mixer appears but there is no audioYou are almost certainly on the wrong I/O Patch tab. See above.Only one sideOnly one of the two USB outputs got assigned, or the Aux is not stereo-linked. ## Still not working Work through the shared checks in Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the faults that are not specific to one console. If you need to contact support, have these five things ready, because they resolve most cases immediately:The exact mixer model.Your Windows or macOS version.How the mixer is connected, and which USB port you used.Which device you picked in Settings → Audio.Which left and right channel numbers you selected.For a console with a multichannel USB interface, a screenshot of the mixer's USB output patch is worth more than any log file. --- # Zoom LiveTrak L Series: audio into DMXDesktop https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/zoom-livetrak-audio LiveTrak mixers send the computer their individual input channels plus the stereo master. Where the master lands depends on the model, and on the L-12, L-20 and L-20R a driver setting can move it to channels 1 and 2.This article is part of Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the shared rules and the problems common to every console. ## Models covered LiveTrak L-8: 12 channels to the computer, with the master on channels 1 and 2, then the inputsLiveTrak L-12: 14 channels, inputs 1 to 12, then the master on 13 and 14LiveTrak L-20 and L-20R: 22 channels, inputs 1 to 20, then the master on 21 and 22These are the normal settings. A driver option on the L-12, L-20 and L-20R can change them, as described below. ## Where the master mix lands The master on USB is the signal after the master fader.L-8The master is already on channels 1 and 2. There is nothing to change.L-12, L-20 and L-20ROn macOS, or on Windows with Zoom's ASIO driver, simply select the master pair: 13 and 14 on an L-12, 21 and 22 on an L-20 or L-20R.On Windows without ASIO, DMXDesktop captures only the first two channels, which are normally inputs 1 and 2. For that case, LiveTrak driver version 2 or newer can put the post-master-fader signal on channels 1 and 2 instead:Windows: Control Panel, then the ZOOM L-12/L-20 Control Panel, then its Channel tab.macOS: System Preferences, then the ZOOM L-12 or L-20 driver panel.The setting is saved on the computer, not on the mixer. ## Setup Install Zoom's driver for your model and operating system. For the L-12, L-20 and L-20R, use version 2 or newer.Connect the LiveTrak's USB port. On an L-12, L-20 or L-20R, set the MODE switch to AUDIO INTERFACE. On an L-8, press AUDIO I/F and choose PC/Mac.Set the mixer's sample rate to 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz. The audio interface does not work at 96 kHz.Start DMXDesktop, open Settings → Audio, and select the Zoom device.Select the master pair for your model, or channels 1 and 2 on an L-8 or with the driver option enabled.Start the mixer before DMXDesktop. If DMXDesktop is already running when you connect it, reopen the audio settings so the device list refreshes. ## Getting a music-only feed LiveTrak routing is less flexible than the assignable output matrices on the larger consoles in this guide, and there is no way to put an arbitrary music-only mix on the USB feed. Two options:If the music is on one stereo input pairSelect the USB channels carrying that input pair in DMXDesktop. On an L-12, L-20 or L-20R with the driver option off, input 5 is USB channel 5. On an L-8 the inputs come after the master, so input 1 is USB channel 3. Those channels carry only the music. Channels above 2 need ASIO on Windows.Otherwise, use a monitor mixBuild one of the mixer's monitor mixes with only the music channels in it, and turn that mix's master level up.Take that monitor output into a separate two-input USB interface. If it is a stereo headphone socket, use a stereo breakout cable so left and right go to separate inputs.Select that interface in DMXDesktop rather than the LiveTrak.See the analogue method for cabling and levels. ## Troubleshooting Channels 1 and 2 are input 1 and input 2, not the mixOn an L-12, L-20 or L-20R this is the normal layout. Select the master pair instead, or enable the driver option, which needs version 2 or newer.The device will not openThe mixer is not in audio interface mode, or its sample rate is set to 96 kHz.The lights react to speech between songsYou are on the master mix, which contains everything, including any speech microphones. Use one of the two options above. ## Still not working Work through the shared checks in Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the faults that are not specific to one console. If you need to contact support, have these five things ready, because they resolve most cases immediately:The exact mixer model.Your Windows or macOS version.How the mixer is connected, and which USB port you used.Which device you picked in Settings → Audio.Which left and right channel numbers you selected.For a console with a multichannel USB interface, a screenshot of the mixer's USB output patch is worth more than any log file. --- # Using an analogue mixer with a USB audio interface https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/analogue-mixer-audio-interface If your mixer has no USB audio interface, or its USB feed cannot be separated from the microphones, a small stereo USB interface solves it for very little money. This is the universal method: it works with almost any mixer that has a line-level output.This article is part of Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the shared rules and the problems common to every console. ## When to use this Mixers with no USB audio interface at all.Soundcraft Ui12 and Ui16.Behringer XR12 and XR16.Older analogue Mackie and Soundcraft desks.Any mixer whose USB port does playback or storage but not computer recording.Any situation where the built-in USB recording mix cannot be separated from the microphones. ## What to buy Anything with two line-level inputs and a reliable driver. In rough order of cost:Behringer U-CONTROL UCA222 or UCA202. Two unbalanced RCA inputs over USB, and about as cheap as audio hardware gets. These inputs overload easily, so start with the mixer output low and check for clipping.Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, Steinberg UR22 or MOTU M2, if you want balanced line inputs and better converters.The analysis feed does not need a good interface. It needs a working one. ## Which mixer output to use Take the first of these your mixer has:A stereo Matrix output.A pair of linked Aux outputs.Record Out or Tape Out.Control Room output.Monitor output.Main L/R line output.A Matrix or Aux mix is usually the best of these, because you can build it with the speech microphones left out. Record, Control Room, Monitor and Main outputs normally carry the main mix, microphones included, although on some desks a subgroup or ALT output can be set up to carry only the music. For how to set up the bus itself, see the music-only feed section of Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop.Never connect a speaker or amplifier output to an audio interface. Speaker outputs on a powered mixer carry many times the voltage a line input is built for and will destroy it. If the socket drives a passive speaker, it is not the socket you want. ## Wiring it up Match the level, not just the shape of the connector. A mixer output is line level, so it belongs in two line inputs on the interface.Use two separate inputs: one for left, one for right.If the interface has a LINE / INST or LINE / MIC switch, set both inputs to LINE.Keep phantom power (48V) off for these inputs.If the mixer has RCA Record OutA plain stereo RCA-to-RCA cable into an RCA interface such as the UCA222. Record Out L to input L, Record Out R to input R.If the mixer has quarter-inch outputsInto balanced TRS line inputs, use two TRS-to-TRS cables. Into an RCA interface, use two 6.35 mm to RCA cables. Left output to the left input, right to right.If the mixer has XLR outputsOn many interfaces the XLR sockets are microphone inputs. Do not go XLR to XLR just to keep the connection balanced. Use XLR-to-TRS cables into the interface's TRS line inputs instead. Into an RCA interface, use correctly wired line-level XLR-to-RCA cables.One jack is not a stereo input. A balanced TRS input is a single mono input. Plugging a stereo headphone output into one balanced input subtracts one side from the other and can cancel much of the music. Use a stereo breakout cable, one TRS plug to two mono plugs, into two inputs. ## Computer setup WindowsConnect the interface and let Windows install its driver.If the manufacturer supplies an ASIO driver, install it and select it. If not, the ordinary stereo recording input is fine.In DMXDesktop, open Settings → Audio and select the interface. A two-input interface only has channels 1 and 2 to offer.macOSConnect the interface.Open Audio MIDI Setup and confirm it appears as an input device.Select it in Settings → Audio and use channels 1 and 2.Grant audio input permission when macOS asks. It only asks once.A two-input interface has no channels above 2, so the ASIO rule that applies elsewhere in this guide is irrelevant here. This is one of the reasons the analogue method is such a dependable fallback. ## Setting the level Mute or turn down the PA while you are making connections.Set the interface input gain low, if it has one. On an RCA interface such as the UCA222, start with the mixer output well down, because those inputs overload easily.Play a loud, representative section of the music.Bring the mixer's output up until DMXDesktop's meter reads healthily.Back off before it pins at the top. Clipping destroys the dynamics the analysis needs.Check both channels move.Label the output on the mixer, and save the scene if it has one. ## Troubleshooting Very quiet, even with everything upCheck the mixer's output level and its master, that the music is actually routed to that output, the interface's input gain, and that the cables are wired for the sockets at both ends. If all of that is right, try a different line output such as Record Out, Aux Out or Control Room Out.Distorted even at low console levelsThe output is too hot for the input, which usually means a headphone amp or a speaker-level output. Stop and check what the socket actually is before you damage the interface. An RCA interface such as the UCA222 also overloads more easily than a balanced one, so turn the mixer output down.Thin or hollow sound, with parts of the music missingA stereo output is going into a single balanced input, so one side is cancelling the other. Use a stereo breakout cable into two inputs.One channel onlyOne side is not connected: a cable is unplugged or faulty, the second output is not patched, or a stereo breakout cable is wired or plugged in wrongly. Swap the two cables at the interface to see whether the fault follows the cable or stays with the input.Hum or buzzUsually a ground loop between the console and the computer. Balanced connections help where both ends support them. With an RCA interface, put a line-level isolation transformer (a ground loop isolator) between the mixer and the interface. An ordinary DI box is the wrong tool here, because it turns the signal into microphone level.Never disconnect or defeat the protective mains earth on any equipment to cure hum. It is there to stop a fault from making the metalwork live. ## Still not working Work through the shared checks in Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop, which covers the faults that are not specific to one console. If you need to contact support, have these five things ready, because they resolve most cases immediately:The exact mixer model.Your Windows or macOS version.How the mixer is connected, and which USB port you used.Which device you picked in Settings → Audio.Which left and right channel numbers you selected.For a console with a multichannel USB interface, a screenshot of the mixer's USB output patch is worth more than any log file. --- # The Programmer & Floorplan (Programmer Manual) https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/programmer-manual/the-programmer-and-floorplan A hands-on guide to building lighting looks - from understanding the workspace to selecting your first fixtures. ## What Is the Programmer? The Programmer is your central workspace in DMXDesktop. Think of it as an artist's canvas - this is where you select fixtures, dial in colors, set positions, add effects, and then save everything as reusable cues that you can play back during a live show.What You Can Do HereBuild lighting looks by adjusting intensity, color, position, and beam properties on any combination of fixturesRecord cues that capture those looks so you can recall them instantlyBuild cue stacks that step through multiple looks automatically (chases, theater sequences, song sections)Create execute functions for one-touch triggering of any lookControl everything live using on-screen faders, keyboard shortcuts, or MIDI hardwareRun effects - automated color cycling, movement patterns, and more - synced to the beat of your musicThe Programmer LayoutThe Programmer window has three main areas:Cue FadersClearTimelineSettingsLAYOUTRecordDeleteMergeTop Toolbar - Left: Navigation | Center: View | Right: ActionsIntensityPositionsColorsBeamsAttribute Tabs - enabled/disabled based on fixture capabilitiesMain Content AreaFloorplan, Attribute Panel, or FadersTop Toolbar - Split into three columns:Left: Navigation buttons (Cue Faders, Clear, Timeline, Settings)Center: The LAYOUT button to return to the floorplanRight: Action buttons that change based on what you're doing (Record, Delete, Merge, etc.)Attribute Tabs - Four tabs for the four types of fixture control. Tabs are automatically enabled or disabled based on your selected fixtures' capabilities.Main Content Area - Shows either the floorplan (default), an attribute control panel, or the fader playback interface.Navigation Quick ReferenceButtonWhat It DoesLAYOUTReturns to the floorplan home viewCue FadersOpens the fader panel for cue playbackClearResets all programmer values and deselects fixturesCue TimelineOpens the timeline editor for arranging cues in sequenceSettingsOpens programmer settings (merge behavior, etc.)ImportantThe Programmer is locked (a lock overlay appears) when DJ Mode or an Effect Cue is active. Disable those features first to regain access. ## The Floorplan - Your Stage View The floorplan is a bird's-eye view of your stage. Every patched fixture appears as a dot that updates in real time to show its current color and intensity - so you always know what your lights are doing at a glance.What You SeeEach fixture dot displays:A colored circle matching the fixture's current RGB outputAn intensity percentage showing the dimmer levelPixel segments around the edge (for multi-pixel fixtures) showing individual pixel colorsMoving Fixtures AroundBy default, the layout is locked to prevent accidental moves. Here's how to rearrange it:Click the Lock button (padlock icon) - the padlock opens, indicating the layout is now editableDrag any fixture dot to its new positionClick Save (disk icon) to store the new layoutClick Lock again to re-lockTipClick Undo (or press Ctrl+Z) to step back through up to 50 layout changes per session.Aligning FixturesWhen you select two or more fixtures, an alignment toolbar appears with four options:ToolWhat It DoesAlign HorizontallyLines up selected fixtures to the same Y positionAlign VerticallyLines up selected fixtures to the same X positionDistribute HorizontallySpaces them evenly along the X axisDistribute VerticallySpaces them evenly along the Y axisExample: You have 8 LED pars scattered randomly on the floorplan. Select all 8, click Align Horizontally, then click Distribute Horizontally - they line up in a neat, evenly spaced row.Multiple FloorplansYou can keep several named floorplans and switch between them from the Floorplan dropdown above the stage view. Every floorplan holds the same fixtures - each one simply remembers its own arrangement, so you can save alternate layouts (say, a different stage design or venue) and switch between them instantly.New adds another floorplan - choose Duplicate current to start from your existing positions, or Blank to arrange it from scratch.Rename and Delete manage the selected floorplan.The floorplan you have selected is the active one, and its arrangement is what your automated shows are built from.Ghost FixturesIf a fixture has been configured with channel group mappings (splitting a multi-head fixture like a GigBar into separately controllable sections), additional "ghost" fixture dots appear on the floorplan. These look slightly different from regular fixtures and can be positioned independently. ## Selecting Fixtures Before you can program anything, you need to tell DMXDesktop which fixtures you want to work with.How to SelectMethodWhat It DoesClick a fixture dotSelects that fixture (deselects all others)Ctrl+ClickToggles one fixture without affecting the restDrag a rectangleSelects all fixtures inside the rectangleCtrl+ASelects every fixtureCtrl+DDeselects everythingClick a group buttonSelects or deselects the entire fixture groupGroupsFixture group buttons appear above the floorplan. Groups are defined in the Stages tab when you set up your show. Clicking a group button is the fastest way to select a set of related fixtures - for example, all front wash fixtures, all moving heads, or all floor uplighters.Identifying a FixtureCan't tell which fixture dot corresponds to which physical light in the room? Click the Identify button (lightbulb icon) in the toolbar. DMXDesktop will run a sequential flash across your selected fixtures from left to right, making it easy to identify each one's position.Selection PersistenceYour selection is saved between sessions. When you close and reopen the Programmer, your previous selection is restored automatically. --- # Programming Attributes (Programmer Manual) https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/programmer-manual/programming-attributes Control intensity, color, position, and beam properties - the four attribute types that define every lighting look - and reach any raw DMX channel directly when a fixture does something none of them cover. ## 4. Programming Intensity The Intensity panel lets you set how bright each fixture is.Opening the PanelClick the Intensity tab in the attribute bar, or press I on your keyboard.What You'll SeeDMXDesktop creates faders based on each fixture's channel structure:Fixture TypeWhat AppearsHas a master dimmer channelOne fader for overall intensityPer-pixel dimmers (multi-pixel fixture)One fader per lamp/pixelRGB-only (no dimmer channel)Color channels are used as a virtual dimmerEach fader is a vertical slider from 0 (off) to 255 (full).How to Use the FadersDrag the slider up or down to set the brightnessDouble-click a slider to snap it to 0 (off)The number above each fader shows the current valueThe Master FaderWhen multiple fixtures are selected, a Master Fader appears at the top. It controls all selected fixtures simultaneously:If all fixtures are at the same value, the master shows that valueAdjusting the master scales all individual faders proportionallyHow Intensity Interacts with ColorFixtures with a dimmer channel: The fader controls the dimmer; your color values stay at their programmed levelsFixtures without a dimmer channel: The fader scales the RGB/CMY values directly (acting as a virtual dimmer)TipThe button below each fader shows a color preview when color values are active - so you can see at a glance what color each fixture is set to.Walkthrough: Setting Up a Basic WashClick a group button to select your front wash fixtures (e.g., "Front Wash")Press I to open IntensityDrag the master fader to 200 - all fixtures come up to about 78%Now you have a basic warm-up state to build on ## 5. Programming Color The Colors panel gives you multiple ways to set color on your fixtures - from a visual color wheel to professional gel filter libraries.Opening the PanelClick the Colors tab, or press C. You'll see four sub-tabs:Sub-TabPurposeColor PickerInteractive color wheel and individual channel fadersLee GelsThe complete Lee professional gel filter library (250+ colors)Apollo GelsThe Apollo professional gel filter library (50+ gels)Color EffectsAnimated color effects (covered in the Effects section)Using the Color PickerPreset Color ButtonsA scrollable row of preset colors appears at the top of the Color Picker. Click any button to instantly apply that color to all selected fixtures. The presets shown are dynamic - they change based on which color channels your selected fixtures have.The Color WheelBelow the presets is a visual color wheel:Position around the wheel controls the hue (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet...)Distance from center controls saturation (center = white, edge = fully saturated)Click or drag anywhere on the wheel to select a colorA cursor dot shows your current selectionIndividual Channel FadersBelow the color wheel are precise per-channel sliders:RGB fixtures show Red, Green, Blue (0–255 each)CMY fixtures show Cyan, Magenta, Yellow (0–255 each)Extended colors may include Amber, UV, White, Warm White, Cool WhiteThe faders and the color wheel stay in sync - adjusting one updates the other.Using Gel LibrariesThe Lee Gels and Apollo Gels sub-tabs display professional gel filter catalogs. Each gel button shows:The gel code (e.g., L26)The gel name (e.g., Bright Red)A color preview as the button backgroundClick a gel to apply its color. Click again to remove it. Gel buttons are disabled for fixtures that don't have RGB or CMY channels.TipGels are a great starting point even if you're not familiar with color theory - they're the same colors professional lighting designers have used in theater and concerts for decades.Saving Color PalettesOnce you've dialed in a color you like, save it for instant recall:Set the color using the wheel, faders, gels, or any combinationClick the Save button (+ icon)Enter a name (e.g., "Deep Blue Wash" or "Sunset Amber")The palette appears as a new button with the color as its backgroundManaging palettes:Click a saved palette to apply it to your selected fixturesRight-click for options: Update (overwrite with current color), Rename, or DeleteAutomatic Color ConversionDMXDesktop automatically adapts to your fixture's color system:Fixture TypeWhat HappensRGB channelsDirect control - you set red, green, blueCMY channelsAuto-converts from your RGB selection to cyan, magenta, yellowColor wheelFinds the closest matching slot on the fixture's physical color wheelRGB + Color wheelUses RGB for mixing, wheel for indexed colorsWalkthrough: Creating a Color LookSelect your moving heads (e.g., Ctrl+Click each one, or click the "Movers" group)Press C to open ColorsClick the Lee Gels tabClick L181 Congo Blue - all selected movers turn deep blueNow click the Color Picker tab - notice the faders and wheel reflect the Congo Blue valuesDrag the Red fader up to about 40 - the blue shifts to a rich purpleClick the Save button, name it "Night Purple"You now have a one-click palette for this color anytime you need it ## 6. Programming Position The Positions panel gives you control over pan (horizontal rotation) and tilt (vertical rotation) for moving fixtures - moving heads, scanners, and similar fixtures.Opening the PanelClick the Positions tab or press P. This tab has two sub-tabs:Sub-TabPurposeManual ControlDirect pan/tilt adjustment with a visual position boxPosition EffectsAutomated movement patterns (covered in the Effects section)ImportantThe Positions tab is only available when at least one selected fixture has pan/tilt channels.The Position BoxA large interactive area represents the stage from above. A movable dot shows the current fixture position:Drag the dot to move the fixture in real timeThe horizontal axis controls Pan (left/right)The vertical axis controls Tilt (up/down)Below the box are Pan and Tilt sliders (0–255) with numeric inputs for precise values. Double-click either slider to reset to center (127).Position PresetsQuick-access buttons for common positions:PresetPanTiltWhere the Light PointsDefault127127Center/straight aheadFront1270Straight down at the audienceBack127255Behind the fixtureLeft0127Full leftRight255127Full rightFront-Left00Front-left cornerBack-Left0255Back-left cornerPresets animate smoothly over 2 seconds rather than snapping instantly - so you can see the transition in real time.Fan Controls - Spreading Fixtures ApartFan controls are one of the most powerful tools in the Positions panel. They take a single position and spread it across multiple fixtures, creating a beautiful fanned-out look.Fan Pan (-50 to +50) - Spreads fixtures horizontallyFan Tilt (-50 to +50) - Spreads fixtures verticallyHow it works: The center fixture stays in place. Fixtures to the left and right are offset symmetrically.Example: You have 5 moving heads on a truss, all pointing center stage. Set Fan Pan to +30 - the center head stays put, the two outer heads spread wide, and the two middle heads spread partway. The result is a symmetric fan across the stage.TipDouble-click a fan slider to reset to 0.Position LimitsPrevent fixtures from pointing where you don't want them (into the audience's eyes, at a video screen, etc.):Click Enable LimitsA rectangular limit box appears on the position boxDrag the corner handles to resize the boundaryDrag the interior to move the boxAll pan/tilt adjustments are now constrained within the limit areaLimits also apply to position effects - so a circle effect won't move fixtures outside your defined area.Position PalettesSave and recall positions just like color palettes:Position your fixtures where you want themClick Save (+ icon) and enter a name (e.g., "Center Cross" or "Wide Fan")Click the saved palette button later to recall itRight-click for: Update, Rename, DeleteWalkthrough: Creating a Position LookSelect all moving headsPress P to open PositionsClick the Default preset - all heads go to center (127, 127)Set Fan Pan to +25 - heads spread out in a symmetric fanDrag the Tilt slider down to 80 - all heads tilt forward toward the stageClick Save, name it "Wide Stage Fan"Now you can recall this position with one click anytime ## 7. Programming Beam Properties The Beams panel controls the optical elements inside your fixtures - gobos, prisms, shutters, strobes, and focusing optics.Opening the PanelClick the Beams tab or press B.ImportantThe Beams tab is only available when at least one selected fixture has beam channels.Dynamic Sub-TabsThe Beams panel shows sub-tabs only for features your selected fixtures actually have. Missing features are automatically hidden.Sub-TabWhat It ControlsGoboGobo wheel selection and rotation speedPrismPrism selection and rotation speedShutterOpen/closed/strobe modesStrobeDedicated strobe speedIrisAperture size (beam width)ZoomBeam angle (wide to narrow)FocusBeam sharpness (sharp to soft)FrostFrost filter intensityGobo SelectionGobos are metal or glass pattern discs that shape the beam - projecting circles, stars, breakups, or custom patterns.The gobo wheel displays as a horizontal carousel showing gobo thumbnails:Scroll left/right using the arrow buttons or dragClick a gobo to select it - the wheel centers on your selectionIf the gobo supports rotation, a speed encoder knob appearsDrag the encoder up/down to control rotation speedTipGobo images come from the fixture's profile (GDTF or custom), so you see the actual patterns your fixture can project.Prism SelectionWorks identically to the gobo wheel - scroll, click to select, and use the rotation encoder for spin speed. Directional indicators show clockwise vs. counter-clockwise rotation.Shutter ControlOption buttons for shutter modes:OptionEffectOpenShutter fully open (normal beam)Strobe SFStrobe effect, slow to fast - a speed encoder appearsStrobe FSStrobe effect, fast to slow - a speed encoder appearsEncoder Controls (Iris, Zoom, Focus, Frost)These four attributes use a rotary encoder interface:Drag up to increase the value (open iris / widen zoom / sharpen focus / add frost)Drag down to decreaseA visual animation shows the effect in real time (iris aperture, cone angle, blur amount)Double-click to reset to 50%The percentage display shows the current valueWalkthrough: Building a Gobo LookSelect your moving headsPress B to open BeamsClick the Gobo sub-tabScroll through the carousel and click a breakup goboDrag the rotation encoder up to about 30% - the gobo starts rotating slowlyClick the Focus sub-tab and adjust until the gobo edge is crispClick the Iris sub-tab and close it to about 60% for a tighter beamThe look is now in your programmer - ready to record as a cue ## The Channels Tab - Direct DMX Access The four attribute panels cover what most fixtures do most of the time. The Channels tab is the way in to everything else: a fader for every raw DMX channel of a selected fixture, so you can set something the normal controls do not expose.When to Use ItA channel the fixture's profile carries but no attribute panel offers, such as a built-in macro, a motor speed or a lamp controlWorking out what a channel actually does on a fixture you have just patched, one value at a timeHolding one channel at a fixed value while the rest of the fixture is driven by an effectOpening the PanelSelect one or more fixtures, then click the Channels tab. Channels is offered for any selection, because every fixture has raw channels, where Positions, Colors and Beams are only offered when the selected fixtures have the channels to match.Select several fixtures and a row of buttons appears above the faders, one per fixture. Click a name to show that fixture's channels. One fixture is shown at a time, which keeps a large selection quick to work with.Reading and Setting a ChannelEach channel appears as a vertical fader in DMX address order, running 0 to 255 and labelled with the channel name from the fixture profile, or Ch and the address if the profile does not name it.What You SeeWhat It MeansEmpty value boxYou are not controlling this channel. Whatever else is driving it, including effects, carries on untouchedColoured numberYou have taken the channel. It holds the value you setClick the value boxGives the channel back. The fader returns to 0, the box empties, and whatever was underneath resumesSnap / FadeThe button under each fader sets how that channel behaves in a cue transition: snap straight to the value, or fade to itChannel values are captured into the programmer along with everything else, so they record into a cue and come back when you recall it.ImportantA channel you take here is written directly, over anything else acting on it, until you give it back. That is the point of the tab, and it is also the trap: a channel left grabbed will keep overriding an effect or a cue on that fixture, with nothing on the attribute panels to show why. Click the value box to release it when you are done.Fine ChannelsA fixture that offers a fine channel alongside a coarse one for a colour or for the dimmer is driven at 16 bit, which gives visibly smoother fades on slow changes and no visible stepping on a long dip to black. Both channels appear here, because this is the raw list, but you do not have to set them yourself: everywhere else in the Programmer a fine channel is paired with its coarse partner automatically and the pair moves as one. --- # Effects (Programmer Manual) https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/programmer-manual/effects Automate colors and movement with beat-synced effects - from simple color cycling to complex position patterns. Every effect brings its own set of controls: pick one and the sliders it uses come up at that effect's own defaults, while any slider it does not use dims out. ## 8. Color Effects Color effects automate your fixtures' colors - cycling, chasing, pulsing, and more - without manual programming for every step.Opening Color EffectsNavigate to Colors β†’ Color Effects sub-tab.Applying an EffectSelect one or more fixturesClick an effect button to activate it - the effect starts running immediatelyClick No Effect to stopEffect LibraryEffects are organized into categories:Color CyclingSmoothly transitions between colors.EffectWhat It Looks Like2 ColorAlternates between 2 colors you choose3 ColorCycles through 3 chosen colors4 ColorCycles through 4 chosen colorsRGBCycles red β†’ green β†’ blue β†’ redRGB SnapSnaps between red, green, blue (no fade)CMYCycles cyan β†’ magenta β†’ yellowRed-GreenAlternates red and greenRed-BlueAlternates red and blueGreen-BlueAlternates green and blueRandomRandom color each cycleFlick EffectsRapid single-color flashes against black.EffectColorBlue FlickBlue flashGreen FlickGreen flashRed FlickRed flashWhite FlickWhite flashSequential PatternsFixtures light up one at a time in order - like a marquee.EffectDirectionSequenceLeft to rightSequence ReverseRight to leftMiddle OutCenter outward to edgesMiddle InEdges inward to centerChase EffectsA “lit window” of fixtures moves through the line - the rest stay dark.EffectDirectionChaseForwardChase ReverseReverseChase Inside-OutCenter outwardChase Outside-InEdges inwardChase Inverted (+ variants)The dark window moves instead of the lit oneWave EffectsA rolling brightness wave moves through the fixtures - think of a stadium wave.EffectDirectionWaveForwardWave ReverseReverseWave Inside-OutCenter outwardWave Outside-InEdges inwardWave Inverted (+ variants)Inverted wave patternPulse EffectsFixtures pulse in brightness - together, rotating, or phased.EffectPatternPulseAll fixtures pulse togetherPulse RotatePulse point moves across fixturesHybrid PulseCombined pulse patternPhased Pulse (+ variants)Fixtures pulse offset from each otherAlternationOn/off toggle patterns.EffectPatternSwitchingAll toggle on/off togetherAlternateEven/odd fixtures alternateAlternate ReverseReverse alternationWash EffectsUniform color movement across all fixtures.EffectPatternWashUniform pulseWash PhasedPhased uniform washAtmosphericComplex decorative effects for special looks.EffectWhat It Looks LikeTwinkleRandom flicker (candle/star effect)RainbowMoving color gradient (forward)Rainbow ReverseMoving color gradient (reverse)MeteorRapid color sweep (comet trail)Meteor ReverseReverse meteorFairgroundRapid on/off sweep (carnival lights)Fairground ReverseReverse fairgroundEffect ControlsThree sliders control how the active effect behaves:Speed (Beat-Synced)The speed slider ranges from -3 to +3, representing beat divisions relative to the master BPM:Slider ValueBeat DivisionWhat It Means-38/1One full cycle every 8 beats (very slow, dramatic)-24/1One cycle every 4 beats (one bar in 4/4 time)-12/1One cycle every 2 beats01/1One cycle per beat (default)+11/2Two cycles per beat+21/4Four cycles per beat (fast, energetic)+31/8Eight cycles per beat (very fast, strobe-like)The BPM comes from your active beat source - audio beat detection, Ableton Link, or manual tap. If no source is active, it defaults to 120 BPM.TipDouble-click the speed slider to reset to 0 (one cycle per beat).Crossfade (0–100%)Controls how smoothly colors transition:0% - Hard snap between colors (dramatic, punchy)100% - Fully smooth blend (gentle, flowing)Not all effects support crossfade. When unsupported, the slider dims to 30% opacity.Spread (0–100%)Controls how the effect is distributed across selected fixtures:0% - All fixtures do the exact same thing at the same time100% - Maximum offset between fixtures (creates movement across the line)Not all effects support spread. When unsupported, the slider dims.Multi-Color EffectsEffects like 2 Color, 3 Color, and 4 Color need you to choose which colors to cycle between:Activate the effect - color selection buttons appearClick a button to choose from presets, or click the palette icon for a custom color pickerIn the custom picker modal, drag on the color wheel and click ApplyWalkthrough: Setting Up a Beat-Synced ChaseSelect all 8 of your LED parsPress C β†’ click Color Effects sub-tabClick Chase - fixtures start chasing left to rightSet Speed to 0 (one chase cycle per beat)Set Crossfade to about 30% - gives a slight fade between stepsSet Spread to 50% - the chase window is wider, covering ~4 fixtures at onceThe chase is now running and synced to your music's BPMYou can record this look as a cue (see Section 10) ## 9. Position Effects Position effects create automated movement patterns for moving fixtures - circles, figure-eights, sweeps, and more. Each head orbits the point it is already aimed at, so you aim the rig first and the shape follows.Opening Position EffectsNavigate to Positions β†’ Position Effects sub-tab.Applying a Position EffectSelect one or more moving fixturesClick an effect pattern button - fixtures begin moving immediatelyClick No Effect to stopHow Position Effects Are CentredA position effect is an orbit around a centre point, and every head has its own. That centre is the aim you gave the head in Manual Control, so a circle applied to four heads pointed at four different parts of the stage gives you four circles, one at each aim, rather than four heads swinging back to the middle of their travel.Re-aim a head while the effect is running and the shape moves with it, so you can keep working on the aim with the effect live.The Effect Controls panel names the centre it is working from at the top:ReadoutWhat It MeansCentre: your manual aimEach head orbits where you aimed itCentre: fixture homeEvery head orbits its own home position insteadPan 128, Tilt 96The centre itself, shown when every selected head agrees on itEach head on its own aimThe heads are aimed at different points, so there is no single centre to quotePad centre, mapped to each headNothing has been aimed yet, so each head falls back to the position padThe button underneath switches between the two: Centre on Home swings every head around its home position, and Centre on Position puts it back on the aim. A running effect picks up the change straight away.Available PatternsEffectWhat It Looks LikeCircleCircular motionFigure-8Horizontal figure-8Vertical Figure-8Vertical figure-8Up-DownVertical sweepLeft-RightHorizontal sweepBoxRectangular pathDiamondDiamond-shaped pathArcCurved arc motionBurstRadiating burst outwardCrossCross-shaped movementOppositesPaired fixtures move in opposing directionsRandomUnpredictable random movementRandom PairsPaired random movementTriangleTriangular pathStarStar-shaped pathPosition Effect ControlsControlRangeWhat It DoesSpeed1–100How fast the pattern cyclesSize1–100How big the movement is (% of available range)Phase-50 to +50Timing offset between fixtures (creates wave-like staggering)Fan Pan-50 to +50Spreads the heads' centre points apart left to rightFan Tilt-50 to +50Spreads the heads' centre points apart up and downDirectionForward / Reverse / BounceWhich way the pattern runsTipDouble-click any slider to reset it to its default value.Direction ModesModeWhat HappensForwardPattern runs normallyReversePattern runs backwardsBouncePattern alternates forward and backwardDirection is stored with the effect, so recalling a look brings back the direction you set with it.Combining Position Effects with FanThe Fan Pan and Fan Tilt sliders in the Position Effects panel are synced with Manual Control. Fanning pulls the heads' centre points apart instead of leaving each one orbiting its own aim in isolation, and each slider fans its own axis: Fan Pan spreads them left to right, Fan Tilt spreads them up and down.Not every shape moves on both axes, and the slider a shape cannot use is labelled (not used by this shape). Circle, Figure-8, Vertical Figure-8, Diamond, Triangle and Star take both. Up-Down and Arc take Fan Tilt only, Left-Right takes Fan Pan only, and Box, Cross, Burst, Opposites, Random and Random Pairs set their own spread and take neither.Example: Set a Circle effect, then add Fan Pan of +20. Instead of all fixtures circling in the same spot, each fixture circles around a different center point, spread across the stage.Travel Limits and Fit to TravelEvery moving fixture has a travel range, and any position limits you set in Manual Control narrow it further. A position effect works inside that range: the shape flattens against a limit rather than driving past it, so a circle will not send beams where you told it not to.The effect leaves your limits alone, which is what Limits unchanged, full travel in the Effect Controls panel is telling you. Size therefore means the same amount of movement wherever the heads point, and a head aimed near the edge of its travel has less room for a big shape than one aimed at the middle.Effect Controls works out the largest Size that fits the room the heads have, and says so when you go past it: Size 80 is past the 45 that fits here, so the heads will flatten against their travel limits. A Fit to travel button appears alongside the warning and drops Size to the largest that fits. Nothing stops you leaving Size where it is and letting the shape flatten, if that is the look you want.Fanning and some shapes reach a little further than Size alone, so on those the figure is a lower bound and the warning says as much.Heads aimed hard against a limit have no Size that fits at all. The panel says so, and the answer is to re-aim them to give the effect room.TipAim the rig first, then apply the effect. Working the other way round means reading a headroom figure that changes as soon as you move the heads.Walkthrough: Creating a Phased Circle EffectSelect your 4 moving headsPress P β†’ click Position Effects sub-tabClick Circle - all heads start circlingSet Speed to 40 (moderate pace)Set Size to 60 (medium circles)Set Phase to +25 - each head is offset in timing, creating a “wave” of circles rippling down the trussThe result: a flowing, organic movement pattern across all your movers --- # Recording & Playing Back Cues (Programmer Manual) https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/programmer-manual/recording-and-playback Save your programmed looks as cues and play them back using the fader panel - from recording your first cue to managing multi-cue playback. ## 10. Recording Cues - Saving Your Work A cue is a saved snapshot of everything currently in your programmer - intensity, color, position, beam settings, and active effects. Recording a cue lets you recall that exact look later with a single fader move or button press.The Basic Recording WorkflowSelect FixturesProgram LookRecordChoose SlotDone!Here's the step-by-step:Select your fixtures on the floorplanProgram the look you want - set intensity, color, position, beams, effects using the attribute tabsClick the Record button (red circle-dot icon) or press RThe interface enters Record Mode - fader buttons change color to show they're ready to receiveClick any cue fader button to save the look to that slotIf the slot already has a cue, you'll be asked to confirm the overwriteThe cue is saved, the button turns blue, and record mode exits automaticallyWhat Gets RecordedEverything in the programmer state is captured:Intensity values for all selected fixturesColor settings (RGB, CMY, color wheel positions)Position values (pan, tilt, fan settings)Beam properties (gobo, prism, shutter, strobe, iris, zoom, focus, frost)Active effects and their parameters (type, speed, crossfade, spread, colors)Palette references - if you applied a saved color or position palette, the cue remembers which palette was usedAutomatic Cue Type DetectionDMXDesktop routes your recording to the appropriate fader section based on what you've programmed:What You Have in the ProgrammerWhere It RecordsWhyMultiple fixtures with programmed valuesCues tabFull lighting look - the standard case1 fixture selected, no programmer stateFixtures tabSolo fixture state (color only)Multiple fixtures selected, no programmer stateGroups tabGroup selection stateAn active cue playing (not a stack)Cue Stacks tabAdds the active cue as a step in a stackNoteYou cannot record while a cue stack is actively playing. Stop the stack first.Default Fade TimesCues recorded from the programmer default to 0ms fade time (instant). You can change fade times later by editing the cue in a cue stack, or by using exec functions.Walkthrough: Recording Your First CueClick your "Front Wash" group button to select all front wash fixturesPress I, drag the master fader to 200 (about 78%)Press C, click a warm amber gel (e.g., Lee L20 Medium Amber)Press R - you're now in Record ModeThe fader panel appears. Click the first empty cue button (Cue 1)Done! The button turns blue. Your amber wash is now saved as Cue 1Pull the fader up to see it in action ## 11. Playing Back Cues - The Fader Panel The fader panel is your playback control center. Open it by clicking Cue Faders or pressing Q.Fader TypesThe fader panel has five tabbed sections:TabWhat It ShowsHow ManyFixturesOne fader per patched fixtureAuto-synced with your patchGroupsOne fader per fixture groupAuto-synced with your groupsCuesOne fader per recorded cuePaginated in sets of 20Cue StacksOne fader per cue stackUp to 20FunctionsThe 10x10 execute grid100 slotsHow Cue Faders WorkEach cue fader has a slider (vertical) and a button (below the slider):Slider: drag up to activateCUE1Button: click to toggleSlider behavior:Drag up from 0 - Activates the cue. The slider position becomes the intensity multiplier.Drag down to 0 - Deactivates the cue and stops it.Any position in between - The cue plays at that percentage of its recorded values.Button behavior (outside special modes):Click - Toggles between 0 and 255 with a 2-second animated crossfade. This is the "flash" function - one click fades in, another click fades out.Intensity Scaling ChainThe final output of any channel in an active cue follows a three-level chain:Stored Valuee.g. 200×Fader Position / 255e.g. 191/255 = 0.75×Master Dimmer / 100e.g. 80/100 = 0.80=Final Output= 120Example: A fixture was recorded at Red = 200. The cue fader is at 191 (75%). The master dimmer is at 80%.Output = 200 × (191 / 255) × (80 / 100) = 200 × 0.75 × 0.80 = 120Cue PagesFor large shows with many cues, the Cues tab is organized in pages of 20 faders. Numbered tabs (1–20, 21–40, 41–60, etc.) let you switch between pages. Your current page selection is remembered between sessions.Walkthrough: Playing Back Multiple CuesOpen the fader panel (press Q)Click the Cues tabDrag Cue 1 (your amber wash) up to 255 - it fades inDrag Cue 2 (a blue backlight) up to 180 - it layers on top at about 70%Now both cues are active simultaneously. The system merges them using LTP (Latest Takes Priority)Drag Cue 1 down to 0 - the amber wash fades out, leaving only the blue backlight ## 12. The Master Dimmer The master dimmer is a global intensity control that scales all DMX output. It sits at the top of the fader panel.The Rotary Encoder InterfaceThe master dimmer uses a rotary encoder knob with a 270Β° sweep (from 7 o'clock to 5 o'clock position):Drag vertically to adjust - up increases, down decreases (±0.5% per pixel of movement)Scroll wheel - ±1% per tick for fine adjustmentDouble-click - Instantly resets to 100%The percentage display in the center shows the current valueVisual Color GradientThe encoder ring uses color coding to show the current level at a glance:RangeColorMeaning80–100%GreenFull output40–79%OrangeReduced output0–39%RedLow output / near blackoutHow It Affects OutputThe master dimmer multiplies every intensity channel being sent to your fixtures:100% - No effect, everything at programmed levels50% - All output halved0% - Complete blackout (all intensity channels zero)ImportantThe master dimmer affects intensity channels only (dimmers, RGB levels). It does not affect position, gobo, prism, or other non-intensity attributes. A gobo keeps spinning at master dimmer 0 - only the beam brightness drops. --- # Editing & Merging Cues (Programmer Manual) https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/programmer-manual/editing-cues Modify recorded cues - restore for editing, merge new values in, or remove specific fixtures. ## 13. Editing Cues - Restore, Rename, Delete Once a cue is recorded, you can modify it in several ways.Restoring a Cue to the Programmer"Restoring" loads a cue's saved state back into the programmer so you can make changes:Click the Restore button (rotate-ccw icon) in the toolbarClick the cue fader button you want to editConfirm in the dialogThe cue's state fills the programmer - intensity, color, position, beams, effects all loadedMake your changes using the attribute panelsRecord over the same slot to save, or Merge to update selectivelyTipRestoring does not activate the cue on the output - it only loads the values into the programmer for editing.Renaming a CueClick the Rename button (square-pen icon) in the toolbarClick the cue fader button you want to renameEnter the new name in the dialog and press EnterRename mode stays active - you can rename multiple cues without re-entering the modePress Escape to exit rename mode.Deleting a CueClick the Delete button (circle-x icon) or press DClick the cue fader button you want to deleteConfirm the deletionWarningIf the cue is referenced by any cue stacks, DMXDesktop warns you: "This cue is used by Stack 1, Stack 2. Deleting it will remove this step from those stacks. Continue?"Delete mode stays active for multiple deletions. Press Escape to exit.NoteFixture faders cannot be deleted - they're automatically managed based on your patch.Walkthrough: Editing an Existing CueLet's say Cue 3 is a "Blue Wash" but you want to add some movers with a gobo:Click Restore β†’ click Cue 3's button β†’ ConfirmThe programmer now shows the blue wash stateCtrl+Click your moving heads to add them to the selectionPress B β†’ select a gobo, set rotation to 20%Press C β†’ set the movers to the same bluePress R β†’ click Cue 3 again β†’ Confirm overwriteCue 3 now includes both the original blue wash AND the movers with gobos ## 14. Merging - Combining Looks Together Merging lets you add programmer values into an existing cue without replacing what's already there. It's the key to building complex cues incrementally.Quick Merge (The Simple Way)The fastest way to add something to a cue:Program the values you want to add (select fixtures, set colors, etc.)Click the Merge button (green merge icon)Click the target cue's fader buttonDone - programmer values are merged in. A "Merged into cue" toast confirms success.How Quick Merge WorksSource AExisting Cue State+Source BProgrammer State=ResultUpdated Cue StateThe rules:New fixtures in the programmer are added to the cueExisting fixtures in the cue get their values updated with the programmer's valuesFixtures in the cue but NOT in the programmer are left untouchedIf you have specific fixtures selected on the floorplan, only those fixtures are merged (even if the programmer has data for others)Effects are always included if present in the programmerQuick Merge vs. Record OverwriteOperationWhat Happens to Existing DataRecord (to existing slot)Completely replaces the cue - old data is goneQuick MergeAdds to / updates the cue - existing data preservedWhen to use each:Record when you want a clean slate - "this IS the new cue"Merge when you want to add to what's there - "add these movers to the existing wash"Walkthrough: Merging a Position Look Into a Color CueCue 1 has a blue wash on your LED pars. You want to add moving head positions without touching the blue wash:Select your moving heads on the floorplanPress P, position them in a fan across the stageClick Merge β†’ click Cue 1Cue 1 now has BOTH the blue wash (untouched) AND the moving head positionsFor the advanced Merge Wizard (multi-source merges, merging into stacks), see Section 18 - The Merge Wizard. ## 15. Removing Fixtures from Cues Sometimes you want to take specific fixtures out of a cue without deleting the whole thing.How to Remove FixturesSelect the fixtures you want to remove on the floorplanClick the Remove button (red split icon)Click the target cue's fader buttonConfirm in the dialog: "Are you sure you want to remove the selected fixtures from this cue?"Those fixtures are removed from the cue; all other fixtures remainWhen to Use RemoveA cue was recorded with too many fixtures and you want to trim itYou're splitting a large cue into smaller, fixture-specific cuesA fixture was repurposed and shouldn't be in this cue anymoreTipRemove mode stays active for multiple operations. Press Escape to exit. --- # Cue Stacks & Execute Grid (Programmer Manual) https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/programmer-manual/cue-stacks-and-execute Build automated sequences with cue stacks and set up instant-trigger buttons in the execute grid for live performance. ## 16. Cue Stacks - Automated Sequences A cue stack is an ordered list of cues that plays through automatically or with manual control. Cue stacks are the backbone of automated lighting - from simple color chases to full theatrical cue-to-cue sequences.Two Modes: Chase vs. StackFeatureChase ModeStack ModeAuto-advanceYes - loops continuouslyOptional (via follow time)Manual controlGo/Stop override availableGo/Back/Halt for step controlDirectionForward, Backward, Bounce, RandomAlways forwardTimingGlobal BPM or step timePer-step fade in/out/followLoopingLoops forever until stoppedStops at the last step (or loops with follow times)Best forColor chases, ambient effects, repetitive sequencesTheater cues, song sections, show segmentsCreating a Cue StackThere are three ways to create a cue stack:Method 1: Record from Active CuesActivate one or more cues by pulling their faders upPress R (Record) - DMXDesktop detects you have active cues and automatically routes to the Cue Stacks tabClick an empty cue stack slotThe active cues become the first step(s) of the new stackMethod 2: Use the Merge WizardClick Merge β†’ select Merge WizardCheck the cues you want as steps (in order)Set the target to New Cue StackEnter a name and click MergeEach checked cue becomes a step in the new stack(See Section 18 for full Merge Wizard details.)Method 3: Edit an Existing StackDouble-click any cue stack label in the fader panelThe Cue Stack Editor opens - add, remove, or reorder stepsThe Cue Stack EditorDouble-click a cue stack label to open the full editor modal.General SettingsSettingDescriptionNameThe stack's display nameModeChase or Stack (radio buttons) - changes available optionsChase Mode SettingsSettingRangeWhat It ControlsBPM1–400Steps per minute (how fast the chase runs)Crossfade0–30,000msTransition time between stepsDirectionForward / Backward / Bounce / RandomStep orderBeat SyncOn / OffLock step timing to incoming BPMBeat Division8/1 through 1/8Steps per beat (when Beat Sync is on)Beat Sync locks the chase timing to your music's beat - from audio detection, Ableton Link, or manual tap. Beat divisions work the same as color effect speed:DivisionSteps Per Beat8/11 step every 8 beats4/11 step every 4 beats2/11 step every 2 beats1/11 step per beat1/22 steps per beat1/44 steps per beat1/88 steps per beatStack Mode Settings - Per-Step TimingIn stack mode, each step can have its own timing:SettingPer-StepWhat It ControlsFade InYesTime (ms) to transition INTO this stepFade OutYesTime (ms) to transition OUT when leavingFollow TimeYesDelay (ms) before auto-advancing to the next step (blank = wait for Go)How follow time works: If Follow Time is blank, the stack waits at that step until you press Go. If you enter a value (e.g., 3000), the stack waits 3 seconds then automatically advances. This lets you build sequences that are partially manual, partially automatic.Release TimeSettingRangeWhat It DoesRelease Time0–30,000msHow long the stack takes to fade out when stoppedWhen you stop a cue stack (fader to 0), the release time determines how quickly it fades away:0ms - Instant blackout when stopped2000ms - 2-second graceful fade-outStep ManagementActionHowReorder stepsDrag using the grip handle (≑ icon) on the leftRename a stepEdit the name field inlineDelete a stepClick the trash icon (with confirmation)Copy timing to allClick the "copy" icon above a timing column to apply one step's value to all stepsClear timing columnClick the "clear" icon to zero out all values in that columnPlaying Cue StacksStarting a StackDrag the cue stack fader up - the stack starts playing at that intensityOr click Go (if a stack is selected) - starts at full intensityPlayback ControlsWhen you select a cue stack (click its label), playback controls appear:ButtonWhat It DoesGo (β–Ί)Advance to the next step. If the stack isn't running, starts it at full.Back (β—„)Go to the previous stepHalt (β€–)Pause at the current step (toggle - press again to resume)Stop (β– )Stop the stack entirely (fader goes to 0)Step DisplayEach cue stack shows a scrollable list of steps with the current step highlighted. This lets you see where you are in the sequence at a glance.Crossfade Behavior Between StepsWhen transitioning between steps:Intensity values crossfade smoothly over the specified durationColor values crossfade smoothly (RGB/CMY interpolation)Position values interpolate smoothly to new pan/tilt targetsEffects from the new step replace effects from the previous step (no blending)Beam attributes (gobo, prism, etc.) snap to the new step's valuesWalkthrough: Building a 4-Step Color ChaseRecord 4 color cues:Select all LED pars β†’ set to Red β†’ Record as Cue 1Set to Green β†’ Record as Cue 2Set to Blue β†’ Record as Cue 3Set to White β†’ Record as Cue 4Create the stack:Pull up Cue 1's fader so it's activePress R - you're routed to Cue StacksClick Stack slot 1Edit the stack:Double-click the "Stack 1" label β†’ Editor opensSwitch mode to ChaseSet BPM to 120 (one step every half second at 120 BPM)Set Crossfade to 500ms for smooth color transitionsSet Direction to ForwardAdd Cues 2, 3, and 4 as additional steps via the Merge Wizard or by repeating the record processPlay it:Drag the Stack 1 fader upWatch the colors cycle: Red β†’ Green β†’ Blue β†’ White β†’ Red β†’ ...Walkthrough: Building a Theater Cue SequenceRecord scene cues:Cue 10: "Preset" - warm wash at 60% before the showCue 11: "Opening" - bright full wash, movers center stageCue 12: "Monologue" - tight spot center, rest at 20%Cue 13: "Blackout" - everything offCreate the stack:Use the Merge Wizard: check Cues 10, 11, 12, 13 β†’ target: New Cue Stack "Act 1"Edit per-step timing:Double-click "Act 1" β†’ Editor opensSwitch to Stack modeCue 10 (Preset): Fade In 0ms, Follow Time blank (manual Go)Cue 11 (Opening): Fade In 3000ms (3-second dramatic fade-in), Follow Time blankCue 12 (Monologue): Fade In 2000ms, Fade Out 1000ms, Follow Time blankCue 13 (Blackout): Fade In 0ms (instant)Set Release Time to 0ms (you want the blackout to be instant)Run the show:Pull Stack 1 fader up - Cue 10 (Preset) playsPress Go - 3-second fade into Cue 11 (Opening)Press Go - 2-second transition into Cue 12 (Monologue)Press Go - instant Cue 13 (Blackout) ## 17. The Execute Grid - Quick-Fire Functions The execute grid is a 10Γ—10 matrix of trigger buttons - 100 slots for instant-access lighting looks during live performance.How Execute Functions Differ from CuesFeatureCue FaderExecute FunctionActivationDrag fader up (variable intensity)Click button (snaps to full or off)Intensity controlContinuous (0–255 via fader)Toggle only (full on or off)Crossfade2-second animated fade when clickedInstant snapBest forGradual intensity control, layeringInstant look changes, scene selectionAssigning FunctionsProgram a lighting look in the programmerPress R (Record mode)Navigate to the Functions tab in the fader panelClick an empty cell in the 10Γ—10 gridEnter a function nameThe function is saved to that cellTriggering FunctionsClick an assigned button - it activates at full intensity (255). Click again - it deactivates (0). No fader, no crossfade - just instant on/off.Linked Functions (Radio Button Behavior)This is one of the most powerful features of the execute grid. Functions placed in adjacent cells (horizontally or vertically touching) are automatically linked:Activating one linked function deactivates all others in its groupOnly one function per linked group can be active at a timeThis creates radio-button behavior - perfect for mutually exclusive scenesVerseChorusBridgeWashStrobe Linked group - clicking one deactivates the others Empty cell - breaks the link chain Independent functions - not linked (empty cell between)Use case: Place verse, chorus, and bridge looks in adjacent cells. Clicking "Chorus" automatically deactivates "Verse" - no need to manually turn things off.TipWant two functions that are NOT linked? Leave an empty cell between them.Repositioning FunctionsDrag any function button to an empty cell to move it. The assignment updates automatically.Managing FunctionsAll standard modes work on execute grid cells:ModeWhat Happens When You Click a CellRecordSave programmer state to that cellDeleteRemove the functionRenameChange the function's nameMergeMerge programmer state into the functionRemoveRemove selected fixtures from the functionMIDI BindAssign a MIDI triggerWalkthrough: Setting Up Song Section ButtonsProgram your verse look (dim blue wash, movers at stage edges)Press R β†’ click cell (1,1) in the grid β†’ name it "Verse"Program your chorus look (bright colors, movers center)Press R β†’ click cell (1,2) β†’ name it "Chorus"Program your bridge look (purple wash, slow position effect)Press R β†’ click cell (1,3) β†’ name it "Bridge"Now during the song: click "Verse" β†’ click "Chorus" (verse turns off automatically) β†’ click "Bridge" (chorus turns off) ## Reading Playback State Cue stacks and the execute grid both run without you watching them, so the screen has to be able to tell you what is actually on. This section covers what the step list, the stack fader and the executor buttons are reporting.What the Step List ShowsWhile a stack runs, each step in its scrollable list carries a state, and the list scrolls to keep the step you care about in view:StateWhat It MeansActiveThe step that is on the rig right nowFadingThe step being faded into. It becomes the active step when the fade completesPausedThe stack is halted. A step caught mid-fade holds where it is until you resumeNextThe step queued behind the current oneThe Next PreviewAlongside the highlight, the stack shows what is coming and when, in the form Next: Step 3 - Monologue (2.0s). What the time means depends on the mode:Chase mode shows the crossfade into the next stepStack mode shows the follow time, or Wait for Go where the step has none and is waiting on youThe preview wraps at the end of the list, so the last step of a running stack previews the first.Stacks That Use the Same Cue TwiceNothing stops a cue appearing in a stack more than once, and a stack built as Cue 1, Cue 2, Cue 3, Cue 2, Cue 3, Cue 1 is a perfectly ordinary six-step chase. Steps are tracked by their position in the list rather than by which cue they hold, so the highlight, the scroll position and the Next preview all follow the step that is actually playing, wherever its twins sit in the list.What the Stack Fader DoesA cue stack fader scales what each step recorded rather than replacing it. Record a step with the band at full and the drummer at 40 percent, run the stack at half, and you get half of full and half of 40 percent: the balance you programmed survives. Colour and position are not scaled, and snap to the values recorded in the step. This is the same intensity scaling chain the cue faders use, described in Section 11.Executor Buttons and Where They Were PressedAn executor can be fired from the grid itself, from a MIDI controller, over OSC, or from the mobile remote. Whichever it was, the button in the grid shows what is actually running rather than what was last pressed on that screen, so the grid, the controller and the phone always agree on which looks are up.TipThis is worth knowing when you are running the desk from a phone at the back of the room: the screen on stage is not guessing at state, it is reporting it, so you can hand over mid-show without anything falling out of step. --- # Merge Wizard, Settings & Inspector (Programmer Manual) https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/programmer-manual/merge-wizard-settings-inspector Advanced tools for complex merge operations, attribute priority settings, and real-time DMX monitoring. ## 18. The Merge Wizard - Advanced Workflows The Merge Wizard is a modal dialog for complex merge operations - combining multiple cues, building stacks from existing cues, and more.Opening the Merge WizardClick the Merge button in the toolbarClick Merge Wizard in the sub-toolbar that appearsThe Wizard LayoutThe wizard has two main sections:Merge WizardSources (merge from) Programmer State Cue 1 - "Blue Wash" (4 fixtures) Cue 2 - "Amber Spot" (2 fixtures) Cue 3 - "Gobo Look" (3 fixtures)Target (merge into) Existing Cue: Cue 5 - "Full Look" New Cue Existing Cue Stack New Cue StackCancelMergeStep 1: Choose SourcesSelect what to merge from (check one or more):Programmer State - Your current programmed values (auto-checked if the programmer has data; disabled if empty)Individual Cues - Check any combination of existing cues. Each shows its name and fixture count.You must select at least one source.Step 2: Choose TargetSelect where to merge into (pick one):TargetWhat HappensExisting CueMerges all sources into the selected cue. Existing fixture data in the cue is preserved; source data overlays on top.New CueCreates a fresh cue from the merged result. Enter a name (auto-numbered if blank).Existing Cue StackAdds source cues as steps. Choose an action: Append, Insert at position, or Replace step.New Cue StackCreates a new stack with source cues as steps. Enter a name.Stack Actions (when targeting a cue stack)ActionWhat HappensAppendAdds new steps at the end of the stackInsert at positionInserts at a specific step number (e.g., insert after step 3)Replace stepReplaces an existing step with the merged resultMerge Priority OrderWhen multiple sources have values for the same fixture and channel:Sources are merged in the order they appear (top to bottom)Later sources override earlier ones for the same channelProgrammer state is always applied last - giving it the highest priorityExample: Cue 1 sets fixture A to Red. Cue 2 sets fixture A to Blue. Programmer sets fixture A's intensity to 80%.Result: Fixture A = Blue at 80% (Cue 2 overrides Cue 1's color, programmer overrides both on intensity).Walkthrough: Building a Stack from Existing CuesYou have 6 cues and want to combine them into a "Song 1" stack:Click Merge β†’ Merge WizardCheck Cues 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in orderSet target to New Cue Stack, name it "Song 1"Click MergeA new stack appears with 6 steps, one per cueDouble-click the stack label to open the editor and fine-tune timingWalkthrough: Combining Two Cues Into OneYou have "Front Wash" (Cue 1) and "Back Light" (Cue 2) and want to combine them into a single "Full Stage" cue:Click Merge β†’ Merge WizardCheck both Cue 1 and Cue 2Set target to New Cue, name it "Full Stage"Click MergeThe new cue contains fixtures from both cues ## 19. Programmer Settings Click the Settings button (gear icon) in the toolbar to access programmer-specific settings.Attribute Group LTPWhat is LTP? LTP stands for Latest Takes Priority - the standard rule in DMX lighting that says "the most recent command wins." When two cues try to control the same channel, the one activated last takes priority.DMXDesktop gives you a choice of how LTP applies:SettingBehaviorExamplePer-Channel LTP (OFF)Each channel is independent. Two cues can share control of the same fixture.Cue 1 sets Red=255. Cue 2 sets Blue=255. Result: Purple (both values active).Per-Attribute Group LTP (ON, default)The latest cue owns the entire attribute group.Cue 2 sets Blue=255. Result: Blue only - Cue 2 takes over the entire color group, clearing Red and Green.The attribute groups are:GroupChannels IncludedIntensityDimmer, master intensityColorRed, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, White, Amber, UV, color wheelPositionPan, TiltBeamGobo, prism, shutter, strobe, iris, zoom, focus, frostWhen to Use WhichPer-Channel LTP - Good for layering partial looks. You can have one cue control red and another control blue, and they'll blend. More flexible but can create unexpected mixes.Per-Attribute Group LTP - Good for clean scene changes. Each cue fully owns its attribute groups, preventing leftover values from previous cues. More predictable. ## 20. The Inspector - Debugging & Monitoring The Inspector is a diagnostic tool that shows you exactly what's happening in the programmer, inside your cues, and on the live DMX output.Opening the InspectorClick the Inspector button (table icon) in the toolbar.Inspector TabsProgrammer TabShows the current state of every channel in the programmer:Fixture count and selected count at the topA grid showing each fixture's values, organized by attribute typeRecord as Cue button for quick recordingClear All button to reset the programmerCue Contents TabInspect what's stored inside any cue:Select a cue from the dropdownView all stored channel values in the gridFor cue stacks, click individual step buttons to view each step's dataClick Restore to Programmer to load the cue for editingLive Output TabReal-time monitoring of the actual DMX output being sent to your fixtures:Updates continuously as channels changeShows what's really going out the wireUseful for verifying that your cues, stacks, and effects are producing the expected outputColumn FiltersToggle which attribute types to display:FilterShowsIntensityDimmer values with percentagesColorRGB/CMY color swatches with hex codesPositionPan (P:) and Tilt (T:) valuesBeamGobo, prism, zoom, iris, focus, shutter, strobeEffectsActive color and position effectsDisplay ModesModeBest ForCompactQuick overview - abbreviated infoDetailFull channel names and individual values --- # MIDI Control & 3D Visualizer (Programmer Manual) https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/programmer-manual/midi-and-3d Connect MIDI hardware for physical control and preview your lighting in 3D without being in the venue. ## 21. MIDI Control DMXDesktop supports MIDI hardware for physical control of faders, execute functions, and cue stack playback.MIDI Binding (Learn Mode)Click the MIDI button (music icon) in the toolbarThe interface enters MIDI Bind Mode - all faders and buttons highlightClick the fader or execute cell you want to controlOn your MIDI controller, move the knob/fader or press the button you want to assignDMXDesktop detects the MIDI message and creates the bindingPress Escape or click MIDI again to exit bind modeSupported MIDI Message TypesTypeMaps ToNote On/OffToggle (on/off) for buttons and execute functionsControl Change (CC)Continuous fader control (MIDI 0–127 β†’ DMX 0–255)Managing BindingsA Manage Bindings modal shows all current MIDI mappings. From here you can view, delete individual bindings, or clear all bindings.Note: Each MIDI message can only control one target - duplicate bindings are prevented.MCU Protocol (Motorized Fader Support)DMXDesktop supports the Mackie Control Universal (MCU) protocol for advanced MIDI controllers with motorized faders:FeatureWhat It DoesMotorized fadersPhysical faders automatically move to match the on-screen positionScribble stripsLCD strips display the cue/fixture name (top row) and type (bottom row)VU metersLED meters show the intensity level of each faderButton LEDsButtons light up to show the current mode/stateColor coding on MCU devices:Red = CuesGreen = GroupsBlue = FixturesWhite = Cue Stacks ## 22. The 3D Visualizer Click the 3D Layout button (3D badge icon) in the toolbar to open a three-dimensional visualization of your stage. The visualizer shows:Fixture positions in 3D spaceReal-time beam colors and intensityPosition effects and movement in real timeGobo projectionsMulti-emitter fixtures (GigBars, fixtures with separate laser and RGB heads)The 3D view updates live - as you adjust values in the programmer, the visualizer reflects changes immediately. It's invaluable for previewing looks without being in the venue.You can also click the Popout Floorplan button (window-stack icon) to open a floating floorplan status window that stays visible while you work in other panels. --- # Keyboard Shortcuts & Glossary (Programmer Manual) https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/programmer-manual/shortcuts-and-glossary Quick reference for keyboard shortcuts and definitions of key lighting terminology. ## 23. Keyboard Shortcuts Global NavigationKeyActionIOpen Intensity tabCOpen Colors tabPOpen Positions tabBOpen Beams tabQShow Cue FadersSShow Cue StacksLReturn to Layout (floorplan home)REnter Record modeDEnter Delete modeEscapeCancel current mode / return to defaultCtrl+QShow Faders panelCtrl+HGo Home (layout)FloorplanKeyActionCtrl+ASelect all fixturesCtrl+DDeselect all fixturesCtrl+ZUndo last layout changeCtrl+ClickToggle fixture selectionCtrl+ScrollExpand/contract fixture spacingControlsActionShortcutReset slider to defaultDouble-click the slider handleReset Pan/Tilt to centerDouble-click Pan or Tilt sliderReset fan to zeroDouble-click Fan sliderReset encoder to 50%Double-click encoder knobReset Master Dimmer to 100%Double-click the master encoderReset effect speedDouble-click speed slider (resets to 0 = 1/1 beat) ## 24. Glossary Attribute GroupA category of channel types: Intensity, Color, Position, or Beam. Used by LTP rules to determine priority.Beat SyncLocking effect or chase timing to an incoming BPM source (audio detection, Ableton Link, manual tap).ChaseA cue stack mode that continuously loops through steps automatically.CrossfadeThe smooth transition between two states over a specified duration.CueA saved snapshot of fixture states - intensity, color, position, beam, and effects.Cue StackAn ordered sequence of cues with transitions and timing - can be a chase or manual stack.DMXDigital Multiplex - the standard protocol for lighting control. Each universe has 512 channels.EffectAn automated animation applied to fixtures - color cycling, movement patterns, pulse, chase, etc.Execute FunctionA trigger button in the 10Γ—10 execute grid - snaps to full on click, no fader.FaderA vertical slider controlling intensity or cue playback level (0–255).FanSpreading a value (like pan position) symmetrically across multiple selected fixtures.FixtureA lighting instrument (moving head, LED par, wash light, etc.) controlled via DMX.FloorplanThe 2D bird's-eye representation of your stage with fixture positions.Follow TimeIn a stack, the delay before auto-advancing to the next step. Blank = wait for Go.Ghost FixtureA visual dot on the floorplan representing a channel-group-remapped section of a multi-head fixture.GoboA metal or glass pattern disc inserted in a fixture's beam path to project shapes.GroupA named collection of fixtures for quick selection and bulk control.LTPLatest Takes Priority - the rule that the most recently activated command wins for a given channel.Master DimmerA global intensity control (0–100%) that scales all output.MCUMackie Control Universal - a MIDI protocol supporting motorized faders, scribble strips, and VU meters.MIDIMusical Instrument Digital Interface - used for hardware controller communication.MergeCombining programmer state with an existing cue, adding or updating values without replacing the cue.PanHorizontal rotation of a moving fixture (0–255).Pixel MapA layout defining how multi-pixel fixtures are arranged for per-pixel effects.PrismAn optical element that splits or rotates the beam into multiple images.ProgrammerThe workspace where you build and modify lighting states before recording them as cues.RecordSaving the current programmer state as a cue, function, or stack step.Release TimeHow long a cue stack takes to fade out when stopped.RestoreLoading a cue's saved state back into the programmer for editing.TiltVertical rotation of a moving fixture (0–255).TrackingA cue stack feature where values from earlier steps carry forward unless explicitly overridden.UniverseA DMX output path containing 512 channels. ---