Isadora - USB - DMX or Isadora - Ethernet - DMX Advice Please

Paz

Hello everyone,

Please could you advise, I wish to explore controlling theatre lighting with Isadora. Which interface do you recommend? Should I go USB - DMX route or Ethernet - DMX route? I was looking at this: Enttec ODE Mk2 with POE https://www.thomann.de/gb/entt...

Looking forward to reading your thoughts.

Best wishes,

Paz

dbini

@paz
I would not recommend OPEN DMX protocol. i have an OPEN DMX USB-DMX adapter, and while it is cheaper than the DMX Pro, i find it is more difficult to use, less stable and requires drivers that are difficult to find, install and which mess with other devices.

I have found that the Enttec DMX Pro is much more solid, and last time i used one with a Mac, it worked straight away with Isadora, without installing anything extra. I'm sure other users will disagree, but IMHO - Its worth spending the extra.

(If you want to try the OPEN DMX route, I can send you my hardware, rather than you buying new - DM me)

Paz

@dbini many thanks for your valued advice and offer 👍 I was looking at the Enttec DMX Pro Mk2 as well as the ArtNet based Enttec ODE Mk2. Primarily I want to control lights in installation. So most important for me is how best Isadora plays with LED lighting. Thanks again!

dbini

@paz

i think the Enttec DMX Pro mkII will be a good solution. combine it with the User Actors downloaded from this website and its pretty much plug&play - you just need to manipulate some numbers to change your channel values. If your LED fixtures are all wired up and set to the correct channels, you can have fun with Isadora controlling them. I set up a project with 4 LED moving head spots. The chap who was programming the lighting had never used Isadora before, but in a couple of days he had made a great light installation for 4 dancers.
ArtNet is probably more useful for more theatrical uses.

Paz

@dbini Amazing! This is precisely the kind of advice and information I was hoping for. Many thanks.

Maximortal

@paz

Stay kilometers away from OPEN enttec, very less stable.

Viceversa PRO mk2 is very good and I used it a lot with Izzy or QLC+

DusX

For LED lighitng I am using the DMXking 4LED pro (https://dmxprosales.com/produc...)

It provides 4 Universes via the Artnet actors in Isadora. I currently control 600 rgb LEDs using this controller.
This is a early demo of some picel mapping from Isadora to 2 channels via this controller. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb...

I have 2 other DMXking devices, One serial 2 DMX and the other Artnet 2 DMX, both work perfectly with Isadora.

Paz

@maximortal thank you for your input, reinforcing what @dbini says.

@DusX thank you for the link to DMXKing and the example content.

It's really encouraging to know that investing in Enttec or DMXKing will allow me to control LX rig relatively easy with Izzy.

I have to say I like the idea of the power over ethernet capability and 2 universes of the DMXKing eDMX2 PRO. Whichever I go for I'm sure I'll need a little help, so I'll be back in touch soon!

Best wishes, Paz

Juriaan

Hi there Paz!

A few things that I have to say about the topic;

Don't ever buy OpenDMX hardware, they fail/are doing some weird stuff with DMX / ArtNet data.
If you plan to use the MIDI hardware ports on Enttec products, don't. They really messed those up on some elements. So you might find them confusing to work with.
Other than that Enttec products are quite solid.

The things that I have in my Toolbox;

ETC EOS Nomad License Dongle (2 Universes) + ETC Gadget II (Bought it as a student, it is basically Lighting desk software that you also see in big theatre's running on the Lighting consoles)
Pixel driver, most of the time it a SmartShow ArtNet to SPI Controller. Sometimes a DMXKing depends on what is not in usage.

So let me explain my workflow when I work with Lighting fixtures in general / Isadora.

I use a software called ETC EOS for all things lighting oriented. Why? It is a full feature-rich lighting desk on your PC / Mac that is able to do stuff like Patching fixtures / get the correct colour gels/effect engine / etc... When I'm touring with my work I just hang in my fixtures / use the fixtures of the house/plug-in my PC / Ask the IP address of the ArtNet node / run the show.
ETC EOS is OSC Enabled. Using the OSC Transmit actor I can then send commands over to ETC EOS that will execute the command / send it to the fixtures. For example setting the first channel at the lighting desk is "/eos/channel/1/at/", value = 100 (for on :)
+ I created a lot of easy actors for EOS that makes it a breeze, for example, a Channel setter / a Slave & Master scenario where Isadora can be listing to the Cue list of EOS / EOS can listen to the Cue list of Izzy. Most of it can be found quite easily on the forum
If I ever have access to an ETC console I can simply grab my Show file, plug it inside the console. Change my User actors to match the new IP address of the receiver (Console) and go from there.

Some products that I used before that are solid / work great using ArtNet or straight connected with a USB cable to your machine.

Paz

@juriaan thank you for your detailed response! It's great to follow your workflow and suggestions. The theatre that I work in has an ETC EOS GIO @5 and a ETC Gadget II so I will take a look at connecting this up with Isadora in the first instance.

Best wishes

Simon