Advice on best interface to buy

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Advice on best interface to buy

Postby Arjan » 16 June 2011, 08:55

Hi,

Could you offer me some advice as to the best DMX interface for my needs? I'm also slightly confused about differently branded versions of DMX interfaces.

First of all a few general question about the USB cable type interfaces including yours:

  • Is it that that these put more load on the CPU of the host computer compared to the more expensive boxes?
  • And if so is this because these interface cables have (virtually) no buffer of their own and that the PC becomes responsible for maintaining proper timing of the actual binary data stream?
  • Is this also why there is a limit on the number of channels and fixtures (although that last one strikes me as arbitrary) and why it can't do 3d visualization at the same time as sending actual DMX data?

The above is rather important to me as I'll be using the software on an Atom powered Netbook. It may or may not run my own sound switching software at the same time (which will trigger your software through MIDI), I have a second Netbook and could run my software on one of them and yours with DMX interface on the other with just a MIDI cable between them.

I'm also confused about the various boxes. Let me list the ones I have found:


Futher complicating the choice is that I read here on this forum that the BOX version with both input and output is EOL. I wouldn't want to purchase an interface (assuming the suppliers above have them in stock) if it's going to be replaced with a newer improved one or if it's replacement is going to use different drivers.

I'm not yet sure what I could use it for but I can imagine that having a DMX input available might be useful. I do have an old Leprecon DMX controller that I could connect to it but I'm not sure how useful that would be.

Optical isolation may perhaps be more useful but on the other hand it appears you can buy a 4-way DMX splitter with isolation for EUR 58.

Finally there is the choice between Chauvette and your own brand. I'm in Europe but as you can see I can get some models from Chauvette and some models with your brand on it. I get the impression that the hardware and software is developed by you guys in Europe (France?) and that Chauvette is simply using your products (although 'Chauvette' has a very French ring to it). As such I think I would prefer it to have you brand on it but the Chauvette Xpress 512 is the cheapest in my list above and I don't know where to get your version for such a good price.

Can you somehow simplify my choice?
Arjan
 
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Re: Advice on best interface to buy

Postby tomrbland » 16 June 2011, 13:05

Arjan wrote:Is this also why there is a limit on the number of channels and fixtures (although that last one strikes me as arbitrary) and why it can't do 3d visualization at the same time as sending actual DMX data?


If the dongle could do the same job as the box then who would buy the box? It has to fill it's particular place in the market.

Arjan wrote:I'm also confused about the various boxes. Let me list the ones I have found:


Yes they are all the same (to my knowledge) but you have to use the manufacturer's software. ShowXpress with Chauvet and Sweetlight with Sweetlight etc. They are the same though.

Arjan wrote:I do have an old Leprecon DMX controller that I could connect to it but I'm not sure how useful that would be.


You can use it to control generics etc.

I hope that clears up at least a few of your queries. No matter which brand you get you will be happy to know that the support links always bring you to here.
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Re: Advice on best interface to buy

Postby Arjan » 16 June 2011, 13:59

Hi,

Thanks for replying.

tomrbland wrote:
Arjan wrote:Is this also why there is a limit on the number of channels and fixtures (although that last one strikes me as arbitrary) and why it can't do 3d visualization at the same time as sending actual DMX data?


If the dongle could do the same job as the box then who would buy the box? It has to fill it's particular place in the market.


As an EE I'm just curious if there is an actual technical reason for the difference or if it is a simple matter of market differentiation. I can imagine that say 10 years ago PC's would have had more trouble to provide proper timing for a DMX data stream but then again with a non-realtime OS like Windows it could still be problematic without sufficient buffers in the output device. I know precious little about the actual DMX protocol but I understand it's rather different from MIDI where you only send changes whereas with DMX it is continuously sending updates 40 times per seconds for all all channels.

tomrbland wrote:
Arjan wrote:I'm also confused about the various boxes. Let me list the ones I have found:


Yes they are all the same (to my knowledge) but you have to use the manufacturer's software. ShowXpress with Chauvet and Sweetlight with Sweetlight etc. They are the same though.


I was also referring to the different types: Xpress, Xpress PLUS, Xfactor (using the Chauvette names here) and what's up with the EOL statement regarding the Xfactor (sure enough it's not currently shown on the Chauvette website).

tomrbland wrote:
Arjan wrote:I do have an old Leprecon DMX controller that I could connect to it but I'm not sure how useful that would be.


You can use it to control generics etc.


I think I read in this forum somewhere that version 6 doesn't support DMX input yet (version 5 apparently did) but that could have been an old post referring to an older version 6.

I hope that clears up at least a few of your queries. No matter which brand you get you will be happy to know that the support links always bring you to here.[/quote]

Thanks again. I hope support can add something to this. One of the reasons for my anxiety regarding Chauvette is that some time ago I downloaded a new version of the software and it appeared that the Chauvette version had not actually been updated yet whereas the Sweetlight version was uptodate as per the anouncement.

I'm going to visit the shop that has the EUR XXX Chauvette Express 512 this Saturday so if they have it in stock I may take it home if I'm certain that it will satisfy my needs. I think the main drawback for me would be that it doesn't have optical isolation. The EUR XXX BOX version doesn't appear to have that either.
Arjan
 
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Re: Advice on best interface to buy

Postby kahilzinger » 16 June 2011, 20:26

I picked up a Chauvet Data Stream 4 for $100US for my optical isolation...and I got 4 DMX outs for free.
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Re: Advice on best interface to buy

Postby tomrbland » 17 June 2011, 01:07

Arjan wrote:As an EE I'm just curious if there is an actual technical reason for the difference or if it is a simple matter of market differentiation.

I don't know to be honest. It's something that support will have to tell you. But here is a basic overview of DMX protocol: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMX512


Arjan wrote:I was also referring to the different types: Xpress, Xpress PLUS, Xfactor (using the Chauvette names here)


It's what it says on the tin really: http://www.sweetlight-controller.com/in ... b=6&page=4
I'm not sure what you mean by ELO.

Arjan wrote:I think I read in this forum somewhere that version 6 doesn't support DMX input yet (version 5 apparently did) but that could have been an old post referring to an older version 6.


I think there was a time when it didn't but it certainly does now. Download the software and have a play.

Arjan wrote:One of the reasons for my anxiety regarding Chauvette is that some time ago I downloaded a new version of the software and it appeared that the Chauvette version had not actually been updated yet whereas the Sweetlight version was uptodate as per the anouncement.


I seem to remember that a few years ago there was an issue with Chauvet hosting the files so they were only updated when Chauvet updated it but that should now be fixed. For future reference all the files you will ever need are here no matter which company you go with: http://download.thelightingcontroller.com/software/V6/
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Re: Advice on best interface to buy

Postby support » 17 June 2011, 07:08

We have removed the prices of our products, from this topic.
This forum is exclusively for technical subjects.
Please do not mention prices of our products, in your posts.
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Re: Advice on best interface to buy

Postby Arjan » 17 June 2011, 07:57

kahilzinger wrote:I picked up a Chauvet Data Stream 4 for $100US for my optical isolation...and I got 4 DMX outs for free.


I should probably do that too. Don't want to find out there's some weird ground loop problem a few hours before a gig.
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Re: Advice on best interface to buy

Postby Arjan » 17 June 2011, 08:19

support wrote:We have removed the prices of our products, from this topic.
This forum is exclusively for technical subjects.
Please do not mention prices of our products, in your posts.


Sorry about that, didn't mean any harm. I mentioned them since obviously they could affect my choice and might allow others to offer better advice.
Arjan
 
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Re: Advice on best interface to buy

Postby Arjan » 17 June 2011, 10:39

tomrbland wrote:I'm not sure what you mean by ELO.


EOL (not ELO): End Of Live as in this thread.

tomrbland wrote:Download the software and have a play.


I've been playing around with it for a while already. In fact I'm extending software that I've written previously to control all my keyboards and modules to also send MIDI commands to SweetLight as described here. Yesterday I succeeded in reading and writing to the live.ini file that contains the button definitions for the Live page. So now my software can read what buttons (and therefore what scenes) are available, automatically assign a MIDI event to each button, sets them all to 'Flash' type and imports the names of the buttons and the corresponding MIDI event into my software. It works absolutely brilliantly :D . Cost me less than an hour to code and it will save me hours and hours not having to manually enter MIDI triggers into both SweetLight and my software and keeping them in sync.

Thanks for your comments. I'll probably pick up a Chauvette Xpress 512 tomorrow.
Arjan
 
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Re: Advice on best interface to buy

Postby tomrbland » 18 June 2011, 23:25

Arjan wrote:I'll probably pick up a Chauvette Xpress 512 tomorrow.


Welcome to the party :)
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