Let's talk about lights

The Lounge General Discussion
#21

RGB leds always look ‘cheaper’ to me than RGBW (which is also not the holy grail of color mixing but lets not overcomplicate). When given the choice I ll always go for the extra white channel.

Led lamps like this are PWM driven. They flicker at a high frequency. Depending on the given frequency and camera specs/settings this can create interference when shooting video. Usually frame rate and shutter speed settings can be found that don t show it. That s on a real cam of course, not smartphone where you re stuck with automatic settings.

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#22

Thanks for the answer. I’m trying to find some guidelines on what to buy, but all text that I can find seem to be aimed at people who already know all about this. The Thomann listings are mostly just Greek to me.

#23

What do you want to know?

#24

Well, one thing I want to know is whether individual LEDs are addressable via the DMX protocol and whether I can set the brightness level on them via DMX individually as well. It’s mostly in the reviews I’ve found out things like this, but it’s not always possible.

#25

This can be found in the manuals. If it s not stated explicitely it can always be learned from the DMX chart. Reading DMX charts is a necessary skill to learn when dealing with this sort of equipment. It s much like midi, but there s a learning curve to understanding light fixture terminology.

If you have specific questions about a dmx chart, post it here and i ll help you.

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#26

So, on page 42-43 in this manual, it says that you can set the intensity of red, blue, and green individually from 0 to 100%. Does this mean that I can make the brightness higher and lower, for example by setting red and blue to 0% and vary the green channel between 0 and 100%. I saw a person complaining about the lack of dimmer control in DMX mode, but maybe they were referring to something else (on page 44 of this manual there’s a dimmer function defined separately).

#27

Ok so a pointer here is the DMX channel mode you are looking at. p43 is titled: 3-channels mode. This can never be individual RGB control over the leds. Each color requires (at least) one channel. So 3 colors x 16 leds = 48. So if the lamp allows individual RGB control I’m expecting at least 48 DMX channels.

3-channel mode is to set the full bar to the same RGB color.

To be clear, the channel mode is a setting on the lamp. You choose which mode to activate.

The highest channel count mode is on p45: 24-channel mode. You can set RGB colors for 8 segments, meaning leds are grouped by 2, so no individual control of each separate led on this lamp.

In 5 channel mode the lamp indeed has a master dimmer control. 3 channel mode doesn t have it so the RGB value is directly what you re seeing. With a dimmer control the RGB values are scaled accordingly. Depending on your DMX controller the one or the other can be more handy.

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#28

That makes sense. So, unless there is a dimmer channel specified for each LED, I won’t be able to do anything about the individual brightness levels? For example, I would need a 32 channel mode in order to have individual color and brightness control over a 8 LED RGB bar, right?

Thanks for all the help. Things seems a little bit less daunting now :slight_smile:

#29

Not exactly because you control brightness with the RGB values too:

R 255 G 0 B 0 = full bright red

R 127 G 0 B 0 = half bright red

#30

I see. But with a dimmer channel, are there looks that I can’t reach with just the RGB control alone? Or is it just more convenient to have a dimmer channel as well (meaning for example that you don’t have to program scaling functions yourself)?

#31

It s just more convenient and the lamp might have calculations built in for avoiding color shifts when dimming. Led brightness is not linear. But that s on high end stuff.

#32

Dinmer channel often is a master control for the whole lamp (but not always). So it scales all the leds of a bar, for example.

#33

Very interesting topic. I don’t play live, but I’d love a cheap and controllable lighting rig for jamming at home and with friends.

Does anyone know of a MIDI to DMX interface (DIN, not USB). Maybe sequence some lights with the Digitakt MIDI-channels?

Edit: Just remembered the Digitakt LFO. Could do some neat stuff with that one perhaps.

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#34

I use Max and an Enttec USB DMX interface or an Oxo Artnet DMX interface for that.

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#35

I’m planning on building a MIDI to DMX interface using an Aurdino and then program it myself, mapping certain MIDI messages to DMX commands. This is because I want a completely computer-less setup, but maybe there already are solutions for this (except for the OP-Z)?

#36

Make your own?
Runs on a lowly ESP8266

Supports RGBW
Has a DMX protocol too.
And isn’t limited to WIFI

Probably not as fancy as the ones listed here but it’s a hell of a lot cheaper.

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#37

I don t know of pre made solutions but i ve used arduino to send dmx. Easy.

One thing to be aware of is that te most basic arduino circuits for dmx do not include isolation of the dmx lines, so if a lamp malfunctions a power surge could hit your arduino and anything connected to it (which could be you). Extreme case but it can happen and isolation is standard on commercial products.

#38

It would be really nice if someone (who isn‘t me …since I can‘t code :frowning:) could add a MIDI translator/plugin for WLED - it is a really nice platform I discovered myself a few weeks ago.

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#39

Hmm… So, what can be done about this? Are people building their own solutions? Otherwise, it kinda seems like a dealbreaker.

#40

why is this a dealbreaker? An arduino / esp is around 2-5 bucks. And I have never experienced this myself. If your DMX controller costs a few hundred bucks it‘s another story…