Summary: <br> In this week’s episode, we dive into the Mailbag for the Free Q & A Tuesday! This is where I take questions from listeners and walk them through my through my thought process.<br> If you’re new here, I have a Quiz that will help me send you a customized Guide on getting started with Lighting: FREE Guide @ <a href="http://LearnStageLighting.com/quiz">LearnStageLighting.com/quiz</a>.<br> Mailbag (1:35)<br> Matthew (1:38) I am setting up a DMX lighting system for the church. We have converted all the pendant lights over to dimmable LEDs and now I want to add a dimmer pack where the switches currently are. All the switches are on switch loops up to the pendants. Are there any DMX dimmers out there that can support a switch loop?<br> I am not an electrician but you always want to talk to someone who is familiar with it. As far as I know, there isn’t a way to do this.<br> But I would recommend is taking the switch loop and disconnecting it from the light. If you’re not able to reach the wiring you can just wire the switch loop together, as if the switch is always on. The put a cover plate over it and then add the dimmer pack in.<br> Lucien (3:23) I am working on a building to install over 4 floors and 13 universes. (lots of pixel tape). I have been working out the network drawing the basic layout is 2 universe per split level for the upper floors and 5 universes on the ground level. The question I have is do you distributor the universes via DMX and isolated splitters or do you distribute with art net/ snet?<br> I would go with <a href="https://www.learnstagelighting.com/art-net-sacn/">Art-Net or sACN</a> for many reasons. Each floor only needs 1 network cable to it from your Network Controller. This will save you a lot of frustration, network cable, and so much time. In the future, if you need to add more or make changes, it won’t be difficult.<br> Matthew (5:20) We have a church that uses a very basic lighting setup with about 20 LED lights total.<br> Ideally, we want to set up 5 or 6 scenes (e.g. 3 different ones for worship, one for when the MC stands up, one for the preaching slot), then have our unskilled operators press the ‘scene’ button at the appropriate time. The only problem with that is that our current desk instantly changes to that scene. It doesn’t seem possible to have it fade to the next scene. I checked a few other desks out and they all seem the same. Perhaps we could use software with a dongle to control the lights?<br> Our budget would be about $400-700USD (though we are in New Zealand) to solve this problem. Any ideas?<br> I would definitely recommend the software route. You do have a couple of options and I do recommend going with a Software-based controller.<br> My recommendation would be the which you can get for about $300 USD. You get the output box and the software comes free with it. You would just patch in your lights and I do have some great tutorials on how to do that: <a href="https://www.learnstagelighting.com/how-to-program-with-dmxis/">How to Program With DMXIS</a>.<br> Armando (8:42) I know that there are many different types of moving heads available on the market, but does anyone actually demonstrate what’s new and available. I hear a lot of names, but I don’t know what a Viper does, how do I learn what to buy for what effect? <br> There are a few ways to check out new gear. The best option would be is to check out videos on YouTube. If you follow the manufacturers you will be able to see the new products. Also, the manufacturer’s website to see the latest features.<br> Chad (11:37) Looking for a computer program that can be ‘pre-programmed’ … with multiple programs stored… each stored program is the length of a song being played, that follows and is sync to the song… example: when the song says “ everyone to the left, to the left” all the moving head lights will move to the left and ...
