Changing patches per location...

Nope. Won't work.

What I would suggest is that you change the DMX addresses of the fixtures to match your requirements, that would be the way to do it.

But, at the same point, if you're in different theaters and you're using movers and other intels with movement, you'd need to make custom stages and programing to accomodate that.

Since you're using things like cans and spots and other non-moving lights, it would be my suggestion to talk to the lighting tech to have them use the addressing you want to use. That SHOULD resolve your issue and would be the best solution. Sounds like you'd also need to have your color scheme met as well by having to use your gel selections.

Hey East1 and welcome to the forums.

The new CompuShow might have this feature, but you would have to ask jingles about it. I know it is getting the palette system which bases values off fixtures, not address. Being able to move a fixture address should be something easily implemented since the palette system is already in place, you simply have to treat the patch as a glorified palette at that point.

I would be surprised if it had fixture subbing as well. The Hog let's me take a fixture and substitute it with another, and it uses that fixtures palettes, cues, scenes, effects, etc. It does require updating, but makes tours easy when just touring with a console and not a full rig. Reason I bring it up is because it sounds like a feature that you would find useful East1. Again, something you can bug jingles about (sorry Jim ).

not tomorrow you won;t be able too. haha. I'll be switching over from a laptop to a desktop Pc tomorrow. Will be extremely busy. But i will try to answer questions as often as i can. And yes a feature very similar like that is coming to compu live.
Sincerely,

I don't see myDMX being an ideal solution for a touring-type application, or an environment where the end user doesn't have total control over the gear.

I say this becasuse I have MyDMX, and I only use my own gear, my own lights. When I go to a vennue with its own sound, I bypass and use my own sound(console, amps, speakers, management) so I have total control for artistic purposes.

Not saying you can't do tons with MyDMX, because it's been proven that it can work far outside the initial thought limitations of the design. Thank goodness the developers left those "holes" in there to be discovered and exploited.

I've also seen lots of tours who, when they have to use "house lighting", has in some cases had to have permanently installed fixtures re-addressed. Most often though, I've been gone when that's happened but I'm fairly sure they just simply adapted their console to match the addressing of the fixtures to be sed. But you get all sorts of those sort of features in higher end gear.

Really though, I do hear from just this forum that a lot of users of MyDMX have purchased the wrong product. They went MyDMX to save money when they should have gone Compu Live.

Remember, choose the right tool for the right job and you should do just fine.

Couldn't agree with you more. But let me clarify. Compu live does not CURRENTLY have that feature. It is coming or a similar feature is coming in the next update as well as many other nice features.
Sincerely,

Ok... I'm still working in DEMO mode :-) No money wasted...
If compu-live (will) give the patch option then that seems to be the route to take for us.
Some theatre have the option to patch their fixtures (sometimes very basically by re plugging it on a big mains patchpanel) but not all.

And since we play in different theatre all over we'd be really happy with a fully patchable solution.
I understand the need to make sure gels and intensities can vary. But to have scenes all ready would save met at least 1-2 hours per dat which is proportionally a lot of time. Especially since we do travel a lot.

What price are we talking about for the 2048EC/FC?
Thanx 4 all the feedback...

Pricing can not be discussed in the forums due to policy.

I have a dealer I work with for my ADJ and Elation gear and if you contact me via my web site or via my email(my first name @ my domain), I'll provide that company's information.

Right, Good for you. Demo mode, no sense being out dollars yet. Try before you buy and asking good questions. I wish more people were like you.

Most dimmer packs can be reprogrammed. If they are rack mounted banks, it makes it very easy. And I hear what you're saying, saving that time is very important.

Have Jingles get back to you on the Compu Live if programming follows the fixtures and not the channel. With MyDMX it's far simpler: programming goes with the fixture AND channel. Change either and you've lost it. Sad but true reality.

You actually sound more of a Compu Live customer based on your needs.

Like I said the software and interface are not out yet. So you won't be able to find it in any store or online. Also the 2048fc model has been discontinued. And the feature your looking for is not in any of the current models of hardware or software.
Sincerely,

Well, he always has the option of asking the facilities to match the addresses to his requirements. This shouldn't be anything out of the ordinary.

In my opinion, based on darn near every theater I've worked in, dimmer packs were in a rack or racks, easily accessible and channels could be changed very quickly. In the "other" theaters that couldn't do this, they didn't have anything outside of house lighting because they were not positioning themselves as a facility that could handle theatrical performances(despite having a full stage, backstage, production booths and dressing rooms, go figure).

Typically, theaters are going to centralize the lighting control into a rack or racks for ease of management and control purposes. From there, they'll run long power cabling. I'm not sure what they are running but I've seen both Edison and Stage Pin configurations used.

This leaves the oustanding issues of gel sheets. I've always seen this being a problem. The solutions have ranged from house guys grabbing ladders and lifts to change the gels ASAP all the way to "go f*@! yerself" and everything in between. You can tell the better theaters, they are more accomodating folks.

With that being said, MyDMX can work just fine but it would be recommended to get the Elation DMX-Branch/4 for added protection, signal boosting and splitting as necessary.

My opinion: Working with lighting companies that can handle touring acts(but aren't touring with the acts themselves), I've found them to be prepared and willing to reconfigure almst anything and everything to accomodate the client. This tends to not be a big deal because most have specified gels and configuration stuff in advance, so the lighting company is prepared before they arrive on site(or at least before the par can trusses get raised on motors). With theaters, I only find issues with gel sheets and rarely do I have issues with the techs. The biggest issue tends to be racks of dimmers not properly labelled, and I don't see that too often.

Sounds like he could go either way(MyDMX or CompuLive) with more than acceptable results, provided the techs at the facility are willing to cooperate. That's a BIG "IF".

Most major theatres will have racks for dimmers, off stage somewhere if built correctly. They are pretty much always address 1. Something like this is when multi universes become real handy real quick. Use the first universe for dimmers and the rest for other fixtures or any combination like that. I haven't run into a space with more then 512 channels of dimming yet (most I have seen is installed at this point is 288, three 96 racks).

CompuShow dongles will have 2 universes, more reason to look that route. The time line John last said was they were looking for roll out in about 60 days about 7 or so days ago. So sometime in November. Don't know if you can wait that long East1, but defiantly worth waiting for because of the new features, some of which you are looking for.

As for gel swapping, that depends on a number of things. First, did you advance your plot. Second, what is the deal with labor and restoration of house plot. Third, what is the theatre's schedule of events? Do the have another event that day, next day, earlier that day, etc?

When I am doing theatre shows, normally the space is mine to do with as I please for x number of days. I rarely do the walk in, show, walk out anymore unless its a concert/rock show, in that case I send a plot in advance to be hung as is or use house plot with different colors/focus. Even dance shows, I have the space for x number of days and hours.

Sometimes I have to pay for someone to be there, sometimes I don't. I always, however, bring my own Master Electrician who I have been working with for a few years now because he knows what I want, how I want it, and what is acceptable and what is not. I can also send him to focus and don't have to speak to him to focus which is nice. Just a bunch of signs and he knows what I want. Its great for when sound guys are making noise: pink, white, or otherwise .

That's one thing that does suck about us sound guys. RTA and room anaysis is a noisy task. Fortunately, there are a large amount of tools that can speed that up tremendously.

I personally like to keep the stage absolutely quiet whenever possible for the lighting guys to get their communication done, which may often be via shouting. You got the guy at the desk, then you've got a production manager on the floor, and then at least another guy or two up on the trusses aiming and focussing. I want them to have the best chance of communication for their safety.

As long as I can run my RTA before lighting has to do that task, or afterwards(and well before the show), I'm happy. It typically only takes me 5 minutes or less to run my RTA. Since I have rooms I frequent often, I have settings saved, which is a time saver.

In my case, it's "load in, do the show, load out" in the same day. Rarely do I get advance time to work.

Yea, I am normally yelling to the guy back at the console. Or one of my favorite things to do now is to use my laptop for a remote focus unit networked with the Hog or I just put the Hog on stage on a case and roll it around. Makes things easier. Also us radios a lot to talk back and forth in larger spaces, makes things easier when I am trying to do 5 things at once with different groups of people lol.

Ah, radios. My crew has been rough on those. First time out at the previous show, they snapped the tabs off the belt clips, so no more belt clips. Gotta keep it close, gotta pay attention, gotta STOP and deal with it.

But you get time. I get "Hey, we have an hour, roll it all in" when it takes around 3 hours to do it proper.

The idea of the hog rolling around on a case ain't a bad idea. I don't think I'd feel comfortable doing that myself though. The network thing is going to be more and more critical as I am going that way. I'm getting an A&H iLIve 112 with the IDR48(48X24), and I need a new RTA, and it's gotta be networked so I can access it from FOH since I intend for it to live in the stage rack with the main processing. I'll just run a super long mic cable for testing and analysis.

We have all these networks, it's a shame to not take advantage of them and use it as much as we can to make our jobs easier. Since we can cram so much onto one cable, heck, makes everything go easier.

Our type of performances are usually for (youth) theatre plays. Not rock/music.
I usually get into a theatre at 6am and 10am we have first performance. So thats tight to set up decor, lighting, program up to 30-40 scenes and setup sound for accompaniyng sound/music and actors mikes. In that space gaining 1 hour or more is a huge advantage.
Aiming and gelling remains the same.
Here in belgium we play in city cultural centres, well equipped, with mostly kind crews. But they can do only so much.

I also lack profiles like standard PC's, profile spots, fresnels, halogens for horizons etc. The stuff one tends to use in theatrical setups, as opposed to muzic/dj stuff.
With those added MyDMX would be a lot more useful for these pusposes.
The programming is very easy though especially for these complex schemes.
Thanks for all the thoughts...

I might add that this theatrical business might be much bigger business then music/dj concerts, if i look at the cultural agenda's here...?

MyDMX has a few thousand profiles. If you go to the MyDMX page on the ADJ web site, there are profiles to download via multiple makers, so you might want to pull down a few of those as well.

From how I understand it, the target market for MyDMX is DJ's who want an easy to use computer-based controller package, as opposed to a hardware controller, because of more "high-tech" type shows, especially when you want to throw in things like moving heads and scanners. DJ's tend to be "tight on cash" and so they won't have gobs of money to spend, so the concept was to make a feature laden package at a great price/performance point that would be comparable to a an upper low end or lower mid-range DMX controller you'd find in a retail establishment. MyDMX crams way more into what it offers than any console in the same price range can offer.

Theatrical or DJ aside, MyDMX has worked just fine for my live sound production company. I DO NOT do DJ work at all. I am NOT a DJ, I don't own DJ gear, I don't sit around spinning music. I do concerts and events only. So, I'm not really the target market, but I was looking to replace my DMX Operator with something with way more features, and myDMX fits my needs quite nicely.

With MyDMX, don't sweat the fact that the company putting it out is "American DJ". This package should serve your needs quite nicely. MyDMX includes a program to make your own profiles, should what you're looking for not be available. You might want to play with that feature. The MIDI control is pretty good but needs some work. Even so, I find myself doing quite well with control with multiple Korg nano-devices, namely the nanoKONTROL for direct control(gives me a fader surface with buttons and knobs and even buttons for triggers). The package itself is very flexible and adaptable. Really, the biggest problem would be any lack of vision or imagination that would hold you back.

Of course, there are limitations of the software package and it does affect what you want to do. You want to move your fixtures to new addresses and want the programming to follow the changes. Sadly, MyDMX won't do that, it is a limitation of the software. The more I post and read, the more I learn. For me, this isn't an issue, as I'd either program to the venue after I've made my 3D Visualizer stage model and hence a matching universe based on what the theater techs have provided, or else I'd use my own and have control.

MyDMX doesn't stick you with "one set up, there ya go". You do have to load your "shows". Agian, restrictions are more of what you CHOOSE to restrict yourself with. You can save each "show" with a custom name for each venue, so when you come back, there it is. Yes, it would most likely involve repeating work, but when you come back again and again, you're already done. It's not an ideal compromise, but it is a workable and acceptable solution.

Again, I come from the "old school" world where we just simply get it done. "What, I can't move my fixtures in in my universe and programming won't follow? I'll just have to make a new show and flat out get it done. Where's that pen and paper...."

Working off-line is great. Take advantage of it. You obviously already are.

I am in the same boat as Chris. I am not a DJ at all, just merely a guy helping out is all. I am a professional lighting designer who does stuff from small school shows up to regional theatre work on the theatre sides of things. Then I also do private parties/events/weddings, public stuff for politicians, and corporate events. I am also not limited to just lighting design, just my main thing. If anyone watches the news on here, chances are you have seen my work and haven't even realized it, one of those behind the scenes unsung hero types.

Theatre is probably just as large as the club/DJ scene if not larger. The other crazy thing about theatre is we all know everybody somehow and are connected in some way, just don't realize it.

Anyway, back to show talk. If doing stuff like that, advancing the show and get the right info as well as getting the right info to the right people is key. It can say a lot of headaches come load in, show, and/or load out. Pre-programing is defiantly advisable too. I pre-program just about all my large shows now. Otherwise, I don't have enough or I am stuck behind the console way too much for my guys to work efficiently.

One of the big problems is that people don't prepare ahead. I have my tech rider sent out and then I arrive and find out not one item has been hit except maybe a place for the event.

Getting information and GOOD COMMUNICATION back and forth is essential. Email, phone, texting, drive down and get in someone's face(I can't do this much anymore, it's not feasible most of the time), but COMMUNICATE. Better venues have a dedicated(ahem) person who is supposed to be able to handle this sort of stuff.

If touring acts can go around from venue to venue and the promoter is hiring production(sound and lights typically) and if these sound and lighting companies can be in place, set and ready for the acts and their techs and crews ahead of time, surely a fixed location can handle doing the same thing.

Now, as far as events go and news coverage, I don't know WTF it is, but when I do events, the news tends to stay away. Not sure why, just the way it is. I don't mind local news, just stay the hell out of my face while I'm trying to work and we'll all be fine. Be nice to me and I'll throw a feed out to you via a matrix, but if I give you that feed and you give me grief, the mute button is just a single press away! The Tech God Giveth, and the Tech God Taketh Away. I'm not called the BOFH for nothin'!

Back to the topic. Even if the venue doesn't have the configuration you want or need, doesn't mean you should give up. Just means you need to find out what they have so you know how to adjust to that, but it sounds like you're already there.

Since your shows are simple by your standards, I'd say don't sweat it, work off-line, communicate with the venues and make different shows for different venues. Yes, it does take time, but in the end it is well spent time.