Newbee needs help - lights for house party

Well, I know the Revo 4 can cover a large area with minimal lighting, but I don't know pricing.

I also think DMX control this time around is OUT of the question due to costs.

Fog draws high, so keep that in mind before you overload your circuit. Worse case is you pop a breaker and the party might stop as you have to reset it.

Really, for the budget, if you're concerned about control later, then you do spend more looking for UC3 options and DMX options, but maybe you end up saving down the line if those are options you want to get into later. Definately look for a fixture you can run in sound active mode and is LED and you're gold.

Also, you do want some method of control, so keep that in mind, as well as avoiding cable clutter and people tripping on stuff.

Don't shortchange yourself by being cheap now. Better to either spend a little bit more or skip for short term and maybe get a better fixture that you're for sure going to be happy with. Then, add a bit at a time as money allows. Maybe it's a UC3, may a DMX controller, maybe MyDMX, maybe more fixtures here and there. Master/slave mode compatible fixtures are a good way to make a big light show on the cheap!

Chris - thanks for the input.

DMX is probably out of the question now b/c of budget but figured that capability down the road can't hurt (might want more show in future). Do the cheap DMX controller do anything useful (cheap = $60ish)?

I think Revo 4 is out b/c it's my budget in one fixture & then I only get one "look".

Jay the Revo 4 has a ton of looks. It takes about 15 minutes to go through all of it's patterns.

I would recommend 2 Mega Bar 50's for a color wash, and a Jellyfish. This will be close to $300. A good wash is the foundation of any good show. Send me an email and I might be able to help you out. steve(at)stevierayentertainment(dot)calm I am in NE PA.

My personal favorite right now is the Hyper Gem LED. http://www.americandj.com/Prod...nId=2&Category=L.E.D.
Even if you don't have fog you will still see a ton of beams moving around. It's a crazy fixture. You'd swear it was moving.
Sincerely,

damn James

you had to show me this Hper Gem, didn't you?

looks like a Revo 4 on steroids,
had i known about this one, i may have gotten it instead of Revo 4 , seems like it moves faster, puts out more light and is CHEAPER !!!

man, do i still get my 2x Fusion Tri FX's

or maybe 1 Fusion, 1 Hyper Gem?
but Fusions seem to work best as pairs, or in multiples... aaahhhhhh !!!

I wasn't showing you, I was showing jay lol. Ya. I'm gonna buy my own hyper gem prob before the middle of spring or sooner.
Sincerely,

Wow, that Hyper Gem is impressive - really looks like it's in motion. I thought the Jellyfish was cool, but this looks like a Jelly on steroids. Jingles, thanks for bringing that one up as I didn't even know it existed!

DJ Stevie Ray also talked about Mega 50's for wash. Anyone else have any thoughts on that? If I had something flashy as a centerpiece (Hyper Gem, Jellyfish, Revo, etc.), would the next best use of money be lighting things up with a wash fixture?

Oh and along those lines, am I better off w/ two cheaper lights running master-slave sound active, or is it better to get one DMX capable light & save up for controls down the road.

I'm just concerned about varying things a little bit - that's why I was looking into the UC3 in my first posting.

Many thanks to all who have & continue to reply!!

For a house party, people honestly don't really give a crap about what's going on as long as the following is taken care of:

1: Booze
2: Snacks
3: Toilet works, is clean and there's a fresh roll on the spool, soap in a pump dispenser and lots of clean towels for drying their hands off(change it every hour)
4: Loud Music(quality often not a concern)
5: AC is working(Air conditioning)
6: Trash cans.

If you want to add stuff like lights and/or haze, then so be it, but honestly, nobody is really going to care.

Now, having said that, it's best to figure out your electrical situation, mostly from a control point of view. If you can turn your lights on and off from switches and available outlets, then that's nice and handy, but may not be an option. The drawback to this option is that if people are flopping around looking for light switches, they might kill your light show, but that's a risk you run.

No switches? Well, power strips can do wonders, so that's a decent option.

I'd say for now, a couple of lights either running stand alone(same or different, doesn't matter) or a matched pair running master/slave is sufficient. The only bad thing is that for longer parties, this gets boring fast. But, weighing your options, I think this is acceptable. Again, we're talking house party, not dance club with a cover charge.

You can always go stand-alone, then kick in master/slave, then out again. Buying a DMX cable to enable this is cheap so it should fall within budget.

I'm not familiar with the UC3, and UC3-support for fixtures I buy isn't something I look for. It's not something that would kill a sale either way, it's just not a feature I am interested in. But, ADJ makes a good deal of fixtures that support the UC3 AND DMX, so this might be a function you interest yourself in as it allows you to upgrade to cheap control early, while the DMX functionality lets the lights grow with you long-term. Win-Win all around.

Another option is, especially if you can mount your lights safely, is a product like MyDMX, where you can just have it run simple patterns and scenes and chases to help break things up. Chances are you have a laptop or a PC around the house anyways, so this would just be something else you do from time to time. It might cost more than an entry level controller, but it gives way more features.