# Free Lighting Control Software



## ElectroCarp (Sep 13, 2011)

Hello all, I am playing around with the idea of buy a Enttec DMX USB Pro. I was wondering if anyone on here had a lighting control program that they use and that works pretty well. I dont really need anything that can control a multi cue list show or anything like that but the more I can do with it the better? I would prefer not to have to buy the program and just down load it for free but if there is a semu inexpensive one i'd be open to that idea too. Thanks!


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## cpf (Sep 13, 2011)

Chamsys MagiQ (or is it MagicQ?) is a favorite. I can't think of any others off the top of my head, but practically any software you choose will support the Enttec unit (or so they say, I've only used a few different pieces of software with it).


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## ElectroCarp (Sep 13, 2011)

Thanks! I should also say that I run snow leopard but also have the option on my computer to run windows but would prefer not to. So hopefully I can find one that will run on my apple.


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## LXPlot (Sep 13, 2011)

cpf said:


> Chamsys MagiQ (or is it MagicQ?) is a favorite. I can't think of any others off the top of my head, but practically any software you choose will support the Enttec unit (or so they say, I've only used a few different pieces of software with it).



Yes, MagicQ is probably the best. It has a fairly high learning curve, but it can do anything most higher end consoles can do. Another decent free one is DMXControl.


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## jglodeklights (Sep 13, 2011)

Simple and easy, Lights UP!


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## Joshualangman (Sep 13, 2011)

For Mac:

MiniStageConsole is free but very limited.

D:Light is free but in French (and sort of incomprehensible).

Something called Chameleon looks promising. It's not free, but it's pretty cheap, though it has some bugs.

I've tried all of these, and Chameleon is the best, though still under development.

Josh


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## douglasheriot (Sep 14, 2011)

I think most people agree MagicQ is the most powerful free option out there. It'll work on Mac just fine, but it's a bit different to normal Mac apps. You'll have to install the optional X11 window system, from the optional install disc that came with your Mac before it will work though.

It may be a bit difficult to use though, if you don't have experience with high-end programmer lighting consoles.

LSC Clarity, which works on both PC and Mac, would be my next recommendation, but they're no longer providing a free version. I'd say it's one of the easiest to use options out there. While it used to work with the Enttec USB DMX Pro, you now have to buy their own dongle (I'm not sure, but I think it's also quite reasonably priced).

(My own Mac App I created, DMX Assistant doesn't yet support the Enttec DMX USB pro – just Art-Net).


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## ElectroCarp (Sep 15, 2011)

Thanks for the advice! i am very curious about your program. let me know if you ever get it to work with the dmx pro, i would definately think about downloading the app.


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## danhr (Sep 15, 2011)

ElectroCarp said:


> Thanks for the advice! i am very curious about your program. let me know if you ever get it to work with the dmx pro, i would definately think about downloading the app.


 
I just purchased the basic Enttec dongle ($60) on ebay and am running it with the Lights Up! free app. Sat. night is the innaugural test. So far I love it!


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## ElectroCarp (Sep 18, 2011)

So how did LightsUp! with the Enttec dongle work for you?


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## jglodeklights (Sep 18, 2011)

My experience with both are that A. you need a computer that has a good USB controller match for the ENTTEC (IBMs = bad, Dell NetBooks = good) and B. understand that LightsUp! uses a very simple, basic but configurable Preset interface. While the standard ENTTEC drivers tend to work fine with IBM's, if you utilize the requisite ftd drivers that allow MagicQ to work with it also, the interface will sometimes freeze (most likely due to problems properly buffering at the USB controller instead of at the dongle; I'm not a software programmer so I can not actually debug or make sense of logs), requiring pulling the interface out of the USB port, reconnecting it and restarting the software. 

LightsUp! is excellent in that it allows one to patch (up to 48 control channels, 512 DMX channels are available), create curve profiles for channels, has a blind mode ("DMX FREEZE") and relabel the faders used for channel level control. Fades are limited to equal timing on up down with a maximum of 300 seconds in only full second increments, and ideally it is set before you move on to storing the next cue, which you must do before creating the next cue on stage as it stores any live changes to the faders as they are moved. However, you can enter a good amount of information in the Cue Label line, meaning not only Q number, but Q calling information can exist there. You can not easily skip Q's, as clicking on or arrowing to another Q results in fade times of 0. You must "DMX Freeze", delete the Q's you wish to skip, and then click "Fade to Next" or the depress the Spacebar. At least keyboard shortcuts are Windows standard. Spacebar for GO!, Backspace for Back and Stop! is Escape. Cut, Copy, Paste are CTRL + X, C, and V; Insert Cue After is Insert, before is Shift + Insert, Delete is Delete. Finally, it also allows Looks (AKA Memories or Scenes) to be stored in addition to cues; both are infinite in number. I give LightsUp! a big thumbs up for making a program so simple through a simple Fader/Cue Stack interface, yet so powerful with its curve and patching capabilities.


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## ElectroCarp (Sep 19, 2011)

Thanks for the great review. I think Ill look into LightsUp! hopefully ill be able to get it soon and Ill let yall know how i like it> i have a feeling I will though!


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## danhr (Sep 19, 2011)

ElectroCarp said:


> So how did LightsUp! with the Enttec dongle work for you?


 Ran great- simple up/down improv. show. Last night we did Q2Q for next weekend- A Few Good Men. The AD/Producer wrote Q's with me training over his shoulder (~15 mins.)- about 75 Q's- took about 1 1/2 hrs.-he loves it too. We are running ~20 500w insts. on 7 4-ch. packs hung on the bars- nice and neat. No computer problems- ran the Improv on my Emachine netbook, loaded up his Laptop (Unk make- Dell I think) for the next.


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## duffer (Sep 24, 2011)

FreeStyler 512 has worked good for me, especially with intelligent devices. Used with ENTTEC Open DMX USB to Win XP laptop.


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## ElectroCarp (Sep 27, 2011)

I have just gotten my tution refund check from school so I know have money to spend of software  What do yall think about the Enttec software that comes with the DMXIS interface?


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## lieperjp (Oct 27, 2011)

I know this thread is old, but just wanted to add this for any future shows... for the show I'm currently working on, I had to buy dimmers, cabling, and a light board for the show with a budget of $2000... Thank goodness I was able to borrow lights from a partner community theatre! Anyways, I decided to go with an Enttec USB Pro. Tried at least five different programs, personally I liked Q Light the best (running on a Windows 7 64-bit computer.) It was the easiest to pick up for me, and since I only had 28 conventionals it worked really well. I have since used it on a show with 60 conventionals and it worked well there too. One drawback I found was that there really was no basic plug-n-play quick start, even for conventionals. It took quite a bit of time to get all the fixtures in, but now that it's all set up it's great. (For one show I used a cue list, one show I useds scenes and chases set up with the buttons.) I'm going to have to try Lights Up now...


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## derekleffew (Oct 27, 2011)

lieperjp said:


> ...It took quite a bit of time to get all the fixtures in, but now that it's all set up it's great. ...


I'm guessing this product? Q Light Controller Can you expound a bit regarding "to get all the fixtures in"? Are you talking softpatch or something else? If no movers or LEDs, don't you just patch dimmers to channels (and optionally, text label the channels) and away you go?


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## lieperjp (Oct 27, 2011)

derekleffew said:


> I'm guessing this product? Q Light Controller Can you expound a bit regarding "to get all the fixtures in"? Are you talking softpatch or something else? If no movers or LEDs, don't you just patch dimmers to channels (and optionally, text label the channels) and away you go?



Essentially, yes, that's all you need to do, however you need to go into each fixtures and enable it, and for 10-20 fixtures it was not that time consuming but to do 60 took a long time. Plus, once you have all the fixtures in you have to assign them to a scene or a slider, which requires once again going into each fixture within the scene and enabling it. It would be a major improvement to the program if you could set the levels of all the fixtures in a scene in one go, or even groups of fixtures (since you can select groups of fixtures from a list with ctrl-click) An even simpler fix would be to have the default DMX value of a fixture in a scene be full instead of zeros.

Another thing is that there is no pre-designed console set up. While it's nice because the console is 100% customizable, it is another thing you have to set up before it's ready to go. Again, not hard for 10-20 fixtures, but time consuming for 50-60 if you want a traditional board set up with sliders and flash buttons for main fixtures plus submasters.

One thing I forgot to mention about Q Light is that it is super easy to control from a tablet using remote desktop. It's almost as if the system was designed for a touch screen. Another plus for remote tablets is the fader sizes and button sizes are easy to make bigger (or smaller) to fit better on a tablet. Makes focusing via wifi much easier!


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