16 channels DMX

[seanet]

Hi,

This seems to be exactly what Im looking for, currently running Winamp for backing tracks on a laptop, looking for some way to sync DMX lights. Just slightly concerned that although 16 channels is fine for now, might find that a bit limited in the future. Are there any plans to increase the number of channels the controller will support?

Thanks

[Alien Apparatus Support]

We generally make it a policy not to discuss future plans or pre-announce upcoming features, but I can say this, though... this has been asked for before and is on the feature request list.

Alien Apparatus Support

[seanet]

Thanks for the reply. I can appreciate that you cannot speculate on future plans, can you tell me what your upgrade policy is though in general? Would such a hypothetical upgrade as the example I made usually be free or considered major enough to be classed as a new version, and therefore chargeable?

Also, are there any independent reviews that you can point me towards? Would have expected to find at least a couple, but no luck so far.

It looks a great product and you have me 80% sold, by the time you have shipped one to me in UK and I have paid customs on top of that, it's not a cheap piece of hardware if something turns out not to be what I thought it was.

Thanks,
Joe

[Alien Apparatus Support]

I would have to say that what you are suggesting would fall under the realm of a major upgrade. In the past, all upgrades have been free, even from version 1.0 to version 2.0, and this policy will likely continue for a while.

As for user reviews, here are a few from VersionTracker:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/23684

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/win/33087


Alien Apparatus Support

[Alien Apparatus Support]

Just to follow up...

Version 3.0 has been release today and it now includes 32 channels of lighting control. Also, MIDI lighting can be controlled now as well as DMX512 lights.

Regards,

Alien Apparatus Support

[BrianLord]

Ron,

What's the difference between MIDI Lighting and DMX 512 Lighting?

Also if I get a DMX192 controller will this still work with DMX 512?
_________________
Brian Lord
The Party Band - Man
Echuca, VIC, Australia

www.ThePartyBand.com.au -- Let's Make A Party!
www.BrianLord.com.au -- Original Country Music

MBP 2.5GHz, 4GB Ram
And still using old Roland SD35's as a backup.

[Alien Apparatus Support]

MIDI lighting connects to a regular MIDI interface in order to control lights, as opposed to DMX 512 which has a 3-wire interface (sometimes using 5-pin connectors, but usually 3).

MIDI sounds on the surface that it would be the most convenient... you can edit lightshows with a standard MIDI editor program and use a standard MIDI interface to control things. But here's the ugly news about MIDI lighting control: MIDI doesn't allow for long enough cable length runs to do large shows, it is too slow to change lots of lights, and it is VERY hard finding light fixtures that support it. There's a few dimmer packs out there, but little else and even these are hard to find.

DMX512 on the other hand, can use very long cable runs and updates to all of the lights occur many times per second. Plus, just about every controllable light out there supports DMX512.

DMX192? You know, I never heard it referred to by that name until I just looked it up! Apparently DMX192 is just DMX512 but they only send out the first 192 channels, much like SPSC only sends out the first 32 channels. So any DMX512 light should work. I don't think that there is even an official DMX192 standard put out by the USITT like they did for DMX512. I think that its just something that a few manufacturers called their controllers because they don't support 512 channels.

Regards,

Alien Apparatus Support