# New DMX light rig!!



## robare99 (Jan 16, 2013)

Got my light rig almost complete. 

8 - Blizzard 3NX's
6 - Chauvet Intimidator 1.0
6 - Chauvet Pinspot 360's
4 - Blizzard Fab5's
Chauvet Hurricane 1600 flex smoke machine
DMXIS
Begringer FCB1010 foot controller 

Pics:














































Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr0EzbtifCs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I68af5D8JR0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgX59L4-qaQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cKlUy2Rc0k


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## Winspear (Jan 16, 2013)

Looks awesome! I have no idea how these things are controlled...
What do you do with the footcontroller? Switch between different presets that dictate the angle and colour of the lights?


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## Leuchty (Jan 16, 2013)

Looks amazing dude!


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## robare99 (Jan 16, 2013)

EtherealEntity said:


> Looks awesome! I have no idea how these things are controlled...
> What do you do with the footcontroller? Switch between different presets that dictate the angle and colour of the lights?



DMX is basically a set of 512 numbered sliders like on a mixer. each light has a number of channels. One of the Multi LED lights has 4 (to keep it simple)

Channel 1: red intensity
Channel 2: green intensity
Channel 3: blue intensity 
Channel 4: dimmer (brightness for the whole light)

So to have control over the lights individually, it's assigned like this. 

Light A: channels 1-4
Light B: channels 5-8
Light C: channels 9-12
Light D: channels 13-16

So I can adjust the lights individually, or change them all to red green purple, whatever. I have the light in pairs:

A B C D D C B A

That way both A lights react the same, the B lights are a pair etc. that let me dim the different ones which you can see in some of the scenes. The 4 scanners (moving color lights) are all individual, and the 6 rotating Pinspots on top are all individual as well. 

Each picture is a scene, along with every time is changes. When it changed to a scene with something moving, that's automatic, called And oscillator which moves the sliders you choose at various rates. This gives you random movement on the scanners, or let's you dim pairs of the LEd big lights etc. theres variables you can change and play with so it's pretty neat. 

Ok. 

So each different pic above is a scene, just like every time the whole thing changes, is a scene as well. These all end up in a big list. The foot controller lets you change from scene to scene. 

Say I have 100 different scene. Pressing pedals 1 through 10 on bank 0, will choose from the first 10 scenes. If I go up to bank 01, I can choose from the next 10 scenes etc etc. 

There's also 2 volume pedals on the board. I set the first one to control the dimmer on the lights that are lighting up the band. Say that's channel 27. No matter what scene I'm in, it will always control channel 27, and that will always be the lights on the band. The second volume pedal, I set to control the smoke machine. So instead of pushing a button on a remote I step on the pedal and it adds smoke to the stage. 

It's a pretty neat setup, and I'm pretty stoked to have it all up and running. Here's a quick video after soundcheck at our NYE gig:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUM1zLgt3wk

So when we play, I just change to different scenes with the foot pedal. Jumping up an down the different banks. I have pedal 10 set to a blackout with just the lights on the band, for between songs. It's pretty cool and I'm really happy with it. I have 20' of truss so I might add another 4 pinspots, and another 4 3NX's and 2 more Intimidators to fill up the bigger truss. This stage was only 18' wide so I kept it simple and used a 10' piece of truss. Today I'm picking up another 10' section that I'll cut in half. Then I have the option of 10', 15' and 20' of truss to work with depending on the stage etc. 

For some simple lighting, in this video, I'm using 2 lights (Blizzard Fab5's) one on each front speaker, set to sound activation which is just random changes, without a controller. So you can see even 2 lights makes a difference...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DdbvbyuO_0


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## Winspear (Jan 16, 2013)

That's super cool. So is this your own venue? 
Thanks for the in depth explanation!


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## robare99 (Jan 16, 2013)

EtherealEntity said:


> That's super cool. So is this your own venue?
> Thanks for the in depth explanation!



No, I have a small company, and I provide lightning & sound for different venues here and there. The lights are all set up in my basement for the videos. The NYE video was for my band at our NYE gig.

I didn't have a clue what I was getting into, so I started small. Picked up the scanners and a couple pinspots. Then I bought an Obey70 controller and messed around with it. Next was the foot controller, but I had a helluva time trying to get it to work with the Obey70. The solution was computer based. I have a StudioLive so I use a Mac computer with it. The software/hardware made things a lot easier. 

I plugged in the foot controller and it worked like I described right from the start so that was a lucky bonus!! You pick the different fixtures when you set it up. Lights ABC&D are all the same type. A nice thing is if I double click one of the "Green intensity" faders, it chooses green on all the same fixtures, which is really handy for programming scenes!!


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## ZXIIIT (Jan 16, 2013)

Let us play a show in your basement.


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## robare99 (Jan 16, 2013)

Haha ya. 

Madison Square Basement!!


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## MikeH (Jan 16, 2013)

X gon' give it to ya!


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## robare99 (Jan 16, 2013)

lol wut?


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## asmegin_slayer (Jan 21, 2013)

Robare99, thank you so much for posting this. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't had known about the the Chauvet pinspot 360's!!! Exactly what I was looking for.


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## robare99 (Jan 21, 2013)

They are pretty neat. Discontinued, but you can still find them on eBay! You have to manually set the angle, then they move on the one axis. I call them a one trick pony, by you can defintely do some interesting scenes with them! My plan is getting 2-4 more of them, and 4 more 3NX's. 

That's a 10'truss. I'll have the option of a 15' or 20'. With a 15 I figure I could space what I have out a bit, but a 20' truss will need a few more fixtures to fill it up!

I'm pretty new to DMX, so that probably illustrates how easy DMXIS is to use. 

I used my obey70 again for 2 lights and it's still nothing but a frustrating pain in the ass. No more. DMXIS will be all that I use from now on.


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## Divinehippie (Jan 24, 2013)

sick set up man! impressed for sure xD


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## ozzman619 (Jan 26, 2013)

i'm not sure if you mentioned it already, but what would a light rig like this cost me if i went out today and bought it all new? also how long does it take you to set it up a show?


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## robare99 (Jan 27, 2013)

4 Chauvet Intimidator 1.0 - $600
6 Chauvet Pinspot 360 - $600
8 Blizzard 3NX - $1300
4 Blizzard Fab5 - $1000
Behringer FCB1010 foot controller - $160
DMXIS - $260
Cables $100
Stands: $500
Truss: 150
-----------------
$5070 not including tax or shipping. 

That includes 4 - Blizzard Fab5's to light up the band, smoke machine, foot control for a band. You'll need a computer for DMXIS, but it's a pretty easy program to work with, for a non light guy. Setup, oh maybe a half hour to an hour. 

Put up the truss. 

Load it up with the lights, wire them up, aim them and then yourr good to go. 

I adjusted the pinspots, dropping them to the same beam on the truss as the rest of the lights. This allows for about another foot of headroom, when raising up the whole rig. 






I now have iPad and iPhone control. 

Sneak peek. Got it figured out with some help online.

iPad interface: 4 banks of 25 scenes broken down into groups. Also, main Dimmer control for all fixtures and little details like 3NX Strobe, 3NX color chase, smoke machine control and global blackout.






Second page, global control over 3NX (rear) and Fab5 (band) fixtures! And more...






And iPhone control as well. 4 pages, access to 25 scenes and more, one grouo for each page

Verse
Chorus
Solo
Finish
Master Dimmers
3NX global control 
Fab5 global control

















Video!!


That fills the 10 foot truss pretty tightly. I have 2 more truss sections. I am going to cut one in half to have two five foot sections. Then I have the option of 10, 15 or 20' of truss depending on the gig. For the 15' ill just spread what's there out a bit, and for the 20' I'll add 4 more Pinspot 360's and 4 more 3 NX's. 

I was debating moving heads, but the ones that really put out the beams are bigger than I want to deal with (40 - 65lbs each) so my next move will probably be getting 4 Chauvet Intimidator 300 LED's. they have the gobos, moving prisms and a lot of things the big moving heads so without the bulk in size and weight.


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## robare99 (Jan 27, 2013)

Video!!
No smoke, my new smoke machine has not arrived yet.

http://youtu.be/1gCeoiItfhU

http://youtu.be/9Ty5ZEu5LPA


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## robare99 (Feb 26, 2013)

Stumbled upon a pretty good deal, so I upgraded the intimidators to Martin MimiMac Profile moving heads. Had to pull two 3NX's to get it all on the 10' truss. 






Video, the MiniMacs cut through better, separate color and gobo wheels!

Martin Minimac profile - YouTube


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## robare99 (May 2, 2013)

Took the setup out for a gig!! Really happy with it!!






Took the setup out for a gig!! Really happy with it!!

Dmxis - YouTube

DMXIS - YouTube

DMXIS - YouTube


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## iRaiseTheDead (May 2, 2013)

May I have it? x)

Nah, looks sick man! Can we get some live footage?

EDIT: I feel like a tard, completely missed the links


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## robare99 (May 2, 2013)

Lol no worries! I kinda simplified things from above. I sold the pinspot 360's, upgraded to the Minimac moving heads. I might end up with 4 Intimidator Spot Duos which would work like the pinspots, but they are full moving heads with gobos and color.


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## kgbak (Jan 25, 2015)

This is an awesome setup! You've provided some incredibly helpful information that certainly would have taken me a lot longer to figure out all on my own so thank you. 

Robare99, how do you connect the FCB1010 to the DMXIS unit? The DMXIS is trs out but it looks like the FCB1010 is only midi in... do you have an adapter of some sort? Thank you for your help!


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## robare99 (Jan 27, 2015)

Hey how's it going. DMXIS is software ran on a computer so the DMXIS hardware connects via USB. Then the FCB1010 also connects to another USB port with a MIDI to USB cable. I think mine is a Roland UM-One. About $30. 

I have since upgraded my lights again. As I got heavier lights it was apparent that the truss wasn't going to work out. I know you see radio tower truss in all the bars, but the thing is, it will be supported in 4,6,8 different places instead of just at the ends on light stand T-Bars. 

I did the math with my new complete light rig and it's around 250lbs. I bought some new 2" aluminum triangle truss, it's made of two 8' sections which gives me 16' of truss. This new truss is designed for a horizontal load, and will support 2,500lbs. So at 250 I'm well under the limit. 






You can see the difference, same venue. 

Old





New





We played the same venue as that one pic above. The new truss was a bit shorter so we were able to raiseit a little higher. 

So like I said, I ended up getting the 4 Chauvet Intimidator Spot Duos, so now this is the complete look...






So as it stands here's my light rig:

11 Blizzard 3NX
4 Chauvet Intimidator Spot Duo
4 Martin Minimac Profile
4 Blizzard Fab5 to light the band. 

Here's a couple videos. We aren't real hard core, just a cover band....

http://youtu.be/3gsTCzK26kg

http://youtu.be/wvlXCrSxMoQ


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