Thanks a lot for this video! I have used DMXIS as a standalone from time to time for some years - but now I think I will move it to "under the hood" of Ableton. Made a show in no time after watching this. Big thumbs up!
Hi, thanks for this tutorial for me as a beginner. Tip: add the midi-note to the bank/preset names so counting is history (AA Bank 1 C-2 / AB Bank 2 C#-2 / etc). Cheers, Jurgen SONICrider
Questions: you're adding a total of 3 tracks. 1 Return track, where you have DMXis loaded (do you load DMXis FX or DMXis Instrument), and then 2 MIDI tracks (1 for Banks and 1 for Presets). - I did all of that but the MIDI tracks you show in your video have the MIDI keyboard along the left side where you can write into them. Mine just look blank, e.g. i have no ability to write in a note anywhere. I'm a ProTools user so super new to Ableton (I kind of hate it actually), but i'm trying. I feel like if i could just get to the point where you start this video it'd make more sense. Thanx... :)
Hey man- 1) DMXIS should be found in your Plug-ins folder (on the left hand menu) under either Audio Units or VST's (or both). I use it as a VST. Shouldn't matter which you use. 2) In order to write in MIDI for Ableton there needs to be a MIDI Clip for that track (the colored boxes in my video). You can create simply by double clicking the empty box for that track.
Nice demo. Looked at the one with your band and this one. I'm currently in the learning phase of DMXis and have one comment (maybe more of a question). It looks to me that a few scenes you created used the masking feature of DMXis (keeping the 2 channels oscillated to the beat while other lights changed). Is that how it worked out? I'm thinking it is... which means I have some more playing around to do with the masking feature! Thanks
Greg Jewell I suppose masking would be a good term for it although I never thought to call it that. What I did throughout the songs was building upon my presets as I went. It's much like doing a whole bunch of "Save as" throughout the song. So rather than each preset being created from scratch I use the preset before it as a template, change what I want (leave the setting I don't want to change), and then save it as a new preset. I will repeat this process throughout the entire songs giving me the masking effect you speak of in which certain parameters change while others don't. Hope that makes sense!
Hi Andrew! Thanks for tutorial. Do you have a screenshot you can share of how your full set looks in arrangement view? I see you have an end marker at beat 205. Do you create light cues for your next song on beat 206? Thanks.
Thanks Andrew. I was able to figure it out, it did take me a few days to figure it out since I had to change a few things with my DAW. But once I finally got it to work it was perfect. I have already used it for a couple of shows. The only thing I have an issue with is changing the banks. I created a track especially to change the banks but for some reason after I laid out the bank change midi notes they switched banks on that new bank track but it didn't change the presets for that specific bank, it just repeated the presets for the first bank. Any ideas on how I can fix that? Thanks again, cheers!
Hmm I'm afraid I'm not sure what's going on in this case Luis. I'd probably have to see it to fully understand what's going on. Sorry I can't be of more help!
Hello - i know this video was done years ago. Are you still using DMXIS? If not is there something better out that you'd recommend? Also you created your presets in the DMXIS mixer but could you just draw in automation for each light in Ableton at each section of the song (e.g verse, chorus, etc.)? This way there would be no need for presets in the DMXIS mixer. All the automation would be drawn in for each section in Ableton. I only know how to automate in Ableton. How would you create presets in the dmxis mixer in time with music without drawing them in Ableton? For example, preset one in the dmxis mixer would fade up channel one on beat one of the song and channel two would fade up on beat 4 of the song?
Hey! Unfortunately, I haven't used DMXIS (or any lighting program) for years now. I'm not very knowledgeable beyond what this video shows. I'm sure there are more efficient ways to automate as the program has developed. But yes, to that is how I would create presets in time with the music by entering midi notes on beat.
hey andrew - great video thanks for this - do you have a separate ableton file for each song or do you load in all songs to the same ableton file? looking to have drummer be able to hit play for each song in one ableton instance. thanks man!
All the songs are loaded into one Ableton Session. The songs themselves are stored in a library folder on my computer. In Ableton this folder is referenced in the browser menu (the song list on the left side of the screen at the end of the video) so songs can be dragged into the session from there.
Good question. I believe I ditched the number system because when you get to 10 it will organize that preset underneath 1 and so on. I could be wrong about that but I believe that's why I ended up going with letters.
excuse me, but if i open ableton live, i set the dmxis vst, it will control my dmx interface without having trouble with my audio interface? Thanks!! very gratefull!!
Hey Andrew, It looks like we have something in common controlling lights during worship. So I am using Ableton Live and D-Pro lighting control from enttec. How do you connect the two softwares together. In other words, how do you get your DMX controller to receive MIDI from Ableton. Thanks for the video.
Is there any way to switch between triggering presets, and custom animation, using both alternately? Right now the presets seem to be overriding any animation I pencil in
At the top next to "file" go under the "Create" tab and mouse down to "insert return track", then click, next click and drag dmxis plugin from the left onto the return track
Thanks for the video!! I always run in the following trouble. If a preset has a oscillator going on - in this case a "square", it works just fine when I create the preset. Lights are going on and off. As soon I create the midi to trigger this preset, it will only start with it and stop right away, rather than continuously moving. It only works when I open the DMXIS controller. Does that mean I always need to have the controller plug in open? I hope I explained it clearly. Any help guys?
+Tobias Urbanczyk yeah I've run into this problem before. Unfortunately I've found that I've had to leave the controller plug in open during our show or else things can get screwy. Sometimes it doesn't cause a problem, sometimes it does. Sorry!
Hey Andrew, thanks a lot for the video! Quick question about changing presets: Did you have to assign your instance of DMXIS to a particular midi channel for it to register the bank/preset changes? I can't seem to get my presets to change when I write in notes in the piano roll. I can assign the 'preset up' and 'preset down' controls in ableton to change presets, but I can't jump to a particular preset from another.
Hey time, yeah your bank midi channel needs to be set to 15 and your preset to midi channel 16. Freeze my tutorial at 10:48 and match the settings for those channels. Best of luck!
I still have some issues programming the MIDI to change the presets and banks; Ableton recognize DMXIS but still doesn't make any change on the GO, i have to be changing it by hand or with the footswitch and that is a big problem cause im the Drummer hahaha so im paying more atention to my feet while im playing that on the lights. Can you help me with thats a, Issue with Ableton??? Thank you so much for your time and help!!!
Hey Andrew- I'm a Ableton newbie. My question is this: How are you able to edit your presets in arrangement view? Do you have to record an actual midi track? I'm trying to program lights to an audio track, similar to how your video shows. Thanks man!
Sorry I'm so late getting back to you Jesse. Yeah you'll have to record (or write in) an actual midi track for the presets. When I'm finished with the programing I consolidate the midi track to one file which can be used in the arrangement view.
So basically the DMXIS software is the DMX controller for the lights? Are you able to send the DMX signal to the lights by only using an USB-DMX interface? Thank you
Yeah, DMXIS comes with a USB interface that has both a 5-pin and 3-pin out when you purchase it. Unless you buy the "D-Split" you'll only have those two outputs to daisy-chain all your lights together.
yes, dmxis can handle movers although I haven't done it yet. There are parameters for movers on the digital interface. It's probably more tedious but can be done.
yeah I've been doing some research and i was going to use the high end systems HOG PC as a plug in but you can't run their stuff on a mac even if you have parallels. i noticed that DMXIS had the parameters to run movers but their was no fixture library and i dint see how i can address them......weird.
James Christy hmmm. You may have already done this but DMXIS has a free updated fixture library on their website you can/should download whenever adding lights. That's where I got all the presets for my lights
More specifically I think I've got them to trigger with the midi notes on midi channel 16, but my sine preset only cycles once when triggered, instead of looping continuously... Any one know why it would do that & how to get it to continuously loop/cycle through the sine preset until the next preset is triggered?
At the top next to "file" go under the "Create" tab and click "insert midi track", set the carrot to "none", and where it says "no output", select dmxis from the drop down and then either 15 for Bank or 16 for preset, (right click on the midi track to select draw mode as a way to insert midi notes without a midi keyboard)
So i've been routing my DMXis the way this video describes having some patterns launched via scenes and have noticed that my audio will occasionally skip when triggering a new scene. I have tried using an external audio card with the buffer rate said pretty high to avoid this but will still have some issues. anyone run into this?
Hi Andrew. Just wondering. With your cue channel, do you run it off a separate output so that it runs only on the foldbacks? If so, whats the secret. This has been bugging me for quite some time now.
Hey Arik, I only use three outputs for my rig. Two for the stereo backing tracks and a third for the click and cues. That third goes to the board on its own channel to be sent out the aux sends (to our in-ear mixes) but left turned down as to not go out the mains of course (aux sends are set pre-fader)
Hey Andrew - have you ever had an issue where the light midi does not respond? I've automated everything as you have (one bank track, one preset track) for each song in my set. Sometimes, after opening the session, the tracks play but the light midi wont trigger... I check my dmxis connection, restart program, shut down + restart computer and still get no response from light midi. Sometimes if ends up working after those trouble shoots but sometimes I still get nothing and have to run my set without the light show... any idea what my issue may be?
Hey Heather. I have had similar issues although I don't think it's exactly what you're dealing with. I found out over time that DMXIS can be pretty buggy. My issue had to deal with DMXIS communicating through the USB port after a hardware update. The workaround was downloading this program. www.enttec.com/index.php?main_menu=Products&pn=79003 Hope that helps!
Yeah they're all daisy chained from DMXIS and yes you can still change them each individually. It's all about the DMX address each light is assigned on the unit itself. There are many tutorials available online about how to assign DMX addresses.
Thanks a lot for this video! I have used DMXIS as a standalone from time to time for some years - but now I think I will move it to "under the hood" of Ableton. Made a show in no time after watching this. Big thumbs up!
So glad it could be of help!
Hi, thanks for this tutorial for me as a beginner. Tip: add the midi-note to the bank/preset names so counting is history (AA Bank 1 C-2 / AB Bank 2 C#-2 / etc). Cheers, Jurgen SONICrider
Incredibly helpful. Thank you so much -David from We Are Leo
You are very welcome!
Questions: you're adding a total of 3 tracks. 1 Return track, where you have DMXis loaded (do you load DMXis FX or DMXis Instrument), and then 2 MIDI tracks (1 for Banks and 1 for Presets). - I did all of that but the MIDI tracks you show in your video have the MIDI keyboard along the left side where you can write into them. Mine just look blank, e.g. i have no ability to write in a note anywhere. I'm a ProTools user so super new to Ableton (I kind of hate it actually), but i'm trying. I feel like if i could just get to the point where you start this video it'd make more sense. Thanx... :)
Hey man- 1) DMXIS should be found in your Plug-ins folder (on the left hand menu) under either Audio Units or VST's (or both). I use it as a VST. Shouldn't matter which you use. 2) In order to write in MIDI for Ableton there needs to be a MIDI Clip for that track (the colored boxes in my video). You can create simply by double clicking the empty box for that track.
Great, thanks for sharing !
Thanks for doing this :-)
Nice demo. Looked at the one with your band and this one. I'm currently in the learning phase of DMXis and have one comment (maybe more of a question). It looks to me that a few scenes you created used the masking feature of DMXis (keeping the 2 channels oscillated to the beat while other lights changed). Is that how it worked out? I'm thinking it is... which means I have some more playing around to do with the masking feature!
Thanks
Greg Jewell I suppose masking would be a good term for it although I never thought to call it that. What I did throughout the songs was building upon my presets as I went. It's much like doing a whole bunch of "Save as" throughout the song. So rather than each preset being created from scratch I use the preset before it as a template, change what I want (leave the setting I don't want to change), and then save it as a new preset. I will repeat this process throughout the entire songs giving me the masking effect you speak of in which certain parameters change while others don't. Hope that makes sense!
Very helpful, thank you
Hi Andrew! Thanks for tutorial. Do you have a screenshot you can share of how your full set looks in arrangement view? I see you have an end marker at beat 205. Do you create light cues for your next song on beat 206? Thanks.
Hey this video should answer your question:
th-cam.com/video/UZBvtr9n2j0/w-d-xo.html
Thanks, Andrew! Much appreciated.
If this is no longer able to use what is the 2024 version of this?
Hi Andrew, great tutorial!
Is it possible to add automations to the tracks with this way of doing it?
Or do you know any other way to do it?
I'm not sure, sorry Florian! I'm sure there's an easier way to do it now that you can find somewhere out there on the internet
Hey Florian, did you figure this out? Trying to work my head around this right now.
Great stuff Andrew. Do you consult/light design for other bands?
awesome video man! Quick question, how did you assign midi notes to your presets and banks? Cheers!
Hey Luis- DMXIS has them already preassigned to the lowest midi value and ascending. I did no assignments myself.
Thanks Andrew. I was able to figure it out, it did take me a few days to figure it out since I had to change a few things with my DAW. But once I finally got it to work it was perfect. I have already used it for a couple of shows. The only thing I have an issue with is changing the banks. I created a track especially to change the banks but for some reason after I laid out the bank change midi notes they switched banks on that new bank track but it didn't change the presets for that specific bank, it just repeated the presets for the first bank. Any ideas on how I can fix that? Thanks again, cheers!
Hmm I'm afraid I'm not sure what's going on in this case Luis. I'd probably have to see it to fully understand what's going on. Sorry I can't be of more help!
Hello - i know this video was done years ago. Are you still using DMXIS? If not is there something better out that you'd recommend? Also you created your presets in the DMXIS mixer but could you just draw in automation for each light in Ableton at each section of the song (e.g verse, chorus, etc.)? This way there would be no need for presets in the DMXIS mixer. All the automation would be drawn in for each section in Ableton. I only know how to automate in Ableton. How would you create presets in the dmxis mixer in time with music without drawing them in Ableton? For example, preset one in the dmxis mixer would fade up channel one on beat one of the song and channel two would fade up on beat 4 of the song?
Hey! Unfortunately, I haven't used DMXIS (or any lighting program) for years now. I'm not very knowledgeable beyond what this video shows. I'm sure there are more efficient ways to automate as the program has developed. But yes, to that is how I would create presets in time with the music by entering midi notes on beat.
So Kaleb, You don't need a midi controller, just the DMX to a computer?
hey andrew - great video thanks for this - do you have a separate ableton file for each song or do you load in all songs to the same ableton file? looking to have drummer be able to hit play for each song in one ableton instance. thanks man!
All the songs are loaded into one Ableton Session. The songs themselves are stored in a library folder on my computer. In Ableton this folder is referenced in the browser menu (the song list on the left side of the screen at the end of the video) so songs can be dragged into the session from there.
Awesome, thanks for sharing this!
How come you went with "AA Freedom.." instead of going with "1 Freedom" when you named them?
Good question. I believe I ditched the number system because when you get to 10 it will organize that preset underneath 1 and so on. I could be wrong about that but I believe that's why I ended up going with letters.
so it would work like this
1,
10,
11,
2,
3,
Richard lastname yup, I believe so.
Andrew How did you Make the HIT's Happening Time ?
So how did you get the little keyboard to show up and insert the midi keys in the track itself. I can’t find where that keyboard even is.
You need to create a MIDI clip in that track then double click on it. That should bring up the keyboard
excuse me, but if i open ableton live, i set the dmxis vst, it will control my dmx interface without having trouble with my audio interface? Thanks!! very gratefull!!
Does it have to be that specific light and brand? Can you connect a diverse range of lights, types and brands to this program?
All our lights were different brands! Shouldn't matter as long as the light can receive dmx
Hey Andrew,
It looks like we have something in common controlling lights during worship. So I am using Ableton Live and D-Pro lighting control from enttec. How do you connect the two softwares together. In other words, how do you get your DMX controller to receive MIDI from Ableton.
Thanks for the video.
thanks for the video
Hey Andrew! I can't make it work on Cubase. I need some help for dumbs. I don't know how to setup the tracks so they do work
Is there any way to switch between triggering presets, and custom animation, using both alternately? Right now the presets seem to be overriding any animation I pencil in
How do you set up the return track?
At the top next to "file" go under the "Create" tab and mouse down to "insert return track", then click, next click and drag dmxis plugin from the left onto the return track
Can u use with ableton live it on session view improvising with scenes?
Thanks for the video!! I always run in the following trouble. If a preset has a oscillator going on - in this case a "square", it works just fine when I create the preset. Lights are going on and off. As soon I create the midi to trigger this preset, it will only start with it and stop right away, rather than continuously moving. It only works when I open the DMXIS controller. Does that mean I always need to have the controller plug in open?
I hope I explained it clearly. Any help guys?
+Tobias Urbanczyk yeah I've run into this problem before. Unfortunately I've found that I've had to leave the controller plug in open during our show or else things can get screwy. Sometimes it doesn't cause a problem, sometimes it does. Sorry!
Hey Andrew, thanks a lot for the video! Quick question about changing presets: Did you have to assign your instance of DMXIS to a particular midi channel for it to register the bank/preset changes? I can't seem to get my presets to change when I write in notes in the piano roll. I can assign the 'preset up' and 'preset down' controls in ableton to change presets, but I can't jump to a particular preset from another.
Hey time, yeah your bank midi channel needs to be set to 15 and your preset to midi channel 16. Freeze my tutorial at 10:48 and match the settings for those channels. Best of luck!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Thankyou very much! You just saved me a buttload of time trying to figure out a workaround! Thanks brother!
I still have some issues programming the MIDI to change the presets and banks; Ableton recognize DMXIS but still doesn't make any change on the GO, i have to be changing it by hand or with the footswitch and that is a big problem cause im the Drummer hahaha so im paying more atention to my feet while im playing that on the lights.
Can you help me with thats a, Issue with Ableton???
Thank you so much for your time and help!!!
Hey Kaleb- check out this video to learn how DMXIS integrates with Ableton:
DMXIS Tutorial 1
Hey Andrew- I'm a Ableton newbie. My question is this: How are you able to edit your presets in arrangement view? Do you have to record an actual midi track? I'm trying to program lights to an audio track, similar to how your video shows. Thanks man!
Sorry I'm so late getting back to you Jesse. Yeah you'll have to record (or write in) an actual midi track for the presets. When I'm finished with the programing I consolidate the midi track to one file which can be used in the arrangement view.
***** Dude, no worries. Thanks so much for the info. Great work on the video, by the way. It was a huge help getting started.
So basically the DMXIS software is the DMX controller for the lights? Are you able to send the DMX signal to the lights by only using an USB-DMX interface? Thank you
Yeah, DMXIS comes with a USB interface that has both a 5-pin and 3-pin out when you purchase it. Unless you buy the "D-Split" you'll only have those two outputs to daisy-chain all your lights together.
what about movers? can dmxid handle that?
yes, dmxis can handle movers although I haven't done it yet. There are parameters for movers on the digital interface. It's probably more tedious but can be done.
yeah I've been doing some research and i was going to use the high end systems HOG PC as a plug in but you can't run their stuff on a mac even if you have parallels. i noticed that DMXIS had the parameters to run movers but their was no fixture library and i dint see how i can address them......weird.
James Christy hmmm. You may have already done this but DMXIS has a free updated fixture library on their website you can/should download whenever adding lights. That's where I got all the presets for my lights
also can you use anything other than DMXIS?
well there are a few other programs that do what dmxis does but from what I've heard/seen dmxis does midi triggering best especially through Ableton.
More specifically I think I've got them to trigger with the midi notes on midi channel 16, but my sine preset only cycles once when triggered, instead of looping continuously... Any one know why it would do that & how to get it to continuously loop/cycle through the sine preset until the next preset is triggered?
At the top next to "file" go under the "Create" tab and click "insert midi track", set the carrot to "none", and where it says "no output", select dmxis from the drop down and then either 15 for Bank or 16 for preset, (right click on the midi track to select draw mode as a way to insert midi notes without a midi keyboard)
So i've been routing my DMXis the way this video describes having some patterns launched via scenes and have noticed that my audio will occasionally skip when triggering a new scene. I have tried using an external audio card with the buffer rate said pretty high to avoid this but will still have some issues. anyone run into this?
bro can u please explain me how we can play audio sync with light and video using cdj 2000
Sorry man, not familiar with that device!
Hi Andrew. Just wondering. With your cue channel, do you run it off a separate output so that it runs only on the foldbacks? If so, whats the secret. This has been bugging me for quite some time now.
Hey Arik, I only use three outputs for my rig. Two for the stereo backing tracks and a third for the click and cues. That third goes to the board on its own channel to be sent out the aux sends (to our in-ear mixes) but left turned down as to not go out the mains of course (aux sends are set pre-fader)
hey man are you on albeton live 9? trying to figure out which one im wanting to buy with the dmxis
Yup I am using Ableton Live 9. Works great with DMXIS
64bit?
I think I use 32 bit because when I first started DMXIS wasn't compatible with 64. That may have changed though in the last few years.
Hey Andrew - have you ever had an issue where the light midi does not respond? I've automated everything as you have (one bank track, one preset track) for each song in my set. Sometimes, after opening the session, the tracks play but the light midi wont trigger... I check my dmxis connection, restart program, shut down + restart computer and still get no response from light midi. Sometimes if ends up working after those trouble shoots but sometimes I still get nothing and have to run my set without the light show... any idea what my issue may be?
Hey Heather. I have had similar issues although I don't think it's exactly what you're dealing with. I found out over time that DMXIS can be pretty buggy. My issue had to deal with DMXIS communicating through the USB port after a hardware update. The workaround was downloading this program.
www.enttec.com/index.php?main_menu=Products&pn=79003
Hope that helps!
@AndrewPicha Hey man, are you daisy chaining your lights all from the dmixis? If you daisy chain them, can you still individually control each light?
Yeah they're all daisy chained from DMXIS and yes you can still change them each individually. It's all about the DMX address each light is assigned on the unit itself. There are many tutorials available online about how to assign DMX addresses.