What do I need to control lights with an iPad?

[Meyatch]

My band is a little light happy.

Last night our light board stopped working. We've recently switched to a digital sound board with iPad control.

Since we don't need a dedicated place for a sound man anymore, and our board has stopped working, I'd like to get something to control the lights with the iPad.

We run a bunch of par cans with 4 channels, and we have 5 cubes, and the sign with led light bars. Those take 4 channels a piece, so 24 channels. We also have geyser fog machines, which light up and shoot fog. Those take 8 channels.

I've been pretty disappointed with the information I've been able to find on this topic so far, so I'm hoping someone on here may have experience with it.

From what I've seen I will need an app for the iPad, and some kind of wireless to dmx device.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what apps and what dmx device I need?

We don't have any moving lights or anything right now, but we may add more lights in the future. We are wanting a nice dmx controlled laser.

 

[4Mal]

Luminair app, an Entec compatible dmx to ethernet interface (I have one from eDmx king) and a router with a usb port. The usb port powers the interface, you connect to the router with your iPad and the dmx output the interface begins your dmx chain. Locate the interface and router under your first light tree, end of truss, etc. This gets you a single full DMX 512 ch universe. There are multiple universe interfaces out there is you need it. The interfaces come 3 pin or 5 pin depending on the rest of your devices.

Luminair is pretty easy to use. Like all dmx setups, you are going to be doing some scene programming. Once your scenes are created you can combine them in stacks, set timing options and all the other crap that goes along with lighting... I try to keep it simple as it is really easy to go over the top with lighting. Kinda like playing bass... A little goes a long way...

luminair is about $80, the interface will run you $150 . A generic DMX controller from MCM electronics will set you back under $100. I get better results with Luminair however it is a bit of a committment...

Luminair 3 - Digital lighting control (DMX/Art-Net/Smart) by Synthe FX, LLC https://appsto.re/us/m8m32.ii

eDMX1

Ping me you decide to go this route. I may upgrade to a multi universe interface which would make my single universe box available.

 

[Meyatch]

We are already past being able to use a cheap light board anyway. Just to get one that will run enough channels for us is about $250, so the cost with getting set up for wireless isn't really an issue.

Would we be able to run sound and lights on the same iPad? (can you switch away from the light app, and it will continue running things?)

The little information I've been able to find seemed to indicate that you would have to keep the luminair app open at all times or it would stop working. There was a thread on a DJ forum talking about it. The guy on there said he couldn't find a tap tempo button. Is there one?

Do you have any experience with any other DMX apps? Luminair is pretty pricey compared to other apps. Its not too much of an investment if we always used the same ipad for sound, but we use some soundguys with their own iPad.

 

[4Mal]

I keep my sound and lights on fully separate systems so for me a dedicated ipad made sense. In my case a used 16g ipad 2 bottom feeder. I'm simply not interested in finding out that thereis an issue mid gig... so ipad, router and interface are all dedicated. happily a used ipad 2 is super cheap on CL

 

[4Mal]

luminair is the only full feature dmx controller I'm aware of. When I bought, it was $130... still it is the most compact way I could add the functionality and that was a primary factor for me.

 

[Awesome Sauce]

Lights?! Forget the lights man! You've got bigger problems! Your guitarist is wearing shorts! AND a baseball cap! According to the collective TB Wizdum, you need to fire that guy, then feed him into a wood chipper to atone for your sins, or you'll be lucky to get a gig playing for dead rats in a Denny's parking lot!

*Thou hast been warned.....!*

 

[Meyatch]

He's been fired. It was the first picture I found that had most of the lights.

 

[Awesome Sauce]

Oh, well, um...*clears throat* Carry on.

 

[Meyatch]

Don't go around thinking I would abide exposed shins on stage.

 

[DarkyJon]

Short version: you need three things. An app on the iPad, an Art-Net or sACN bridge (small box that converts network to DMX), and fixtures that accept DMX. The bridge is the part people forget, iPads don't output DMX directly. For the app side I use Photon (Photon - DMX Lighting Console for iPad | Art-Net & sACN), the most intuitive one, there's a free version to just see if the workflow makes sense before you buy anything. Don't overthink the first rig, a cheap 4-pack of LED pars and one bridge will teach you a lot.

 

[4Mal]

I moved on to Photon as well. Then I moved on from active lighting. Back to a dmx controller, donner wireless rtx/rx and almost static scenes. NYE I hired a guy to work the controller for my band and gave him an iPad to adjust our sound as he wished. He's a good sound guy.