Determining A Dmx Start Channel; Overview; Digital Lighting Products - High End Systems DL.3 User Manual

CHAPTER 4
DMX Programming Basics and Quick Start

Determining a DMX Start Channel

Overview

The DMX Start Channel is the first channel of a device's channel footprint on a DMX link. There
are 512 available channels on each DMX universe divided among all the devices in a particular
universe. A device must have a unique DMX channel range in order to respond independently to
controller commands. The DMX Start Channel is the first channel in that fixtures channel range.
To determine each device's DMX Start Channel, identify the footprint of every device on the
universe. The device's footprint is the number of consecutive DMX channels it requires and is
determined by the channels in the fixture's protocol. The fixture's DMX channel footprint must
not overlap any other device's channel footprint on the link. When two devices on the same DMX
universe have overlapping channel footprints, one or both devices will be disabled or behave
erratically.
Once you have determined the footprint of your device, a simple formula for finding the last
valid Start Channel on a standard DMX512 link is:

Digital Lighting Products

The channel range for your Digital lighting product will depend on the model, the Protocol mode
and the number of Graphic objects you select. DL.3 and new Axon media servers running
Version 2.0 fixture software all provide individual and composite graphical control for up to nine
Graphic Objects. DL.2 fixtures and original Axon servers can control up to four Graphic objects.
You can influence the footprint of the fixture on a DMX link with the protocol you select and the
number of graphic objects you implement.
V2 Footprint on DMX512 Link
#of Object
Layers
DL.3
0 76
1 121
2 166
3 211
4 256
5 301
6 346
7 391
8 436
9 481
42
512 – the unit's channel footprint + 1
Early
Axon DL.2
Axon
55 76
100 121
145 166
190 211
235 256
280
325
370
415
460
V1 Footprint on DMX512 Link
DL.3 Axon
35
55 56
100 94 73
111
145 132
149
190 170
235 208 187
246 225
284 263
322 301
360 339
398 377
Early
DL.2
Axon
35
56
94 73
111
132
149
170
208
DL.3 Digital Light User Manual