This will be a little ramble-y. Bare with me.

If so; what do you use? We have had some killer 42" led bars on backorder FOREVER and I am about to think about going in a different direction and getting some led par lights instead.

Do you set up custom scenes or do you just set it to run a basic sound activated chase pattern...? We have the sound reinforcement down really well to where we can do almost every gig ourselves on that front. But the lights we currently use need replaced in the worst of ways.

Not yet, but I want to do it next year. I know nothing about it though so I am interested in any feedback here.

This is interesting
https://www.dmxis.com/dmxis/
Especially for someone running tracks/playing to a click/automating their light show in any way.

We have a couple of rows of static colored can lights up front and two "towers" of can lights boxing in the drummer in back. They run on a simple dmx controller. I want better lights up front. Brighter and more interesting looking. We have some plates that sit on our mains that lights can be mounted to and I would really like to add some rotating or otherwise in-some-sort-of-motion fixtures there.

the issue with programming scenes is the same as having a preset PA: every room is different. So maybe a scene that looks great on one stage won't work well on the next one. I am thinking of just getting something that reacts to sound. But some programmability would be nice, like having certain colors/patterns react to specific rhythm patterns.

I'm definitely not an expert, but I've done a little light programming.

I've used dmxis, which I've found ok but does have some
cool features), also show buddy, which is software from the same company, for programming shows.

As mentioned, programming is fine if you're using a click/backing track, I did find the process a little tedious (I am a noob) and couldn't imagine how much time it would take to program a full set list.

Most of the led lights have a sound active mode, but imho they look terrible just flashing randomly, in fact I'd rather
have no lights than bad lights.

Also, I see many cases when bands have lights behind them but not in front, or they put the front lighting on the floor. Lighting the artist is priority. Amber is good for the front.

Another issue is venues. Most lights, especially movers really look better with smoke/haze, many venues wont allow smoke/haze because of smoke alarms.

There are some decent led bars (4 cans) on the market at reasonable prices, a bit more for rgba (worth it imho). Even the moving spots are coming down in price.

I think it's well worth it to watch some band vids and see how the use different colours, movement, eg phish (with the sound turned off).

Thanks for the informed reply, SBG! I always try to listen to Phish with the sound off

If you want to be able to leave the sound on - check out some Gov't Mule live shows.
Great light shows - and there are never spotlights focused on the band members - they are there strictly for ambience/atmosphere/effect.

Oh, meant to add, dmxis/showbuddy doesnt have a visualizer so you have to program with your lights set up, I believe there is some other software that do have this feature.

Cool topic.

I bet you EDM forums have people with lots of info on this topic too.

I bet they do, too. It's honestly a deep gear topic that I kind of want to be cool with just living on the surface of

There were some great threads on the old HC lighting forum.

Also, if there are any DJ equipment shows near you they're a good place to check out the latest lighting gear.

We have a christmas party tomorrow night. And found out very late in the game that it's a big room and we are going to need more than our usual system for sound and lighting. So it's been a bit of a scramble this week

We ordered some led pars, a controller and cabling. We set it up last night. The investment is pretty minimal but I am seriously impressed. I'll snap some pics this evening when we are setting everything up.

Here's what I got:



Also found this light we had years ago and got it working


The LED pars are 54 bulbs at 3w a piece. And are BRIGHT as F**K Set up a couple of scenes in a sort of poverty chase fashion. Programming is tricky but I can see myself digging it after I get more time with it. We are going to pick up some movers I think as well to mount up front and in back. Should be a nice little show for little money

Riiiigggghhhhht. Because when I think of JT, I think "this guy never goes down rabbit holes".

G*dd@mmit Itchy

^ Sorry man, I couldn't resist!

Good luck with the lighting rig, bud.

Easy target indeed

Set the rig up last night and tested it out. So far, so good. Still have a few fixtures to add down the road but pretty happy as it stands. We gig with it for the first time this evening so I will be able to see how it does. I have a slow chase, fast chase and a static scene set up. I am not going to want to keep switching back and forth so I am interested to see how I end up doing while trying to focus on guitar instead transitioning into lighting guy

How'd the gig go, JT? Did the lights melt faces or what?

"NO RETINAS LEFT UNSCATHED"


Went good. I had a few hiccups that the audience wouldn't have noticed but that had me scratching my head. I figured those things out at home the next day, so all is good. Our next show will be in January and by then; should be good to go

Cool man! I bet it adds to the professionalism for sure.

lol i cant even run my guitar rig let alone adding a lighting rig to the equation.