Hi friends. Id like to know your suggestion on what equipment should i get.
Im using pololu and vsa brookshire to control servos and audio.
Now i want to add lights and fog. I have some professional dmx lights but im not sure what equipment should I purchase to connect the lights either to the laptop (vsa brookshire software) or to the pololu card.
Id like to purchase those equipment here if possible, so i can get the exact one that i was told. Im not sure if i need a dmx controller or a relay or dimmer.
Note. Im using already all the usb outputs of my laptop, so please let me know how to connect any new equipment to the laptop. Thanks for your time.
Arturo
Gosh, I hate replying before the Pololu folk do because I don’t want to delay the arrival of expert help, but there are a couple easy ones here. If you don’t have enough USB ports, the answer is buying a USB hub. These are also sometimes built into other USB connected devices (like docking stations for laptops or even monitors) so if you need any other kind of device, you might want to look into something like that and address both issues at once.
I’m not familiar with Brookshire but looked at their website and it appears that it is DMX controller software (among other things) and you can just use one of those inexpensive Entec DMX USB dongles and get DMX output. I’ve used the absolute cheapest one with QLC+ and it worked fine for the show I worked on. All the DMX controlled lighting fixtures I’ve used do their own dimming, so without looking at their manuals I would guess that yours do the same, so no additional relays or dimmers required.
Finally, I’m pretty sure it would help if you let us know which Pololu card you are using and which DMX devices you wish to control. There are a lot of different ones and they aren’t all the same.
None of our products support DMX signals directly. However, as jlo mentioned, the Brookshire VSA software does work with DMX devices as well as our Maestro controllers, so you should be able to use them both, and if you need additional USB ports, some kind of powered USB hub is a good option. If you are unsure how your DMX devices work, you might consider contacting the manufacturer to see if they can clarify.
Thanks so much. That will save me money and time. Im using the pololu 24 channel and the vsa brookshire software. I use it for servos and audio, but im stuck with the lights part. I use all kind of lights, some moving heads, some strobes, some led cans etc. I’ll check out the dmx you suggested. Ill keep in touch. Thanks again.
Arturo
