Conductor Beta Finishes

[Dennis Cherry]

The current firmware is PixelNet only. The DMX firmware has not been created. I wanted to get a final firmware for the conductor and slave before modifing it to be DMX.

The Slave firmware will be next, then the DMX firmware for both. All runs on the same hardware.

RJ

Thanks for clearing that up for me so i don't blindly join the coop without unknowingly not being able to use it.
Depending on the price I may go ahead and get on the coop with the hopes of the DMX firmware being released before this season.
Thanks for all the hard work to you and all of our beta testers for putting up with all our ranting about it being released

Todd

+1

[twooly]

Do you have any documentation on how to communicate to it?  I can possibly write an iPhone app for this.

[deweycooter]

The current firmware is PixelNet only. The DMX firmware has not been created. I wanted to get a final firmware for the conductor and slave before modifing it to be DMX.

The Slave firmware will be next, then the DMX firmware for both. All runs on the same hardware.

RJ

Thanks for clearing that up for me so i don't blindly join the coop without unknowingly not being able to use it.
Depending on the price I may go ahead and get on the coop with the hopes of the DMX firmware being released before this season.
Thanks for all the hard work to you and all of our beta testers for putting up with all our ranting about it being released

Todd

Just to be clear - if you have an You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, you can get a DMX universe out of a pixelnet stream.  I hope I understand this correctly...?

[rrowan]

Just to be clear - if you have an You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, you can get a DMX universe out of a pixelnet stream.  I hope I understand this correctly...?

Yes

[bisquit476]

The large header on the right side of the board (opposite of the rj-45 connector)
Yes inside the case

Thank you for the info Rick, I was hoping that was going to be the case(no pun intended).

[travailen]

Thanks RJ for all your hard work. And thanks to the beta testers too.

This is exciting news because last year we ran 5 yards with DMX connected wirelessly. We had hoped to do 5 yards this year with pixelnet added but, pixelnet is not (yet) wireless. Even if there was a slave I would have a problem because I need wireless communication between the yards. So, could I run 5 conductors, one for each yard, and start them all at the same time using a single DMX channel from a wireless Lynx Express for each conductor? All the yards have some DMX requirements so the LEs are already in place.
I am thinking that 6 conductors would be required since one conductor would be needed to generate the DMX start signal  to the 5 other conductors and not do much else.

Any thought or opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Rick S

[taybrynn]

Just to clarify, if someone already has say (4) Smart String Hubs ... and say each one is assigned a different pixelnet universe (4096 channels) ... and this conductor (an ED daughter board) outputs to the attached etherdongle (ED) ... and the Etherdongle then say connects to each of the 4 SS Hubs (pixelnet) ... you really already have the potential for (4) DMX universes on the SS Hub DMX OUT ports (1 DMX universe per SS Hub used)  ... so you would just be converting them from pixelnet back into DMX at the SS Hub.

To me, making the conductor have DMX firmware seems like its got its place, but its a much more limited use because then your limited to DMX only and maybe just running a more conventional show with less RGB and no pixelnet, smart strings, right?

It seems that the way its going to work now, you get the maximum capability and the most flexibility, but you need to be able to get your sequences into the required sequence format for the conductor and onto a memory card first.  And last I heard, that format was .xseq that xlights can converts into, correct?

[dcwehw99]

Just to clarify, if someone already has say (4) Smart String Hubs ... and say each one is assigned a different pixelnet universe (4096 channels) ... and this conductor (an ED daughter board) outputs to the attached etherdongle (ED) ... and the Etherdongle then say connects to each of the 4 SS Hubs (pixelnet) ... you really already have the potential for (4) DMX universes on the SS Hub DMX OUT ports (1 DMX universe per SS Hub used)  ... so you would just be converting them from pixelnet back into DMX at the SS Hub.

Yes, you are correct with an active SS Hub.

To me, making the conductor have DMX firmware seems like its got its place, but its a much more limited use because then your limited to DMX only and maybe just running a more conventional show with less RGB and no pixelnet, smart strings, right?

Yes, the DMX firmware to come later would be for a show without PixelNet.

It seems that the way its going to work now, you get the maximum capability and the most flexibility, but you need to be able to get your sequences into the required sequence format for the conductor and onto a memory card first.  And last I heard, that format was .xseq that xlights can converts into, correct?

Yes, you get the most flexibility with PixelNet.  You use Xlights to convert to the Conductor format which is filename.SEQ, i.e. the file type is .SEQ.

Denny

[keitha43]

Or if you are using LSP you can export into .SEQ. With LSP you choose what controllers you want exported and where to begin and end the song with a slider. I wish there was an "All" checkbox on the controller choices and the slider seems like an extra step because I can't think of why anyone would only export a piece of the sequence.

[RJ]

Thanks RJ for all your hard work. And thanks to the beta testers too.

This is exciting news because last year we ran 5 yards with DMX connected wirelessly. We had hoped to do 5 yards this year with pixelnet added but, pixelnet is not (yet) wireless. Even if there was a slave I would have a problem because I need wireless communication between the yards. So, could I run 5 conductors, one for each yard, and start them all at the same time using a single DMX channel from a wireless Lynx Express for each conductor? All the yards have some DMX requirements so the LEs are already in place.
I am thinking that 6 conductors would be required since one conductor would be needed to generate the DMX start signal  to the 5 other conductors and not do much else.

Any thought or opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Rick S

You run the Conductor and Slaves wirelessly so that is not a problem. this is in fact the purpose for sending syncing packets and not the show data. It takes very little bandwidth and does not require a perfect wireless network to work well. It has built in fault tolerence if a sync packet or two or three are missed.

RJ

[travailen]

Thanks RJ for all your hard work. And thanks to the beta testers too.

This is exciting news because last year we ran 5 yards with DMX connected wirelessly. We had hoped to do 5 yards this year with pixelnet added but, pixelnet is not (yet) wireless. Even if there was a slave I would have a problem because I need wireless communication between the yards. So, could I run 5 conductors, one for each yard, and start them all at the same time using a single DMX channel from a wireless Lynx Express for each conductor? All the yards have some DMX requirements so the LEs are already in place.
I am thinking that 6 conductors would be required since one conductor would be needed to generate the DMX start signal  to the 5 other conductors and not do much else.

Any thought or opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Rick S

You run the Conductor and Slaves wirelessly so that is not a problem. this is in fact the purpose for sending syncing packets and not the show data. It takes very little bandwidth and does not require a perfect wireless network to work well. It has built in fault tolerence if a sync packet or two or three are missed.

RJ

So I could use the V1 or V2 TX/RX stuff for communications? IE, Conductor to first hub, then hub to wireless TX then wireless RX into each Slave?



Thanks,

Rick S

[mykroft]

EtD requires ethernet, so you will need wireless compatable with ethernet......

[animal]

Congratulations RJ. I know you've been working on this for awhile,and now to get it to this point of release must be a great relief and resolution. I, as do many, if not all appreciate the hard work from you and the beta testers.

                                                                  Thank you for all that you do,
                                 animal   

[RJ]

So I could use the V1 or V2 TX/RX stuff for communications? IE, Conductor to first hub, then hub to wireless TX then wireless RX into each Slave?
Thanks,
Rick S

No the Wireless DMX will not work with this. You plug little $35 -$50 Ethernet Wireless units into them and they use Wifi to communicate to each other. It also allows you to control the conductor from you android phone if you want.

RJ

[deplanche]

No the Wireless DMX will not work with this. You plug little $35 -$50 Ethernet Wireless units into them and they use Wifi to communicate to each other. It also allows you to control the conductor from you android phone if you want.

RJ

Are the Ethernet Wireless units something you designed and there will be a coop for, or something generic that we get from a store?