DMX and ILDA Lighting Control

This area of our site seems quite popular, so we've expanded it to include more technical information about how we use Max/MSP/Jitter and DMX lighting.

Cuttlefish Digital Arts not only uses Max/MSP/Jitter to control sound and video, but to also control lighting in live-shows and installations. We use the low-cost Enttec DMX USB Pro controller to connect a Macintosh to the lighting system and the dmxusbpro Max object. An alternative to this would be the more-sophisticated (but more expensive) LanBox DMX controllers.

Cuttlefish's DMX Setup

When doing larger live shows or long-running gallery installations it can be better to hire your DMX lights and related gear. However, it's also good to have some of your own for experimenting with in the studio. Sean Clark describes what we use at the moment (example Max/MSP patches are supplied where appropriate):

ILDA Laser Control

I love the light given off by lasers. It has a purity to it that means the audience can't help but notice it and, if used sensibly, can be really effective in an installation. I have a low-cost red-green-yellow 160mW laser with DMX and ILDA control, plus a 60mW red and a 40mW green DMX laser.

ILDA is the exciting bit. It is a protocol that lets you control every aspect of the laser beam via a hardware "DAC" and computer software. In my studio I have a Moncha DAC with the Moncha software, again low-cost, but still impressive. The same company also produces a high-end system called Fiesta.

My ultimate aim is to be able to control an ILDA laser using Max/MSP/Jitter so that I can integrate it in to my other audiovisual systems. I'm still investigating ways of achieving this.

A word of warning. Lasers are dangerous. I use a fairly low power scanning system in the studio (with a constantly moving beam of less than 160mW). When I use it in my public artworks I always make sure that the beam can't be viewed directly. If was I ever need anything more powerful I would almost certainly hire it together with safety gear.