PAD Mode to control Lights with RB-DMX1

1) All of them; some via the MIDI editor, some via the PAD editor.

2) Again, all of them, but it depends on the unit. The DDJ-1000, DDJ-XP1, DDJ-RZ, and DDJ-RZX are the only units capable of using the PAD editor. For the rest of them, pick a pad mode you no longer wish to use (eg. the sampler or pitch shift), then remove those functions in the MIDI editor and add commands for the lighting controls.

Let me know if you need further instruction.

crystal clear, thanks !

follow-up question: can I switch back and forth during a set between using the controller's pads to issue light commands (RED, BLUE, etc..) and using a song's assigned scenes

the motivating scenario: there is no way I will be able to define light scenes for all the songs in the library, especially if I want to use the macro-editor to create scenes perfectly adapted to each song. So the way I see my DJ set is, I will use the controller's PADs to use simple static Light scenes for the songs for which I have not yet created well-adapted scenes (i.e. most songs, especially in the beginning), and for the other songs I will use the more sophisticated scenes I have created especially for them. but then I need to be able to smoothly switch between both modes of operation, without discontinuity. Is that possible..?

thanks 

Yes; the overrides are:

If you had used the RED override, it would stay red, doing all the other motions of that macro, until you toggle it off. You can even toggle the energy level (HIGH / MID / LOW).

Plus, you can always manually right-click on a phrase macro icon to change it permanently on-the-fly:

Understood, thank you very much. I tested everything you said, it works fine.

I expected / hoped however for something different concerning the actual meaning of the override, I expected a full override, i.e. with the RED override that all lights would turn to a continuous red; instead what happens is that all colors are converted to red, but still following the on / off / intensity variations / strobe of the current scene in the song.

Which means I cannot avoid having to go in to every single song and get the scenes and the phrases right, which is exactly what I wanted to avoid having to do all at once before using the Lighting mode in a gig.

Am I correct ?

The only true override mode is the All Off mode.

If I understand you correctly, you want to have some kind of "manual preset" for all the lights to just do a static scene, is that right?

Yes Pulse, that's right. To be able, by pressing one pad and have all lights become red (static), or blue or green, ..., until I press it again and it goes back to the song's preset scenes. More generally, have the same feature but not necessarily with a static scene, it could be dynamic, but the scene does not change (for several songs for example) until I press it again. In this way you don't care if some songs are not well adjusted for lights, you can play them anyway with a single scene, until you reach a song which has been carefully adjusted.

There might be a way to do that with the existing software. For example program all "cool" modes (high, mid, low) to be that same scene. Then when you hit cool, that scene comes up, since it is the same for all three categories (high, mid and low). I will try. But a more direct way to do it (using less pads) would be great.

Another thing I am missing (I don't think it can be done with the current software - but I could be wrong): a MASTER intensity knob. It is a must. The intensity needs to be adjusted at a Master level, not just in the scenes: the scenes should just contain the relative intensity info (from 0 to 255), while the Master should address the need for absolute control of the intensity (one venue may require less intensity than another, and you don't want to have to adjust all your scenes each time you go to a different venue). As in an advanced DMX controller (Starway has it in its 24 and 48 channel versions).

Actually, basic manual control of the lights as with any dmx controller would be fantastic if integrated in the software: at least the three RGB components, for the six basic types of lights that you have (the Simple Series: Par Light 1 and 2, Bar Light 1 and 2, Moving Head 1 and 2). But now we are getting into new features, this is probably not the place for it.

Anyway I am very excited about your product, I have been dreaming for a long time of a way to control lights directly from the DJ controller, and also program "scene shows" for select songs for special DJ sets !

The master dimmer is also on the request list from day one -- something I asked for myself as well!

Manual control is something that will possibly be further down the road behind static scenes. Think of this as "I want to have all my uplights stay a static colour during cocktail and dinner music but then become responsive to my music when dancing starts."

You're right - the colour overrides currently don't change any of the dimming or strobing, they just set all the fixtures to the same colour. To have a preset where you force everything to be on / same colour (and as a work-around to the lack of static scenes right now), my process is to create new custom macros that do just that -- say, for example, all of my pars only to red; no fades, nothing. Then I take a song, import / analyse the phrase, then manually edit the phrases within the lighting editor to assign my custom macros to portions of the track. I also add hot loops to the track for ease of calling up the lighting cues. Finally, I open that audio track in an audio editor and wipe out all the audio. You can't (unfortunately) build a phrase analysis for a track without audio, so it has to be done after.

Here's what that looks like:

Then I can just put that into deck 1 or 2, then play music off decks 3 & 4 and there won't be any lighting changes while my "loops" are running.

Great, looking forward to the static scenes and Master dimmer then :)

Clever workaround for the static scenes, thanks ! I will try it. Now this brings up the issue of which deck has priority for light control when several are playing at the same time.

If you put your static scene audio into deck 1 or 2 as you suggest, and play music off desks 3 & 4, I assume you start playing the static scene audio BEFORE the music off desks 3 & 4, so that it has priority for the lighting, right? Then when you want to change to the scenes from the songs in desks 3 & 4, what do you need to do? And then when you want to go back to the static scenes, what do you need to do? (I will try that later tonight to try to get some answers as well).

Thanks :)

I did some tests, and here are my conclusions, could you please confirm?

1. Light control of the RB-DMX1 only works from decks 1 and 2. no light control from decks 3 and 4 (the scene thumbnails actually don't appear for decks 3 and 4)

2. Between decks 1 and 2, light control is assigned to the deck for which the channel fader position is highest

So if I understand things correctly, the workaround you suggest works great if you want static lights throughout (the static song is in deck 1 at max channel fader position, and you can play whatever you want in decks 2, 3 and 4, but with no light scenes coming from decks 3 or 4, and light scenes coming from deck 2 only is you lower even slightly deck2's channel fader position).

Then when you want to change from static lights to a song's scenes, the song needs to be in deck 2 (assuming the static song is in deck 1), and you just need to slightly lower the deck 1 channel fader to give light control to deck 2 (at max position for channel fader). The next song needs to be in deck 1, then 2, etc... for the lights to be controlled from the songs. When you want to switch back to static, you need to put back your static song in deck 1, and then start playing the actual music in decks 2, 3 or 4.

Correct; lighting currently only works for decks 1 & 2, which is why I suggested using the static scene on deck 1/2 and playing the music you don't want music from on deck 3/4.

And yes, the fader position is correct as that also handles the "Master" deck assignment.

Thanks a lot Pulse for the feedback.

Also related to PAD control, I checked the ability to (temporarily, not permanently) change mood (HIGH, MID, LOW) during a song, it works well. We can't yet do it permanently, but this is in the works it seems.

Yeah, that's on the books for a future update.

I have the DDJ-1000 controller and I don’t have the PAD configuration on the UI. Just MIDI. Is this where I set up the lighting controls as you mentioned up above? Can I use the same instructions in the manual for a MIDI setup? Thanks in advance.

@Victor > With the DDJ-1000 connected, you should see a PAD link at the top right of the rekordbox window next to the MIDI button.

@Pulse > You wrote "the DDJ-1000, DDJ-XP1, DDJ-RZ, and DDJ-RZX are the only units capable of using the PAD editor."

I can't see a PAD link at the top right of the rekordbox window next to the MIDI button using my DDJ-RZX...

How can I use the PAD editor mode ?

Thanks !

Sorry, it may be my mistake that the RZX does not have access to the PAD EDITOR. I don't have one here and thought it did.

I like this work around for static lights. Is there a way to have the automix work off of decks other than 1 and 2? Typically the time I need static lights are the same time I use automix.

@Timothy > Sorry, but only decks 1 & 2 are supported for lighting; if you want to play a static scene, as noted above, I recommend setting up a custom audio track with custom lighting scenes, put that on deck 1 -- and you can even PAUSE the track for it to stay in that lighting scene, then play the music on decks 3/4.

Just following up on a request in this thread.

Is the Master dimmer feature available now? Or is it still on the request list?

Thanks!

How do I map the midi editor so my hot cues controls a black out effect?

I tried creating a blackout effect but there are no decks available to choose from.

@Nathan > If you're using the MIDI Editor, there is no deck assignment required; simply add the BLACKOUT item, then click the LEARN button and press the pad you want to use.

@pioneerdj 

I did that and it didn't assign anything when I clicked midi learn and clicked the button I wanted to use.