picker Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 Just managed to pick up some LED lights that will work with a DMX controller. They have XLR ins & outs on the back. Can regular mic cables be used with them, or is there a difference in the cables you have to use? Quote Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Fraser Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 I should know that one, having spent my adult life married to a lighting designer, but I don't. But, I thought DMX used 4 pin XLRs, am I mistaken on that? I'm spending the next week on a big ballet production in San Francisco, so I'll check with the company's LD. Quote Scott Fraser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picker Posted September 30, 2018 Author Share Posted September 30, 2018 Looks like three pin to me. Quote Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Fraser Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 They explained that pro theater systems use 4 & 5 pin XLR connectors (but only wired to 3 of those pins) while a 3 pin DMX is probably more of a DJ/club kind of system, & they said theoretically it should be a low capacitance RF shielded high bandwidth cable, i.e. suitable for AES digital audio, or other video bandwidth type signals, BUT everybody substitutes mic cables & it works, but isn't spec'ed for that kind of cable. So, I'd go ahead & use your existing mic cables until you experience a problem, probably never. I'm sure a dedicated DMX cable is more expensive. Quote Scott Fraser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Fraser Posted October 5, 2018 Share Posted October 5, 2018 Having said that, & noticing this theatre (Yerba Buena Center) is using 4 pin XLRs in their lighting rig, after the show tonight I saw a small box backstage labeled as a DMX converter, with a 3 pin XLR input & a 3 pin XLR output on it. Just to confuse things. Quote Scott Fraser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d halfnote Posted October 6, 2018 Share Posted October 6, 2018 Is this a worthwhile contribution ? http://dmxusb.com/what-is-dmx/ & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMX512 & https://www.churchstagedesignideas.com/dmx-vs-xlr-cables/ Quote d=halfnote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picker Posted October 6, 2018 Author Share Posted October 6, 2018 The guy at Sweetwater told me mic & DMX cables are different, and not interchangeable. I picked some up used, and it took some fiddling around with programming settings to get my controller to see the fixtures, but I finally got it to work. It only seems to work in 3 channel mode, and the lights have a 7 channel mode, so it would seem there is more to learn about them. Thanx for all the asking around y'all did. Quote Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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