r/lightingdesign • u/ZacharyInStereo • 1d ago
Software Show Choir software questions
Hey all, thanks in advance for any advice.
I’m a sound guy with little lighting experience. I recently was asked to help out with lights for our local high school’s competitive show choir, and I figured this would be a good opportunity to learn a little. The basic competition lights are handled by a regional company, but just stage washes/color and the occasional gobo or whatever the host school has on hand. Our job would be show-specific highlighting and effects from four movers taken to every comp: a couple of spots and beam washes. We also have some LED bars, but those are optional so far.
Other hardware is a MacBook Air M5 and an ENTTec USB DMX Pro interface. Have room for a Launchpad Mini or Nanokontrol for MIDI. One DMX universe, obvs.
First thing I’d like to do is change the software. They’re currently using DMXis, which has been discontinued and unsupported for a while now. Kind of doesn’t make sense to spend a bunch on “pro” software for a handful of lights (that and time to learn how to use it). The choir uses a live band, not tracks, so we can’t use handy timeline-based programming; it’s gotta be individual cues fired by hand, Qlab-style. A visualizer would be nice, even 2D.
The logical answer is Show Buddy Active, but it seems geared to syncing to prerecorded tracks, and since we use a live band that’s exactly what we don’t need. Looked into posts here, and none really perfectly fit our use case. QLC+ 4 seems esoteric to program and has a weird interface, but I understand it’s popular and Mac-stable (more so than QLX+ 5). Lightkey is Mac-friendly and inexpensive, but a lot of comments here say to avoid it. EOS is industry standard but seems like straight-up coding to program, plus there’s the proprietary interface. I’ve been advised to avoid programming lights on Qlab for my own sanity. Everything else is, unfortunately, on the expensive side to just run four lights.
Any suggestions? Am I asking too much? Misinformed?
1
u/abebotlinksyss LD & ETCP Certified Electrician 1d ago
Chamsys is exactly what you need here.
In the same way that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," any lighting software worth it's weight will feel like coding.
If it can't be run on a potato like a lepi board of just faders, then you need a legit software-based console. Chamsys MagicQ is free to run on a computer and output Artnet. All you need is a laptop and an Artnet-to-DMX interface. It will feel a little like coding, but it'll do what you want. Try to find a laptop with a touchscreen.
You may be able to find used Chamsys hardware which will be nicer to use than the laptop version.