Art-Net Recorder The Smartest DMX Record & Playback Solution Out There!

Powerful & Future Proof

Lightjams Recorder isn't your typical DMX recorder. It supports recording up to 512 DMX universes (that's 262144 channels) perfectly in sync, with the best file compression in the industry. For the playback, use Lightjams or any software able to map video to DMX, with many triggering options like MIDI, OSC, DMX, schedules and more.

Download:   Windows 64-bit / Windows 32-bit

ArtNET DMX recorder player

 

Up to 512 DMX universes: With that many universes, you can record the output of a very big show without worrying about the universe count.

Future proof file format: That's the special sauce: DMX data is stored inside a standard lossless video file. That means it's instantly compatible with all DMX software able to play video files.

Exceptional file compression: The great lossless H.264 codec is used to compress the DMX data. It compresses each frame and also does inter-frame compression for optimal results.

 

Unlimited recording time: The recording time is only limited by your hard drive capacity.

ArtSync support: When recording multiple universes, ArtSync is handy to make sure whole frames are captured. The console sending Art-Net also needs to support ArtSync.

Automatic loop detection: Tired of having to try multiple times to get a perfect loop? The recording can stop right when a loop is detected.

Walkthrough

1. Start Recording

ArtNET DMX recorder playback configuration

Select the port (default for Art-Net is 6454) and the network adapter you want to use to capture Art-Net.

First universe  the first DMX universe number to record.

Count  the number of DMX universes to record (max 512).

FPS  the number of frames per second for the recording, which can be different than the FPS coming from the source.

The DMX monitor at the top shows the raw DMX channels being captured in real-time. The FPS of the monitor tells you how many complete DMX frames the source is sending per second.

2. Record!

ArtNET DMX recorder while recording multiple DMX universes

Click the record button or press alt+R to start the recording. If the source isn't sending DMX yet, the recording will automatically start when receiving DMX.

Click the stop button or press alt+S to stop the recording. You can also tell the app to automatically stop once a loop has been detected by activating the Detect loop option.

3. Save & Compress

ArtNET DMX recorder saving and compressing DMX

Click the save button and select the desired compression level. "Ultrafast" is the lowest compression level but requires less time to compress and less CPU to playback. "Veryslow" is the best compression level but takes longer to compress and a bit more CPU to playback.

In the save dialog, select the video format that suits the software you'll use for the playback. MP4 is recommended but AVI files should play everywhere.

4. Edit (Optional)

Since the recorded file is a standard video, you can use any video editor software (i.e. Apple Final Cut Pro, iMovie, Adobe Premiere, etc.) to trim or remove parts of the video. Just make sure to save it back in a lossless format since DMX data needs to be exact.

5. Playback

ArtNET DMX recorder using ELM as the player

Lightjams and Enttec LED Mapper (ELM) are two recommended software for the playback. You can also use any 3rd party software able to map video to DMX. Lightjams can playback up to 64 Art-Net universes and supports many types of interactive triggers (MIDI, OSC, DMX, music, etc.). ELM supports up to 2048 Art-Net universes and has a very nice scheduler which is perfect for standalone installations.

The recorded video contains one line per DMX universe, where each pixel represents one DMX channel (0-255). So you get frames of 512 pixels X the number of universes. In Lightjams or ELM, you patch each pixel as a dimmer or white LED. In other words, you patch 512 dimmers side-by-side to represent one universe, starting at the top-left corner.

Here are a few Lightjams project files for different number of universes. First, install the LAVFilters video codecs. To load the recorder output file in Lightjams, go in the view/media menu and browse for the video file in the first media slot.

1 universe, 2 universes, 4 universes, 8 universes, 16 universes, 32 universes, 64 universes

Here are a few ELM project files for different number of universes. To load the recorder output file in ELM, go in the media tab and browse for the video file in the first media slot.

8 universes, 16 universes, 32 universes, 64 universes, 128 universes, 256 universes, 512 universes

Idea box

Rent a costly console like a grandMA2 or Hog, program for a day or two, record the DMX output and use Lightjams for the playback with a low cost computer. Create cues with any DMX software and use Lightjams' interactive triggering options (MIDI, OSC, DMX, music, etc.) for the playback. Record your favorite Lightjams interactive performances (for example, while playing the drums) and playback these loops whenever you want. With Lightjams or the Enttec LED Mapper, you can configure the playback to output sACN E1.31, KiNet or via a USB to DMX interface.

What's next? Try Lightjams for free!

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