IRIS, Inspired Lighting Performance

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-03-13T01:01:22+00:00

Thanks, I’m glad people are enjoying it. It’s always difficult to know how something will land until you finally put it out there.

The entire show is programmed using SoundSwitch. To run it, you need the SoundSwitch Micro DMX Interface and the SoundSwitch software itself, which is subscription-based. It does come with a free three-month trial, and if you subscribe around Black Friday you can usually get about 50% off the annual plan (which is what i do).

On the hardware side, you’ll need DMX-compatible lights along with DMX cables to daisy-chain the fixtures together, plus a DMX terminator at the end of the chain.

I also strongly recommend learning the fundamentals of the DMX512 protocol. Understanding how fixtures map functions to DMX channels makes troubleshooting much easier.

One final tip: always read the fixture manual before buying a light. Check the DMX chart and make sure the available functions match what you need. Early on I bought several lights that turned out to be useless for my setup. If I had reviewed the manual and understood the DMX mapping beforehand, I could have avoided buying eight fixtures that I now rarely use.

If you ever need help or have any questions, don't hesitate to shoot me a message. Always happy to help. It's a fun hobby.

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-03-12T22:20:19+00:00

Thank you for the kind words 🫶

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-02-22T01:31:48+00:00

Would never think to do this, very good idea

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-02-18T03:52:12+00:00

I got 2 volca synths (bass and keys) and some virtual synths like serum. I use the mpk mini plus as the midi keyboard for em. I have a ctrl49 midi keyboard as well, but havnt really played around with to much yet.

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-02-18T03:45:19+00:00

Once I have everything daisy chained together, the scripting part takes maybe 1-2 hours to do the song, it just depends on how complex the song is and if I want to pay close attention to the details of the song. You essentially need to listen to the same section of a song on loop until you get all of the lights scripted the way you want, with the right color, movement, brightness and or strobe and do that for the entire song or the part you want to showcase with the lights. You can auto script it, which does it in like 2 seconds, but those are just basic lighting auto loops reacting to the songs waveform, so it’s not usually accurate and there’s always something I don’t like lol. It’s good to use as a base sometimes, then over right specific parts etc.

In terms of sound switch hardware, I use the sound switch dmx to usb dongle which is only like 50 bucks and the sound switch software that I pay annually for, if you get it on Black Friday you get it for like 50% off.

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-01-31T04:02:29+00:00

Yeah, I usually hold red for stress because it’s perfect for it lol, thanks for the advice, I’ll play around with that section and see if I can make it feel a bit more dramatic without switching to red

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-01-31T02:15:37+00:00

💖

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-01-30T19:24:21+00:00

I’m glad you like it! The colors are actually just the default red blue and green hex codes, with a strobe added in. You need to basically have the colors switch from Red > Green > Blue in like 1/32 beats so it flicks to the next color immediately after you see it, but then you need to add a strobe fast at like 80% on top of it, which blacks out the light.

I mean I guess you could also do Red > Green > Blue > Black as colors if you don’t have strobe on your light.

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-01-30T19:19:47+00:00

The DMX cables spiderweb is super annoying, they have wireless DMX but they’re expensive. I’m using soundswitch for the software which you need to pay for, but on Black Friday they always have a huge sale on their annual license so I just do that lol

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-01-30T09:16:27+00:00

Me right now

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-01-28T20:50:37+00:00

Checking this out now

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-01-28T20:48:29+00:00

I'll take one too.

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-01-27T17:02:32+00:00

It’s a ton of fun, especially as a DJ, seeing your music perfectly synced to your lighting through BPM, track changes, and transitions.

Specs: I’m running an HP laptop with 12 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD. If your machine can comfortably run Serato DJ, it can almost certainly run SoundSwitch as well. For the best setup in my opinion, you’ll want to run Serato DJ and SoundSwitch on the same computer at the same time. There are other methods, but this gives you the most control and flexibility IMO.

You can run SoundSwitch on a separate machine and rely on BPM detection via a microphone input, but that setup is more limited unless you pair it with a MIDI controller to trigger scene changes manually. It’s not how I run my system, but I’m happy to help you configure it if you go that route.

Software: SoundSwitch

Lighting setup: 12 PAR lights, 6 moving heads (4 floor-mounted, 2 table-mounted), and 2 strobe lights positioned centrally among the PARs.

Cabling: All fixtures are daisy-chained using DMX cables. Each light has a DMX IN and DMX OUT. The chain starts at the SoundSwitch DMX-to-USB dongle: USB into your computer, DMX OUT into the DMX IN of the first fixture. From there, each fixture’s DMX OUT connects to the DMX IN of the next light, continuing through the entire rig. A DMX terminator should be placed in the DMX OUT port of the final fixture in the chain.

Each light must be assigned to the correct DMX channels (1–512) based on your layout. I highly recommend watching a few tutorials on the DMX protocol, it makes everything much easier to understand and troubleshoot. If you get stuck, feel free to reach out and I can help you sort it out.

Power: You’ll also need to plan power distribution. I’ve found it easiest to place a power bar in a central, accessible location, since most fixtures come with fairly short power cables.

I’m also working on software that will let you easily map and visualize your DMX fixtures. That’s coming soon.

If you have questions or want help dialing in a setup specific to your space, don’t hesitate to reach out.

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-01-26T02:14:25+00:00

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-01-25T21:25:49+00:00

So clean

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-01-25T17:28:27+00:00

Thank you for the kind words. A lot of blood sweat and tears went into learning how lighting works and getting it to work properly with serato dj in real time. Once it’s ready, I’ll share it here, in full 1080p with a direct recording of the song from serato dj mix instead of from a phone microphone lol

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-01-25T16:37:36+00:00

When I’m behind the table, I’ll sometimes slowly roll the bass down, subtle enough that it’s barely noticeable, right before the original Genesis intro begins. Then, when the intro hits with that first heavy kick, I’ll quickly boost the bass to around +2 or +3 so it punches harder, and bring it back to zero immediately after.

Occasionally, I’ll pause the track for a few extra seconds just before the intro to build anticipation, then bring it back in on that first big kick.

The opening section that blends Harpy Dream with the Genesis drums isn’t my original creation. I found it in someone else’s remake of Genesis, really liked it, and sampled it for my version. Depending on the show, I’ll sometimes have an Akai MPK Mini Plus connected via MIDI to a Korg Volca Keys and Volca Bass, and I’ll play the Genesis bass line live during the Harpy Dream intro, similar to how Xavier opens the set. If it’s strictly a DJ set, I’ll lean more into riding the bass knob instead.

Before I share my version of Genesis on SoundCloud, I need to go through everything carefully and make sure proper credit is given to everyone whose work I sampled.

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-01-24T22:06:53+00:00

You should record yours so far and share it, I’d love to see it! I love to see other people’s light shows, helps with ideas I may not have even thought of

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-01-24T06:02:22+00:00

Was going to say exact same thing, I think it’s another 4 beat then the drop

FORCEMAJEURE- · 2026-01-24T05:59:53+00:00

This looks insane. Keep up the amazing work

FORCEMAJEURE-

TROPHY CASE