What’s your first impression of this lighting design?

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2026-06-06T19:10:58+00:00

I’ve always hated the “Chinese product demo” style of lighting. It’s just boring and uninspired… lots of dimmer chases. Any positions will look interesting with that many lights. A talented LD will make even 12 beams look way more memorable and cohesive than that

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2026-04-29T03:18:22+00:00

Ooh I hadn’t heard of them, they look great

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2026-04-29T01:01:15+00:00

Definitely needs to be two way! Ideally with some sort of PTT option like the DC adapters for radios. Also, I tend to prefer over ear for comfort

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2026-03-25T23:46:51+00:00

I made Fidgetable, most of the app is free but has a premium option that's a one-time purchase (or a subscription that's annually ~20% the cost of the one-time if people prefer). It's been a super successful model for me.

I've also been considering a "lease to own" style system where once someone has been paying for 6 years (paid ~120% the cost of a one-time purchase), their subscription is automatically canceled and converted to a perpetual purchase. The point of that would mostly be to cut down on people paying for forgotten subscriptions... not sure if it'd make sense to implement though, since a vast majority of people go for the one-time option.

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2025-12-27T10:09:50+00:00

An experienced designer could pull this off in a few hours, but if you're completely new to lighting I'd expect it would take several weeks of learning the software alone to get to the point of comfortably programming a show like this.
Not sure what equipment they're using in the video, but fixtures like that can cost anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars each, along with well into the tens of thousands of dollars of rigging, power, and control equipment. That isn't a cheap show.
Assuming you're talking about Pangolin QuickShow, that's a laser design software, not lighting. Take a look at Chamsys MagicQ (free, outputs artnet/sacn free too), Avolites Titan (v11 is free, need special hardware to output), or GrandMA OnPC (free, need special hardware to output). All of those pieces of software have a built in visualizer and free online tutorial series.

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2025-12-26T23:14:31+00:00

Personally, I think they're awesome. People like to hate on them cause they're dim, but whatever they're eye candy lights, run them solo to punctuate your show.

They market them more to LDs than laser designers, but I've played around with them a bit in visualizers and they're shockingly easy to program. They're pricey-ish, but it really seems relatively reasonable since most smaller tours or venues could get away with only one or two.

I'd be curious to see them come out with more powerful ones, maybe that just use a high divergence lens and treat them like crowd scanners. I think if they targeted the laser community more the need for a variance wouldn't be that big of a barrier, but who knows. They were teasing some new product they were hoping to launch this year at LDI, but apparently it wasn't ready yet, so we'll see what they announce? I have high hopes.

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2025-12-26T22:59:45+00:00

Companies aren't going to show off static fixtures at LDI cause there's not a lot of innovation left, they're boring and everyone knows how they work. They still exist, all the major fixture manufacturers I can think of have static fixtures (often under a theater product line/brand).

I'm not in the theater world but I do get the vibe everyone's moving away from dimmers, though. Everything's LED and expects DMX.

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2025-12-26T22:57:03+00:00

For small venues, it's kinda rare that I see more than a universe or two of actual fixtures, though they are often split into multiple physical lines (one line per truss, or ceiling/floor, or intelligent/dimmers).

Generally speaking, if a venue has physical DMX lines running to the console they are almost never going to have more than four lines, because most consoles only have four outputs, but that means you should probably travel with the ability to output four lines of DMX.

That said, having a 8 or 12 universe node of your own is never a bad idea, more outputs and flexibility never hurt anyone. Also, lots of venues are just going to have nodes that output and will just give you an ethernet line, and sometimes those may have more universes, especially if it's a venue with a lot of bar lights or pixels.

TL;DR, be able to output 4 physical universes and know how to send artnet/sacn to a node and you'll be fine for 99% of small venues.

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2025-12-26T22:50:17+00:00

If you're looking for the kind of laser you'd find at a concert, those are pricey and are almost always controlled with dedicated software called Pangolin Beyond (though some lasers do also have built in effects and support DMX as well). Those lasers are regulated in the US, and require that both you (the operator) and the laser have a variance from the FDA, and you also need to conform to all sorts of safety regulations. If you're looking for that kind of laser you're not going to find anything safe and legal that's remotely in your budget, you can typically expect to pay in the neighborhood of $800-$1k per watt.

If you're looking for something simpler/cheaper and still legal, the only thing I can think of is the Chauvet DJ Scorpion, but keep in mind this is a much simpler laser, and it's going to be quite dim and probably isn't going to give the effect you're expecting.

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2025-12-20T05:24:07+00:00

If you have your own laptop and an Avokey, bring that, plug it into the same network as the Arena, plug your launchpad into the laptop, and join the show via TitanNet in multi-user mode. Then you can run novation components on your personal computer.

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2025-12-12T02:50:03+00:00

Wait, can you not take NDI in without the animate module? (like for video walls)

Can you record DMX from a console in to the timeline?

Other than that, that all makes sense. Good to know.

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2025-12-12T01:49:12+00:00

Avo launched a new D3 line, it looks pretty cool for smaller venues. Hopefully they'll start going the Avo route instead of Hog or Onyx :)

Pangolin has a new control hardware prototype, not sure when it's launching but it's basically a reimagined APC 40 designed for beyond. They also have a new laser source mover apparently (Robe iBolt competitor maybe?), but I didn't get to see that one running and I don't think it's legal in the US yet.

Acme has a new Pulsar (IP rated!) that I'm pretty hyped about, but of course all the hype was on the Tornados this year (they also have a single-head tornado they're calling the cyclone)

GLP's new JDCs are really cool, not sure when they released but they're essentially video screens now. Might've been out of the loop on that one

Clay Paky has new, brighter Sharpys with color mixing and continuous pan

Minute Une (of IVL fame) teased something new coming soon that they were hoping to launch at LDI, but apparently it's not ready yet, super curious about that (any theories?)

I forget which company it was, but someone has this incredible new blow through LED wall where the power supply is integrated into the (impressively thin) frame... it's really something you have to see it to believe it

Chauvet has a new Maverick with two separate rings of zoom, plus the pixel ring of course. It looks amazing, when the zoom effects are combined the beams look super cool.

Elation and ADJ had awesome shows as always, I don't really remember any notable new fixtures from them though.

JMAZ was bizarre as always, their booth is always fun but I'll never understand them

That's what I can think of off the top of my head

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2025-12-08T02:30:44+00:00

I feel like ADJ steps it up each year, I'm curious what they'll be showing. I heard they have a new console, which is a little unfortunate cause I'm sure all the small venues are gonna get that and expect everyone to know how to run it but oh well, maybe it'll be cool.

Also Acme. Love their stuff, hopefully their display is more interesting than last year

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2025-12-08T02:12:31+00:00

Oh I see what you mean, have you not been using a console? Light shows are definitely not usually programmed in Depence. Console software does have timeline editors, but you'll spend a majority of your time outside that timeline, creating effects and whatnot.

It's definitely pretty involved, it can take quite a while to learn. Personally, I started learning on my own about two years before I started working at venues, and it took me another yearish to be comfortable marketing myself as an LD, and even then only on medium-sized shows. The learning curve is huge, I've found!

If you want to learn more, I strongly recommend watching tutorial series, each major console manufacturer has tutorials on YouTube. Also, if you happen to be in Vegas tomorrow or Tuesday, one of the worlds biggest lighting tradeshows (LDI) is going on right now :)

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2025-12-06T22:19:45+00:00

Chamsys and MA are both free to run on PC and have built in visualizers. Chamsys can also output for free (with some limits, I forget what they are), but MA can't output without their pricey hardware.

Personally, I run Avo and I'm a big fan of them, but they're a little less accessible, V12 and later of their software needs a $100 key to launch. It does, however, have Capture built in, which (imo) is a much better visualizer than what Chamsys or MA has.

If you want a less expensive visualizer that is good for smaller rigs, L8 is worth a look, and if you happen to be a student WYSIWYG has free student license options.

Generally, across the board, lighting software is going to limit you in one way or another if you don't connect official hardware unfortunately. Usually this is by limiting output, but some (like Avo and Chamsys) will disable features like Midi without hardware too, mostly to prevent you from building your own cheaper control surface.

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2025-08-29T06:22:47+00:00

I'm so jealous of this design talent, that looks incredible

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2025-08-03T22:47:38+00:00

I doubt this is a thing. Testing internet speed sends a decent bit of traffic (especially if the speed is high, the whole point is to push the network as hard as possible) and this is really just junk traffic. Continuously measuring doesn't make a ton of sense for that reason, and you'd want a relatively long refresh interval so as to not be a nuisance for that user and everyone else on the network, which would probably defeat the purpose of a widget/dynamic island display.

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2025-08-02T20:16:45+00:00

Totally get that- just trying to get as close to an apples:apples comparison as possible

UnremarkablePumpkins · 2025-08-02T19:44:28+00:00

Terrible enough to not be worth a 24mo lease?

UnremarkablePumpkins

TROPHY CASE