Hi everyone,
I am a little new at this and am gong to try, so lets see if it works. I have some lights that I just bought, that I need to learn how to opperate. I have 2 TrackSpots and 2 Martin RoboColor Pro 400's. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to run DMX 512 controlled lighting.

Thanks,
Rick Smith Jr.

Martin makes individual controllers for the type of fixtures you own. They are rather old, but not unusable by any means. Contact them at their website or phone them direct. They will be pricey new, so try 4Wall entertainment in Las Vegas. Their website is USEDLIGHTING.COM. They generally have a supply of older equipment and controllers and are very good. Talk to Mike Mancuso or Bill Taracho. They are excellent and I deal with them regularly. Now if you find a controller that is XLR based but own a DMX fixture, you can purchase an adapter that will transform the signal. Some of the older Martin Roboscans are this way.

Our entire system is DMX ! Down to the foggers and Hazers - it is all controlled by one guy.
We are up to 42 fixtures in the large show - if anyone wants ot explore this further, I would be more than happy to help out.
You can see a sample of our lightng show from the 2003 Columbus Magi-Fest.
Go to http://www.stevenkline.com and click on "Untamed Magic"

If you need a hand with anything DMX based I am profficeint in all things DMX and also built a few modules that accept DMX to remote control things from the lighting desk, PLease Note - Stage automation and pyrotechnics should never be controlled by DMX, so anyway give us a shout if I can help you in anyway,
Px
PS DMX standard is on XLR it can either be 5pin or 3 pin and its easy to adapt

We run our show on Elation Compu Ware Pro software. It runs on a dedicated computer and runs all of our lights, foggers, hazers and fans. The Easy Show is great to work with and the 3-D visualizer is a great tool to just sit at home and design the show, then be able to watch it run in real time.