DMX Workshop

DMX-Workshop™ is a fully featured network management, analysis, configuration and diagnostics tool for lighting networks. You can download the free software from the Artistic-Licence website.

When Gateway 8 is connected to a computer running DMX-Workshop, it should be detected and displayed as an Art-Net node (click the ‘Node List’ tab to verify this). The node can be expanded to show the configuration and DMX output information.

Right-clicking on any entry brings up a menu that offers various functionality:

• The ‘Configure Node’ option enables configuration of the universe number (port address), protocol (Art-Net or sACN), sACN priority, product name and port labels.
• ‘Copy to clipboard’ enables all the node information to be pasted into a support request email.
• ‘Merge Controls’ (selectable only on individual DMX outputs) enables the choice of LTP (latest takes preference) or HTP (highest takes preference) merge modes.
• ‘Indicators’ enables selection of normal, identify or mute for the LED indicators. Normal is the default behaviour, identify causes the power LED to flash, and mute turns off all the LEDs.
• ‘RDM Devices’ offers options for device discovery and configuration.
• ‘Advanced’ leads to ‘Programme Upload’ and ‘Configure IP Address and DHCP’ as described opposite.

IP Address Configuration

Choosing the ‘Configure IP Address’ in the ‘Advanced’ menu brings up a window that shows the IP and Subnet Mask.

The IP uniquely identifies any nodes or controllers on a network, while the Subnet Mask defines which part of the IP represents the network address and which part represents the host address. For example, a Subnet Mask of 255.0.0.0 means that the first byte of the IP defines the network address and the remaining 3 bytes define the host address.

By default, the product has a static IP address in the range 2.x.x.x. There are situations in which the user may wish to change this - for example, a 192.168.x.x address is generally used in office environments.

A useful additional feature is the ability to enable automatic IP address allocation on networks controlled by a DHCP server (check the ‘Enable DHCP’ box to activate).