DMX from a tablet?

[Johnnotestine]

Has anyone found a good solution for running dmx lighting from a tablet, Ipad or otherwise?

I recently purchased a netbook for designated lighting use. I'm wondering if I should have gone a different route. I currently use Freestyler with an Enttec Pro dmx unit. I have tried the Freestyler application for Iphone/Ipad and find it limited. Also, I would prefer to run lights off of a separate machine.

Some of the other limitations that I see are:

-DMX Dongle connection problems (Ipad has no USB)
-Cannot link to music computer for Sound to light application (currently I do this with Freestyler and Virtual DJ using the VDJ sound to light freestyler plugin)
-Stand issues (Are there tablet stands similar to laptop stands?)

If anyone has found ways to resolve these issues I would love to hear them!

[STLRiverCity]

I do this, in a round about way. I run Emulation on the same laptop I am DJing off of. I use OSCulator on the Mac and the iPad to basically give me a MIDIcon interface on the iPad.

OSCulator makes a MIDI controller on the iPad. The Mac side of OSCulator sends the MIDI info to Emulation.

This works really well for me since I just switch between a few sequences. I don't know how well it would work for someone who really needs full lighting control.

[Unknown DJ]

Just wait till Oct 26 when all the windows 8 tablets come out.

[Silver Man]

My DMX Software has an app for both iPad and Android that allows you to remotely connect to the main computer and control the lighting. This is nice as I can make changes wirelessly. The software is called BlueLight X1 (I have the mini.) Works very well, only downside is that it has to reconnect if the tablet goes to sleep. It uses the WiFi connection to connect the two. Here is a link to the site: http://www.innovateshowcontrols.com/

[Johnnotestine]

I would prefer to not have to connect the two with wifi since not all the venues we play at have access. I know this is sometimes possible by creating and AdHoc network, but this is not the route I want to go. I don't want to overload one computer by running VDJ with video and a light program.

Unknown DJ- Yes, the new windows tablets will be intriguing. However, do you think it will be possible to link the tablet to the main computer for sound to light functionality? I am currently doing this with a network crossover cable.

Any stands out there specifically designed for tablets?

[Unscene]

Interesting. Kinda looking for the same setup. Much easier than having to bring another laptop to a gig.....

[Silver Man]

I would prefer to not have to connect the two with wifi since not all the venues we play at have access. I know this is sometimes possible by creating and AdHoc network, but this is not the route I want to go. I don't want to overload one computer by running VDJ with video and a light program.

I run both on the same system without issue (I run VDJ-Pro and the lighting software.) I setup my own network as I never rely on the venue. Besides, I can control who is on my network and who isn't. I would just caution about using a tablet that you will need something connected to it to run the DMX and as the tablet is mobile, you will have to be careful of not disrupting the cable. As far as I know, there are no bluetooth devices to run dmx.

[Synaxis]

Have you considered Luminair?

[Unknown DJ]

Just wait till Oct 26 when all the windows 8 tablets come out.

[Ryan Ruel]

Luminair, plus an Enttec ODE interface to output DMX from the Art-Net.

However, luminair really only provides faders for you lights and basic steps for scenes. Don't expect it to do anything like effects chases, macro generation, etc. If you have moving heads this is a problem.

I run ShowCad Artist (awesome program) now within VMWare, on my Macbook, and there's enough CPU left to run DJ software. Two machines is much more ideal, of course.