VSA DEMO

Using Visual Show Automation (VSA) with the EH16-DMX

This demo will teach you how to sync audio up with lighting changes and show you the basics of how to set up VSA and navigate it’s interface in order to use your EH16-DMX. The final product will be a show that would create a candle lit scene that gets blown out when you trigger it. A great effect when a door or window is opened.

You will need:

-VSA downloaded from their website

-A DMX controller (we use the ENTTEC open DMX unit)

-standard 5 pin DMX cable

-EH16-DMX w/ 16 Ether-Lights

-sound file WIND.wav

1.       Install VSA

2.       Install your DMX controller (for this demo we used the Enttec open DMX, ENTTEC drivers)

3.       Ensure that your DMX controller is plugged in and ready when you open VSA

4.       Using a standard 5 pin DMX cable connect the DMX controller to the “DMX IN” on the rear panel of the EH16-DMX

5.       Ensure that the EH16-DMX in DMX mode

6.       Ensure that the channel selector on the EH16-DMX is set to channel “1” (first switch up and the rest down)

7.       Ensure that the EH16-DMX is plugged in and has power

8.       Turn on the EH16-DMX

9.       Click on the “settings” button on the top of the screen just to the left of the yellow question mark (it looks like a window and a hammer”. Here you can change all sorts of settings for each channel of control.

10.   On address’ 1-16 change their “type” to “DMX dimmer” by double clicking on the “type” drop down box. While you’re in that box take a look at all the other devices you can control with VSA.

11.   You can adjust the value at “full brightness” and “minimum brightness” by adjusting the “+value” and “-value” columns. “0” being all the way off and “255” being all the way on. For this demo and most shows change channels 1-16 to a “+value” of 255 and a “-value” of 0.

12.   The “default” column will allow you to change the “default” value of the light if nothing changes it. For this demo change channels 1-16 to “255”. This will have all lights default to full brightness if no other command is given.

13.   In VSA, with everything plugged in and powered on, click on “TOOLS” in the task bar at the top of the screen and select “LOAD AUDIO FILE”. Select “ADD” then the small “browse” button that appears, it looks like a small grey square with 3 dots. Locate the demo sound “WIND.wav”. At the bottom of the screen in the “wave View” you should see the visualization of the sound file below the time line.

14.   Select “view” on the task bar at the top of the screen and select “zoom in”. do this twice so that the sound file nearly goes from one side of the screen to the other.

15.   To the right of the list of devices you can now add commands to the specific channels. To do this, left click and drag to the right creating a bar to the right of device “0”. Double click on that bar and you can see the specifics of that command and modify them.  For this demo, make sure that the “start position” is “255” and the “end position” is “0”. This will cause device 0 which is channel one on the EH16-DMX to fade from “full bright” to “off” within the time that bar represents on the timeline. To test this, confirm your changes by selecting “OK”. Now Left click on the “play” symbol on the far right of the screen (it looks like a little triangle pointing to the right).  You should see a vertical line move across the screen as it plays, hear the wind sound effect, and see channel “1” on the EH16-DMX fade when it get to the bar.

16.   Continue creating these bars for each channel fading out each channel from “255” to “0” as shown. When complete, change the “control” switch on the rear panel of the EH16-DMX from “DMX” to “F1”, this will cause all the lights to flicker like candle flames.  Now when you hit play it will appear that all the candles are being “blown out” as the wind blows throughout the room. You can fine tune the effect by adjusting the timing of the bars or even getting more elaborate with your commands.