dmx-priest

dmx-priest is a cheap DIY alternative to an expensive commercial DMX Recall Units.

How to use

1. Spin the knob to the right (more than 20 time in order to avoid misclicks) until screen wound't say "Record mode - push the knob".
2. Push the knob. Screen: "Ready to record - push to start"
3. Prepare your light table or any other source of Art-Net signal
4. Push the knob to start recording. Screen: "Rec in progress - push to stop"
5. Start desired light scene on the source. dmx-priest will record it
6. Push the knob to stop the recording. Screen: "Play mode - push the knob"
7. Push the knob to enter the Play mode. You will see your recoding in the format YYYY.mm.dd HH:MM
8. Select your recording to playback or select 99_blackout to exit and stop the program

Situation

We have a lights console (Avolites Titan Quartz) for big shows and a manual control. Console connects goes to Art-Net to DMX converter with two DMX output ports (dmXLAN Buddy).

We need a device that would be easy to operate for everybody. It should record and playback scenes from the console without pluggin the console itself.

Device in case

Hardware

• raspberry pi
• lcd display (https://opencircuit.shop/Product/LCD-display-1602-symbols-2-rows-16-columns-.)
• rotary encoder (https://opencircuit.shop/Product/Rotary-Encoder-Module)
• jump wires
• optional: switch

Connect LCD

• GND to Pin 6 (Ground)
• VCC to Pin 4 (5V power)
• SDA to Pin 3 (GPIO 2)
• SLC to Pin 5 (GPIO 3)

Connect Rotary Encoder

• CLK to Pin 12 (GPIO 18)
• DT to Pin 13 (GPIO 27)
• SW to Pin 11 (GPIO 17)
• + to Pin 1 (3V3 power)
• GND to Pin 14 (Ground)

Optionally - on/off switch

I just broke Micro USB cable in between and soldered a button in case Raspberry with hang

Software

OS

install Raspberry Pi OS (32-bit) Lite using Etcher

add file "ssh" to /boot in order to enable SSH access

youruser@homepc:~ $ ssh pi@[Pi-IP-address]

Upgrade your OS:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo apt-get update
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Open Lightning Architecture

Install software to build Open Lightning Architecture and also few python libraries

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo apt-get install git autoconf libtool bison flex uuid-dev libcppunit-dev python-protobuf python-numpy protobuf-compiler  libmicrohttpd-dev libprotoc-dev i2c-tools python3-smbus python3-gpiozero python3-pip3
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ git clone https://github.com/OpenLightingProject/ola.git
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cd ola

compile and install ola. it will take some (a lot) time:

pi@raspberrypi:~/ola $ autoreconf -i
pi@raspberrypi:~/ola $ ./configure --enable-rdm-tests
pi@raspberrypi:~/ola $ make
pi@raspberrypi:~/ola $ sudo make install

load libraries and start daemon:

pi@raspberrypi:~/ola $ sudo ldconfig
pi@raspberrypi:~/ola $ olad -l 3

check if it works http://[Pi-IP-address]:9090/ola.html

create a systemd service for autoload of olad:

create .service file

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/olad.service

and add inside:

[Unit]
Description=OLA daemon
After=network.target
StartLimitIntervalSec=0

[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=always
RestartSec=1
User=pi
ExecStart=olad

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

start service and enable autostart:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo systemctl start olad
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo systemctl enable olad

I2C interface

enable i2c interface:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo raspi-config

Inside of raspi-config go to "Interfacing Options" > "I2C" > "enable" then reboot your RPi

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo reboot

get address of the LCD display:

pi@raspberrypi:~/dmx-priest $ sudo i2cdetect -y 1

In my case it was 3f. Change it in RPi_I2C_driver.py if needed (better to take it from the variable, but it isn't done yet)

Static IP (optional)

Just to be sure let's set on Raspberry Pi static IP in 2.x.x.x range.
Add to the end of /etc/dhcpcd.conf following lines:

# Example static IP configuration:
interface eth0
static ip_address=2.150.43.69/24
static routers=2.124.1.1
static domain_name_servers=2.124.1.1

dmx-priest

install application for recording and playing presets:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo pip3 install git+https://github.com/Virusmater/dmx-priest

doing the same what did for olad:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ nano /etc/systemd/system/dmx-priest.service 
[Unit]
Description=dmx-priest
Requires=olad.service
After=network.target olad.service
StartLimitIntervalSec=0

[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=always
RestartSec=1
User=pi
ExecStart=dmx-priest
Environment=PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo systemctl start dmx-priest
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo systemctl enable dmx-priest