Thread: VSA, Enttec, DMX, Helmsman

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I'm looking to extend the limit of 128 channels that VSA will handle. We're using the first 32 slots for servos and DMX devices for the rest. We have more DMX devices now than we have openings. I went to Enttec's support site and didn't see anything about running multiple Enttec Pro devices.

I'm hoping I can get another Enttec Pro to take a different USB port. I think I can get VSA to address it but then I would need to run two VSA programs with two separate DMX chains at precisely the same time. I would need then something like Helmsman to be able to start both VSA files at the same time. Is this workable and what might be some of the obstacles I should expect?

I don't know if the DMXorcist would be your ticket or not....I know it takes the 128 limit and gives you 512 but I don't know much beyond that....You can read the specs here http://skulltronix.com/exorcist.html to see if it sounds like what your trying to accomplish...Good Luck!....ZR

Originally Posted by ZombieRaider

I don't know if the DMXorcist would be your ticket or not....I know it takes the 128 limit and gives you 512 but I don't know much beyond that....You can read the specs here http://skulltronix.com/exorcist.html to see if it sounds like what your trying to accomplish...Good Luck!....ZR

I went back to some old emails from Phoenix and he said that DMXorcist is geared more for the folks that want to run everything on DMX. The 32 servos we're using we connect to a Lynxmotion SSC-32 board. VSA will run on DMXorcist so I've been fooling around with it this morning and for some reason it won't recognize the "code" Phoenix gave me.

Regular Exorcist may work fine though because it will allow you to run multiple VSA files simultaneously. If I read one of Phoenix's comments correctly, I have to get another Enttec box and create a second DMX network on the computer. My hope is that with a second DMX network, I can create another VSA routine that addresses that network and gives me the ability to effectively add another 128 channels.

Also I fooled around with Helmsman and it doesn't look like it will play two VSA files at the same time. At least, I couldn't find a way.

Does the Chuckie board run DMX?....I know my Skulltronix skull uses that board and it has DMX cables running out of it but I don't know if it's running DMX channels for the skull movements... If you already have an Excorcist maybe upgrade it to DMXorcist and get the Chuckie board if it does in fact run DMX....That would give you 512 channels then....I'm sorry if this is all wrong because I obviously don't understand it all yet but it's just an idea that might actually be possible?.......ZR

Originally Posted by buckaneerdude

Regular Exorcist may work fine though because it will allow you to run multiple VSA files simultaneously.

Actually I don't think they can run SIMULTANIOUSLY with regular excorcist....I think that's a DMXorcist feature...You can run multiple vsa routines 1 at a time on regular excorcist...Again check my facts because I'm an extreme newbie but just wanted to point this out...ZR

Are you actually making use of all of your DMX channels? (i.e.: making events for each?) If there are any 'don't care' channels, you could skip these in your VSA configuration. I think that VSA supports a total of 128 *devices*, not 128 max DMX channels. (But I'm in the field, so I can't verify right now)

Beyond this idea, I'm not sure what you could do. Multiple USB-to-DMX on the same VSA instance won't help, because you still are limited to 128 devices per show. Syncing multiple instances of VSA seems unlikely, but might be something to try. *Using DMXorcist might work, since that can run multiple VSA files simultaneously. I guess you'd develop the shows at 128 devices at a time, then run them simultaneously using the DMXorcist software.

- Hook

There is a checkbox in Exorcist for "enable simultaneous VSA routines". I'm thinking that I can have Exorcist run two VSA routines that are exactly the same length at exactly the same time. One VSA's DMX commands going to one Enttec box on one port, and the other VSA routine's commands being sent another Enttec box on a different port. There would be two separate DMX networks so I wouldn't have to worry about channels overlapping, or at least that's what I'm hoping.