ELC debuts new signal distribution concept
DMX control specialist ELC Lighting has launched the DLN8GBXSL eight-port slave node, a new concept designed “to revolutionize ethernet/DMX network distribution”.
The DLN8GBXSL serves as a substitute for a DMX splitter rack, where all DMX ports are fully programmable as output, input, merge, backup and more, as node ports. This slave node forms part of the ELC GBX Distribution System, of which the dmXLAN switch (GBx10 or GBx18) is the backbone. This switch is the master, and up to 15 slave units can be daisy chained via the ethernet ports. The system supports all open protocols including sACN, Art-Net and ShowNET.
When connected, and loaded with ELC’s advanced dmXLAN software, the system transforms how DMX can be distributed from an ethernet network. It is specifically tailored for live entertainment applications where a mixture of data protocols would overload and saturate commercially-available network switches. The system utilises standard ethernet protocols and DMX.
“The ethernet part stays the same, but the idea is that if you usually have one node, and on each port of the node you connect a splitter, you end up with a rack where each splitter can do only one thing - repeat on eight or 10 ports,” explains ELC’s sales manager, Silvio Cibien. “Ideally, we would like to have the node instead of splitters, so each DMX port is used for programming, digital patching, the merging that you like, channel by channel. However, this can be very expensive.
“Therefore, ELC has created this new system, which allows the user to have a splitter that offers all of the features and flexibility of a node. This means that each port can again be programmed as if it was a node, because in essence it is now a node. By that, I mean that the control and programming are both in a switch. You can programme channel by channel, softpatch, decide what kind of merge; in triple universe merging you can make your own digital pattern, programming each channel of each port.
“And because the DLN8GBX8SL slave node is priced at the same level as a good splitter, for the price of a splitter rack (1 Switch, 1 Node, and perhaps 10 splitters) you will have a rack where all DMX ports are node ports.”