FAQ
What LMX is, what it runs on, how it gets DMX out of a laptop and what a licence covers. Short answers here; the manual has the long ones.
LMX is a software lighting console for theatre and live events. It runs on a Windows laptop or desktop and does the job a lighting desk does: patching, a programmer, tracked cue lists, palettes and presets, a live-updating effects engine and playback, with real DMX output over Art-Net, sACN (E1.31) and USB-DMX. It also includes a hardware-accelerated 3D visualiser, so a whole show can be programmed with no rig attached.
What LMX doesFor programming and playback, LMX is a complete console rather than a control app bolted onto a DMX dongle. It uses the same working model a hardware desk uses - tracked cues with parts, follows and blocks, palettes and presets that stay live references rather than baked-in numbers, blind programming, fan, highlight and solo - and it drives real fixtures over Art-Net, sACN or a USB-DMX interface. What software cannot give you is physical faders and a GO button under your hand, so LMX maps a MIDI control surface for that.
MIDI and keyboard mappingWindows. LMX ships as a signed Windows desktop installer. The 3D visualiser uses hardware-accelerated OpenGL, so any reasonably recent laptop or desktop will run it; you do not need a workstation graphics card.
Download LMXThere is a free demo, and it is the complete console rather than a cut-down version: the full feature set, the 3D visualiser, GDTF import, the whole manual, and real DMX output for up to six fixtures at a time. It needs no licence key to run and has no time limit; while LMX is in beta the installer is handed out through the free beta programme, so downloading it does mean a free account. A Pro licence, which lifts the fixture limit and licenses LMX for production use, is £299 as a one-time licence or £19 per month.
PricingLMX is in public beta and shipping regular releases. Every feature and improvement in each version is listed on the release history page, newest first, so you can see what has landed and how quickly.
Release historyLMX outputs Art-Net and sACN (E1.31) over the network at a steady 44 fps, and DMX over an FT232R USB-DMX interface at the fastest rate the wire will sustain. All three can run at once, and each protocol keeps its own set of enabled universes.
Output and protocolsNot to program. The built-in 3D visualiser gives you a stage to light, so you can patch a rig, build looks and record a full cue stack with nothing plugged in. To drive real fixtures you need either an Art-Net or sACN node on the network, or an FT232R USB-DMX interface.
The 3D visualiserYes. Universes are enabled per protocol, individually or as a range, so you can put universes 1 to 4 on Art-Net and leave others off. sACN uses multicast by default, one group per universe, and carries a per-universe priority so a second console or a backup can be ranked against LMX on the same universe.
Output and protocolsLMX has output diagnostics built in rather than leaving you to guess. You can dump every channel of a universe exactly as it is being sent, and trace which layer set a value, so you can tell a patch mistake from a disabled universe from a cable problem without leaving the desk.
Troubleshooting outputYes. LMX runs tracked cue lists, so a value set in one cue stays on through the cues that follow until something changes it. Blocks, cue-only changes and hard values are all available when you want to stop a value tracking forward.
Tracking explainedBoth, and they are the same console. There is a full graphical interface - patch tables, programmer, cue and fixture inspectors, an effect editor and fader banks - and a real console-style command line beside it, with autocomplete, usage hints and did-you-mean suggestions on every command. Type a command and the interface moves; click in the interface and the command line agrees.
The command lineYes. BLIND lets you program a look with nothing reaching the output, and HIGHLIGHT and SOLO help you find the fixture you actually meant while you work. Selections take ranges and groups, and values can be fanned across a selection with wings and blocks so a bar reads symmetrically about its centre.
Selecting fixturesYes. LMX imports GDTF files, ships with a library of 400+ bundled fixture profiles including moving heads with their own 3D models, and includes a full fixture editor for building or correcting a profile yourself - channel types, capability ranges, heads and the emitter layout.
The fixture editorLMX has a live-updating effects engine covering waveform effects and step effects, applied to a selection and editable while they run. Effects are stored in cues like any other attribute, and can be built from your patch automatically along with groups, palettes, presets and position looks.
Effects (SFX)Yes. LMX serves a page to any phone, tablet or laptop on the same network - no app to install, and you can open it by scanning the QR code the desk puts on screen. It has three tabs: playback (the whole cue list, GO, STOP, blackout and the grand master), the current fader page, and XYZ targets, where you can capture fixtures to a target and drag it across a plan of your own stage from the floor. The remote can run and focus the show but not record over it, and it can be turned off entirely if you would rather the desk served nothing.
The phone remoteYes. LMX opens a MIDI control surface and maps its notes, controllers and faders to console actions, with feedback and latching, and you can map chosen keyboard keys the same way.
MIDI and keyboard mappingA whole show lives in a single .lmx file: the patch, groups, palettes, presets, cues and everything else. LMX autosaves, and every manual save first moves the previous file aside as a timestamped backup beside it, keeping a rotation of them, so a bad save is recoverable.
Showfiles, saving and backupsNot to run the demo, which needs no account and no licence key. Downloading it does need one while LMX is in beta: the installer goes out through the free beta programme. Using LMX in production on a Pro licence needs a free lmxlighting.com account and an active licence before it will open.
How licensing worksOne at a time. You can move to a different computer whenever you like by activating LMX there and confirming the switch, which deactivates the other machine. You just cannot have two machines licensed at once.
How licensing worksNothing. LMX only checks your licence when it starts up, never while it is running, so a network drop during a performance cannot affect the desk. It also keeps working offline for about a month after its last successful check before it needs to reconnect, and an offline show computer that never goes online at all can be activated with a code generated on another device.
Offline activationYes. Education seats are £19 each and are visualiser-only, with full visualisation and no DMX output, which is what a classroom of students programming at once actually needs. Every 20 seats includes one full licence for the space itself, and site-wide licences are available on request.
PricingThe complete manual is on this site and is the same help that ships inside the app, where F1 opens it. It covers the quick start, programming, stored looks, playback, patching, setup and troubleshooting, plus a full command reference and control reference generated from the console's own code.
Read the manualThe manual goes into every one of these properly, and it is the same help the console ships with. If it still does not answer the question, write to us.