Lightkey comes with a library of over 2000 native fixture profiles, and you can find more in our growing. Lightkey can also import any profile in the popular formats SSL2 (Sunlite) and PFF/FXT (DMX FreeStyler), of which thousands can be found on the Internet. In total, Lightkey can read more fixture profiles than any other DMX app! In addition, we’ve built a powerful, easy-to-use fixture editor right into the application so you can create custom profiles or make changes to the imported or built-in profiles. If a fixture profile is not included in Lightkey, we recommend the following:. Our constantly growing online contains high-quality profiles in Lightkey’s native format.

• Lightkey Software

This is the first place to look for missing profiles. We can create a profile for your fixture if you send us the DMX specification (often available as a PDF). Create a profile using Lightkey’s built-in fixture editor or import a profile in the formats SSL2 (Sunlite) or PFF/FXT (DMX FreeStyler). There are thousands of profiles available on the Internet.

Imported fixture profiles may need a bit of editing in the fixture editor before they work correctly with Lightkey. Here’s a list of helpful tips:. First and foremost, check if your interface is on our.

Interfaces that are not listed may not work with Lightkey. Connect the USB–DMX interface to your computer, then choose Reset DMX Output from the Lightkey menu.

Now check if your device is found. Lightkey requires a number of device drivers to work with the various USB interfaces, which are installed by the Lightkey installer. If a driver is missing, a warning will appear in the DMX Output section of Lightkey’s Preferences window. When in doubt, run the Lightkey installer again. Go to the DMX Output pane of Lightkey’s Preferences window and make sure the correct output option for your interface is enabled: If you have an Enttec Open DMX (or similar) interface, enable “Open DMX Interfaces”.

If you have a Eurolite USB-DMX512-PRO MK2 interface, enable “Eurolite USB-DMX512-PRO MK2”. For all other interfaces enable “Serial URB Interfaces”. Only one of these three options can be active at a given time. Sometimes it is necessary to restart your computer after installing Lightkey, to make sure the device drivers are properly loaded. This is usually necessary only once after installing Lightkey.

In some cases it helps to unplug the device and replug it after about one minute. Sometimes it helps to plug the interface into a different USB port.

There may be conflicts if other applications try to access your DMX interface. Please quit all other lighting control applications, then choose Lightkey Reset DMX Output. If your interface still doesn’t appear, restart your computer and then open Lightkey again. Here’s a list of helpful tips:. When you set up an Ethernet interface for the first time, connect the device directly to your Mac using a patch cable (Ethernet cable).

There should be no router between the computer and the device. Make sure only one network interface is active on your Mac, and disable all other network interfaces. (Examples for network interfaces are Wi-Fi or the built-in Ethernet port.) You can manage network interfaces in System Preferences Network. Assign your computer a static IP address that starts with “2” or “10”, for example, “2.0.0.1”. It must be different from the DMX interface’s IP address. Your computer must be on the same IP subnet as the DMX interface.

Check if Lightkey looks for the DMX interface on the correct network interface. Choose Lightkey Preferences DMX Output, click the desired output option (Art-Net, sACN (E1.31) or ESP Net), and select a network interface. If you are not sure it may help to look at the Network pane of System Preferences and check which network interfaces are in use. For Art-Net, check if the Net and Subnet values in Lightey’s DMX Output preferences match your DMX interface’s values. When you set up your DMX interface, make sure you assign the correct DMX universe to each input/output port.

This can be tricky because some devices number universes differently from Lightkey (which uses numbers 1 through 6):. Some Art-Net interfaces (e.g. Enttec Open DMX Ethernet) begin numbering universes with 0, which is often the default. Lightkey has no universe 0, so you have to change this to a number between 1 and 6. Some interfaces (e.g.

DMXking eDMX) use universe numbers which are offset by one from Lightkey’s: Lightkey universe number Device universe number 1 2 2 3 ⋮ ⋮ 6 7 In this case you must add 1 to Lighkey’s universe numbers when you configure your Art-Net node. If you are using an ESP Net interface, make sure the Enttec “Node Management Utility” (NMU) is not running. Otherwise, the “ESP Net” output option may not appear.

Quit the NME application, then start Lightkey again. If your Ethernet interface is not compatible to Art-Net version 2, you must enable broadcast mode. Choose Lightkey Preferences, click “DMX Output“, and select “Use broadcast mode”. Check with the manufacturer if a firmware update is available for your interface. Reset your device to factory settings (see device documentation). During the installation of Lightkey on macOS High Sierra you may see a message “System Extension Blocked”. This is a new security mechanism in High Sierra, requiring you to explicitly allow the use of system extensions.

Lightkey relies on several system extensions to communicate with USB–DMX interfaces. Before you can use Lightkey you have to allow loading these extensions in System Preferences.

Open System Preferences and go to Security & Privacy General. Click Allow. In the dialog that appears, select the two items and click OK. Sequences in Lightkey can be played in sync with music so the sequence is advanced on each beat. Simply select “Beat-controlled” in the sequence’s info window. However, Lightkey itself cannot perform any audio analysis to detect the beats per minute (BPM). For this you need other software which generates MIDI clock signals.

If you use a DJ software which sends MIDI clock signals, you can connect it to Lightkey. This is usually the most accurate form to detect the BPM. Alternatively, you can use a software like which analyzes an audio signal from sources like the microphone or another application (e.g. ITunes) and generates MIDI clock signals. To set up Waveclock, open Lightkey’s BPM settings (in the bottom-left corner of the Live tab), click MIDI, and then select “Lightkey Input”. Next, start Waveclock, open the Preferences window, and select “Lightkey Input” as output device.

You can set up two moving lights of the same type to always behave identically, except that the pan angle of one of them is reversed. The moving lights will both appear in Lightkey’s Preview with the virtual light beams matching the actual positions. Configure both moving lights to use the same DMX address. In Lightkey’s Fixture Manager, set the Count field to “2” so two fixture icons appear in the Preview. See “Add Fixtures” in the for more information. Invert the pan angle on one of the moving lights. Calibrate the light beam positions in Lightkey’s Calibration HUD.

In the Rotation tab you should select different directions for the two fixtures. See “Set Beam Directions” in the for more information.

The Open Lighting Architecture (OLA) is an open-source software framework for sending and receiving DMX through numerous hardware interfaces and protocols. It is being developed by the. Note that Monospace is not affiliated with the Open Lighting Project. The OLA “daemon” (olad) is installed on your Mac as a separate component by the Lightkey installer (you can even choose to install OLA alone). The OLA daemon is open-source software distributed under the GNU General Public License (a copy of the license is placed at /Library/Documentation/OLA); the source code is available from GitHub or our website. You can use OLA independently of Lightkey; see for more information. Behind the scenes, Lightkey starts the OLA daemon and uses it to output DMX through USB or Ethernet interfaces.

If you already have an instance of the OLA daemon running on your computer (e.g. A newer or self-compiled version), you can even configure Lightkey to use the existing daemon instead. Lightkey licenses are valid for one year, after that you have to buy another license. If we sold unlimited licenses, we’d unfortunately have to charge a much higher price.

We therefore believe that a time-based model is fairer to you: You can try Lightkey for a small price for one year and compare it to your old lighting control solution. If you are not satisfied—which we don’t believe!—, then you have saved a lot of money. Also, the one-year license includes free updates! We can listen to your feedback and get new features into your hands as quickly as possible. Manufacturers with unlimited licenses often save new features for major, paid updates that are released in much longer cycles.

Lightkey Software

Yes, you can transfer licenses between computers an unlimited number of times. However, Lightkey can only be active on one computer at a time.

To transfer a license, open Lightkey on the computer where it is currently activated and choose Lightkey Deactivate Lightkey from the menu bar. After deactivating successfully, you can activate Lightkey on the new computer by choosing Lightkey Activate Lightkey If you no longer have access to the computer with the active license, please contact us.

Advertisement Take total control of the lights behind your MacBook keyboard. Is a free Mac program that lets you manually control backlight levels with a simple slider. Taking control of the backlight on your Macbook Pro or Air keyboard isn’t hard: newer models specifically devote keys to the purpose. That wasn’t always true, however. Before the addition of keys for the job, there was basically no way to control the lights behind the keys manually. They did what they wanted based on a light sensor – and it wasn’t always what the user wanted. So why check out this program if you’ve got keys for control?

Newer Macs may allow you to manually turn the light level up and down, but the sensor still takes control when it feels like it. Lab Tick lets you turn this off, and does a bit more. Let’s take a look. Gives You Control Start up Lab Tick and you’ll notice a new icon in the tray. Click it and you’ll see a slider: This menubar app works much like the default volume control, allowing you to directly control the backlight levels by scrolling up or down. For owners of older Mac laptops, such as Powerbooks, even this level of control is more than enough to justify the existence of a tiny app – without it there’s no control at all. But is this worth looking into for anyone else?

That depends. The slider isn’t the only feature of Lab Tick. Click the gear at the bottom of the slide and you’ll quickly find the settings, which allow you to take more control over how your backlit keys work: You can allow the program to remember your last setting and stick with it, if you like.

You can stop OS X from automatically adjusting the levels based on your Mac’s sensor – useful it you don’t understand what it’s trying to do half the time. You can also set the program to start when your computer does. Click over to Advanced and you’ll see some (not necessarily more advanced) options. You can set keyboard shortcuts for turning the brightness up and down, which is brilliant for owners of older Macs. But perhaps more interesting is the ability to create a single keyboard shortcut for turning off your backlights altogether.

You’ll also find the ability to turn the lights off after a set amount of idleness. This is cool, but it’s worth noting that you’ll find this setting in the Keyboard controls under your Mac’s main settings. Compared To Standard Settings Head to the Keyboard tab under OS X System Preferences and you’ll see this.

So if you simply want the ability to turn off the automatic sensor, or for the keys to stop glowing when the computer is idle, you don’t need Lab Tick – the default settings screen has you covered. Users of older OS X versions might not see these settings, so for them Lab Tick is an obvious choice. But for everyone else, what does lab tick offer that OS X doesn’t on it’s own? I’m glad you asked. Here’s a list:. Control keyboard brightness from the Menubar. It’s not necessary, but some might like it.

After all: you can control volume from the menubar, despite the existence of volume buttons. Create a single keyboard shortcut for turning off the backlight altogether.

Yes, you could do this by repeatedly pressing the dim button. But compare this to sound again: there’s a mute button. If you want an “off” button for lights this is your tool. Gives you a single app for configuration. Note that, for me, Lab Tick and the Mac’s keys for controlling the lights didn’t get along very well. Be prepared for some confusion if you plan to use both. Controlling More From The Menubar Want to control even more from the Mac’s menubar?

Well, there’s an app out there for controlling screen brightness. It’s called Brightness, and it’s a lot like Lab Tick:. A tiny, appropriately named program called Caffeine can stop your Mac from going to sleep. You’ll be glad you did. Oh, and if all of these apps are cluttering up the top of your screen check out Bartender ($20) or Broomstick (free), two apps that can help reduce the number of visible icons. Why Apple hasn’t done what Microsoft fixed in Vista I don’t understand, but I’m sure they’ll get around to it in five years and call it “innovative”. Conclusion Lab Tick was originally created to solve a problem Apple’s since solved on its own.

Those who’d rather not have backlit keys can, on modern Macs, simply use the designated keys to turn down the brightness. But that doesn’t mean Lab Tick isn’t useful anymore: there are a few things you can configure with it.

Download: (Free) Is this worth a look in 2013, or simply a tool users of older Macs might find useful? Let me know in the comments below. Image credit: via Flickr Explore more about:.