Tech Specs
System requirements
- Mac computer with Apple or Intel chip
-
macOS 13 or later
- 8GB of memory
- 800MB of available storage
- Screen size of at least 1200 × 700 pixels
DMX output
- One of the supported USB or network interfaces
Smart lights (optional)
- Philips Hue bridge version 2 or newer (square shaped), firmware version at least 1948086000
- Philips Hue compatible smart lights
Live Triggers (optional)
- Ableton Live 9 or newer on the same computer
Key features
- Control DMX fixtures and Philips Hue smart lights
- Live preview reflects the state of fixtures, including fixtures with multiple light beams
- 3D virtual light beams for moving lights, PARs, LED bars, and other kinds of fixtures
- Effects engine with 70+ fully editable effect templates
- Built-in fixture editor allows on-the-fly changes
- Extensive keyboard control, multi-touch gestures, and Touch Bar
- External control through DMX-In, MIDI, customizable keyboard shortcuts, Open Sound Control (OSC), and Shortcuts app
User interface
- Single Window and Dual Window modes
- Supports full-screen mode and Split View
- Extensive Touch Bar control
- Project-wide search feature
- Lock projects and preferences with a password or Touch ID1
- On-screen controls optimized for touch-screens
- Haptic feedback on Force Touch trackpads
- White-on-black user interface optimized for usage in dark environments
- Adaptive background color
- Optimized for macOS Dark Mode and high-resolution Retina displays
- Localized in English, German, Italian
1 Requires Mac with Touch ID sensor.
Technology
- Engineered from the ground up as a modern 64-bit macOS application for Apple and Intel chips
- Virtual light beams rendered through Apple’s Core Animation and Metal 2 technologies
- Highly efficient DMX output engine can control up to 8192 DMX channels (16 full universes)
- Abstract control model based on logical values—defers DMX generation to the final stage
- Device communication through the Open Lighting Architecture (OLA)
- Application-wide support for auto-save and undo/redo
- Automatic download and installation of app updates
DMX output/input
- DMX output/input through numerous USB interfaces and network protocols through Open Lighting Architecture (OLA)
- Can integrate with an existing OLA server (optional)
- Distribute fixtures to any number of DMX universes (total number of output universes and Hue bridges must not exceed 31)
- Any number of DMX input universes
- DMX Monitor shows live channel values for input and output universes or selected fixtures
- 16-bit output across two channels
USB–DMX interfaces
DMXking
- DMXking eDMX2 MAX2
- DMXking eDMX2 PRO2
- DMXking ultraDMX MAX
- DMXking ultraDMX Micro
- DMXking ultraDMX Pro
- DMXking ultraDMX RDM Pro
- DMXking ultraDMX2 PRO2
Eurolite
- Eurolite USB-DMX5123
- Eurolite USB-DMX512-PRO
- Eurolite USB-DMX512-PRO MK23
- Eurolite USB-DMX512-PRO Cable3
Jese
- Jese DMX-TRI
- Jese RDM-TXI MK2
- Jese RDM-TRI MK2
Robe
- Robe Universal Interface
- Robe RUNIT WTX
Stage-Profi
- USB-DMX Stage-Profi MK2
- USB-DMX Stage-Profi MK3
1 All required device drivers are included. To output more than one DMX universes we recommend using an interface with multiple output ports. 2 Lightkey can only use a single port on the DMXking eDMX2 MAX, eDMX2 PRO, or ultraDMX2 PRO when connected via USB. Both ports are available through Art-Net or sACN. 3 These USB interfaces require that an administrator password is entered at startup.
DMX network protocols
Art-Net
- Connect one Art-Net node with up to four ports/universes
- Art-Net versions 1, 2, and 3
- Automatic node detection through Art-Poll
sACN (streaming Architecture for Control Networks)/E1.31 Multicast
- Connect any number of sACN interfaces or fixtures
- sACN universe priorities
ESP Net (Enttec Show Protocol)
Smart lights
- Control up to 100 Philips Hue smart lights, including bulbs, LED bars, plugs
- Connect multiple Hue bridges simultaneously
- Select built-in effects
Controllable fixtures
Controls any type of DMX512-compliant fixture, including:
Fixture properties
Natively supported properties
- Position (Pan/Tilt)
8/16 bit, support for fixtures with up to eight separate heads
- Infinite Movement
- Movement Speed
- On/Off (smart lights)
- Dimmer
8/16 bit, beam level control with optional master channel
- Color Mixing
8/16 bit; RGB or CMY + warm white, cool white, amber, lime, ultraviolet; beam level control with optional master channel
- Color Wheel
Up to three separately controlled color wheels, split colors, rainbow effect
- Color Temperature
8/16 bit, beam level control
- Green Saturation
8/16 bit, beam level control
- Xfade to Color
8/16 bit, beam level control
- Gobo Wheel
Built-in or custom gobo images, up to three separately controlled gobo wheels
- Gobo Indexing 8/16 bit
- Gobo Rotation
- Gobo Shake
- Focus 8/16 bit
- Zoom 8/16 bit
- Iris 8/16 bit
- Frost
On/off, 8/16 bit linear, pulse effects
- Prism
Various prism types, up to two separately controlled prisms
- Prism Indexation 8/16 bit
- Prism Rotation
- Shutter
Beam level control
- Strobe
Constant speed, synchronized, random, sound-active, lightning effect; beam level control
- Shutter Pulse Effects
Beam level control
- Lamp
- Fog
- Command
Channel value is held for a predefined duration
- Operating Mode
Conditional properties
Custom properties
- Discrete options (e.g. built-in macros) or continuous parameters (e.g. speed)
- Display continuous parameters as percentage, DMX value, or in a custom value range
- Default option and/or default value
- 16-bit output across two channels
- Up to 40 custom properties per fixture
External control
DMX-In
- Input from any number of DMX universes
- User-definable triggers and actions
- Capture triggers when a channel in an input universe changes
- Automatic detection of control type (button vs. fader)
- Save, import, and export DMX-In configurations
MIDI
- Compatible to any standard MIDI controller and other MIDI-enabled applications
- Connect multiple MIDI controllers at the same time
- Supported MIDI commands: Note On/Off, Control Change (CC), Program Change, Pitch Wheel
- User-definable triggers and actions
- MIDI Learn: Capture triggers when a button, fader, or other control is operated
- Automatic detection of control type (button vs. fader/rotary knob)
- Support for 14-bit faders
- Support for jogwheels (“encoders”) for continuous parameters
- Separate assignments with Shift key, if available
- Customizable MIDI feedback for LEDs, motorized faders, knobs etc., including extended feedback for many popular controllers
- Save, import, and export MIDI configurations
Keyboard
- Extensive keyboard control throughout the application
- Context-sensitive shortcut display
- User-definable keyboard shortcuts
- Save, import, and export keyboard configurations
Open Sound Control
- Control cues, presets, fixture properties, and many other features through OSC messages
- Receive OSC over UDP or TCP
- Full support for OSC address patterns
- OSC service discoverable via Bonjour
macOS Shortcuts
- Integrates with the system-wide shortcuts feature in macOS
- 15 different action types are available in the Shortcuts app
Multi-Touch gestures1
- Control Intensity, Master Intensity, color hue and saturation through scroll wheel or swipe gestures
- Control Position, Focus, Zoom, Iris through pinch gesture or force click
- Multi-touch gestures are user-configurable
Touch screen
- Main user interface optimized for touch screens
- Controls have large click regions for comfortable touch control
- All essential functions accessible without a right mouse button or scroll wheel
1 Scroll gestures require Apple Magic Mouse, trackpad, or mouse with scroll wheel. Swipe and pinch gestures require multi-touch trackpad or Apple Magic Trackpad. Force click requires trackpad with Force Touch.
Live Triggers
- Drag lighting cues as clips to the Ableton Live timeline
- Lighting cues are activated/deactivated in sync with the music
- Lag-free communication through MIDI messages
- Works with cue buttons and cuelists1
1 Lightkey can create up to 128 clips per page, on up to 128 pages.
2D visualization
- Arrange, resize, and rotate fixtures according to their physical locations
- Freely edit the shape of LED strips
- Flexible placement of fixture name tags
- Add built-in or custom images, shapes, trusses, and text labels
- Resize and rotate multiple objects at once
- Various style options for shapes and images
- Smart alignment guides allow precise placement of objects on the same horizontal or vertical axis
- Smart spacing guides allow equidistant spacing of objects
- Commands for flipping, aligning, distributing, and layering objects
- Virtual beams simulate pan/tilt angles, intensity, color, gobo and gobo movement, focus, zoom, iris, frost, shutter/strobe
- Fixture position (pan/tilt) control uses polar coordinates to reflect actual beam positions
- Customizable perspective for stationery and moving lights
- Customizable limits for pan and tilt ranges
- Maintain relative pan/tilt offsets when positioning multiple fixtures
- Display multiple instances of a fixture (for identical fixtures with the same DMX address)
- Visualization adapts itself to screen size
- Visualization can be hidden for live control
Design mode
- Intelligent selection commands
- “Type selection” quickly selects fixtures with a common prefix or individual fixtures
- Groups allow selecting multiple fixtures with a single click
- Keyboard shortcuts to select fixtures by position (Arrow keys) or name (Control-Tab)
- Copy and paste values and effects between fixtures, including fixtures of different types
- Change properties relative to current state (supported by Dimmer, Position, Focus, Zoom, Iris)
- Define per-fixture defaults for fixture properties
- Unlimited undo/redo for all fixture property changes
- Individual beam control for multi-beam fixtures (intensity, color, shutter/strobe)
- Fanning spreads property values across a range of fixtures or beams (supported for Dimmer, Color, Position, Focus, Zoom, Iris, Frost, Fog, custom properties)
- Design view adapts itself to the patched fixture’s properties for optimal use of screen space
- Rearrange fixture properties and hide unused properties
- Color mixing for RGB and CMY with hue, saturation, and brightness controls
- Synthetic Dimmer control for RGB fixtures with no Dimmer channel
Presets & sequences
Presets and groups
- Store arbitrary combinations of fixture properties as presets
- Capture a snapshot of the current fixture states new
- Auto-assigned preset names and icons, depending on content
- Defined fixture properties are displayed directly in the Preview
- Organize presets in nestable groups
- Export presets and import them into other projects new
Sequences
- Various playback options: repeat, forwards/backwards, autoreverse, random, freeze on completion
- Define hold and crossfade times for entire sequence or individual steps
- Beat-controlled sequences with various timing options
- Create smooth pan/tilt movements through predefined points
- Reverse of shuffle sequence steps
- Adjust speed and beat multiplier from Live view
Live control
Cues
- Store an unlimited number of cues comprised of an arbitrary selection of presets and sequences
- Built-in or custom fade curves for each cue, including special fade curves by property or fixture
- Modifiers allow changing various aspects of cues during a show: Speed, Beat Multiplier, Time Offset, Fade Time, Dimmer, Hue, Color Temperature, Green Saturation, Xfade to Color, Pan Angle, Tilt Angle, Focus, Zoom Angle, Iris Size, Frost Amount
- Auto-activating cues at startup or before quitting
- Copy and paste cues between Live view pages
Cue buttons
- Build custom control panels containing buttons, faders, text labels, and frames
- Smart alignment guides help with precise placement
- Attach buttons to create a group where only one button can be active at a time
- Toggle or flash behavior
- Assign priorities to cue buttons and frames
- Button colors are automatically derived from cue contents
- Step through buttons in a frame with Previous/Next buttons
Cuelists
- Recall cues in a specific order
- Cuelists combinable with cue buttons
- Organize cues in nestable groups
- Automatic cue numbering
- Crossfades with predefined durations or manually with Xfade slider
- Advance to next cue manually or after predefined hold time
Live control
- Blind mode allows making changes without affecting the output while cuelists, sequences, and effects continue to run
- Freeze output and seamlessly resume cuelists, sequences, and effects
Beat control
- Synchronize sequences and effects to music
- Adjust the timing of a cue or frame with the Beat Multiplier modifier
- Tap the beat and Lightkey will learn and continue the tempo
- Synchronize to external sources with MIDI Beat Clock or Ableton Link
Effects engine
- 70+ fully editable effect templates
- Effects remain editable at any time, even when stored in presets or cues
- Apply effects to multi-beam LED strips and matrixes
- Synchronize effects to music
- Adjust speed, time offset, and beat multiplier from Live view
- Copy and paste effects between fixtures or presets
- Overlay multiple effects for the same fixture property
- Save custom effect templates
Fixture order options
- Order by position in Preview, by short name, by address, or randomly
- Order from/to center
- Select fixtures or individual beams (LEDs)
- Group consecutive pixels
- Repeat pixel indexes
Pattern effects
- Basic patterns: Chase, Scanner, Yo-yo, Fill, Rain, Meteor, Sparkle, Fire, Jellyfish, Snakes
- Apply pattern effects to Dimmer or Color properties
- Configure pattern samples and parameters
- Color pattern effects can include additional color components (cool/warm white, amber, lime, ultraviolet), color temperature, green saturation, xfade to color
Curve effects
- Design arbitrary curves which determine the fixture property’s value at a given time
- 16 built-in curve templates
- Apply curve effects to the following fixture properties: Dimmer, Color, Position, Focus, Zoom, Iris, Frost, Fog, custom properties
- Colors can be split into components using three different color models: HSB (hue, saturation, brightness), RGB (red, green, blue), CMY (cyan, magenta, yellow) plus additional colors (cool/warm white, amber, lime, ultraviolet)
- Pan/tilt mirroring allows inversion of the pan or tilt angles on one side
- Relative position effects: Pan and tilt angles are added to the positions defined elsewhere
Movement effects
- Uses closed movement paths to define pan/tilt movements
- 14 built-in, fully editable movement paths
- Integrated movement path editor uses polar coordinate system to show actual beam positions
- Translate and scale paths
- Reverse and flip movement paths
- Interpolation modes: smooth, linear, points
- Save custom movement paths for reuse
- Pan/tilt mirroring allows inversion of the pan or tilt angles on one side
- Relative position effects: Pan and tilt angles are added to the positions defined elsewhere
Fixture editor
- Integrated editor for fixture profiles—changes take effect immediately
- Built-in, searchable library with 5000+ native fixture profiles
- New fixture profiles available in online fixture library
- Mark favorite fixture profiles new
- Edit an unlimited number of fixture profiles at once
- Profiles can contain any number of fixture modes (also called “personalities”)
- Export and import fixture profiles in Lightkey’s native format
- Import profiles in the third-party formats .ssl2 (Sunlite 2) and .fxt, .pff (DMX Freestyler)
- Assistant for creating new fixture profiles
- Built-in color library includes Lee Filters, GamColor, Roscolux
- Built-in library of 700+ gobos
- Live warnings as profiles are edited
Patching
- Unified user interface for managing DMX universes, Hue bridges, and fixtures
- Set refresh rate and priority (sACN output) for each DMX universe
- Easy patching by drag and drop from the fixture library
- Flexible fixture profiles let you choose the number of pixels for LED strips and matrixes during patching new
- Auto-assigned short names
- Patch multiple identical fixtures to the same DMX address
- Duplicate fixtures and their associated data improved
- Reassign a different profile to existing fixtures
- Export and import DMX fixture information in CSV/TSC format new
- Print an overview of all fixtures