Show dictionary · Lighting
DMX512
DMX512 (ANSI E1.11) is the standard digital control protocol for stage lighting: one link (universe) carries 512 channels of 8-bit control at 250 kbit/s over an EIA-485 differential pair, daisy-chained from console through fixtures and terminated at the end of the line.
In practice
Every fixture listens at its address for its footprint of channels; universes multiply as rigs grow, and network protocols (sACN, Art-Net) now haul dozens of universes to nodes that output DMX locally. The wiring rules (proper 110-120 ohm cable, termination, 32-device segments, opto-splitters) are where reliability is won or lost.
DMX is one-directional and refreshingly dumb: no acknowledgments, just a repeating stream of levels, which is precisely why it fails gracefully and troubleshoots logically. RDM adds a return channel for discovery and configuration over the same wire; the pinout page covers the physical layer.
How you’ll hear it
"Universe 2 is dead past the mid-stage truss: check the terminator and the split there."
Related resources
Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.