DMX512, commonly called DMX, is a digital lighting-control protocol standardized as ANSI E1.11 (DMX512-A). A universe carries up to 512 control slots, often called DMX channels.
Address and personality
A fixture’s starting address identifies the first slot it uses. Its personality or operating mode determines how many slots it occupies and what they control, such as intensity, CCT, colour or effects. The controller’s profile must match the fixture’s selected mode.
Practical example
A fixture using 8 slots and starting at address 101 occupies 101–108. The next independently controlled fixture could start at 109. A fixture using 16-bit control may use two slots for one parameter, so “512 channels” does not mean 512 multi-parameter fixtures.
DMX and RDM
Ordinary DMX control and RDM management perform different jobs. RDM adds compatible discovery, configuration and feedback. When a fixture ignores or misinterprets commands, check its universe, address and personality before assuming the hardware has failed.
Related terms
RDM (Remote Device Management) · PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation) · CCT (Correlated Colour Temperature) · DMX Address · DMX Universe · DMX Personality · CRMX · Art-Net · sACN