What is DMX Universe?
November 17, 2020
What is DMX Universe?
To have a better understanding, you should know what is a dmx address (channel) first.
An address is the location in the 512-channel
Think of a DMX “Channel” as a “Color”, so if you have an RGB light it would use 3 “Channels” or “Colors”.
You can control up to 170 RGB Lights in a single DMX universe or up to 512 single color lights in one DMX universe.
Each fixture is specifically addressed within the 512 dmc channels by using a DMX Addressing box, and you program your light scenes according to the DMX address that you assigned to each fixture.
A universe of DMX is made of 512 dmx channels.
On some dmx lighting controllers, you may see writing that says “Universe 1”, “Universe 2”, or “DMX 1”, “DMX 2”, etc, but what in the world is that?
When you finish out the first universe of 512, you move over to the 2nd universe and restart at address 1.
Universes can’t be combined together, and each universe needs its own DMX cable run.
Many simple lighting controllers only have 1 universe, so if you are just starting out, you probably don’t need a great understanding of DMX 512 universes.
