RDM Devices

The RDM Devices panel lists every ANSI E1.20-2010 responder that Spectralite finds behind a discovered Art-Net node. Each row carries the responder's reported identity, current DMX start address, footprint, active personality, the universe it was found on, and the age of the last response. When you select a row, an editor opens for the parameters that the device exposes.

Related concept: Output.

In the Fixtures workspace preset, the panel is a tab next to the Spectralite Controllers panel. To add it to any other workspace, use Window > Add panel > RDM Devices.

ToolbarCopy Anchor Link

The panel toolbar holds all the discovery controls.

• Search, on the left, filters the table by manufacturer, model, label, or UID substring.

• Rescan all asks every discovered Art-Net node to flush its cached table and re-run discovery across each RDM-enabled universe it exposes. Use it in these cases:

  • A responder is connected but does not appear.
  • A node still reports a UID that you removed.
  • You recabled a DMX run.

  While a discovery is in flight, the button reads Rescanning… and is disabled.

• Refresh asks every discovered node for the table it knows now, across each universe it exposes. It does not re-run discovery. Use it to check quickly whether anything changed. Spectralite sends the same request every thirty seconds, so the list stays current without a manual refresh.

• Outputs opens a popover that lists every Art-Net output. Each row shows the output name, a badge with the age of its last full discovery (never until one runs), and a Rescan button. Rescan runs a full discovery on that single output. The discovery covers every RDM-enabled universe exposed by the nodes that Spectralite reaches through it. When no Art-Net output is configured, the popover shows a one-line notice and the table stays empty.

Device columnsCopy Anchor Link

Click a column header to sort by that column. Each cell shows the responder's most recent answer to the matching PID.

• Manufacturer comes from MANUFACTURER_LABEL (PID 0x0081).
• Model comes from DEVICE_MODEL_DESCRIPTION (PID 0x0080).
• Label comes from DEVICE_LABEL (PID 0x0082). You can edit it on devices that advertise the PID.
• Address is the current DMX_START_ADDRESS (PID 0x00F0). You can edit it on any device with a DMX footprint.
• Footprint is the number of DMX channels the device consumes in its current personality, from DEVICE_INFO.
• Personality shows the active personality's mode name and channel count, from DMX_PERSONALITY_DESCRIPTION (PID 0x00E1). Until that description arrives, it shows the current personality number and total count from DMX_PERSONALITY (PID 0x00E0). You can edit it on devices that advertise the PID.
• Universe is the universe (Art-Net port-address) the device was found on. Discovery scans every universe a connected node exposes, so a device appears here whatever universe it is patched to.
• Output is the display name of the Art-Net output the device was found through.
• Last seen is the age of the most recent inbound RDM response from this device.
• Identifying shows whether the device's IDENTIFY_DEVICE PID is set to on.

Editing a deviceCopy Anchor Link

When you click a row, the editor pane opens underneath the table. The controls in it depend on what the device exposes. The DMX address control appears for any device with a footprint greater than zero. The Identify toggle appears for every RDM device.

ANSI E1.20 requires every responder to support IDENTIFY_DEVICE. It also requires DMX_START_ADDRESS for any device that occupies DMX channels. Because these two are required, responders do not list them in SUPPORTED_PARAMETERS. The Label and Personality controls are for optional parameters. The Label control appears when the device advertises DEVICE_LABEL. The Personality control appears when it advertises DMX_PERSONALITY (PID 0x00E0).

• Device label (PID 0x0082) takes up to 32 characters. An empty label is allowed.
• DMX address (PID 0x00F0) takes 1 through 512. The editor rejects a value that would push the device past channel 512 in its current personality.
• Personality (PID 0x00E0) lists the personalities the device returned through DMX_PERSONALITY_DESCRIPTION. A personality change usually also changes the footprint, so check the address afterwards.
• Identify (PID 0x1000) toggles the device's locate mode. Most fixtures respond by flashing or sweeping.

When you edit a value, the editor stages a draft. Nothing reaches the fixture until you apply it. A changed field shows an apply control, and text and number fields also apply on Enter. To drop the draft back to the device's current value, press Esc or use the revert control. The Identify toggle is momentary and applies as soon as you flip it.

When you apply, the field sends a single RDM SET to the node and the universe the device was found on. It shows an updating state until the responder confirms the stored value with a follow-up read. A confirmed write flashes briefly and then shows the value that the responder reports. As a result, a device that clamps or rejects an edit shows its actual stored value. If the responder refuses a write or the write times out, the field shows as failed. The editor then reverts the draft and shows the NACK reason, so you can try again.

SensorsCopy Anchor Link

Devices that report sensors through DEVICE_INFO list their readings in a Sensors block at the bottom of the editor pane. The block has one entry per sensor. Each entry shows the sensor's description (from SENSOR_DEFINITION, PID 0x0200) and its current value in the unit the device declares. Spectralite reads each value through SENSOR_VALUE (PID 0x0201) every five seconds.

A Spectralite Node reports its internal temperature, uptime, free heap, and DMX frame rate this way. Third-party responders expose whatever sensors their firmware defines. If a reading gets no refresh within thirty seconds, Spectralite dims it and sets it in italics to flag that it may be stale.

What Spectralite supportsCopy Anchor Link

Spectralite speaks RDM over Art-Net. The PID set covers:

• discovery: DISC_UNIQUE_BRANCH, DISC_MUTE, and DISC_UN_MUTE, all handled by the Art-Net node
• enumeration: SUPPORTED_PARAMETERS, DEVICE_INFO, MANUFACTURER_LABEL, DEVICE_MODEL_DESCRIPTION, SOFTWARE_VERSION_LABEL, and DMX_PERSONALITY_DESCRIPTION
• sensors: SENSOR_DEFINITION and SENSOR_VALUE
• the four editable PIDs above

Spectralite runs discovery through the Art-Net nodes that it finds. It asks each node to scan every RDM-enabled universe that the node exposes, so it finds fixtures whatever universe they are patched to. Because Spectralite can only ask nodes that it already knows about, Art-Net node discovery must be on. The toggle for it is in the Art-Net Nodes panel. E1.31 is streaming-only, so sACN does not carry RDM, and an Art-Net output must also be enabled. A rig can stream over sACN and run RDM over Art-Net at the same time.

TroubleshootingCopy Anchor Link

Device does not appearCopy Anchor Link

1. Check that an Art-Net output is configured and enabled in Edit > Outputs.
2. Make sure that Art-Net node discovery is enabled and that the node appears in the Art-Net Nodes panel. RDM discovery asks only nodes that Spectralite already discovered. A node missing from that panel gives no RDM devices.
3. Check that the Art-Net output is bound to the interface the node is on. Spectralite discovers a node on a non-default NIC only when an output uses that interface.
4. Check that the Art-Net node is on the same subnet as the interface that Spectralite polls it from. Many nodes drop RDM packets that cross subnet boundaries even when DMX still routes.
5. To force the node to re-run discovery, click Rescan all. You can also open Outputs in the toolbar and rescan the single output.
6. Make sure that the responder is RDM-capable. Many older fixtures speak DMX only.

Edit appears to do nothingCopy Anchor Link

Some fixtures report a PID in SUPPORTED_PARAMETERS but reject the value without an error. Check the row's tooltip for a last_error. If the field clears at once, the device accepted the SET but ignored it. Check the fixture manual for the values the PID accepts.

Personality change moves my fixtureCopy Anchor Link

A personality change can also change DMX footprint. The DMX address you set before the change may then overlap with another fixture or fall past channel 512. After you switch personality, check the address in the Address Space panel.

Related panelsCopy Anchor Link

• Spectralite Controllers: Spectralite hardware discovery, separate from third-party RDM.
• Address Space: see where each fixture lands after you edit its DMX address.
• Fixtures: add a project fixture for an RDM-addressed device.