Do I need Show Buddy Setlist or Show Buddy Active?
Show Buddy Active is a DMX lighting controller. You use it to program lighting "looks", and switch between those looks manually at showtime (using a footswitch, MIDI controller, or computer mouse/keyboard). Show Buddy Active can also play back video clips to a projector.
Show Buddy Setlist automates your shows. It plays your audio backing tracks, organises your songs into sets, displays lyrics, and controls your lighting & MIDI equipment for a fully synchronised hands-free show.
If you just want manual control of your lighting rig, choose Show Buddy Active.
If you want to pre-program your full show (leaving you free to perform while the software takes care of your audio & lighting) then choose both Show Buddy Setlist + Show Buddy Active.
What happened to Show Buddy?
Show Buddy Setlist is the new name for Show Buddy. If you already own a Show Buddy license, you can upgrade to Show Buddy Setlist for free. Your existing programming will remain intact. Grab the latest software here.
What happened to DMXIS?
DMXIS hardware is no longer being manufactured. We now recommend Show Buddy Active for DMX lighting control.
If you currently use DMXIS, you can switch to using Show Buddy Active and import your existing DMXIS banks & presets. Your blue DMXIS box will work with Show Buddy Active, but note the question below regarding discontinued support for the footswitch socket.
Licensing questions
Can I run my license on more than one computer?
Your Show Buddy Active license is personal to you. You can install your license on multiple computers, if you are the main user, and only one computer will be in use at any time.
For example, say you run lighting for your band, and need to install your Show Buddy Active license onto a home computer for programming, a laptop for running live gigs, and a backup laptop for emergency use. This is fine, as you are the main user of all 3 computers.
However, you could not then install your license on a computer at your church for other people to use. This would require a second license for the church.
Do I need an internet connection to use Show Buddy Active?
No. Once you unlock your license on your computer, Show Buddy Active is yours to run forever.
Show Buddy Active never "phones home" to check your license details. Your license will never time out, or be disabled by any other means. If you are at a gig with no Internet access, your software will always run fine.
Hardware questions
What hardware do I need to use?
Show Buddy Active can control one universe of DMX lighting via any Enttec PRO / Open DMX compatible hardware interface.
To control multiple universes, an Art-Net box is required.
We recommend using Art-Net if you intend to run professional shows. As a network based protocol, Art-Net takes a little more effort to configure compared to a USB interface, but offers better reliability. Simple Art-Net interfaces like the Chauvet DMX-AN2 give multiple universes of DMX output at a reasonable price point.
Enttec USB PRO compatible boxes are reliable and convenient. However, you are limited to only one universe of DMX output.
Open DMX interfaces (the original Enttec box, or a compatible 3rd party interface) are mainly designed for hobby applications. They are an affordable way to experiment with lighting, but don't have the reliability & feature set of the more expensive PRO boxes.
Will cheap interfaces from eBay work?
Perhaps
Lots of cheap unbranded 3rd party interfaces are available from online marketplaces. However, quality can vary, and it's often difficult to tell if they are suitable as vendors rarely state what standards they implement. As always, buyer beware!
A top tip is to look for an interface that uses the FT232RL chip, or is supplied with FTDI software drivers. This generally indicates an Open DMX clone, which should work fine with Show Buddy Active.
3rd party interfaces that use non-FTDI chips (for example the PL2303) are NOT compatible with our software.
How do I send video to a projector?
With a Show Buddy Active Projection license, you can play video as well as control DMX lighting.
This is easy to set up - simply connect your projector to your computer as recommended by the manufacturer. As most projectors tend to use HDMI or VGA connectors, you will often need to use a suitable adaptor cable (e.g. to connect to the USB-C port on your laptop).
Once connected, setup Mac or Windows to use your projector as an extended desktop. Then, click on the ‘monitor’ icon (top-right in the Show Buddy Active visualiser) to open the video window, and drag that window onto the projector section of the desktop. Finally, click anywhere in the window to make it full-screen.
I use a footswitch connected to the DMXIS box. Where did the footswitch settings go in the software?
Hardware support in Show Buddy Active has changed significantly, since the DMXIS interface box is no longer available to purchase. The footswitch socket of the old DMXIS hardware is no longer supported.
Show Buddy Active now supports a wider range of generic DMX interfaces (see above), and footswitch control is now via the new "Remote Control" button. You can use any generic PC USB foot pedal or a MIDI footswitch to remotely control Show Buddy Active.
Help! My Open DMX box is not working on my Mac.
If Show Buddy Active appears to connect to your Open DMX box, but does not transmit data, this may be due due to a clash between Show Buddy Active and Apple's USB driver.
The solution is to download and install the D2xxHelper utility from the official FTDI website.
Software questions
How do I send video from Show Buddy Active to my projector?
Connect and configure your projector as described above. Then, click the "monitor" icon (upper-right on the visualiser) to open the video window. Finally, drag the video window to your projector and click on it to make it full-screen.
How do I convert my video footage to use in Show Buddy?
We recommend the open source application HandBrake as the tool of choice for converting video footage.
Show Buddy Active can play back webm video files, encoded in the VP8 or VP9 format. However, we highly recommend encoding videos using VP8, as it is more efficient than VP9 and less demanding on your CPU. Also, encode at the lowest resolution you need. There's no point in encoding a video at 4K resolution, to then play it back on a 1024x768 projector.
Is it best to program shows using short video clips, or full videos lasting the full song length?
If you wish, you can create presets that only play long videos and do nothing with your lights. Then you can trigger videos and lighting independently.
However, things get much more interesting if you add short video clips to your lighting presets.
We recommend you think of your projector as an extra intelligent fixture in your lighting rig, and think of each SBA preset as being a cohesive look, containing both DMX lighting and video content. This way, when you crossfade between SBA presets the video clips will automatically crossfade to match your lighting. When you move or copy presets on your timeline, your video content will instantly update to match. You will also be able to reuse fuill looks (with lifghting and video content) across songs much more easily.
Some of the advanced SBA video techniques also work best with short clips. You can layer multiple clips and images into a single preset. For example, you could have an "Intro" preset which sets up your pre-show lighting, and plays a short video loop with your band logo layered on top. You can even animate video layers to match the tempo of the current audio.
Another fun technique to try out is pixelmapping - that is, sending video clips to both the projector and your DMX lights. This can make your entire DMX rig react in realtime to the video clip. Here are a couple of real examples:
How do I send video from Show Buddy Active to my projector?
Can we run Show Buddy Active with two external monitors - one to let ourt singer see the SBA window, and another to run the projector for the audience?
Yes, assuming your laptop supports two external screens. Just configure your monitor screen as a mirror, and your projector as an extended desktop. Then drag the SBA video window over to the projector. Both Windows and macOS support this monitor setup:
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 54b0335b3a
- https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/m ... f905a1/mac
Show Buddy Active plug-in questions
I'm using automation to control SBA faders. Why is the latency so high?
The Show Buddy Active window refreshes at a slow rate to minimise CPU load. But DMX data is always transmitted at full speed, with high priority and low latency.
See this short demo on YouTube. Notice the labels under the SBA channel faders update slowly. But the 'ArtNetMon' app (displaying the DMX data stream from SBA) shows the data running reliably with low latency.