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Hi all,

I am doing an essay about the evolution of lighting control and just wanted to ask why people use Freestyler over other software or physical desks. For example, I use Freestyler because it is far smaller and cheaper to use Freestyler on my netbook with a small USB-DMX dongle than it would be to purchase and transport a traditional lighting desk. I also like the graphical style of the interface.

Thanks in advance

I love it becuase it's powerful (once you know how to use it) and I can create scenes and sequences from the comfort of my coutch and I no longer have to setup my entire lighting rig to program scenes. The fact that it's free is plus too!

Hi,

I use freestyler for the purpose of controlling lighting for the company I work for. It's easy to use and simple to get your head around and a cheaper way than a lighting desk, however, I would prefer to use a lighting desk for some things like I have done in the past.

Overall, it's brilliant software and would recommend it to anyone

Well my story started when one my kids and the mobile disco where he is a part of, bought some additional MH, 16 wash and 8 spots that needed some service.
They had a Martin LJ and this we had to share. At a time it become too complicated and I searched for some freeware that could do the basic control when I was repairing the MHs.
I ended with FreeStyler and a cheap usb dongle.
In the beginning we had some competition as the only thing that works in the kids mind was Martin but each time they created a show then I beat them with FreeStyler.
We now have Freestyler on 4 PCs and Martin LJ on one. We almost never use “Martin LJ” anymore.
In the Freestyler learning process I started documenting my findings and placed them on the WIKI so when you look at wiki there are a lot of pages where I have been writing bit’s on.
I have also been creating a lot of fixtures for the fun of it.
This has given me a view of what direction the fixture moves in. This I collect and pass to the Raphael so he can add some nice features that fit the future.
So when I don’t have anything else to do, all other are looking at football in the TV, I play with FreeStyler, scan the forum and the wiki to see if there is anything I can add.
This is my way of paying a bit back to the FreeStyler community and Raphael.
Raphael is doing a real nice work.

What do we use Freestyler for.?
Well as mentioned above it is a mobile disco and we are using it for the light control to these events.
Bigger events then I attend as LJ.
We are at the moment working on some fixed setups with a simple user interface so one DJ also can operate the light and that is why we have 4 pc’s with FreeStyler.
To me FreeStyler is nice, simple and flexible to work with.
Additional there is still a move in the development. It is not dead as many other freeware where the developer has changed interest and thereby stopped updating it.

I have tried some light desks and they have a lot of nice features. The ones that I have been using don’t have any monitor and when we are using lasers then a monitor is a must so we can see the pattern.
Also Freestyler together with midi and touch interfaces becomes more like a lightdesk and the user can customize the whole setup.
The one I am using consist of 3xBCF2000 a 22” touch and a laptop.
My next extension will be a PC with 4 monitors.

/Jan