What's in LMX.

Programming

Command line and graphical programming

The command line and graphical interface stay in sync.

The graphical side has patch tables, a programmer, cue and fixture inspectors, an effect editor and fader banks. The command line sits next to it, with console-style syntax, autocomplete, usage hints and did-you-mean suggestions on every command. Type something and the GUI follows; click something and the command line shows what you did.

The first tab in the programmer is Quick Access, which shows a tile for every palette, preset, SFX and target that applies to whatever you've got selected. Click a tile to apply it, click again to take it off, or right-click to put it on a fader and bring it in at a percentage.

Select by range or by group (FIXTURE 1 THRU 8, GROUP 2 + 3) and fan values across the selection. Wings and blocks let a bar fan symmetrically from its centre, or a twelve-lamp bar move in six steps. BLIND builds the next look without changing anything on stage, and HIGHLIGHT and SOLO confirm you have the right fixture.

Cues & tracking

Tracking cue lists with cue parts, follows and blocks

Build tracking cue lists with parts, follows and blocks.

Cues store what changed, and values track forward until a later cue restates them, so an edit to cue 1 carries through the rest of the ballad. Put a BLOCK on a cue wherever you want tracking to stop. Decimal numbering (STORE CUE 12.5) slots a cue in between two others without touching anything after it, and when you do want to renumber, cues, palettes, presets, SFX and master frequencies can all be renumbered without breaking any cross-references.

Cue parts split a cue into sections, each with its own fade, delay and release times, and UPDATE CUE can merge or replace per part, labels and timing included. Follow, delay and jump cues let the stack run itself, whether that's a half-second follow in a scene change or a loop that keeps the foyer lit all evening. Premove moves dark fixtures into position ahead of their cue, with a configurable lookahead and fade, and you can turn it off per part when you want the move to be seen.

Effects engine

Lighting effects engine with waveforms, chases and BPM sync

Adjust running effects without restarting them or losing phase.

Build waveform effects - sine, sawtooth, square, pulse, random and others - on any attribute, from pan and tilt to intensity, colour, zoom, iris and gobo. Or build step chases with colours, gobos and a different intensity per step. Spread, wings, blocks and phase control how the effect moves across the rig.

Effect templates aren't tied to a fixture type, so you can apply one in the programmer, record it into cues and presets, or put it on a fader. Edit the template and every running copy changes with it, live, without restarting or losing phase, so you can tune an effect while it's on stage in front of you. Link effects to a shared master frequency and one command retimes all of them, which helps when the band plays it faster than they did in rehearsal: UPDATE FREQUENCY 1 BPM 128.

Visualiser & XYZ

3D lighting visualiser and XYZ position targets

Build and preview cues in the 3D visualiser before rigging.

The built-in 3D visualiser is hardware-accelerated and renders beams, colour, gobos, haze, shadows and reflections over GDTF-accurate fixture models, with procedural people and truss for scale. Build a cue stack at the kitchen table and walk into the venue with the show already roughed in. It keeps up while you work: the pass that used to make the desk sluggish with the 3D window open now takes under 2 ms on a 496-fixture rig. For a second screen, it can run on its own machine fed over Art-Net.

The visualiser can also preview a blind edit. Either merge it into the live scene so you see it in context, or view it on its own with everything you're not holding darkened, while Art-Net, sACN and USB carry on sending the real look to the rig.

Calibrate a mover against four known points on the stage and LMX works out where it is really hung and which way it is pointing. From then on you aim at named places like “Vocal spot” or “Drum kit” instead of raw pan and tilt values, and a cue can hold a live reference to a target, so if the target moves or the fixture is re-rigged, every cue re-solves itself. The Target window edits positions while the show is running, which is how you drive a follow spot from the desk.

Phone remote

Remote control from your phone, tablet or laptop

Control playback, faders and position targets from a browser on the same network.

LMX serves a web page to anything on the same network with a browser, so the show comes with you: out into the auditorium to see what the audience sees, onto the stage to set a mark, or into the wings on a tech day. There is no app to install and nothing to pair. Turn it on in Configuration, scan the QR code the desk shows on screen, and your phone is connected.

It has three tabs. Playback shows the whole cue list, so you can tap a cue to take a rehearsal from that point, with GO, STOP, the grand master, and a blackout button you hold for a second instead of tapping, so a stray touch in the dark can't put the show out. Faders shows the page the desk is on, one strip per fader, with page chips and a FLASH that is held rather than latched. Targets runs a focus session from the floor: pick a target, capture fixtures to it, highlight them to see which fixture you have, then drag the target across a plan of your stage with the beams following, and either keep the move or drop it.

Everything on it comes straight from the desk. Green is the live cue and amber is the one GO will fire next, the faders are the console's own faders, and the plan is the Target Editor's, rotated the way you set it at the desk. Pinch to zoom in on a crowded bar. The remote can run and focus the show but it can't store anything, so it can never record over your work, and a target you moved and then walked away from goes back to where the show holds it.

From patch to show

Generate groups, palettes and presets from your patch

Generate groups, palettes and presets from the patch.

Most desks hand you a patch and an empty show and leave you to it. LMX reads the rig you have just patched and builds a starting point from it: groups, palettes, presets, targets, SFX and position looks, all at once or just the parts you ask for. On a 496-fixture rig that is 138 groups, 54 palettes, 10 targets, 11 effects and 36 position looks you didn't have to build during the get-in.

It works out where each light hangs, so you get a group per bar, per boom and per side run, plus groups by role, fixture type and odd/even split, each ordered along the bar. Fan across one and the move sweeps the room instead of jumping around in patch order. Position looks are stored as a centre plus a fan, the same as one you'd build by hand, so they stay editable instead of being baked into numbers.

Nothing happens without you seeing it first. A preview lists everything that would be built and says why anything was skipped, and any name you have already used is left alone. When six extra movers turn up on the truck, patch them and generate again to fill in the gaps.