Lesson 10. Universes, Art-Net, sACN

This lesson is for those who have grown into a big venue. Two signs that you need it: the channels have run out (there are so many fixtures that 512 channels are no longer enough) or the fixtures connect over the network (modern fixtures and dimmers increasingly have a LAN socket instead of, or alongside, DMX). We will go through both stories as simply as possible.

First, let’s sort out the words

A universe is one DMX line: one cable, one chain of fixtures, 512 channels. Everything we have done so far lived in a single universe — which is enough for a dozen or two fixtures.

But picture 40 moving heads at 16 channels each: that is 640 channels, and they do not fit into one line. The solution was invented long ago: take several universes — several independent lines of 512 channels each. Universe 1, universe 2, universe 3… Each has its own 512 channels and its own addresses (address 1 in universe 1 and address 1 in universe 2 are different fixtures and do not get in each other’s way).

Art-Net and sACN are ways of carrying DMX over an ordinary computer network (down the same Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi router as the internet). What for: one network cable can carry many universes at once — you do not need a separate USB dongle per line. At the fixture end the signal is received either by a node (a little box: network in, DMX sockets out) or by the fixture itself, if it has LAN.

What is the difference between Art-Net and sACN? In practice, almost none: they are two “dialects” of the same thing. Choose the one your node or fixture supports (often they support both; sACN is the newer standard).

Step 1. Spreading the fixtures across universes

Every fixture in Patch has a “Universe” field (next to the address). By default they are all on 1 — everything as before. To move a fixture to the second line, simply set its universe to 2.

📍 Where: Patch → the “Universe” column in the table (or the “Universe” field in the fixture editor).

Fig. 2 — Patch: assigning a universe to a fixture

💡 A check: in Console mode, universe buttons appear at the top — you can look at the channels of each line separately.

Step 2. Switching network output on

Now let’s tell the program where to send those universes.

📍 Where: the DMX button in the header → in the device panel expand the “Art-Net / sACN” subheading.

These are network outputs — unlike a USB dongle they are “always there” (the network is, after all), so they do not connect automatically: they are set up by hand.

If you chose Art-Net:

Field	What to enter
IP	The address of your node (written on the node or in its settings)
Universe 1 →	Which network universe your universe 1 goes to (usually 0 or 1 — check the node’s settings)

If you chose sACN: the same — “Universe 1 →” and the priority (leave it at the default; it only matters when there is more than one source of signal).

💡 You do not have to hunt for the IP by hand. The same panel has a “Find devices on network” button: the program polls the network itself and shows the Art-Net nodes it finds, with their address and their number of outputs. Found yours — pick it from the list, no copying digits off a sticker. Nothing there? Then the node is on a different network or switched off — which is already a hint about where to look.

Chosen, filled in, pressed “Connect” — the DMX status in the header lights up and the light is on its way into the network.

Fig. 3 — The DMX panel: the Art-Net settings (IP, Universe 1 →) — Fig. 3 — The DMX panel: the Art-Net settings

Step 3. How the universes “find” each other

The main mapping rule is simple: the “Universe 1 →” field sets the starting point, and everything after it follows in order by itself.

Say you entered zero in “Universe 1 →”:

In the program	Goes into the network as universe
Universe 1	0
Universe 2	1
Universe 3	2

Enter one and it will be 1, 2, 3. There are no tables to configure: set the base and the rest of the universes line up behind it.

⚠️ Careful: a USB dongle can only do universe 1. If your fixtures are in universes 2 and 3, their output goes over the network (Art-Net/sACN). The two can be combined: universe 1 through the familiar USB adapter, the rest into the network.

Step 4. Checking

The node is connected to the same network as the computer (by cable to the router, or directly).
In the program: “DMX” → Art-Net/sACN configured → “Connect” → the status is lit.
Open the Console, choose universe 2, raise the fader of a fixture’s channel — the fixture on the second line should answer.

No answer? Three common reasons: the node’s IP is wrong; the node and the computer are on different networks (check that they are on the same router); the “Universe 1 →” base does not match the node’s setting (try 0 instead of 1 or the other way round — that is the most common muddle in the Art-Net world).

Let’s sum up

A universe = one DMX line of 512 channels; not enough — take a second, a third…
In Patch every fixture has a “Universe” field — you spread the fixtures across the lines and the addresses are counted separately within each line.
Art-Net/sACN = DMX over an ordinary network: one cable carries many universes, and at the far end there is a node or a fixture with LAN.
The setup is in the DMX panel: the node’s IP plus the “Universe 1 →” base; after that the universes follow in order by themselves (base+1, base+2…).
A USB dongle only outputs universe 1 — the rest go into the network; the two can be combined.

In the next lesson we find out how the AI assistant builds ready scenes, chases and presets from your description.