Operating Modes
The IgorBox DMX can play three different roles in a rig. You pick the mode on the controller's Configuration tab in IgorBox Studio, in the DMX section, and the panel lights always show which mode you're in (Indicator Lights).
| Mode | The box is... | DMX out carries | DMX in is used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | the source of the universe | your IgorBox shows | triggers & recording (optional) |
| Buffer | between a console and the rig | the console's signal, with IgorBox overriding just its own channels | the console's signal |
| Fixture | a listener anywhere on someone else's chain | nothing (in is hardwired straight to out) | triggers |
Standard
The everyday mode. Your IgorBox owns the universe: shows, manual control, and Logic Rules drive the fixtures, and nothing else is expected on the line.
You can still enable the DMX input in Standard mode. Incoming DMX doesn't reach your fixtures, but it can fire Logic Rules and be recorded.
Buffer
The mode for rigs you don't fully own. The IgorBox sits between an existing lighting console (or another controller) and the fixtures:
- Everything the console sends passes through to the fixtures, untouched.
- The moment a rule or a manual-control session uses a DMX channel, IgorBox takes over just that channel while the console keeps driving everything else.
- While a show plays, you choose how much of the line the show owns (see below).
This is how you add scares to a rig that already has an operator: the house look stays on the console, and IgorBox reaches in for exactly the fixtures your scene needs, exactly when it needs them.
While a show is playing
In Buffer mode the DMX section of the controller's Configuration tab gains a While a show is playing setting with two options:
- Take over all channels (the default): the show owns the whole DMX line while it runs. The console's signal pauses on every channel and comes back the moment the show ends.
- Only my fixtures: the show only drives the fixtures patched on this controller. Every other channel keeps following your console, even in the middle of a fade.
Pick Only my fixtures when the console operator should keep the house look while your scares fire. Pick Take over all channels when the show is meant to be the whole picture, blackout and all.
If the console goes quiet
When the incoming signal stops, the IgorBox DMX keeps sending the last look it received, so your fixtures don't blink out because a console rebooted or a cable got kicked. IgorBox Studio shows a No signal badge on the controller's DMX In panel and records the outage in the controller's Events tab (see DMX Input).
Because the output never goes dark on console loss, a fixture's own "blackout on DMX loss" or "park on DMX loss" setting will not kick in behind a Buffer-mode IgorBox. If you rely on that behavior, use Fixture mode, whose hardware passthrough preserves it.
In Buffer mode the box expects to be the end of the console's run: the incoming chain terminates into the IgorBox, and a fresh, buffered copy leaves on DMX out. That's why the internal terminator is on by default.
Most rigs never need this next part. Only lift the terminator if some of the console's fixtures must sit past the tap point and receive the raw console signal rather than the buffered copy. The input then becomes an inline tap (a listening point in the middle of the chain instead of the end of it), and you carry the signal onward yourself: from the input WAGO terminals (they're wired to the same line as the input XLR) or with a Y-cable on the input XLR. If you think you need this and have questions, contact us!
Failsafe Buffer Operation
When an IgorBox DMX is offline, the Input and Output are connected together electrically through physical relays internally. When the controller boots up, it establishes the input stream, sets up its internal buffer and then breaks the electrical connection to start sending its buffer on the output side.
This means that if you are buffering a universe through the IgorBox DMX and the controller loses power or reboots for some reason, the universe being buffered is sent downstream until the controller comes back up and takes over the buffering operation. The end result is everything continues to work.
Fixture
The box behaves like a fixture in someone else's chain: it listens. Incoming DMX can fire Logic Rules, like "when the console brings channel 40 above 50%, trigger my show." Meanwhile the DMX in is hardwired straight through to the DMX out, so the chain continues past the box as if it weren't there.
Use it to make a console cue the trigger for an entire IgorBox scene: audio, relays, and all.
In this mode the input and output are electrically connected and the box's own transmitter is silent. The terminator decides where the box sits: on, and the controller is the end of the line; off, and it's just another fixture in the middle, with DMX out continuing to the next fixture in the chain.
Recording
In Buffer mode, or Standard mode with the DMX input enabled, the IgorBox can record incoming DMX: capture what a console (or a rented programmer's board) is sending, then turn it into an IgorBox show you can edit and replay. Fixture mode can't record; its hardware passthrough bypasses clean capture. See Recording from a Console.