Introduction to QLC+

QLC+ is a feee software package for controlling DMX-512 systems. You can connect it to your system via a number of different interfaces: USB-to-DMX adapters, DMX-to-Ethernet adapters, WiFi, Ethernet, and more. It’s useful as a diagnostic tool when you need to send DMX from your laptop without doing any programming. Though there are other more advance DMX controller apps on the market, QLC+ offers a simple interface to test with.

The notes here work with release 4.12.6.

After installing QLC+ and launching the application, you will see the window shown in Figure 1. Select Q Light Controller Plus.

Figure 1. QLC+ intro screen

Inputs / Outputs

QLC+ is able to accept a variety of different control inputs (such as Arduino-based lighting controllers) and then output a number of different lighting control protocols (DMX, ArtNet, Streaming-ACN, etc.) To set up an Input or Output, first select the “Inputs / Outputs” tab on the bottom bar of the window. Figure 2 shows the QLC+ inputs and outputs panel. These are all the interfaces that the program can use to talk to our DMX devices.

Figure 2. QLC+ Inputs/outputs panel.

Setting up a E1.31 (Streaming-ACN) Output

To create a Streaming ACN (also known sACN or as E1.31) output from the “Inputs / Outputs” panel, first click the Output radio button next to E1.31. Note that there are two E1.31 Plugins. One of them should list 127.0.0.1 (your computer’s localhost address) as the device. The other should list your computer’s IP on the local network (usually 192.168.X.XXX on a home network or 10.XX.XX.XX or 172.XX.XX.XX on an enterprise network such as NYU). Click the “Output” radio button on the second E1.31 option (the one on your local network).

Then, double click on this connection and you will be presented with a configuration screen which looks like this:

Figure 3 shows the configuration panel for one of the I/O interfaces, spefifically your WiFi interface.

Figure 3. Configuring your WiFi interface for E1.31.

By default, sACN systems assume you’re operating over a dedicated subnet with no other devices other than your controller and the DMX devices you want to control. As a result, the default network setting is to send packets to the multicast address on the subnet, which is XX.XX.XX.255. If you’re sending sACN messages on a shared network, or worse, the internet at large, you definitely don’t want to multicast. Instead, send to a specific address. To connect to a specific output device accepting E1.31 as an input, uncheck the Multicast radio button and enter the IP address and port of your device.

Controlling Lights

Finally, switch over to the “Simple Desk” tab at the bottom of the screen to use QLC+’s lighting board. This will now allow you to send lighting control to the Streaming-ACN output you specified in the “Inputs / Outputs” tab.

Figure 4 shows the simple light control desk.

Figure 4. QLC+ Simple Light Control Desk