Obey 40 vs Lixada DMX Controller: Worth Saving $100?

A side-by-side comparison of the Chauvet Obey 40 and the Lixada Show Designer DMX controllers. Watch them both in use and compare to see if its worth saving $100 when you buy the Lixada. (available here: bit.ly/2GPCUsk) You can also buy the mini moving heads shown in this video here: bit.ly/347bbiK

[@GjestarOfficial]

I own the Lixada after having owned a similar controller (generic brand, but it was silver with two round rotating knobs added). It is definitely pocket friendly and does work just as well as any other controller, however it is limited. I would recommend this controller as a first-time user unit to get familiar with dmx then possibly move onto more intricate controllers or programs. I give it a 7/10. Great review! Thank you!

[@LearnLizard]

Helpful feedback. Appreciate your kind words and thanks for watching!

[@davidclark3603]

I have bought one. I agree with what you say. Your tutorials are brilliant. Thanks for saving me a lot if money and teaching me how to work cool lights!

[@LearnLizard]

Thanks very much for those words of encouragement! Glad it was helpful and appreciate you watching...

[@catwhatcher]

Thanks Steve! Learning so much from your videos!

[@LearnLizard]

Appreciate the kind words and glad they are helping!

[@matthewsuhanec73]

Hi Steve, Your the only one taking the time to do these - Please do a tutorial on addressing - I have the basics down but my lights keep shutting off if I don't have them selected. I also bought the mini moving head from your link - I now understand why your audio isn't very clean these things are loud... Great job

[@LearnLizard]

Thanks for the kind words! I was having a similar issue with my budget Slim PARS- it seemed that sometimes they remembered the addressing and sometimes they didn't. It was driving me crazy until I finally discovered this: If I had them under DMX control while I was setting the address they remembered it next time I turned them on, otherwise they would only remember temporarily. (hope that works for you) I agree that a bunch of cooling fans going at the same time can get a little bit loud but lucky for me the music is always so loud it drown them out!!

[@tysoniossi6283]

Man I’m a 24 year Lighting Director that works on huge rigs and tours across the globe and I’ve gta say I really like your videos, you explain things well in a really understandable way(I try to think back when I was green/new to the industry) but I like the reviews n videos especially of the Chinese fixtures n clones. I’m a HUGE fan of the wicked laser 2.5 pro’s, we bought 2 of them and we own 5-35 watt RGB KVANT Lasers, there just so cool, n such a tiny package! Bringing more lasers n lights to people at more affordable prices and explains how it all works for the novice, your doing Gods work my friend lol! Working my way through your videos and definitely made a fan of a 24 year theater/corporate/rock n roll lighting designer! Keep up the great work! And THANK YOU. Would love to see more videos of some of the “clones” of other fixtures on the high end moving spectrum. Alibaba is you friend lol

[@LearnLizard]

Thanks so much for those kind words! I am truly honored that you watch my videos. I'm hoping to do some more reviews of Shehds products in the future- they have some pretty nice "budget" priced fixtures. And I totally agree with you that LaserCubes are really cool. I have more videos planned about them as well!

[@markkthemk]

Thank you for the review! Looks like the Lixada is better option to get into lighting. Is it possible to create scenes that only affect certain fixtures? The scenario: 5 dimmers with natural white light to illuminate the artists on stage and then effects fixtures e.g. RGB led pars/bars, moving heads etc. I would like to change the color of the effects fixtures without affecting the dimmers using the scenes and chases and operate the dimmers manually with the faders. If it isn't possible what would be the best workaround?

[@LearnLizard]

Hi Mark- One way you could accomplish this is to program a scene with the dimmers and the pars/bars in their initial state and then go into programming mode (turn off the dimmers so they are not effected) and manually control the other lights. Another option (which I would try) would be to program a number of different scenes (and chases) but always keep the dimmers the same in each scene. The net effect would be that they will stay unchanged as you select various scenes/chases. Hope that makes sense and appreciate you watching!

[@Nathan_Akers]

Hi Steve. I am new to DMX and I’m trying to learn it for use with theatrical performances. I have been enjoying and learning from your videos. Please keep them coming! I have a few questions: 1. I understand that lights can be daisychained in order to save long cable brands always having to go back to the controller. But since you said the obey40 has a dedicated fog machine jack, does that mean that a fog machine canNOT be daisychained with the lights? 2. Which would you recommend between the obey 40 and obey 70? 3. Since I am new to DMX, and also have a small budget, I want to make sure that I am getting good quality DMX gear that will last. Is there a brand that overall tends to be good quality at descent pricing with good reliability? (i.e. Chauvet vs. proline/venue vs. ADJ vs. etc.). Or do they all tend to be about the same?

[@LearnLizard]

Hi Nathaniel -- thanks for the kind words 1) If you have a DMX fog machine you can daisy chain it into your rig (the dedicated jack on the Obey 40 is specifically for Chauvet fog machines) 2) The Obey 40 and 70 are very similar in the way they function with the 70 having more features and capabilities. If you are new to DMX with a limited budget the Obey 40 should meet your needs for a while. 3) I am most familiar with Chauvet products and have always felt they make a quality product. Really appreciate you watching!

[@clarkpink1955]

Great work steve

[@LearnLizard]

Really appreciate your kind words- Thanks for watching this one!

[@ruralsounds]

Helpful video thanks 👍

[@LearnLizard]

Appreciate you watching

[@DisneyMarkUK]

Hi Steve, what does the reverse polarity switch do please? Today I’ve just received one of these cheap controllers to control my laser but I can’t really get it to do anything. Thanks. Great video as always. Cheers

[@LearnLizard]

Hi Mark- If certain DMX cables are wired wrong (pins 2 & 3 reversed) the polarity can be reversed with the switch to correct. You can test with trial and error. Hope you have the laser up and running by now, and thanks for your kind words.

[@DisneyMarkUK]

LearnLizard Thank you so much, I’ll have a fiddle with it. Keep up the great work mate

[@cedricbonhommet9230]

Thanks a lot from France! 🇫🇷

[@LearnLizard]

Thank you for watching!

[@ichthys962]

Hi Steve. Great video. Love it. I'm new to lighting gear. I have mini moving head and mini spider that I cannot get to work together in single DMX controller. What dmx address did you use on the moving head and on the mini spider?

[@LearnLizard]

Hi and thanks for the kind words. Both the mini moving heads are set to a starting address of 1 and the spider is set to a starting address of 17. Because both the Obey 40 and the Lixada can control 16 channel fixtures, the starting addresses are 1, 16, 33, etc. for "fixture" or "scanner" 1, 2, 3, and so on. Hope that helps and appreciate you watching!

[@ichthys962]

@@LearnLizard Thanks Steve. The address on my mini moving heads and mini spiders are good.. I guess it's my DMX controller or it's the DMX cable.

[@chrisblessing8776]

Our church AV team is new to DMX and lighting. Many of our team are young and we'd like to do more of an entry level brand of lighting. Currently, we are borrowing 4 Chauvets with a 3 channel controller. We also have 2 U kings that we are running as slave lights. The price point of the U kings are more in our price range, and we don't mind starting at those, however, we are noticing that the U kings don't seem to be responding to the controller, when we connected the U Kings to it to see if it would work. Is there something we might be missing, or should we be looking at a different controller? Thank you for your consideration of our question. Also, if there is a better choice of brand, other that U King, that would be budget friendly, we are open to your recommendations. We just don't want to invest and not have a working system.

[@LearnLizard]

Hi- Not sure which UKings you have, but the DMX protocol is cross platform compatible and they should work fine with any DMX controller. It probably has to do with running them as "slaves". I would try daisy chaining them to the Chauvets and giving them their own unique starting address. (matched on the controller) That should get them working. I've never had a UKing light but other inexpensive Chinese brands such as Lixada and Topshine have been working well for my needs and budget. Thanks for watching!

[@gillsimo5610]

Very new to this stuff so it's likely there's something simple that I'm just not getting....both have a midi/add button. I assume this sets the midi channel that the Obey receives on but the Lixada doesn't have any midi input....so what is its midi button for please?

[@LearnLizard]

Hi- You are correct, that button selects the MIDI Channel on the Obey 40. The Lixada controller has no MIDI functionality at all, so either the manufacturers plan to include it in different or updated versions or more likely my guess is that they "copied and pasted" the descriptions from the Obey 40 without catching that naming error.

[@clarkpink1955]

Top work steve

[@LearnLizard]

Thanks very much!

[@TylerMarletteNY]

i’m looking for a cheap board to run moving head lights, I want to just program them to slowly pan and tilt slowly over and over continuously. will one of these boards do that?

[@LearnLizard]

Yes- you would need to program one scene with them panned (or tilted) in one direction, and then another scene with them in a second direction. If you program those scenes into a chase, they will move automatically when you run the chase and you can set the speed with the fader controls.

[@aviationandcoasterkid8446]

Hello i love your videos alot, but is there a way to select like 2 fixtures, and theyll both go but in different directions?

[@LearnLizard]

Hi- The easiest way to do that is to go to the menu controls on the fixture itself and change the "Pan" and/or "Tilt" to something called inverse or reverse. If you change this on just one of the 2 fixtures they will move in opposite directions. Thanks for watching!

[@shantysailor8595]

I use the obey 40, one question sending midi command notes works for all the events untill you use notes 120 to 125 ( the chase commands 1 to 6). The selected chase sticks to the first scene loaded, the chases only work if you press the "auto" button. This is of no use when controlling the unit remotely in the first place. I note some other controllers have a dedicated midi command for the auto button function. Is there a way to fix this ?

[@LearnLizard]

I agree it's of little use if you have to press "auto" for chases. Unfortunately I'm not aware of any workarounds.

[@ElectronicsHikingandJesusTalk]

I think that spending the extra 100 dollars on an Obey 40 is worth it. My Lixada controller can't save scenes and can't blackout and come back to the same channel values. I have no clue why it does this, but it was fine when I first got it.

[@LearnLizard]

Hmmm- thats definitely a bummer. Thanks for sharing so others can consider before buying. So far mine is working fine. Appreciate you watching.

[@EDrmmer]

I am a drummer in a Funk/Soul/Disco band and I am looking for a good quality Hazer. Unfortunately, every internet search comes up with "fog machines". Can you help direct me in this search?

[@LearnLizard]

Hey Karl- I have a Chauvet Hurricane Haze 2D that has worked well for me for years (it needed servicing only once when the pump failed) It puts out a large amount of water based haze (enough for a small club or theater) and makes the beams of my lights and lasers look very good. You will see exactly how it can be controlled by DMX in my upcoming Halloween themed video. Hope that helps and thanks for watching. (keep it funky!)

[@Emtrax.]

Where did you get the stand for the spider light?

[@LearnLizard]

That stand is a simple On-Stage lighting stand like this: www.amazon.com/OnStage-MUS-LS7720BLT-On-Stage-Lighting/dp/B000E2D4SO/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=on+stage+lighting+stand&qid=1584471126&sr=8-3

[@harrydark8]

hi, Steve my language is spanish, I don't understand the english very well, so what is the best controller DMX ¿lizada o obey40?

[@LearnLizard]

Hola, creo que la Lixada es mejor si quieres ahorrar dinero para funciones similares. Si necesitas control MIDI y quieres una calidad de construcción un poco mejor, elegiría el Obey 40. ¡Gracias!

[@harrydark8]

@@LearnLizard muchas gracias

[@julianteran6748]

Hi Steve one question what were the address on the lights

[@LearnLizard]

The first light is set to a starting address of 1 and the second one is set to a starting address of 17 (both controllers are 16 channel machines) Appreciate you watching and commenting...

[@julianteran6748]

@@LearnLizard thanks

[@blackperosn260]

I recommend on getting a DMX 2 USB dongle as there are paid and free software out there that can do all of that and more for a tenth of the price

[@LearnLizard]

One tenth of $45? Wow thats cheap!! I'd love to do a video on that. (and I agree, software based controllers can have way more flexibility than hardware based ones)

[@robhabash]

What are your feelings on hardware vs software controllers?

[@LearnLizard]

I like the feeling of moving physical faders on hardware (as opposed to dragging a mouse or sliding a finger on a touch screen) That being said, I love software controllers for their flexibility and how much more you can program and customize scenes. Here's a video of an inexpensive controller that combines some of the best features of both: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mYnOoaFsqcp1prs Thanks for watching!

[@truthful3777]

Hats off to you for being fair minded!. You don't even condemn the cheap lighting mixer....It does it job fairly..

[@LearnLizard]

Appreciate that, and thanks so much for watching this one!

[@calvinhill7156]

The thickness dosent mean anything if you open it up its basically empty

[@LearnLizard]

Thats interesting- I've never opened up either of them...

[@AndysKitchen]

I Wish It Culd Be 30 Bucks Again :D

[@LearnLizard]

Yes me too :) Here's one that's very similar and is only $43 on Amazon: amzn.to/3w036e0