Looking for a manual? User manuals, fixture profiles, and repair guides for every Both Lighting USA product.

New: SQ Series

Get to know the SQ Series

Our newest uplights add Warm White and Lime chipsets for true-to-life color, work with the BLX Pro and legacy wireless DMX, and ship with a magnetic frost filter. Start with these walkthroughs.

Warm White + Lime chipsets
BLX Pro & legacy wireless DMX
Magnetic frost filter
SQ-4 IP water resistant

Shop the SQ Series BLX Pro Transmitter

SQ Series

First Unboxing! Don't Buy a Light Until You See the SQ Series

SQ Series

SQ-4 IP Uplight: Fixture Settings Overview and Demo

SQ + BLX Pro

How to Use the BLX Pro on the SQ-4 IP

SQ + BLX Pro

Quick Tip: Connect Your BLX Pro to Your SQ-4 IP

BLX Pro

First Look: Our New BLX Pro Wireless DMX Transmitter

BLX Pro

Unboxing the New BLX Pro Transmitter

Education Hub

Making lighting easy — for real

We're not just here to sell you fixtures. Learn DMX, wireless DMX, and how to build a rig that pays for itself — from the same material we teach at DJ conferences. Free, no signup.

0Video tutorials

0Guides & articles

0Conference decks

2 yrWarranty & USA support

The library

Every tutorial, guide, and deck we have, in one place. Search it or filter by track.

Start here: DMX in plain English

Almost everything else on this page assumes you know this much. It takes about four minutes.

What DMX actually is

DMX512 — "Digital Multiplex" — is just a language your controller uses to talk to your lights over a single cable. One cable run is called a universe, and a universe carries 512 channels.

Think of it as 512 numbered dimmer knobs travelling down one wire. Each fixture listens to the handful of knobs you assign it.

Address vs. channel

This trips up everyone. The address is where a fixture starts listening — a number from 1 to 512 that you set on the fixture itself. The channels are what it does with the numbers that follow.

Each channel carries a value from 0 to 255. So a fixture in a 4-channel mode addressed at 1 uses channels 1–4; the next one goes at 5, not 2.

Sound active vs. DMX

Sound active means the fixture picks its own colors off the music. It's free and it's instant — and you have no say in what it does. It will flash red during the first dance.

DMX means you decide. That control is the difference between "some lights" and a custom experience — and it's the difference clients pay for.

XLR vs. DMX cable

A 3-pin DMX cable and a 3-pin mic cable look identical, and in a pinch a mic cable often works. It isn't built for data, so it's the first thing to suspect when a fixture flickers or drops out.

You'll also see 5-pin DMX (pins 4 and 5 usually unused) and RDM, which lets a controller talk back to a fixture instead of only shouting at it.

Wireless DMX & CRMX

Wireless DMX sends that same signal over 2.4 GHz, so no cable crosses your dance floor. A transmitter plugs into your controller; a receiver sits in (or on) each fixture.

Worth knowing: all CRMX is wireless DMX, but not all wireless DMX is CRMX. Mixing brands is where most range and drop-out complaints come from.

Why any of this pays

Control is the hinge. Uplights get you booked; control is what lets you sell a custom look instead of a rental. Clients never ask for DMX — they pay for the result it makes possible.

And if you'd rather not learn programming at all, that's a solved problem — see below.

One universe, three fixtures, four channels each. Notice fixture two starts at 5, not 2 — every fixture claims as many channels as its mode uses, so always count up from the mode you actually selected, never from the number of fixtures.

The lighting money ladder

Start simple, scale up, charge more. This is the build order we teach on stage — every rung pays for the next one, so you never buy gear you can't bill for.

Level 1

Uplights & wash

The most requested add-on there is, and the easiest money you'll ever make. Your entry into real profit.

$200–$800 / event

Level 2

Control (DMX & software)

Control = customization = a higher price. Clients don't ask for DMX; they pay for a custom experience.

Unlocks the rest

Level 3

Movers

This is where you separate yourself from every other DJ bidding on the job.

+$300–$1,000 / event

Level 4

Wow factor — tubes, bars, eye candy

The gear clients photograph and post. This is what gets you referrals.

Drives referrals

Level 5

Special FX

Cold sparks, dancing on clouds, CO2. Sell them as exclusive moments, not as equipment.

+$300–$1,500+ / event

Our conference presentations

The full decks we present at DJ conferences — the same slides, free to page through.

45 slides · most current

Lighting Presentation 2026

The latest version, built around the money ladder, modern battery and CRMX gear, and packaging your add-ons.

Open the deck 22 slides · software session

SoundSwitch Deep Dive

Our DJ's Assemble session on SoundSwitch: fixtures, attribute cues, visualizers, and running it live.

Open the deck

Don't want to learn programming?

You still have to understand DMX — but you don't have to program a single cue. Our pre-programmed project files drop straight into SoundSwitch and run your show.