# RDMBench: everything on this site > A desktop app for diagnosing DMX/RDM lighting fixtures at the repair bench. Plug a fixture into an Enttec DMX USB Pro and get a full report — identity, faults, sensors against their limits, and configuration — as a one-shot snapshot or as live monitoring over time. This file inlines the Markdown of every page on https://www.rdmbench.com/. The index is https://www.rdmbench.com/llms.txt. --- Source: ## At a glance - **Runs on:** macOS 15 Sequoia or later, Apple silicon - **Other platforms:** Windows and Linux are planned and not started - **Needs:** An Enttec DMX USB Pro with its DMX/RDM firmware (major version 2) - **Price:** Free - **Download:** https://www.rdmbench.com/download/macos - **AI assistants:** A built-in MCP server that runs on the bench computer, for Claude, Cursor, VS Code and Claude Code ![RDMBench's report on a simulated Martin MAC Aura: rated OK, five sensors inside their normal ranges, DMX address 1 in the 25-channel Standard personality, and the complaint 'Wrong colors' answered with: nothing the fixture reports explains it; compare the personality with the desk's patch.](https://www.rdmbench.com/images/app/report-light.webp) *The report, on the built-in simulator.* ## What a report holds The report reads the fixture over RDM (ANSI E1.20) and puts the answer to the tech's question first. - **Came in for.** The customer's complaint, picked from a list, and then the lines of the report that explain it, or a plain "nothing the fixture reports explains this; look at the line". - **Status.** One green, yellow or red rollup, from the fixture's own status messages and its sensors against their limits. - **Sensors.** Temperatures, voltages and the rest, flagged near or at their limits. - **Configuration.** DMX address and personality, what each channel of that personality does, and, with the fixture's GDTF file, what a lighting desk calls that mode. A wrong mode or address is often the whole fault. ## What it remembers Every report is kept on the bench computer, under the unit it came from. Two reports of the same unit can be compared, and a unit's history read back when it returns. ## Where to go next - [Download](/download/): the newest build, and how updates work. - [Requirements](/requirements/): the Mac, the widget's firmware, and the terminator. - [Assistants](/assistants/): connecting Claude, Cursor, VS Code or Claude Code to the bench. - [Why RDMBench](/why/): what it does that other tools don't, and what it is not. ## What it is not - Not a handheld tester. It runs on a computer at the bench or the desk; a pocket RDM tester is the tool for the truss. - Not show control or rig patching. It works on a live rig, but it is built for one fixture at a time, read in depth. - Not a maker's own service tool. For Martin fixtures, Martin Companion knows Martin's own status codes, private parameters and spares better than any cross-brand tool. - Not a hosted service. Reports are kept on the bench computer, and the MCP server runs there too. --- Source: # Download > The newest build of RDMBench for Mac, signed, notarized, and updated by Sparkle. - **Address:** https://www.rdmbench.com/download/macos - **Runs on:** macOS 15 Sequoia or later, Apple silicon - **Needs:** An Enttec DMX USB Pro with its DMX/RDM firmware (major version 2) - **Price:** Free **[Download RDMBench for Mac](/download/macos).** That address always answers with the newest build, so it is the one to link and the one to give an assistant. ![RDMBench's report on a simulated Martin MAC Aura: rated OK, five sensors inside their normal ranges, DMX address 1 in the 25-channel Standard personality, and the complaint 'Wrong colors' answered with: nothing the fixture reports explains it; compare the personality with the desk's patch.](https://www.rdmbench.com/images/app/report-light.webp) *The report, on the built-in simulator. No widget needed to see it.* ## What you get A disk image with `RDMBench.app` in it. Drag the app to Applications. - **Signed and notarized.** The app and the disk image are signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple, and the ticket is stapled, so Gatekeeper passes it on a bench with no internet. - **Not on the Mac App Store.** The App Store's sandbox does not fit the app, so it is distributed directly. - **Inside the app:** the MCP server for AI assistants ([Assistants](/assistants/)) and the Claude Desktop extension that installs it. ## Updates RDMBench checks for a new version once a day: one request to `updates.rdmbench.com` for the list of versions. A newer one is offered, never installed without asking, and every update is checked against RDMBench's signature before it is opened. - Turn the check off in **Settings → General → Updates**. - Check by hand with **RDMBench → Check for Updates…**. ## Try it without a widget In the Connect sheet, **Use Simulator** connects to three simulated fixtures: a moving head, a 4-channel dimmer and a dimmer rack. Every screenshot on this site is the simulator. What a real bench needs is on [Requirements](/requirements/). --- Source: # Requirements > The Mac, the widget and its firmware, and the cable and terminator a real fixture needs. - **Runs on:** macOS 15 Sequoia or later, Apple silicon - **Needs:** An Enttec DMX USB Pro with its DMX/RDM firmware (major version 2) - **Price:** Free | What | Needs | Notes | |---|---|---| | Mac | macOS 15 Sequoia or later, Apple silicon | No Intel build | | Interface | An Enttec DMX USB Pro | Others that copy its protocol may open; only a genuine Enttec is checked | | Firmware | DMX/RDM, major version 2 | It ships with 1.x, which is DMX-only | | Driver | None | macOS has the driver for its USB chip | | Line | A terminator in the fixture's DMX output | With RDM switched on at the fixture | | Network | None | Two checks, both optional ([Privacy](/privacy/)) | ## The Mac macOS 15 Sequoia or later, on Apple silicon. There is no Intel build, so an Intel Mac is offered nothing. Windows and Linux are planned and not started. There is no iPad version: the widget's USB chip has no way to talk to an iPad. ## The widget and its firmware RDMBench talks to fixtures through an **Enttec DMX USB Pro**. Plug it straight into the Mac, not through an unpowered hub. Only one program at a time can hold the widget, so quit anything else that has it open. The firmware is the catch, and it shows up on the first run. The widget ships with a **DMX-only** build. RDM needs the **DMX/RDM** build, major version 2, flashed once with Enttec's EMU tool; the widget keeps it after that. Ours arrived as 1.44 and went to 2.4. | Firmware | What it is | RDMBench | |---|---|---| | 1.x | DMX-only | Says so and stops, rather than timing out | | 2.x | DMX/RDM | The one the bench needs | | 3.x | RDM sniffer | Says so and stops | Some interfaces from other makers copy the Enttec protocol, and the bench may open them. It has only been checked against a genuine Enttec. ## The line - Plug the fixture into the widget's DMX output, one fixture straight off the widget to start with. - Switch RDM on at the fixture, if it has a setting for it. - Put a **terminator in the fixture's DMX output**. An unterminated line can make a fixture miss requests. The bench here runs a 5-pin cable and a 5-pin terminator. ## The network None. RDMBench works fully offline. It makes two checks when it can, one for app updates and one for the fixture library, and both can be turned off ([Privacy](/privacy/)). --- Source: # Assistants > Connecting Claude, Cursor, VS Code or Claude Code to RDMBench's MCP server, which runs on the bench computer, and what it can and cannot do. - **Server:** rdmbench-mcp, inside RDMBench.app - **Transport:** stdio, started by the assistant - **Runs on:** macOS 15 Sequoia or later, Apple silicon - **Needs:** An Enttec DMX USB Pro with its DMX/RDM firmware (major version 2) - **Price:** Free RDMBench carries an MCP server, so an AI assistant can scan the bench, read the reports and compare visits for you. It runs on the bench computer. There is no hosted RDMBench server, no account, and no API key: you bring the assistant and the model. ## Connecting In RDMBench, open **Settings → AI Assistant** and click **Connect** next to the assistant. Each one is a single click: - **Claude Desktop** opens the extension that comes with the app, and Claude Desktop asks you to install it. - **Claude Code**, **Cursor** and **VS Code** get the server added to their own configuration. - **Other** gives you the configuration to paste. ### By hand The server is a program inside the app. Every assistant starts it the same way: ``` /Applications/RDMBench.app/Contents/MacOS/rdmbench-mcp ``` Claude Code: ``` claude mcp add --scope user rdmbench -- /Applications/RDMBench.app/Contents/MacOS/rdmbench-mcp ``` Cursor (`~/.cursor/mcp.json`) and most other clients: ```json { "mcpServers": { "rdmbench": { "command": "/Applications/RDMBench.app/Contents/MacOS/rdmbench-mcp", "args": [] } } } ``` VS Code (`~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json`) uses `servers` instead of `mcpServers`, with the same entry. ## What it can do The assistant gets twelve tools. All but `load` read; `load` drives a fixture only to measure it. | Tool | What it does | |---|---| | `scan` | Reads fixtures now and returns full reports, which are saved | | `monitor` | Watches one fixture for up to ten minutes: per-sensor minimum, maximum and average, and timestamped events | | `monitor_line` | Watches every fixture on the line, to find the one that drops out | | `load` | Holds the fixture's channels up for up to ten minutes and reads its sensors before and after, for faults that only show while it works | | `list_snapshots` | Every report on disk, newest first, with its rating | | `list_sessions` | Every monitoring session on disk | | `read_snapshot` | One full report | | `session_summary` | What a saved monitoring session saw | | `compare` | What changed between two reports, or a unit's two latest | | `history` | One unit across every visit, with repair notes and recurring issues | | `templates` | The settings standards filed for a model, to read | | `desk_mode` | What a lighting desk calls the fixture's current mode, from its GDTF file | The server also offers the assistant the JSON schemas the reports follow, and the app's help. ## What it cannot do - **Change a fixture.** No address, personality or label changes, and it does not apply templates. Those are done in RDMBench, by you. - **Run a load test over you.** It refuses while you are sending DMX or monitoring from the app. - **Drive a fixture that reports no sensors.** `load` refuses it rather than drive something it cannot measure. - **See light.** `load` reads sensors; it cannot see colour or position. ## Where it runs The assistant starts the server, and they talk over stdio. While RDMBench is connected to a widget, the server asks the app to do the reading, over a loopback address on the same computer. With RDMBench closed, the assistant can still read every saved report; a scan says that RDMBench needs to be open. Connecting sends nothing anywhere. What the assistant reads goes to its provider as part of your conversation, like anything else you show it. An assistant on another computer can connect only if you turn on **Settings → AI Assistant → Advanced → Also let assistants on other computers connect**. Anyone on that network can then use the bench, load tests included, with no password, so leave it off unless the network is the shop's own. --- Source: # Why RDMBench > Other tools display RDM; RDMBench reads it and remembers it, with the Enttec widget already in the drawer. What it is for, and what it is not. - **Runs on:** macOS 15 Sequoia or later, Apple silicon - **Needs:** An Enttec DMX USB Pro with its DMX/RDM firmware (major version 2) - **Price:** Free The data was always reachable. A fixture will tell anyone who asks over RDM its hours, its sensors, its faults and its mode. What was missing was the reading of it: a list of numbers is not an answer to "why is this unit on my bench". ![RDMBench's monitor on a simulated Martin MAC Aura, polling once a second: the head temperature has climbed from a 66 °C baseline to 86 °C against a normal range of 0 to 70, marked in orange, and the events list shows the head temperature going from OK to WARNING at 72 °C and the fixture's own over-temperature status message.](https://www.rdmbench.com/images/app/monitor-light.webp) *Monitoring, on the simulator: the fault that only shows once the unit has been running.* ## It reads Every other tool I know, from handhelds to a console's RDM window, *displays* RDM. RDMBench *reads* it: - **The complaint first.** Pick what the unit came in for, and the report opens with the lines that explain it, or says plainly that nothing the fixture reports does, and where to look instead. - **Sensors against their limits**, not just their values, and one OK, WARNING or ERROR rating for the whole unit. - **The configuration that is often the whole fault.** Address, personality, what each channel does, and, with the fixture's GDTF file, what the desk calls that mode. ## It remembers Every report is kept on the bench computer, under the unit it came from. When a unit comes back, its history is there: what changed since the last visit, what was repaired, and what keeps recurring. ## With the widget you already own RDMBench runs on an Enttec DMX USB Pro, the interface a lot of shops already have in a drawer, and for which Enttec ships no maintained RDM software. ## What it is not - **Not a handheld.** A pocket tester such as the DMXcat owns the belt clip and the truss ladder, and it does things RDMBench does not, like testing DMX output and finding flicker. RDMBench is for the bench and the desk. - **Not the maker's own tool.** For Martin fixtures, Martin Companion knows Martin's status codes, private parameters and spares better than any cross-brand tool. Use it, and use RDMBench for everything else on the bench. - **Not rig management.** It works on a live line, but it is built for one fixture at a time, read in depth. - **Not a hosted service.** Reports stay on the bench computer. --- Source: # Services > RDMBench is free, with no paid tier. The work planned for sale, fixture onboarding and priority support, is not offered yet. - **Runs on:** macOS 15 Sequoia or later, Apple silicon - **Needs:** An Enttec DMX USB Pro with its DMX/RDM firmware (major version 2) - **Price:** Free The app is Free. There is no Pro tier, no licence key, and nothing held back from any build. What is planned for sale is work, not software, and none of it is offered yet. ## Fixture onboarding (planned) A shop sends a model, or books a remote session on one. The model is recorded, its quirks found and sourced, its private parameters surveyed, and a fixture profile written, with settings standards for the shop's fleet if it wants them. Everything it produces goes into the [public fixture library](https://github.com/darinpope/rdmbench-pids), for every bench to use. ## Priority support (planned) A yearly subscription, for shops that want an answer first. ## Until then Neither can be bought yet. If either would help your shop, write to darin@rdmbench.com and say which. --- Source: # Privacy > RDMBench keeps everything on the bench computer. The only requests it makes, what they carry, and how to turn them off. - **Runs on:** macOS 15 Sequoia or later, Apple silicon - **Needs:** An Enttec DMX USB Pro with its DMX/RDM firmware (major version 2) - **Price:** Free RDMBench is local. Reports, monitoring sessions and repair notes are files on the bench computer, and the app works fully offline. It has no analytics, no telemetry and no crash reporting. ## What it sends, and when | Request | When | What it carries | Turn it off | |---|---|---|---| | App updates: `updates.rdmbench.com/appcast.xml` | Once a day | Nothing about your fixtures | Settings → General → Updates | | Fixture library: a manifest on `raw.githubusercontent.com` | When you connect | Nothing about your fixtures | Settings → General, or the Connect sheet | | GDTF Share: `gdtf-share.com` | Only if you sign in with your own account | Your sign-in, and the fixture you look up | Don't sign in | - An **update** is downloaded only when you accept it. - Changed **library tables** are downloaded only when you click **Update** in the banner that offers them. - The GDTF Share password is kept in the macOS Keychain. There is no shared account and no RDMBench server in between. - **Propose…** and **Contribute Fixture Profile…** open a prefilled pull request in your browser, for you to read and send yourself. ## AI assistants Connecting an assistant sends nothing anywhere. The MCP server runs on the bench computer and talks to the app over a loopback address. What the assistant reads then goes to its provider as part of your conversation ([Assistants](/assistants/)). ## Where your data is Everything is under `~/Library/Application Support/RDMBench`: - `captures/`: the reports and monitoring sessions, one folder per unit; simulator runs in `captures/simulator/`; - `manufacturer-pids/`: library tables you have downloaded; - `gdtf/`: GDTF files you have added. ## This website No cookies, no scripts, and nothing loaded from another site. The fonts are served from here. Cloudflare serves the site and sees each request, as any host does; there is no analytics script. --- Source: # About > Who makes RDMBench, what has been proven on real fixtures and what only on the simulator, and what is not started. - **Runs on:** macOS 15 Sequoia or later, Apple silicon - **Needs:** An Enttec DMX USB Pro with its DMX/RDM firmware (major version 2) - **Price:** Free RDMBench is a one-person project by Darin Pope, published by PlanetPope, Inc. It is Free. ## Built at a real bench The app has been run against real hardware since September 2026: an Enttec DMX USB Pro, and first an ADJ 5PX HEX. It answered on the first try, and then turned out to break the RDM standard in six ways. The one no reading could ever find, an identify that works backwards, is now read correctly, from a sourced entry in the [public fixture library](https://github.com/darinpope/rdmbench-pids). ## What is proven, and where | Area | Status | |---|---| | Discovery, identity, sensors, the report | Real fixtures | | Monitoring and the load test | Real fixtures | | Sub-devices, lamp parameters, self-test | Simulator only | | Manufacturers' private parameters | Simulator only | | Windows and Linux | Not started | Windows and Linux are planned and not started. ## Contact darin@rdmbench.com