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.
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”.
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.