How to set DMX addresses on your lights

How do you work out each fixture's address?

Write the rig down in the order the fixtures sit on the cable, then add up channel counts as you go. Each fixture's start address is the previous fixture's start address plus the previous fixture's channel count. The order on paper does not have to follow the cable, but following it makes faults easier to find later.

1. 1

   Find the channel count of each mode

   The manual lists every DMX mode and how many channels it uses, usually in a table near the back. Pick the mode you want and note its count. A smaller mode costs fewer channels; a larger one gives you finer control.

2. 2

   Give the first fixture address 1

   Nothing stops you starting elsewhere, but 1 keeps the arithmetic easy to check.

3. 3

   Add the count to get the next address

   Start the next fixture at the first channel the previous one does not use. Repeat down the list.

4. 4

   Check the last fixture fits

   A fixture cannot run past channel 512. If its block would, it belongs on the next universe. What is a DMX universe? covers when that happens.

Some operators leave gaps on purpose, for example starting every type of fixture at a round number such as 101 or 201. It wastes channels you are unlikely to miss and makes it easy to add another light of the same kind later without moving everything after it.

How do you set the address on the fixture?

Most current fixtures have a small display and a few buttons. Find the menu item for the DMX address, enter the start address, and save. The label differs between manufacturers and models, so the manual is the reliable guide; the mode is normally set in the same menu, and it is worth setting both at the same time.

Once every fixture is addressed, walk the rig and read each address back off its display. Comparing that list with your patch catches most mistakes before they reach a rehearsal.

How do DIP switch addresses work?

Older and simpler fixtures set the address with a row of DIP switches instead of a display. Each switch has a value, and the start address is the sum of the values of the switches that are on. The values double from switch to switch: switch 1 is worth 1, switch 2 is worth 2, switch 3 is worth 4, and so on up to switch 9, which is worth 256.

To set an address, start from the largest switch value that fits into the address, turn that switch on, subtract its value and repeat with what is left until nothing remains. Address 10 is switch 4 (8) plus switch 2 (2). Address 233 is switch 8 (128), switch 7 (64), switch 6 (32), switch 4 (8) and switch 1 (1). Nine switches add up to 511 at most. If a fixture has a tenth switch, check in the manual what it does before you touch it.

What goes wrong most often?

• Two fixtures overlap. One light answers another's colour or moves when the other moves. Two fixtures on the same start address in the same mode is sometimes deliberate; overlapping blocks that start at different addresses never are.
• The mode on the fixture is not the mode in the patch. Every channel after the first difference lands on the wrong function, so the dimmer drives colour or the light ignores you completely.
• A block runs past 512. The end of the fixture's block falls off the universe. Move it to the next universe or to a lower address.
• The fixture is on the wrong universe. On a network node with several outputs, a correct address on the wrong port looks exactly like a wrong address.
• The fixture is not in DMX mode at all. Many lights also run sound-active or automatic programmes, and in those modes they ignore the address you set.

How does HitLight help with addressing?

When you add a fixture, HitLight gives it the lowest free start address on its universe that fits the channel count of its DMX mode. HitLight refuses a patch that would overlap another fixture's channels, names the fixture it would collide with, and changes nothing. Two fixtures share an address only when you ask for it, and only when they are the same fixture type in the same DMX mode at the same start address. You still set the number on the fixture yourself, so the patch list you check against while walking the rig comes straight from the show rather than from a separate spreadsheet.

HitLight's 3D stage runs with no interface attached, so you can patch and address the whole rig before you are in the room with it. If a light is not in the fixture library, its channel layout has to come from somewhere first; see how the fixture library works.

Sources

• Hurricane 1800 Flex User Manual Rev. 8, Chauvet, “Setting the Starting Address”. Source for the binary DIP switch method and the address 10 and 233 examples.
• ANSI E1.11-2024, the USITT DMX512-A standard, a free download from ESTA's Technical Standards Program. Source for the 512 channels in a universe.

Last verified 16 October 2026.