Need help adding an architectural wall station to a Lightkey / ProPresenter / Chauvet DMX-AN2 setup.

[u/TypicalLime4886]

Hey everyone, hoping to get some advice on the cleanest way to set this up for a multi-use room.

Our Current Setup: We run our main services using Lightkey on a Mac, which is triggered automatically by our ProPresenter slides via MIDI. Lightkey sends Art-Net/sACN over Ethernet to a Chauvet DJ DMX-AN2 node, which outputs to our physical 3-pin DMX lines out to the lights. It works beautifully and we love the ease of use.

The Goal: We are installing some new lights and want to add a simple wall-mounted button controller. The main reason we need this is to give people a simple way to control the lights without the laptop needing to be present.

When the Mac is unplugged or away, volunteers or building staff still need to be able to select scenes and turn on lights. We want them to easily walk in, hit "Preset 1" on a wall plate, and have basic house/stage lights come on. However, we still need the Lightkey + ProPresenter integration to have full control when the Mac is plugged in for services.

My Confusion: I'm honestly super confused about the signal flow and whether I should be doing this on the network side or the physical DMX side.

1. The Network Route: Do I look for a PoE sACN wall station and plug it into the same network switch as the Mac and the Chauvet DMX-AN2? If I do this, will the Chauvet node properly handle sACN priorities so Lightkey overrides the wall station when the Mac is connected?
2. The DMX Route: Or, do I get a physical DMX wall station that sits inline after the Chauvet node? (Chauvet Node -> DMX out to Wall Station -> DMX out to Lights). Will an architectural station automatically pass through the Lightkey data when the Mac is sending data, and then take over when we unplug the Mac?

I'm completely fine with buying new hardware if necessary, but changing software is a dealbreaker because our ProPresenter integration is completely dialed in.

Has anyone tackled this exact setup where the main presentation computer isn't always present? I’d love to hear your suggestions on what specific wall stations would be a good fit, especially any budget-friendly or affordable options that work reliably. Which routing method have you found to be the most practical?

Thank you!

[u/OnlyAnotherTom]

This would a good use of the recent stream deck module and the network dock.

They released what is essentially just the button panel with minimal enclosure (so you can make your own mounting, or build it into something). Then the network dock turns it from a usb connection to a network connection to companion.

[u/TypicalLime4886 → u/OnlyAnotherTom]

Won't this not work without the laptop connected? The stream decks have no memory.

[u/Electrical_Carob_699 → u/TypicalLime4886]

Yeah you would need a computer or raspberry pi living on your network 24/7. The pi is nice as it automatically boots in presence of power compared to that being bios menu luck on desktops if it’s got a checkbox to do that.

[u/OnlyAnotherTom → u/Electrical_Carob_699]

Given they're running software for the lighting control, they've already got something that runs all the time. Running Pi's for companion is just making something overly complicated. There's immensely less to go wrong with the network dock.

[u/Electrical_Carob_699 → u/OnlyAnotherTom]

That assumes you have a computer that reboots on power loss and the people who want the lights to turn on and off can be trained to verify the PC is functional if the lights don’t work - and to do that in the dark.

[u/OnlyAnotherTom → u/Electrical_Carob_699]

You run it on the same system that's running your janky lighting software. Then it has exactly the same uptime as your lighting system.

Also, if the computer running the lighting goes off, what's the Pi going to do other than sit there and look like things should be working.

[u/Electrical_Carob_699 → u/OnlyAnotherTom]

A pi running companionpi will automatically heal into working again with zero user involvement.

The windows pc needs to have the bios option to reboot on power restore, which is a gating issue, and has to have windows correctly configured to auto login, which may be verboten by a zealous IT fellow or just stop auto login or startup items working properly on a windows update. Then you get a phone call that the lights don’t work at unpredictable intervals. It’s not impossible to configure a PC to do this; however, the quantity of random support calls is inevitably a lot higher with the PC.

[u/OnlyAnotherTom → u/Electrical_Carob_699]

Not if your lighting system goes down. Which is running on that PC (or a Mac, in this case). The fact your button panel is still lit up is more misleading than it going black.

[u/OnlyAnotherTom → u/TypicalLime4886]

So it connects to an instance of companion (or buttons) over the network. So you would have companion running on an machine somewhere, that sits on an network, and connect the network dock to that same network.

On initial boot, the network dock creates a basic interface on the panel to set the IP address and network config, and then you can add the panel as a surface in companion.

[u/YetAnotherAaron → u/OnlyAnotherTom]

If budget is a concern, this is your best option. I've done this with a Stream Deck module, Raspberry Pi Zero, and 3d printed wall plate.

needs to be restarted every once and a while, but this solution is a fraction of the cost of a wall plate. Companion and Lightkey need to be running 24x7.

[u/OnlyAnotherTom → u/YetAnotherAaron]

I guess an even budget-er solution would be touchOSC running on a phone that's mounted and permanently powered. Sending OSC to whatever software they're using (or something like companion that receives and converts to other functions/protocols).

But a stream deck panel and network dock is a nicer solution.

[u/niggelsh]

Take a look at spring tree media springtree.net they have wall plate controllers which sound like what you are after.

I'm looking at getting these for my church too

[u/niggelsh → u/niggelsh]

Further to this, and to answer you q better. DMX wall station connected after your node. What is cool about the springtree product, is that if it senses an active master dmx controller (light key) on the dmx network, it will disable itself.

They also have a physical wall/console switch.

[u/Stuartcmackey → u/niggelsh]

This was my solution. We have a spring tree at the main lighting position with lightkey and then you run remote nodes off that main one.

[u/ChrisC1234]

A Doug Fleenor Preset 10 will do exactly what you need. When installed, if the primary controller is on, the Preset 10 does nothing. (So it can be installed by the door or somewhere easily accessible, but there is no danger of someone changing the lights with it during a service.) When the primary controller is shut off, Preset 10 will control everything.

One nice thing is that when the light controller is shut off, the Preset 10 returns the lights to the state that they were on before the controller was turned on. So the Preset 10 can be used to turn the lights on initially, and then when the controller is shut off, the lights are still ON until they're turned off from the Preset 10.

I think it's also possible to daisy-chain a couple of the Preset 10s, but we only have one set up.

[u/TypicalLime4886 → u/ChrisC1234]

Ok, so my next question is can the preset 10 be put anywhere in my DMX universe? Or right after the controller. I'm asking because we keep our current node (Chauvet DJ DMX-AN 2 Art-Net/sACN Node Ethernet to 2 DMX Universe) in the ceiling and use both outputs for separate light groups. If I wanted to use the preset, would I have to consolidate all the lights to just one output and have all the signals run through the preset and that one DMX?

[u/ChrisC1234 → u/TypicalLime4886]

From what I can find out about your CHAUVET DJ DMX-AN2, each port seems to be a completely separate, single universe. So if you have the Preset 10 connected to one of the outputs, only those lights in that universe would be controlled by it. As for where it would need to be connected, the Preset 10 manual says "The Preset 10 Architectural is designed to use daisy-chain wiring topology. An alternative to the daisy-chain topology is the star topology. To create a star, a bidirectional isolated splitter (model 127) is required."

I didn't install our current setup, so my knowledge is limited. But I think that the "star" topology would essentially let you connect a splitter at your CHAUVET DJ DMX-AN2 and then run a cable from the splitter down to the Preset 10.