Program your lights
like you program your music.
Paint colors on a timeline, lock them to the beat, and DMXRoll runs your lights — over Art-Net, sACN or a USB DMX interface. Built by a gigging musician, for musicians.
From song to show in minutes.
Paint light in time.
Every light gets its own track. Pick a color, drag along the track, and that light holds the color for those beats. Change the tempo and the whole show follows — blocks live in beats, not seconds.
Hover the numbers to explore
Edit like MIDI clips
Draw, select, move, copy and resize blocks. Copy, paste, duplicate, split and fill gaps — everything undoable.
Fast hands
0–9 pick colors, G snaps, Space plays, Tab jumps to the next song.
Edit while it plays
Changes reach the lights instantly — even a new tempo doesn't stop the show.
Fades come for free.
Leave a gap between two blocks and DMXRoll fades the color and brightness across it — smoothly, at up to 60 frames per second.
- Scroll over a block to dim it, 0–100%.
- Drop a Black block wherever a light should go dark.
- RGB, white and amber channels are calculated for you.
Locked to the beat.
Drop in your song — MP3, WAV, AIFF, FLAC and more. DMXRoll draws the waveform, detects the tempo and plays it in sync with your lights, on the audio output you choose.
Tempo detection
DMXRoll suggests the BPM it hears. Accept it or type your own.
A whole setlist
Loop a song, or auto-advance to the next one and keep playing through the set.
Run it from MIDI
Next, previous, start, stop or jump to any song from your controller or backing-track rig.
Introduce your lights.
Start from an RGB, RGBW or single-color template, or build any light channel by channel. Tell DMXRoll where it lives in DMX — it does the math and warns you before two lights clash.
Hover the numbers to explore
See it before the gig.
Put your band and your lights on a top-down stage, aim the beams, and switch to Live: every beam glows with the color its light is sending. Program at home, far from the rig.
Hover the numbers to explore
Talks to your gear.
Network nodes and cheap USB dongles alike — built in, no extra software. If DMXRoll can't send it on your network, it tells you why.
Art-Net
NetworkAny Art-Net node. Scan finds the nodes on your network for you.
sACN
NetworkE1.31 streaming ACN, multicast or unicast, with priority.
USB Pro
USBEnttec DMX USB Pro and compatibles, auto-detected.
Open DMX
USBThe inexpensive FTDI “USB to DMX” cables. Plug and play.
OLA
FallbackExotic devices through the bundled Open Lighting Architecture.
Venues
PatchA different patch for every club. The show stays the same.
Your first show in six steps.
Create a project
One .dmxroll file holds the whole show — even the audio.
Choose your output
Art-Net, sACN, or plug in a USB DMX interface.
Add your lights
Pick a template and enter the address set on each light.
Import your song
DMXRoll draws the waveform and finds the tempo.
Paint the light
Drag colors along the tracks. Fades come for free.
Press Space
Music and lights start together. Then save with ⌘S.
Why DMXRoll instead of QLC+, Lightkey or SoundSwitch?
Most lighting software is a lighting console on a screen. DMXRoll is a timeline you program like a song — the way a musician already thinks.
| DMXRoll | QLC+ | Lightkey | SoundSwitch | Beam for Live | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How you program | A timeline per song, like a DAW: paint colors on one track per light, fades come for free | A lighting console on screen: scenes, chasers, cue lists and a virtual console | Cue lists and presets for running a live show | Light shows scripted to the tracks in your DJ software | Lights as clips and automation inside Ableton Live |
| Platforms | macOS and Windows (alpha) | Windows, macOS and Linux | macOS only | macOS and Windows | Wherever Ableton Live runs |
| Price | Free, including commercial use — pay what you want | Free, open source | Paid yearly license (free edition limited to 24 channels) | Subscription or paid license | Paid, and needs Ableton Live |
| Made for | Bands playing to backing tracks, without a lighting tech | Lighting techs who want a full console for free | Mac users running live shows | DJs | Ableton Live performers |
Want the full picture? See it in 3D.
DMXRoll partners with Capture to give you even more possibilities. The Stage preview is a quick look from above — for real beams, haze and your band lit from every angle, DMXRoll drives Capture, the real-time 3D lighting visualizer, over the same Art-Net or sACN as your rig.
Capture
DMXRoll
Our partnership with Capture makes DMXRoll better. Working with Capture lets us test DMXRoll on lots of virtual lights that model real fixtures — far more than we could ever hang in a rehearsal room — so we can keep the quality high with every release.
And it's a great extra step for you. We use Capture ourselves: before a show meets the real rig, we watch it in 3D to check how the lights will really behave. Your show plays in Capture just as it would on stage — same timelines, same Art-Net or sACN, nothing to export.
Ready for your next show?
Free for everyone — pay what you want. For macOS and Windows (alpha).
Good to know.
Is DMXRoll really free?
Yes. Every feature, no trial, no account — and that includes commercial use: use it for your band's paid gigs, a club or a production company. Pay what you want if it's useful to you, or nothing at all.
What do I need?
A Mac (Apple silicon or Intel, macOS 11 or later) or a Windows 10/11 PC (the Windows version is an early alpha) and a way to reach your lights: an Art-Net or sACN node on your network, or a USB DMX interface.
Which USB DMX interfaces work?
The Enttec DMX USB Pro and compatibles (such as DMXking ultraDMX), FTDI-based Open DMX cables, and unusual devices through the bundled OLA (macOS only).
Can I run the show from MIDI?
Yes. Map Control Change or Program Change messages to next, previous, start, stop, rewind or a specific song — with a Learn button.
Does DMXRoll support moving heads?
Not yet. Pan, tilt and the other moving-head features are on our roadmap and coming soon. Today DMXRoll drives color and intensity: PARs, LED bars, wash lights, blinders and more.
Does DMXRoll have a built-in fixture library?
Not yet — it comes with generic RGB, RGBW and single-color templates, and you can map any other light yourself in a minute, then save it as a template. As the DMXRoll community grows, we'll build an open marketplace where anyone can share the fixtures they've mapped and everyone else can download them.