Chauvet Obey 70 DMX Lighting Controller 

Comments about Chauvet Obey 70 DMX Lighting Controller:

Chauvet should consider placing on/off LED's on the Chase buttons of this unit. The function of the Chase buttons are on/off. You have to push the button to invoke the chase then you have to push it again to turn it off. If you do not turn all chases off, the controller will not release back to Manual Scene mode without a reboot. It will also toggle (during chase operation) to all of the chases that are on (and likely unknown to be on) by the user. Chauvet does not put this operation detail in the manual and the issues presented gave the impression that the unit was defective.

Comments about Chauvet Obey 70 DMX Lighting Controller:

For the money, this is a very efficient/effective controller. Some of the comments here indicate a lack of channels for the 384 DMX, but channels 16/32 are in the joystick and yes, they are re-assignable to other needed channels for specific moving head lights.

Programming is very easy and the manual does a decent job of walking the user through basic operations. The manual could have spent more time covering details and going over troubleshooting issues. For example, I do not know if my controller is supposed to automatically cycle out of a selected chase or if there is a means to make that selected chase repeat.

I have come across other problems in that the unit will not go back to "Manual Scene" mode without a re-boot. This is very problematic and is likely a flaw in my unit or in the general programming of it.

Beside these issues, for the working musician, none of these units seem to have a remote foot-switch control. I would say that the first manufacturer who comes up with this will bust open the gates of DMX use for the weekend warrior musician on a budget who is not into sequencing with MIDI controllers. There is a huge market out here for that application and to think this has not been accomplished yet is amazing and I would be happy to help in that design.

Another design suggestion would be to make an applicable rack box for this unit. I took a 19" tool box and adapted it to screw atop a mic stand for ease of access on stage. Now the item can safely be stored in the equipment trailer and quickly set up for use on the stage.

With these criticisms, I would still reccomend this item for the control of DMX devices. Most negative comments heard about free form/uncontrolled lights by DJ's and bands could easily be harnessed by this unit. With 12 separate items controlled, the user will substantially enhance the appearance of their act.

Comments about Chauvet Obey 70 DMX Lighting Controller:

The Obey 70 worked for a few months then one Sunday the faders did not work as assigned. Did a hard reset and still could not get lights to respond to the faders. Been with Chauvet Tech Support playing phone tag for a month trying to get it returned for repair as it is still under warranty, but they continue to have me try different things. I understand where they are coming from, but each time I try something, I get the same results on the board, and it has became insanity. This was a time when I needed it the most and still on my bench. With this in mind, I would not recommend this controller unless purchased where I could return to a store and not have to deal with Chauvet directly as you will need to take vacation days off to deal with them.....

Comments about Chauvet Obey 70 DMX Lighting Controller:

After using the board for about five months, only once a week. It stopped working, the backlight display stopped working and the strobe button stopped working. Overall, cheap.

Comments about Chauvet Obey 70 DMX Lighting Controller:

Really a bargain for the basic needs and some custom light scenes that will be required. Very happy.
This unit has most of the features we will need for our church. We bought this starting out for dramas but we have added more lights and will begin including for our service.
At first sight it seems to be fine. Only time will tell, but for the price, it can't be beat. We will use it each week on Wednesday & Sundays
For our needs and truly what $150.00 gets you these days (couple of bags of groceries) this is a bargain. Very happy to have it.

Comments about Chauvet Obey 70 DMX Lighting Controller:

After reading the review "False Claims", I went over the manual carefully. Looking at p. 11-13, It turns out channels 15 and 16, and 31 and 32 (relative to each fixture's starting channel) are by default not on sliders but on the pan/tilt joystick.

The sliders and joystick axes can be reassigned to different channels for each fixture -- see "Physical Fader Assignment". (The moving head / moving mirror fixtures I've encountered tend to have pan and tilt within the first few channels, so reassignment is almost a necessity.)

I didn't see anything about high-resolution, 16-bit pan and tilt values. Evidently you'd need to use sliders for the fine adjustment (LSB) (or if you prefer, for the coarse adjustment, the MSB).

Comments about Chauvet Obey 70 DMX Lighting Controller:

Get the most out of your DMX lighting. This is an easy to program dmx controller. I use it for various lights as well. from the up lighting to moving heads to regular dmx effect lights, like my Chauvet swarm. i COULDN'T HAVE PICKED A BETTER CONTROLLER.

Comments about Chauvet Obey 70 DMX Lighting Controller:

OK. I can see by the claims that there are 384 dmx channels on this obey 70 is a lie. There are only 12 fixture settings with 14 sliders and 2 pages a&b. That is NOT 384 but 336. Thats only IF you can program them and you can not program passed channel 32 using the manual. All through out it claims 32 channells on 2 pages which is a lie. It actually skips channels 15 & 16 where they are suppose to be and channel 15 is 17 making channel 28 channel 30. ANd thats all you get no matter what fixture you are in. SO you only have 28 dmx channels to work with and that would be 1-14 then 17-30. Nothing in the manual or on the board will get this board to program different. 30 years experience at this and this is one P.O.S. unit. No way it comes close to the old DMX-50 DMX MAster. That board is sweet and easy just needs more channels than 8 and 2 pages.

Comments about Chauvet Obey 70 DMX Lighting Controller:

Obey 70 by Chauvet is a good mix of economy, power, and ease of use. I have used the Obey 70 for three years to control an entire mobile DMX show containing 8 PAR64s by different manufacturers, ELAN, Nucleus, fog machine, four scanners and two moving heads. The channel assignment and reverse feature saved countless hours of programming required by Elation competitors. Programming is made easy because you can assign channels and reverse them to get the entire show in sync. Midi is great feature, as this adds power for frequency control. Overall, a great product. Master dim is the only missing feature, but switching back to manual allows an effective work-around for this problem. Biggest setup hassle was the 32-bit channel offset in spite of light capabilities, so use your manual. I would recommend it for mobile and club use.