KAJO Lights
Overview
Tablet-first DMX control

KAJO • Lights Manual

This guide explains how the app is used in practice: patch the rig, select fixtures, build looks in Programmer, record cues, arrange Playback, build song timelines, use Execute, Phone Remote and Remote Web, map pixels, sync to DJ data, and send DMX over Art-Net or sACN.

KAJO • Lights app on a tablet

The mental model

What each part of the app is for.

KAJO • Lights is built around a clear separation: patched fixtures describe the rig, Programmer holds the current edits, cues store show data, Playback and song timelines run the show, Execute gives instant access to important actions, Autopilot can create music-driven background light, Phone Remote follows the tablet on the local network, and Remote Web connects through Audion Cloud to the local Agent.

Manual

How to build and run a show.

The rest of this page is written as a working manual. Read it in order for the first show, or jump to the chapter that matches the problem in front of you.

1. Setup and patch

Before programming, the app must know what fixtures exist, where they are patched, and how DMX leaves the tablet. Most strange behavior later in the show is caused by a wrong profile, address, universe or output target.

Create or open the show file

  1. Open Settings and check Show File.
  2. Create a new show or open the correct saved show.
  3. Confirm the show name in the top bar before editing.
  4. Save after patching, after major programming changes and before leaving the venue.

Choose DMX output

  1. Open Settings -> Connections.
  2. Select Art-Net, sACN or USB-DMX depending on the hardware.
  3. Set the target IP or interface.
  4. Watch the status bar: it should show the active output mode and low latency.
  5. Lights reconnects to the saved Art-Net target on startup. If a manual target still shows Manual, select that same saved target again to force a fresh connection check.

Add fixtures

  1. Open Fixture List -> Add Fixture.
  2. Search the online registry, import GDTF/MVR, or use Profile Builder when the fixture is missing.
  3. Choose the exact channel mode/personality used on the physical fixture.
  4. Patch universe and start address. Each fixture needs its own address range.

Verify fixture behavior

  1. Select one fixture at a time.
  2. Raise Dimmer and test Red/Green/Blue/White.
  3. For moving heads, test Pan and Tilt slowly.
  4. If pan/tilt centers are wrong, use Calibration Wizard on the Fixture tab.

Example: patch a small club rig

Patch front wash fixtures first, then static LED bars, then moving heads. Number them by physical order from stage left to stage right. This makes Group, Cell Mask, Pixel Map and Autopilot fixture selection much easier later.

Do not start programming before output is verified

If a fixture does not respond correctly in basic DMX checks, cues and effects will only hide the problem. Fix profile, mode, address and universe first.

2. Programmer workflow

Programmer is the temporary layer where edits live before they become cues, scenes or presets. Think of it as the lighting desk's scratchpad: it can be live on stage, or hidden in Blind while you prepare the next look.

Select fixtures first

Use Grid for speed, List for names and numbers, Plot for stage position and Visualizer for spatial confidence. The right panel always edits the current selection.

Selected
Record or edit only the fixtures currently selected.
All
Use all patched fixtures that currently have active Programmer data.

Live and Blind

Live sends Programmer changes to the output. Blind keeps changes off stage until you record, update or release them.

  1. Use Live for focusing, color picking and rehearsal.
  2. Use Blind when the audience should not see the edit.
  3. Before recording, check whether the intended attributes are active.

Clear and release

Clear empties the temporary edit buffer. It does not delete cues, scenes, songs or saved palettes. Use Clear when a recorded look is finished and you want Playback or Execute to be the only source again.

Source stack

Live Diff / source stack tells what currently controls a fixture attribute: Programmer, Playback cue, Execute block, Pixel Map, Autopilot, Master or safety action. Use it whenever output is not what you expect.

Example: build a blue/pink moving head look

  1. Select the moving heads in PGM.
  2. Set Dimmer to 100% and choose blue/pink in Colors.
  3. Aim the heads in Move or apply a saved Position Group.
  4. Add a slow Circle movement if needed.
  5. Press Rec Cue and name it Blue/Pink Head.
  6. Press Clear so the saved cue, not Programmer, owns the output.

3. Color, movement and FX

A look is usually a combination of level, color, movement, beam attributes and optional effects. Keep these layers intentional so later cues can stack instead of fighting each other.

Colors and white

Use the color wheel for quick creative choices and RGBW/CMY/HSI when exact values matter. White is a real fixture channel when available; use it deliberately for clean front light or punch, not automatically in every color cue.

Cell Mask

Cell Mask decides which LEDs or fixture positions participate. Direction, fixture order and LED order define how the selection travels through the rig. Transition controls whether the mask changes softly or snaps.

Movement

Use Pan/Tilt for static aim and save useful targets as Position Groups. Use Fine when focusing: it halves the travel of Move controls, so small touch movements stay precise. Use movement effects for repeated motion. Calm shows usually need slow multipliers, small ranges and phase offsets rather than fast random movement.

FX Builder and Curves

FX Builder creates Movement and Color presets. Movement can be a continuous loop or a one-shot start/end/duration move. Color Run controls fixture-level color order, participation and transitions, while LED Cell Mask controls cells inside multi-cell fixtures. Saved FX cards select the preset; the pencil opens the full editor.

Random Dips

Random Dips is a subtractive dimmer layer: a selected share of fixtures goes dark in rhythm while the underlying look, color and movement continue. Set the share, depth, dark time, softness and beats per step. Assign it to Execute as a Toggle for a live overlay; stopping it restores the current base level.

Pixel Map

Use Pixel Map when fixtures act like a screen or when LED cells should receive a pattern. First map cells to the grid, then set orientation and flips to match the physical rig. Timing can be Static, Free Run, Beat Step or 4 Beats. Prism starts Open (0); add a prism value deliberately when the look needs it.

Save reusable parts

Fixture Groups, Color Groups, Position Groups and effect presets are building blocks. They make cue creation faster and reduce wrong selections during a show.

Example: make a chorus color chase

  1. Select the LED bars or multi-cell fixtures.
  2. Choose two or three colors and create a Color Group.
  3. Open Cell Mask or FX Builder and choose a direction, such as left to right.
  4. Set transition to Soft Fade for musical motion, or Snap for a more percussive hit.
  5. Use Tap Tempo and a 1/4 or 1/2 multiplier to lock the chase to the song.
  6. Record the running result into a cue or assign the effect to Execute.

4. Cues and transitions

A cue stores show data plus timing. Good cues are scoped: a front light cue should not accidentally overwrite moving-head pan/tilt, and a movement cue should not unexpectedly change the front wash.

Record a cue

  1. Build the look in Programmer, Effects or Pixel Map.
  2. Choose Selected or All depending on what should be stored.
  3. Press Rec Cue.
  4. Name the cue immediately so Playback stays readable.
  5. Open Cue Contents if you need to verify stored fixtures and attributes.

Update a cue

Use Update only when the selected cue should permanently change. If you are unsure, record a new cue instead. Update is powerful because it changes the show file.

Transition

Transition is the logic and time of a change: fade, snap, release, crossfade, previous release, duration and follow behavior.

Position Only

Position Only moves pan and tilt from their current values to the cue target over the selected transition time. Intensity and color stay unchanged. Stop any live movement effect or Autopilot ownership on those attributes if the cue position must take control immediately.

Curve

Curve is the feel inside the transition time. If a fade lasts 4 seconds, Linear moves evenly, Ease In starts slow, Ease Out starts fast, S-Curve is soft at both ends and Snap jumps.

Example: cue 1 to cue 2 with a visible fade

Cue 1 has two blue fixtures at 100%. Cue 2 has two different pink fixtures at 100%. Set transition to Fade 4 s. With Linear, the old fixtures fade down and new fixtures fade up evenly. With Ease In / Out, the same change still takes 4 seconds, but the beginning or end feels different.

Why you may not see a curve difference

If the transition is Snap, if only one cue is already at full level, or if the visualizer frame rate hides a subtle intensity fade, curves may look similar. Curves matter most on values that travel over time: dimmer fades, color fades, pan/tilt movement, effect waves and fader response.

5. Playback and faders

Playback turns saved cues into a running show. The cue stack is the linear GO workflow; playback faders are reusable live layers for cues, songs and setlists.

Cue stack

  1. Check Current and Next before pressing GO.
  2. GO starts the next cue using its timing.
  3. Pause holds automatic progression.
  4. Back returns through the stack; Stop stops cue stack playback.

Live transition time

Press the clock in the left Playback info area and enter a time with the numeric keypad. This live override is used for subsequent cue starts without changing the saved cue. Choose Use Cue Time to return to each cue's stored transition time.

Playback faders

A cue can appear in several playback slots. Each slot has its own level and Fader Role, so the same cue can be an intensity layer in one place and a color layer in another.

Move When Dark

Move When Dark is a cue stack option for moving heads. When the next cue is about 1.5 seconds away, dark fixtures can pre-position Position + Beam values before they fade in. It skips fixtures that are visibly moved by a live effect or Autopilot.

Fader Role

Intensity
Scales dimmer/color output for the cue.
Effect
Controls effect level or mix.
Manual Fade
Lets the fader itself move through the cue transition.

Layering rules

Playback and Execute override Autopilot for the fixtures and attributes they control. Other fixtures can keep following Autopilot or another source. Use Live Diff if the stage does not match your expectation.

Example: layered playback

Put a front wash cue on fader 1, a moving-head color cue on fader 2 and a movement cue on fader 3. Because each cue stores different attributes, you can fade the front light down without stopping movement, or stop movement without losing the color layer.

6. Execute and live buttons

Execute is for things that must be found instantly. It should contain show-critical buttons: cue hits, specials, bump effects, macros, safety-adjacent looks and Intent controls for Autopilot.

Create an Execute block

  1. Open Execute and switch to Layout mode.
  2. Create or select a block.
  3. Choose Type: Cue, Effect, Pixel Map, Macro, Song, Setlist or Intent.
  4. Choose behavior: Flash, Toggle or Latch.
  5. Use Latch Group when only one block in a group should stay active.

Intent blocks

Type = Intent does not need to be tied to a playback cue. It pushes the show mood manually toward Calm, Lift, Hit, Chaos and similar moods. This is especially useful when Autopilot is running but the operator wants to steer the feel.

Macros

Macros combine actions such as cue triggers, playback controls, pixel maps, black/restore, panic, blinder, smoke and DJ sync state changes. Use them for repeated operational sequences.

Phone Remote

Phone Remote mirrors the tablet's existing Execute or Playback controls. Pair from the Remote page. The tablet remains the show brain; the phone is only a walking control surface.

Remote Web

Remote Web runs at audion.fi/remote. Enable Audion Cloud on the local iPad or Mac Agent, share the session code and PIN, and the browser can use Execute, Playback, Master, Blackout, Panic, Blinder, Smoke and cue GO/STOP/NEXT. DMX, Art-Net and sACN stay local.

Example: manual mood override for Autopilot

  1. Create four Execute blocks: Calm, Lift, Hit and Chaos.
  2. Set each block Type to Intent and choose the matching intent.
  3. Set behavior to Latch and keep them in Group 1 so only one mood is active.
  4. When the band drops into a quiet part, press Calm. On a chorus lift, press Lift. Stop or release the block to let Autopilot continue normally.

7. Autopilot, songs and music input

Music can drive the show in three different ways: precise Song Timeline markers, external DJ Sync data, or Autopilot listening to the tablet microphone / shared Tap Tempo.

Song Timeline

  1. Import a WAV or MP3 into a song.
  2. Check the waveform and beat grid.
  3. Place cue markers at exact musical moments.
  4. Preview the song and adjust markers before the gig.
  5. Drop the song into Playback when cue order and audio timing should travel together.

DJ Sync

OS2L and TCNet-style inputs can provide BPM, beat, phrase and deck state. Use them to sync effects, macros and cue behavior, but keep manual controls available when incoming data is wrong or missing.

Autopilot setup

  1. Open AUTO from the left rail.
  2. Choose Beat Detect or Manual Tap Tempo. Tap AUTO for immediate on/off, double tap to force Base Look, or hold it to open the settings popup.
  3. Select which fixtures Autopilot may control.
  4. Set max dimmer per fixture.
  5. For moving heads, set pan/tilt range per fixture.
  6. Set Movement Speed and Color Change Speed. Manual Tap still uses the shared Tap Tempo.
  7. Use the global Reset to restore the Autopilot controls to defaults. A fixture-row Reset restores only that lamp's pan/tilt limits and max dimmer; fixture selection and color-wheel mapping are preserved.

LED color or mechanical wheel

Autopilot uses full RGBW/CMY mixing on LED fixtures. For a mechanical color wheel, verify the profile and map only safe static color slots in the fixture row. Unknown wheels stay at Open (0) until mapped; split-color and continuous-rotation ranges should not be used.

Between songs

Beat Detect follows the raw input level so gain compensation or steady background noise does not keep a finished song alive. After the release is recognized, Autopilot moves to Base Look. With Freeze Look Between Songs enabled, movement and color hold until music returns. Double tap AUTO to force Base Look manually.

Example: Autopilot under Playback

Leave Autopilot running for background color and slow movement. Fire a Playback cue for a chorus hit. Fixtures and attributes inside that cue follow Playback; the rest of the rig can continue under Autopilot. When the cue stops, Autopilot resumes control for those fixtures.

Protect moving heads

Use suitable pan/tilt ranges and a conservative Movement Speed. Pan and tilt use staggered turning points, so the path stays continuous instead of both axes stopping together. Verify the exact fixture profile and DMX mode with real hardware before a show.

8. Troubleshooting and pre-show checks

When something looks wrong, isolate the source instead of changing many settings at once. Start from output, then patch, then selection, then source stack.

No fixture output

  1. Check Master is above 0% and Black is off.
  2. Check Art-Net / sACN / USB-DMX status in the top bar.
  3. Check universe, address and fixture mode.
  4. Select one fixture and test raw dimmer/color values.

Wrong source is controlling the light

  1. Select the fixture.
  2. Open Live Diff / source stack.
  3. Stop or clear the source that owns the attribute.
  4. Remember that Playback and Execute intentionally override Autopilot.

Fade or curve is not visible

Confirm the cue transition is Fade, not Snap. Make sure both cues actually contain changing values for the same fixture or attribute. Curves cannot shape a value that is not moving over time.

Autopilot continues after the song

Check the selected audio input, input sensitivity and whether constant room noise reaches the microphone. Enable Freeze Look Between Songs and double tap AUTO for Base Look when you need an immediate manual stop between songs.

A beam color wheel spins

Verify the fixture profile and DMX mode, then check the fixture's static color-wheel mapping in Autopilot. Remove split-color or rotation-range values. If the wheel map is unknown, leave it at Open (0) until the correct static slots are confirmed.

Pre-show checklist

  • Correct show file open and saved.
  • Patch and fixture profiles verified.
  • Connections output tested with real fixtures.
  • Master, Black, Panic, Blinder and Smoke tested safely.
  • Key cues, Execute blocks and Autopilot limits checked.
  • At least one full GO-through completed before doors.