Downloads
Every download is built from the current GitHub release. Start with the standalone Windows executable, or choose a universal macOS app or Linux x86_64 archive.
Windows 10 and later, x86_64. One executable with the Microsoft runtime and built-in profiles included. No installer, Rust toolchain, or companion files required.
If Windows SmartScreen appears on first launch, click More info, then Run anyway. The executable is not code-signed yet, so Windows asks once per download.
Universal app for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. Unzip the download and move DMXexpress to Applications.
Requires macOS 11 or later. The app is not notarized yet: if macOS blocks the first launch, click Done, then open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll to Security, and click Open Anyway. On older macOS versions, right-click the app and choose Open instead.
x86_64 binary for a desktop with Wayland or X11 and ALSA audio. Extract the archive, make the binary executable if necessary, then run it.
System graphics and audio drivers are still required.
All three builds come out of the same tagged release, compiled by GitHub Actions from the public source. Nothing is repackaged by hand.
What you get
There is no installer, no redistributable, and no folder of assets sitting next to the app. The fixture library, the gobo catalogue, the fonts, the sample shows and the starter plugins are all compiled into the binary.
Everything the app needs to patch a rig and light it is inside the executable you downloaded:
.rhai scripts that ship with the app, written to the plugins folder on first run.
DMXpress-windows-x86_64.exe # the app — run it, that is all
DMXpress-windows-x86_64.exe.sha256 # checksum for the line above
DMXpress-macos-universal.zip # DMXpress.app, Apple Silicon + Intel
DMXpress-linux-x86_64.tar.gz # one binary named dmxpress
Before you download
DMXexpress renders its 3D stage on the GPU, so a working graphics driver matters more than a fast CPU. Everything else is modest.
wgpu supportsThe console packs a fixture list, a 3D stage, a five-tab Inspector and a channel grid into one window, so it wants room. A laptop screen works; a small one will have you folding panels. The Inspector's width and folded sections are remembered per machine, not per show.
Connections
Three things leave the machine: DMX over the network, key images to a Stream Deck over USB, and audio coming in. Nothing else.
Two contiguous universes — 1,024 channels — sent at 40 frames per second. Art-Net goes out on UDP 6454, sACN multicasts on UDP 5568, and you can run either or both at once. Art-Net node discovery finds what is on the wire.
Output in the guidePlugged straight into USB and picked up by the app itself — no Elgato software, no plugin to install. Original, Mini, MK2, XL, Neo, Pedal, Plus and Plus XL are all recognised, and unplugging mid-show just makes the app rescan until one comes back.
See the deck pagesAny input device the system offers drives the sound-reactive triggers. On Windows the app can also open an output device in loopback, so it listens to whatever the computer is already playing and lights to it.
Audio in the guide
An Elgato Stream Deck is detected the moment it is plugged in — no Elgato software or plugins needed. Audio input works out of the box too: on Windows, DMXexpress can listen to the computer's own output and light whatever is playing.
DMXexpress transmits real lighting data. Confirm the network interface, the universe, the patch and the Grand Master before you connect it to anything with a lamp in it.
First run
Nothing to configure, nothing to register. The app works out where your show data belongs, seeds it, and opens on a rig you can already play with.
If the folder it was launched from already holds a settings.json or a stage_layout.json, that is your show and the app uses it. A folder per show works exactly the way you would hope.
A binary run from Downloads has no show beside it, so the app switches to a per-user data folder instead of scattering JSON through your Downloads — or losing it inside a translocated macOS app bundle.
configs/, setups/, fixtures/ and plugins/ are created, then filled with the two sample shows, the three stage setups, the three starter plugins, the fixture library and the gobo catalogue.
Load a sample setup, select the rig, and push some channels. Everything in the 3D stage responds live, with or without a single fixture plugged in.
# Windows
%APPDATA%\DMXpress
# macOS
~/Library/Application Support/DMXpress
# Linux
~/.local/share/DMXpressOn first launch, DMXexpress creates its show-data folder and seeds it with sample rigs, stage setups, the 2,200-model fixture library, and the gobo catalogue. Your work persists there, rather than being written beside the downloaded application.
Palettes, groups, presets, phasers, sequences, stacks, views, patch data, the stage layout, saved cameras, the Presets board and settings are all human-readable files you can open, read, diff and keep in version control.
Complete shows live under configs/; reusable stage arrangements live
under setups/. Panel preferences that belong to the machine rather than the
show — the Inspector's open tab and width, which sections are folded, what the stage
draws — sit apart in inspector.json and are deliberately left out of saved
configurations, so loading someone else's show never rearranges your workspace.
Formats may still change while the project is under active development. Keep a backup of anything valuable, or put the folder under version control.
Verify
The Windows executable ships with a SHA-256 checksum written by the build job that produced it. Download both, hash the file yourself, compare the two strings.
# the checksum the release published
curl.exe -LO https://github.com/michaelmandich/DMXpress/releases/latest/download/DMXpress-windows-x86_64.exe.sha256
# the checksum of the file on your disk
(Get-FileHash .\DMXpress-windows-x86_64.exe -Algorithm SHA256).Hash.ToLower()
# they must match, character for character
Get-Content .\DMXpress-windows-x86_64.exe.sha256The macOS and Linux archives do not carry a checksum file yet. GitHub serves them over HTTPS from the release that built them, and the macOS app is ad-hoc signed during the build so the bundle's own contents cannot be swapped without macOS noticing.
Every asset is produced by the release workflow on GitHub's runners from the tagged commit — you can read exactly how each file was built.
From source
DMXexpress is MPL-2.0 and the whole tree is public. If you would rather compile it than
trust a binary, it is one cargo command away.
wgpulibasound2-dev, libudev-dev and pkg-configA release build links with lto = "thin" and a single codegen unit, so the
first compile takes a while and the result runs like the download does. Run the app from
a folder that holds your show files and it will use them directly.
git clone https://github.com/michaelmandich/DMXpress
cd DMXpress
# Debian/Ubuntu only
sudo apt-get install -y libasound2-dev libudev-dev pkg-config
# run it
cargo run
# optimized build
cargo build --release
./target/release/dmxpress
# run the tests
cargo testNext
Patch a rig, arrange it on stage, put a look in the Programmer and record it. The guide walks the whole path in order.
Open the guideOne script file adds an effect layer, a window of controls or a whole console re-tint. Three ship with the app; more are in the registry.
Browse the registryStuck on a patch, a network setting or a fixture the library does not have? Post it, screenshot and all, and someone will have hit it too.
Join the communityNeed a previous version or a checksum? Visit all releases on GitHub.