Clarity
Operating Concepts & Terminology
Operator Manual
Page 209
controller has no idea what it is connected to, or even if what it's connected to is working,
switched on, or even there at all!
RDM changes all that allowing the equipment to answer back!
An RDM enabled moving light, for example, can tell you many useful things about its operation -
the DMX address it is set to, the operating mode it is in, whether its pan or tilt is inverted and
how many hours since the lamp was last changed.
But RDM can do more than that. It isn't limited to just reporting back, it can change things as
well. As its name suggests, it can remotely manage your device.
RDM has been designed to work with existing DMX systems. It does this by interleaving its
messages with the regular DMX signal over the same wires. There is no need to change any of
your cables but because RDM messages now go in two directions, any in-line DMX processing
you have needs to be changed for new RDM hardware. This will most commonly mean that DMX
splitters and buffers will need to be upgraded to RDM capable devices.
