Tech Specs

• Mac computer with M1 or Intel processor  RUNS NATIVELY ON M1 MACS
• macOS 10.15 or later (compatible with macOS 11 Big Sur)
• 8GB of RAM
• 700MB of disk space
• Screen size of at least 1200 × 700 pixels
• One of the supported USB or network interfaces for DMX output
• Live Triggers require Ableton Live 9 or newer on the same computer (optional)

Get Lightkey for older macOS versions

• Live preview with 3D virtual light beams
• Direct manipulation of fixtures within the visualization
• Preview can show multi-beam fixtures, including LED strips, bars, matrixes, and PARs (grid, ring, or hexagon layout)
• Effect generator with over 50 fully editable effect templates
• Built-in fixture editor allows on-the-fly changes
• Extensive keyboard control and support for multi-touch gestures
• External control through DMX-In, any standard MIDI controller, and customizable keyboard shortcuts

• Single Window and Dual Window modes
• Supports full-screen mode and Split View
• Extensive support for Touch Bar
• Toolbar provides quick access to many features
• Lock projects and preferences with a password or Touch ID¹
• On-screen controls optimized for touch-screens
• Haptic feedback on Force Touch trackpads
• White-on-black user interface optimized for usage in dark environments
• Adaptive background color
• Optimized for macOS Dark Mode
• Supports high-resolution Retina displays
• Localized in English, German, Italian

¹ Requires Mac with Touch ID sensor.

• Engineered from the ground up as a native 64-bit macOS application
• Virtual light beams rendered through Apple’s Core Animation and Metal 2 technologies
• Highly efficient DMX output engine, decoupled from user interface
• Abstract control model based on logical values—defers DMX generation to the final stage
• Device communication through the Open Lighting Architecture (OLA)
• Project files and fixture profiles support macOS’s auto-save technology
• Full undo support
• Automatic download and installation of app updates

• Up to 4 DMX512 output universes (2048 channels), depending on license
• 2 DMX512 input universes (512 channels)
• Variable output rates from 30 through 44Hz
• Supports numerous USB interfaces and output protocols through the Open Lighting Architecture (OLA)
• Can integrate with an existing OLA server (optional)
• Automatic detection of connected Art-Net nodes through Art-Poll
• Blind mode allows making changes without affecting the DMX output while cuelists, sequences, and effects continue to run
• Freeze DMX output and seamlessly resume cuelists, sequences, and effects
• DMX output window shows live channel values for universes or individual fixtures
• Conditional fixture properties through Operation Mode property
• Supports 16-bit output values

USB Interfaces¹

Network Protocols

Any device which supports one of the following protocols:

• Art-Net versions 1, 2, and 3
• sACN (streaming Architecture for Control Networks)/E1.31 multicast
• ESP Net (Enttec Show Protocol)

¹ All required device drivers are included. To output more than one DMX universes we recommend to use an interface with multiple output ports. ² Lightkey can only use a single port on the DMXking ultraDMX2 PRO or eDMX2 PRO when connected via USB. Both ports are available through Art-Net or sACN. ³ These USB interfaces require that an admistrator password is entered at startup.

Controls any type of DMX512-compliant fixture, including:

Natively Supported Fixture Properties

Custom Fixture Properties

• Discrete options (e.g. built-in macros)
• Variable values (e.g. speed)
• Default option and/or default value
• Display as percent or DMX value
• Support for 16-bit output
• Up to 41 custom properties per fixture

DMX-In

• Input from up to two DMX universes
• User-definable triggers and actions
• Capture triggers when a channel in an input universe changes
• Automatic detection of control type (button vs. fader)
• Save, import, and export DMX-In configurations

MIDI

• Compatible to any standard MIDI controller through Core MIDI
• Connect multiple MIDI controllers
• Supported MIDI commands: Note On/Off, Control Change (CC), Program Change, Pitch Wheel
• User-definable triggers and actions
• Capture triggers when a button, fader, or other control is operated
• Automatic detection of control type (button vs. fader/rotary knob)
• Support for 14-bit faders
• Support for jogwheels (“encoders”) to change continuous parameters
• Support for Shift key on some MIDI controllers
• MIDI feedback (for LEDs, motorized faders etc.), including multi-color feedback for many popular controllers
• Customizable feedback messages
• Receive and send MIDI from/to other software applications
• Save, import, and export MIDI configurations

Keyboard

• Extensive keyboard control throughout the application
• Context-sensitive shortcut display
• User-definable keyboard shortcuts
• Save, import, and export keyboard configurations

Multi-Touch Gestures¹

• Control Intensity, Master Intensity, color hue and saturation through scroll wheel or swipe gestures
• Control Position, Focus, Zoom, Iris through pinch gesture or force click
• Multi-touch gestures are user-configurable

Touch Screen

• Main user interface optimized for touch screens
• Controls have large click regions for comfortable touch control
• All essential functions accessible without a right mouse button or scroll wheel

¹ Scroll gestures require Apple Magic Mouse, trackpad, or mouse with scroll wheel. Swipe and pinch gestures require multi-touch trackpad or Apple Magic Trackpad. Force click requires trackpad with Force Touch.

• Drag lighting cues as clips to the Ableton Live timeline
• Lighting cues are activated/deactivated in sync with the music
• Communication through MIDI messages
• Works with cues from both control panels and cuelists¹

¹ Lightkey can create up to 128 clips per page, on up to 128 pages (control panel or cuelist).

• Arrange, resize, and rotate fixtures according to their physical locations
• Freely edit the shape of LED strips
• Flexible placement of fixture name tags
• Add built-in or custom images, shapes, trusses, and text labels
• Resize and rotate multiple objects at once
• Various style options for shapes and images
• Smart alignment guides allow precise placement of objects on the same horizontal or vertical axis
• Smart spacing guides allow equidistant spacing of objects
• Commands for flipping, aligning, distributing, and layering objects
• Virtual beams simulate pan/tilt angles, intensity, color, gobo and gobo movement, focus, zoom, iris, frost, shutter/strobe
• Fixture position (pan/tilt) control uses polar coordinates to reflect actual beam positions
• Customizable perspective for stationery and moving lights
• Customizable limits for pan and tilt ranges
• Maintain relative pan/tilt offsets when positioning multiple fixtures
• Display multiple instances of a fixture (for identical fixtures with the same DMX address)
• Visualization adapts itself to screen size
• Visualization can be hidden for live control

• Intelligent selection commands
  • “Type selection” quickly selects fixtures with a common prefix or individual fixtures
  • Groups allow selecting multiple fixtures with a single click
  • Keyboard shortcuts to select fixtures by position (Arrow keys) or name (Control-Tab)
• Copy and paste values and effects between fixtures, including fixtures of different types
• Change properties relative to current state (supported by Dimmer, Position, Focus, Zoom, Iris)
• Define per-fixture default values for fixture properties
• Unlimited undo support for all fixture property changes
• Individual beam control for multi-beam fixtures (intensity, color, shutter/strobe)
• Use fanning to spread fixture property values across a range of fixtures or beams (supported properties: Dimmer, Color, Position, Focus, Zoom, Iris, Frost, Fog, custom properties)
• Design view adapts itself to the patched fixture’s properties for optimal use of screen space
• Rearrange fixture properties and hide unused properties
• Color mixing for RGB and CMY with hue, saturation, and brightness controls
• Synthetic Dimmer control for RGB fixtures with no Dimmer channel

Presets and Groups

• Store arbitrary combinations of fixture properties as presets
• Auto-assigned preset names and icons, depending on content
• The selected preset’s contents are displayed in the visual preview
• Add the contents of a preset to the overridden properties by drag and drop
• Quickly add the overridden fixture properties to a preset
• Organize presets in nestable groups
• Find presets by name

Sequences

• Sequence order options: repeat, forwards/backwards, autoreverse, random, freeze on completion
• Hold and crossfade times can be defined for entire sequence or individual steps
• Edit hold and fade times for multiple steps at once
• Control overall sequence speed factor
• Create pan/tilt movements through defined points (either at defined times or with uniform speed)
• Beat-controlled sequences with definable beat multiplier
• Smart icons reflect the sequence order options
• Reverse of shuffle sequence steps
• Adjust sequence speed from Live view

Cues

• Store an unlimited number of cues comprised of an arbitrary selection of presets and sequences
• Set fade-in/out times and priority for each cue
• Modifiers allow changing various aspects of cues during a show: Speed, Beat Multiplier, Time Offset, Fade Time, Dimmer, Hue, Color Temperature, Green Saturation, Xfade to Color, Pan Angle, Tilt Angle, Focus, Zoom Angle, Iris Size, Frost Amount  IMPROVED
• Auto-activating cues at application start
• Auto-activating cues before application quits (e.g. to turn fixtures off)
• Copy and paste cues between control panels and cuelists
• Quickly add the overridden fixture properties to a cue

Control Panels

• Fully customizable with buttons and faders to control cues during a live show  IMPROVED
• Switch between multiple control panels
• Toggle or flash buttons
• Arrange and resize buttons freely
• Resize multiple buttons at once
• Smart alignment guides and “magnetic” grid allow precise placement of buttons
• Attach buttons to create a group where only one button can be active at a time
• Button color is automatically set according to the cue’s contents or can be chosen manually
• Text labels
• Create named frames to group related buttons
• Successively step through the buttons in a frame with Previous/Next buttons

Cuelists

• Recall cues in a specific order
• Switch between multiple cuelists
• Organize cues in nestable groups
• Automatic cue numbering
• Automatic crossfades between cues with a predefined duration
• Manual crossfades with Xfade slider
• Advance to next cue manually or after predefined hold time
• Edit hold and fade times for multiple cues at once

Beat Control

• Synchronize sequences and effects with music
• Adjust the timing of each cue with the Beat Multiplier modifier
• Tap the beat and Lightkey will learn and continue the tempo
• Synchronize to other soft- or hardware with MIDI Beat Clock
• Synchronize to other software with Ableton Link

• Over 50 fully editable effect templates
• Effects remain editable at any time, even when stored in presets or cues
• Apply effects to multi-beam LED strips and matrixes
• Synchronize effects to music
• Copy and paste effects
• Overlay multiple effects for the same fixture property
• Save custom effect templates
• Adjust effect speed from Live view

Fixture Order Options

• Order by position in Preview, by short name, by address, or randomly
• Order from/to center
• Select fixtures or individual beams (LEDs)
• Group consecutive pixels
• Repeat pixel indexes

Pattern Effects

• Basic patterns: Chase, Fill, Rain, Sparkle, Fire, Jellyfish
• Apply pattern effects to Dimmer or Color (RGB) properties
• Configure pattern values and parameters
• Color pattern effects can include additional color components (cool/warm white, amber, lime, ultraviolet), color temperature, green saturation, xfade to color

Curve Effects

• Uses repeating mathematical functions to calculate fixture property value
• 16 basic curve types with adjustable parameters
• Graphical curve editor for changing X/Y shift, scale, segment widths
• Apply curve effects to the following fixture properties: Dimmer, Color, Position, Focus, Zoom, Iris, Frost, Fog, custom properties
• Colors can be split into components using three different color models: HSB (hue, saturation, brightness), RGB (red, green, blue), CMY (cyan, magenta, yellow) plus additional colors (cool/warm white, amber, lime, ultraviolet)
• Pan/tilt mirroring allows inversion of the pan or tilt angles on one side
• Relative position effects: Pan and tilt angles are added to the positions defined elsewhere

Movement Effects

• Uses closed movement paths to define pan/tilt movements
• 14 built-in, fully editable movement paths
• Integrated movement path editor uses polar coordinate system to show actual beam positions
• Translate and scale paths
• Reverse and flip movement paths
• Interpolation modes: smooth, linear, points
• Save custom movement paths for reuse
• Pan/tilt mirroring allows inversion of the pan or tilt angles on one side
• Relative position effects: Pan and tilt angles are added to the positions defined elsewhere

• Editor for fixture profiles integrated into application
• Profile changes take effect instantly
• Built-in, searchable library with over a thousand native fixture profiles
• The latest fixture profiles can be downloaded from online fixture library
• Manage fixture profiles in the application—no need to track individual files
• Edit an unlimited number of fixture profiles at once
• Supports multiple fixture modes (also called “personalities”)
• Import fixture profiles in the following formats:
  • .lightkeyfxt (native format)
  • .ssl2 (Sunlite 2)
  • .fxt, .pff (DMX Freestyler)
• Export fixture profiles in .lightkeyfxt format
• Share fixture profiles via Mail, Messages, AirDrop
• Assistant for creating new fixture profiles
• Graphical editor for beam layout
• Built-in color library includes Lee Filters, GamColor, Roscolux
• Built-in, searchable library with over 500 gobo images
• Live warnings as profile is edited
• Full undo support for all changes to a fixture profile
• Copy and paste settings between fixture modes or profiles

• Unified user interface for patching universes and fixtures
• Set refresh rate and priority (sACN output) for each universe  NEW
• Patch fixtures by drag and drop from the fixture library
• Auto-assigned short names
• Patch multiple identical fixtures to the same DMX address
• DIP switch display
• Reassign a different profile to existing fixtures
• Print an overview of all fixtures including patching information and comments