A JUCE MIDI FX plugin for controlling DMX lighting from your DAW.
By Stephen McLeod (aka allmyfriendsaresynths)
Version: 1.3.0
Formats: Audio Unit (.component) · VST3 (.vst3) · Standalone (.app) · Quick Light menu bar app
Platforms: macOS (Universal Binary — Apple Silicon + Intel, signed & notarised) · Windows (64-bit VST3 + Standalone, built via GitHub Actions)
Disclaimer: This is an unofficial plugin. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by BoomLights. The LC-1X+ hardware is their product; this plugin is an independent fan project designed to make it more fun to use inside a DAW.
Inspired by the LC-1X+ MIDI to DMX converter from BoomLights, this plugin gives you a proper step-sequencer-style grid inside your DAW to let you control DMX lighting fixtures, synchronised to your session.
Draw patterns, flood colours, store scenes, and play whole lighting songs — all from a single plugin instance that sits on a MIDI track next to your music.
- Step-sequencer grid — paint colours across multi-segment fixtures, one step at a time
- Multiple fixtures — configure several LED bars or strips with independent segments
- Pattern bank — store, duplicate, reorder, and rename multiple patterns per fixture
- Scenes A/B/C/D — snapshot the whole grid state and recall instantly
- Song mode — chain patterns into a timeline that follows your DAW's transport
- FLOOD mode — toggle on, then tap a palette colour to override every fixture with a single live colour (great for one-hit stabs and manual overrides during a set)
- FILL mode — the same gesture scoped to one fixture, with each fixture keeping its own colour, so you can hold several different colours across the rig at once
- Copy / paste / undo / redo — per-pattern editing with history
- Hue shift — live global hue rotation with a recycle-reset button
- Crossfade — smooth between steps instead of hard-switching
- Auto-reset on stop — when the transport stops, patterns snap back to step 1
- Three clock sources — Internal, MIDI Clock, or Host Sync
- Host-automatable parameters — Master Dimmer, Hue, Swing, Blackout, Pattern and Flood all appear as automation lanes in your DAW
- Record the show — capture a live performance as a MIDI file and play it back from the DAW timeline without the plugin
- MIDI Learn — map scenes, FLOOD, and transport to hardware controllers
- State persistence — everything saves with your DAW project
The Clock selector offers three sources:
| Source | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Internal | Free-running at the plugin's own BPM. Useful without a host transport. |
| MIDI Clock | Locks to incoming MIDI clock, for hardware sequencers and external masters. |
| Host Sync | Derives every step from the host's musical position (PPQ). Sample-accurate, survives tempo changes, and re-locks instantly on loop and locate. Recommended in a DAW. |
Swing is applied as a fractional step offset in all three modes.
In Host Sync mode the transport row shows what the DAW is actually reporting — bar and beat, tempo, and whether it's rolling. If it says the host is not processing the plugin, the DAW isn't calling it at all and no setting inside the plugin can change that: in Logic, put it in the MIDI FX slot of a Software Instrument track, which is a track type Logic renders.
REC (next to MIDI Out) captures everything the plugin sends, timestamped
against the musical clock. Stop, save the .mid, and drop it onto an
External MIDI track pointed at your LC-1X+ — the show then plays from the
timeline with the plugin doing nothing, and every cue is editable like any
other MIDI.
It captures the performance rather than the sequence: live flood hits, fader moves and scene recalls all land where you played them.
For when you just want the lights on and don't want to open a DAW. It sits in the menu bar: click the icon, pick a colour, done. There's a brightness submenu, a MIDI output picker, and a Set up rig... window where you describe your fixtures the same way you do in the plugin — profile, DMX start address, segments. It shares the plugin's fixture profiles, including custom ones, so a rig described in either addresses the same channels.
The icon is a filled dot in the current colour when the rig is lit and a hollow ring when it isn't. It runs as a menu bar agent with no Dock icon, never turns the lights on by itself at launch, and blacks the rig out when you quit.
Its settings live at
~/Library/Application Support/AMFAS/LC-1X+ MIDI2DMX/quicklight.xml,
separate from any DAW project.
Since 1.2.1 the render path is realtime-safe: no allocation, no locks on the device, and no blocking MIDI I/O on the audio thread. Output is handed to a dedicated sender thread through a lock-free queue, and the zero-allocation guarantee is enforced by tests that count real allocations rather than assuming. See CODE_REVIEW_v1.2.md for the full audit, including the issues that are knowingly still open.
The plugin is a MIDI FX — drop it on a MIDI track, route its output to a MIDI port that feeds your LC-1X+ (or any MIDI-to-DMX converter that understands the same protocol), and it will emit the MIDI messages needed to drive your DMX fixtures in sync with your session.
Grab the latest from the Releases page.
All macOS binaries are signed with a Developer ID certificate and notarised by Apple — no Gatekeeper warnings, no xattr -cr workarounds, works offline.
Download LC-1X+ MIDI2DMX-1.3.0.pkg and double-click it. The installer walks you through a normal macOS install and places everything in the correct locations:
| Format | Installed to | Used by |
|---|---|---|
| AU | /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ |
Logic Pro, GarageBand, MainStage |
| VST3 | /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ |
Ableton, Cubase, Reaper, Bitwig, Studio One, FL Studio |
| Standalone | /Applications/ |
Open as a regular Mac app (great for MIDI-controller-only rigs) |
| Quick Light | /Applications/ |
Menu bar app for turning the rig on without a DAW |
Then relaunch your DAW and rescan plugins. The plugin appears as a MIDI FX under AMFAS → LC-1X+ MIDI2DMX.
If you'd rather only install the format you use, grab the relevant .zip asset and drop the bundle into the folder listed above:
LC-1X+ MIDI2DMX.component.zip→/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/LC-1X+ MIDI2DMX.vst3.zip→/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/LC-1X+ MIDI2DMX.app.zip→/Applications/LC-1X+ Quick Light.app.zip→/Applications/
Unzip with Finder or ditto -x -k <file>.zip . — avoid plain unzip, which can strip the code signature.
xcrun stapler validate "LC-1X+ MIDI2DMX-1.3.0.pkg"
# → The validate action worked!Force an Audio Unit cache rescan and run auval manually. Note the AU type is aumi (MIDI processor), not aumf:
killall -9 AudioComponentRegistrar
auval -v aumi Dmxl AmfsDownload LC-1X-Plus-MIDI2DMX-Windows-VST3.zip from the Releases page and extract the .vst3 folder into your VST3 plugin directory — typically:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\
A standalone .exe is also available as LC-1X-Plus-MIDI2DMX-Windows-Standalone.zip — extract and run directly, no installation needed.
Restart your DAW and rescan plugins. The plugin appears under AMFAS → LC-1X+ MIDI2DMX.
Note: Windows binaries are not code-signed, so Windows Defender SmartScreen may show a warning on first run. Click More info → Run anyway to proceed.
Requires: macOS, Xcode, CMake ≥ 3.22, and JUCE (GPL build). JUCE is pinned to 8.0.12.
# 1. Clone this repo
git clone https://github.com/clickysteve/LC-1X-Plus-MIDI-2-DMX-Plugin.git
cd LC-1X-Plus-MIDI-2-DMX-Plugin
# 2. Clone JUCE into the project folder (JUCE is not vendored — GPL hygiene)
git clone --depth 1 --branch 8.0.12 https://github.com/juce-framework/JUCE.git
# 3. Configure and build (unsigned — fine for local dev)
cmake -B build -G Xcode
cmake --build build --config Release
# 4. Install the AU component locally and ad-hoc sign it
cp -R "build/DMXLightController_artefacts/Release/AU/LC-1X+ MIDI2DMX.component" \
~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/
codesign --force --deep --sign - \
~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/"LC-1X+ MIDI2DMX.component"
killall -9 AudioComponentRegistrarThen open Logic and validate:
auval -v aumi Dmxl AmfsA headless unit-test runner covers the pattern engine, DMX channel mapping, MIDI clock and Host Sync timing, parameters, persistence, scenes, crossfade, and allocation counting on the audio path.
cmake -B build -DLC1X_BUILD_TESTS=ON
cmake --build build --target LC1XTests -j8
./build/LC1XTests_artefacts/LC1XTests # Release/ subdir if CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE is setGitHub Actions runs these on every push, alongside auval and pluginval (strictness 10) on macOS.
If you have a Developer ID Application cert, a Developer ID Installer cert, and a notarytool keychain profile set up, release.sh at the repo root will build all three formats, sign them, notarise each bundle and the .pkg installer, staple the tickets, and drop the results into dist/. The version is read from CMakeLists.txt, so bump it there and nowhere else.
See release.sh for the full flow. The CMake cache variable LC1X_CODESIGN_IDENTITY gates the post-build code signing — leave it empty (default) for unsigned local dev builds.
- Create a new External MIDI or Software Instrument track.
- In the channel strip's MIDI FX slot, insert AMFAS → LC-1X+ MIDI2DMX.
- In the plugin's MIDI output settings, route to the MIDI port connected to your LC-1X+.
- Set Clock to Host Sync.
- Hit Play — the grid will step in time with Logic's transport.
Any of the automatable parameters (Master Dimmer, Hue, Swing, Blackout, Pattern, Flood) can be recorded or drawn into an automation lane on that track.
See CHANGELOG.md for a summary of every version, or the full release notes: 1.3.0 · 1.2.1 · 1.2.0 · 1.1.0 · 1.0.0 · 1.0-beta.2
This plugin is provided as-is, with no warranty of any kind, express or implied. It may crash, lose state, misbehave in your host, or do unexpected things to your lights. Don't use it in a situation where a misfiring light cue could hurt anyone. Test thoroughly before any live use.
This project is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by BoomLights. The LC-1X+ is their product; this plugin is an independent fan project designed to make it more fun to use inside a DAW.
Feedback, bug reports, and PRs welcome — open an issue on GitHub.
This plugin is licenced under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See LICENSE for the full text.
Why GPL v3? Because the plugin is built on JUCE, and using JUCE under its free licence requires the resulting project to be open-sourced under GPL v3. Any derivative work must also be GPL v3.
- Built with JUCE
- Inspired by the BoomLights LC-1X+
- Made by allmyfriendsaresynths (Stephen McLeod)