New Remote Control Wall Station

We have often said that the easiest way to control your DMX lights for everyday use is a DMX Wall Station, and this is true. At the press of a button, your stage and house lights turn blue. At the press of another button, your lights raise to full brightness. DMX Control Stations allow you to save your most used static scenes and access them at the press of a button. Well, things are about to get even better! We are excited to introduce the SS-8RC, a Remote Control Satellite Station. Now the easiest way to control your lights is more flexible than ever!

Remote Control Quick Look

Wireless Charging
On/Off Button
Charging Time: 1 Hour
Battery Life: 7 Hours
Range: 50-feet
8 Scenes With LED Indicators
Connects To Master Wall Station Via Cat5

The Perfect Match

The SS-8RC consists of a wall-mountable base plate and a remote. The remote charges magnetically when snapped onto the base plate. Each base plate is paired with a remote, so only that remote can trigger scene changes. You can easily pair a new remote with the base plate via a button on the back of the base.

In The Hands Of A Drama Teacher

We present this scenario for your consideration. A school’s theater has an SM-8 Switch Desk Station in its booth, next to a computer running lighting software. The computer is used for their fall play, and spring musical, and little else. Everyday control of the theater’s lights is via Springtree DMX Control Stations.

Connected to the SM-8 Switch via Cat5 is a SS-8RC installed backstage. The SS-8RC is the drama teacher’s prefererred method of control. She carries the remote in her pocket during the day and returns it to the base plate to charge at the end of the school day.

For most after-school rehearsals for the aforementioned fall and spring productions, she runs the lights via the SS-8RC remote. She switches to the computer once it gets close to the tech rehearsal. The SM-8 Switch Desk Station has a switch that deactivates the Wall Stations and switches control back to the computer running the lighting software. This way, a student backstage can’t accidentally hit a button on a Control Station and ruin that years production of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

In addition to the SM-8 Switch and SS-8RC is a 2-button Satellite Station at the entrance to the theatre building. So, as she enters, she can press the top button that turns her stage lights on to the chosen scene, and as she exits, she can hit the bottom button, which turns off all her stage lights.

*Once programmed, Control Stations can stand alone without a lighting console/computer. Or, Wall Stations can work in tandem with a lighting console. When the SM-8 Wall Station detects a DMX signal sent from the console, the Wall Station becomes inoperable. The problem with most computers running lighting software is that they always send out DMX data unless powered off, so the Wall Station remains inoperable. The switch on the SM-8 Switch fixes this problem, allowing you to switch control from your control stations to your computer and back again. We also offer an affordable Console Toggle Switch for use with Wall Stations experiencing this problem.

** The SS-8RC is a satellite station. Satellite Stations don’t save or send any DMX data but merely communicate with a Master Wall Station, which sends the DMX data to your lights. You have two options of Master Wall Stations to use with the SS-8RC, The SM-8 Wall Station or The SM-8 Switch Desk Station.

Personal Experience

I, the author of this post, often produce murder mystery plays at a local black box theater. We don’t have many lighting changes and usually run the lights backstage from a non-remote SS-8 Satellite Station, so we don’t have to pay an additional tech for just five cues. Many times an actor will be standing in the corner, where the non-remote Satellite Station is, waiting for the cue to blackout the lights, as the act of fictional murder is committed in the dark.

While we are extremely grateful for the convenience a SS-8 has provided us these past years, it is limiting due to its static location. The actor has to be at the right place at the right time to hit the cue. With the SS-8RC Remote, we can now flexibly and subtly control the lights wherever we are.

The black box theater we use is a shared space, and using a Springtree Control Station has been a game changer. Dance classes, acting classes, plays, stand-up, and improv shows all happen there. The acting teachers merely go in, hit a button and start their classes. The improv troop can hold on to the SS-8RC remote and change scenes as they like. While most plays use the lighting console, many prefer the ease of switching between a few preprogrammed scenes from backstage or the audience with a SS-8RC Remote.

Thanks for reading!