PrintableCharts
THE DMX512 PROTOCOL

1 / 2 · mockup · office

THE DMX512 PROTOCOL

512 channels down one serial wire, and why a full universe cannot refresh faster than 44 times a second

Built as a memo rather than a table: the thing worth hanging it up for reads across the room, with the full reference in smaller type below it.

Three sizes in one archive — from a sheet on the fridge to a poster on the wall.

StandardUS$1.50

By clicking Buy you agree to the Terms and Refunds.

Payment and email are handled by Paddle. The download link arrives by email — no account, no password.

Formats
A4 · A3 · A2
What you get
Print-ready PDFs, one per size, with every letterform converted to outlines — nothing to install, nothing to shift.
Subject
code · everyone · reference · study

Above, one DMX512 packet at true microsecond scale. Below, the same formula for shorter universes, and the margin the standard leaves between transmitter and receiver.

FEWER CHANNELS ARE NOT SAVINGS — THEY ARE SPEED

A minimal DMX512 packet (24 channels) refreshes 18.8 times faster than a full 512-channel universe — not because the wire got any faster, but because there is simply less left to send.

That is why consoles driving moving lights and pixel tape often trim the universe to the channels actually in use — not to save memory, but to buy back refresh rate.

On the sheet

  • Above, one DMX512 packet at true microsecond scale. Below, the same formula for shorter universes, and the margin the standard leaves between transmitter and receiver.
  • Colour carries meaning, but meaning never rests on colour alone — the sheet reads in black and white.
  • Nothing about how it was made: the sheet carries only what the reader needs.

Printing

  • Three sizes in the archive: A4 — 210×297 mm, A3 — 297×420 mm, A2 — 420×594 mm.
  • All text is converted to outlines. No fonts to install, and nothing shifts on another machine.
  • White background and sparing fills — it prints on a home printer without draining the cartridge.
  • Margins of at least 10 mm: a home printer cannot print to the edge.
  • No stroke thinner than 0.3 mm, so nothing disappears in print.

Why the numbers can be trusted. Every countable number here is computed from data rather than typed in, and the sheet must pass 11 independent checks before it is allowed to build — how many items there are, the order they come in, and the claim in the highlighted box itself. If one fails, there is no file.

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