Stairville DMX-Master MK II ENC

Having tried with other desks and failed to achieve even the most basic programmed operations this desk (after carefully studying of the manual and various videos on Youtube) has enabled me to produce the lighting effects I've been looking for. Yes you can run your LED DMX lights on sound to light and even slave them together but with this well priced desk you can black them all out simultaneously, get them performing individually or running in pre-programmed moods to suit the music your are playing, vary the brightness form 0 - 100%, select the colour RGB or any RGB mix, strobing, flashing all still with the option to sound to light to the desk. This has really taken our band's light show into another league, well worth the time to set up and a good price!

Of course, you don't expect a high-standard level from this device, however the building looks robust clean, and the metal body construction doesn't look "cheap", except for the grey plastic buttons. Nevertheless, these plastic buttons seem to work fine, with an instant 'clic' to the function. not enough time spent so far to rate the faders quality. Handling is quite intuitive even if switching from chaser back to scenes looks a little "dodgy" to me (I haven't been using a lighting desk during the last 15 years, so...!). Anyway, so far I'm pleased with it. I use it in my office room to control ambiant lights, and to create a mood when I'm practicing guitar at home. A good product for the price.

I like my Stairville DMX-Master MK II ENC very much. It's sleek design makes me look like a proper lighting pro. I can press all the buttons very quickly and make it look like I really know my stuff. Unfortunately, I'm not terribly well organised and every time I go to a gig, I have to write some new chases depending on the position of the stage, well, I say stage... it's more often than not somebody's old trestle table that they usually use for doing car boot sales and that. I also need to get around to colour coding my dmx cables and numbering my light units. It's one of those 'I'll get around to it' sort of jobs. Anyway, in the right hands the Stairville DMX-Master MK II ENC is everything you need it to be. I'm very pleased with mine and I think you should definitely get one. We can compare notes if you like.

If you are new to DMX and want a controller that is simple to use but get's you very far then this is a very viable option. I didn't expect this controller to be as versatile as it is,as to be fair, it doesn't look very complex.

Been using it as the main light controller in my club for a little over a year now and it can take a beating, spilled drinks etc. No problem operating sveral diffrent lights at once, and it's possible to operate a single lightsource outside of chases. This is very good when you want to ex make a laser shine constantly while not interfering with your chase.

Recommended. Better then it looks.

I brought one of these desk quite a long time ago.
It has been accepted with mixed results and I wish now i had understood better Thomann's return policy / 3 year warranty.

The plus points are:
+ Great features
+ aesthetically pleasing design
+ ergonomic rubbery/soft surround.
+ Easier than most similar desks to understand/operate.

The only bad point is that after about 5 months the desk stopped working due to a faulty power inlet - the connection to the circuit board became broken and at the time I did not know how to solder or use Thomann's 3 year warranty / repair service.

This seems to be a common problem with desks powered by a standard 12v power adaptor and jack, its a shame Stairwell did not use the standard 4-pin XLR connector for power..

Would i recommend it - sadly no, and thats a shame because its the only product out of hundreds that ive brought from thomann not to pass standards.