Spektra+ colour control, built into every controller.
Generative colour sequences, static themes and timed shows across DALI, DALI DT8 and DMX — authored once in the app, then run autonomously on the controller. No PC, no media server, no ongoing network connection.
Overview
For specifiers & lighting designers. This brief outlines the colour-control capability of the eDIDIO Series 10 platform — what it can produce, how content is organised, and how it is started and scheduled — so you can specify dynamic architectural colour with confidence and without any external control gear.
Spektra is the colour-lighting engine built into every eDIDIO Series 10 controller. It drives architectural RGB / RGBW / tunable-white installations across DALI (including DT8 colour) and DMX, and runs colour sequences, static themes and timed shows entirely on the controller. Everything below is configured from the Spektra+ app; once commissioned the installation runs on its own — through network drop-outs and power cycles alike.
Quick reference
Zones — the unit of control
A zone is a logical group of fixtures with its own protocol, addressing and colour state. Every zone carries a full set of output settings so that mixed installations (some DALI, some DMX) run side by side on the one controller.
| Zone property | What it does |
|---|---|
| Protocol | DALI arc-level, DMX512, or DALI DT8 colour — either RGBWAF (up to 6 colour primaries) or XY (CIE 1931 x/y chromaticity). Spektra converts internally, so the same colour content can target any of them. |
| Addressing | Start address, line / DMX-universe mask, number of fixtures and channels-per-fixture. Lines can be consecutive or independent (mirrored) — see below. |
| Channel mapping | Per-zone map of up to 10 channels onto the physical DALI / DMX channels, so any fixture wiring order (RGB, GRB, RGBW, RGB+CCT …) is handled without re-wiring. |
| Zone scale factor | Master intensity trim for the whole zone, 10 %–100 %, applied while preserving the colour mix (no hue shift when dimming). |
| Current state | One of: Off, running a Sequence, showing a Theme, or holding a Static colour. State survives power loss and is resumed on boot. |
Consecutive vs. independent (mirrored) lines
When a zone spans more than one DALI line or DMX universe, this setting decides how the fixtures are laid out across those lines — it is the difference between one long run and several identical runs:
| Mode | How fixtures are addressed | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Consecutive | Fixtures are numbered as one continuous chain. Addressing flows on from one line/universe to the next — e.g. fixtures 1–63 sit on line 1 and fixture 64 carries straight on to line 2, but the effect still sees them as one unbroken run of 64+. | A single long façade, perimeter or feature where an effect (a chase, a comet) should travel end-to-end across everything, even though it physically crosses multiple lines. |
| Independent (mirrored) |
The same addresses are driven on every selected line/universe at once. Fixture 1 on line 1, line 2 and line 3 all receive the same colour simultaneously — each line is a copy of the others. | Several matching runs — e.g. four identical columns or bollards — that should all show the exact same look in sync, without programming each line separately. (This is the default.) |
The three content types
Everything Spektra plays is built from three object types. A colour throughout is a full per-channel level set — up to 10 channel values — so one "colour" can define red, green, blue, white, amber and warm/cool white simultaneously, not just an RGB triplet.
| Type | Qty | Colours / steps | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sequence | up to 144 | up to 20 colours each | An animated effect. Each sequence holds a palette of up to 20 colours plus timing and a movement type (see below). This is the workhorse — chases, fades, sparkle, fire, etc. |
| Theme | 10 | up to 20 colours each | A static palette shown across the zone — no animation. Used for fixed scenes and holiday colour-ways (e.g. a spread of reds & greens) that hold until changed. |
| Show | 10 | up to 255 steps | A timed programme that chains sequences and themes together — the "playlist" layer. See below. |
Sequence effects & parameters
Each sequence is far more than a colour list — it carries a movement engine plus independent colour and step timing. There are sixteen built-in effects, shown live below: each panel uses eight circles standing in for fixtures, animated exactly as the controller firmware drives them. (Animation runs on screen; a still frame is captured when printed.)
Beyond the built-in effects, sequences can be set to pick their effect and colour order at random from a pool you choose, so no two loops look identical. Every effect is further shaped by the parameters below:
| Parameter | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Transition | Blend (crossfade over the fade time), Snap (instant), or Fade to Black between colours. |
| Time per colour | How long each colour is held. Selectable unit: ms, seconds, minutes or hours — supporting anything from a fast chase to a colour that drifts over a whole day. |
| Time per step | Movement speed of the effect across the fixtures, with the same ms / s / min / hr unit choice. Minimum step resolution is 50 ms. |
| Range | Spatial offset between physically linked fixtures (e.g. a range of 8 wires fixtures 1&9, 2&10 … together), for repeating patterns along a run. |
| Direction | Reverse and cycle (bounce) options for the movement. |
| Randomisation | Optional random effect type (chosen from a selectable pool of the effects), random colour order, and fully controller-generated random sequences on demand. |
What "Time per step" and "Time per colour" do — per effect
| Effect | Time per step | Time per colour |
|---|---|---|
| Blend | Sets how long each colour is held before the crossfade — effectively the colour hold. | No visible effect — for Blend the step is the colour change. |
| Simple | Chase speed — how fast the dot travels along the run. | How often the moving dot advances to the next palette colour. |
| Shadow | Chase speed of the dark gap. | How often the lit background colour advances. |
| Comet | Travel speed of the comet. | How often the comet head changes colour. |
| Rotate | Rotation speed — how fast the colour spread rolls along. | No visible effect — the colours roll on each step. |
| Twinkle | Sparkle refresh rate (keep small/fast for a good look). | How often the twinkle colour changes. |
| Build | Fill speed and the colour advances each time a fill completes. | No visible effect — colour advances with the fill. |
| Crash | Comet speed and the colour pair advances on each crash. | No visible effect — colour advances per crash. |
| Fireworks | How often a new burst fires. | How often the burst colour changes. |
| Fire | Flicker refresh rate (best kept fast, ~250 ms). | How often the base fire colour changes. |
| Ramp Up | Swell rate, and advances to the next colour each swell. | No visible effect — the step is the colour change. |
| Ramp Down | Fall rate, and advances to the next colour each pulse. | No visible effect — the step is the colour change. |
| Static | Refresh only — nothing moves; the palette is spread across the fixtures and held. | No visible effect — the pattern is fixed. |
| Radial Rotate | Rotation speed about the centre. | No visible effect — colours roll on each step. |
| Radial Build | Fill speed and the colour advances each completed fill. | No visible effect — colour advances with the fill. |
| Particle Cannon | Particle speed (which itself ramps up and down over time). | How often the particle colour changes. |
Colour & palette examples
A colour is stored as a level for each channel a fixture uses. For an RGBW fitting that means four values (Red, Green, Blue, White, each 0–255); tunable-white and RGB+amber fittings use their own channels. The same palette therefore drives a plain RGB tape or a six-channel RGBWAF fixture without re-authoring. A few typical looks:
| Palette | Colours | Typical use & example channel values |
|---|---|---|
| Warm White scene | Static theme for everyday architectural light. R0 G0 B0 W255 on a warm-white channel, or ~2700 K on a tunable-white fitting. | |
| RGB Spectrum | A Rotate or Blend sequence for a slow rainbow. Red = R255 G0 B0, Blue = R0 G0 B255, and so on. | |
| Festive (Christmas) | Calendar-driven theme for a specific date. Alternating red, green and white across the run using the Static effect. | |
| Ocean | Deep-to-pale blues on a Comet or Twinkle for a calm, moving water feel. | |
| Fire | Reds, oranges and ambers driven by the Fire effect for a flame / brazier look. On RGBWA fittings the amber channel adds depth: R255 G60 B0 A180. |
Shows — the timed playlist layer
A show is a special kind of List: an ordered set of steps, each of which does one thing and then waits a defined time before advancing. Steps can:
| Step action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Run Sequence | Start a chosen sequence in a zone. |
| Show Theme | Display a chosen theme in a zone. |
| Start List | Launch another list/show — allowing shows to be composed from smaller building blocks. |
| Pause / Stop Previous | Hold or clear whatever the previous step started, for clean hand-offs between looks. |
Each step carries its own dwell time (seconds-until-next), and a show can be set to run once or loop continuously. Up to 255 steps are available per show. Typical use: a dusk-to-dawn programme that fades through several sequences and holds a theme, looping through the night.
See a show run
A short five-step show, looping. Watch the caption and progress bar as each step plays its sequence or theme for its dwell time, then hands over to the next.
Theme, sequence or show — which should I use?
Theme
- Fixed, non-moving colours held across the zone.
- Fastest to set up — just pick the colours.
- Ideal for house looks, brand colours and holiday colour-ways.
Sequence
- Moving colour effects — the everyday choice for dynamic architectural colour.
- Easy to configure and control, with one simple start/stop.
- Best all-round effect for coloured feature lighting.
Show
- Chains multiple sequences and themes over time, with dwell times and looping.
- The most powerful option — full control over a timed running order.
- More involved to set up and to modify; use when a single sequence isn't enough.
Starting content from an input
Colour content does not have to be started by hand. Any physical input on the controller can be wired to a trigger, so an external photocell (PE cell) or an external timeclock can drive the show automatically — when the contact closes at dusk (or opens at dawn) the controller fires the assigned Spektra action. (The controller can equally do this from its own internal astronomical clock — see the next section — so no external device is required at all.)
Input-driven Spektra trigger actions include: Start Sequence, Stop Sequence, Show Theme, Static colour, Run the internal Schedule, Sleep (fade out & hold) / Resume, and Intensity adjust. Shows and lists also have direct start / stop / continuous-start triggers. So a single dusk contact can, for example, resume the scheduled programme at night and sleep the zone at dawn.
Internal scheduling — time & astronomical
The controller also has its own battery-backed real-time clock and can run the whole colour system unattended. Two complementary mechanisms cover this:
1. Internal astronomical clock (RTC) — time-of-day & sun events
Using its own on-board real-time clock, scheduled events can fire at a fixed time or relative to the sun. Start and end can each be anchored to sunrise or sunset for the controller's configured location, with an offset before or after the event (e.g. "on 30 minutes before sunset"). These schedule events carry the same Spektra actions as inputs, so the colour programme can start at dusk and end at dawn automatically, tracking the changing sunset time through the year.
2. The Spektra Calendar — a different look every day
For seasonal and event-based venues, Spektra keeps a full-year (366-day) calendar. Every calendar day can be assigned its own sequence or theme — so a site can automatically show festive colours on holidays, team colours on match days, and a house look the rest of the year, with no one on site. An example month:
For any day left unprogrammed (the dashed days above), the zone's unscheduled-day behaviour decides what to do:
Run a random-coloured sequence Run Sequence 1 Run Theme 1 Run Show 1 Resume previous Do nothing
eDIDIO Series 10 colour engine. Specifier brief — capabilities and figures are indicative and may evolve; contact Creative Lighting for current project detail and datasheets.