Why isn DMX512 a command based protocol?
It could easily have been. However, several factors contributed to the current data streaming format: 1) The desire to keep it simple and develop it quickly. 2) DMX512 is an adaptation in part of Colortran’s D192 (CMX) protocol with speed increase and other enhancements developed by the original USITT DMX512 project committee. 3) The trend in control at the time was towards several different serial protocols, and the DMX512 standard evolved from picking the best features of each while making sure that it was not compatible with existing equipment (thus putting all manufacturers on an equal footing). In May of 2003, Charlie Richmond of Richmond Sound Design (USITT Fellow and past USITT Sound Commissioner) wrote: “As I see it, the difference between a data streaming protocol such as DMX and a command based one such as MIDI is a philosophical one. Commands make more sense being sent by a show controller to a lighting console and streaming data makes more sense being sent by an intelligent
