9 pin D-SUB male connector at the XLR Terminal.
The Martin LightJockey is a professional DMX512 lighting-control system that uses an ISA or PCI interface card fitted with a 9-pin D-sub (DE-9) connector. The card ships with Sub-D to XLR adapter cables that translate the DE-9 signals to standard 5-pin XLR DMX512 connectors, with pin 1 wired to shield, pin 2 to Data 1− (cold), and pin 3 to Data 1+ (hot). The DJ-edition card supports one DMX512 universe of 512 channels, while the Club-edition card extends this to up to four universes totalling 2048 channels. DMX512 uses EIA-485 differential balanced signalling at 250 kbaud on 120-ohm shielded twisted pair, as defined in ANSI E1.11-2008 (DMX512-A).
| Pin | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | XLR Male Pin 1 (Negative) [universe 2+4] |
| 2 | + | XLR Female Pin 3 (Positive) [universe 1+3] |
| 3 | earth | XLR Female Pin 2 (Positive) [universe 1+3] |
| 5 | - | XLR Female Pin 1 (Negative) [universe 1+3] |
| 6 | earth | XLR Male Pin 2 (ground) [universe 2+4] |
| 9 | + | XLR Male Pin 3 (Positive) [universe 2+4] |
Signals
- Pin 1 (−) — Data link common / shield for universes 2 and 4; connects to XLR Male Pin 1 (Data link common).
- Pin 2 (+) — Data 1+ (positive/hot) for universes 1 and 3; connects to XLR Female Pin 3 (DMX Data+).
- Pin 3 (earth) — Data 1− (negative/cold) for universes 1 and 3; connects to XLR Female Pin 2 (DMX Data−).
- Pin 5 (−) — Data link common / shield for universes 1 and 3; connects to XLR Female Pin 1 (Data link common).
- Pin 6 (earth) — Data link common / ground for universes 2 and 4; connects to XLR Male Pin 2 (DMX Data−).
- Pin 9 (+) — Data 1+ (positive/hot) for universes 2 and 4; connects to XLR Male Pin 3 (DMX Data+).
Notes
- The DE-9 connector on the card is the physical interface; the adapter cable converts each universe pair to a 5-pin XLR connector, which is the mandatory DMX512 connector under ANSI E1.11-2008 section 7.1.2.
- A 120-ohm termination resistor across Data+ and Data− is required at the far end of each DMX512 run to prevent reflections, as specified by ANSI E1.11-2008.
- The DJ card supports universe 1 only (512 channels); the Club card supports up to four universes (2048 channels total).
- DMX512 uses EIA-485 (RS-485) balanced differential signalling at 250 kbaud with a characteristic cable impedance of 120 ohms.