LSC Control Systems NEXEN R8 and P2

Andrew Gayler is the owner of Adelaide’s AJS. Established in 1996, AJS is a proud family-owned production company that combines the latest in vision, sound and lighting technology to achieve cutting-edge, creative and engaging experiences. The company boasts a large and dedicated staff collectively considered to be superior in service throughout the industry.

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I’d gone searching for a new lighting data distribution solution and came across LSC Control Systems’ announcement about their new NEXEN products.

We’d previously been using a top-of-the-market product with an extremely high price tag. I’ve found that lighting data distribution and control gear comes in two extremes: it’s either cheap and cheerful with a possibly unreliable power supply, or it’s the market leader with its attendant high cost. I thought, before I go and buy some more of the premium product, what else is around?

I asked LSC for a sample to evaluate, and they sent me the rackmount R8, which has 5-pin DMX outputs plus two Ethernet ports. The build quality is excellent. It’s as solid as a brick! With LSC’s decades of experience in building power supplies and power distribution, I was pretty sure it was going to have a good, reliable power supply. My only concern was about the software application for configuration and control because, at AJS, we find we always want to change those kinds of things. However, we have a fantastic communication pipeline to LSC. They are receptive to communication and always get back to us quickly about requests and updates.

The whole NEXEN range is a welcome option in a market segment that has, up until now, had limited options. We’ve found that, most of the time, cheap options work. But the problem for a production company is that “fairly reliable” is not an option. With NEXEN, we can trust the reliability, and because of the price point, we can buy three times the amount of nodes with a similar feature set compared to the top end of the price spectrum.

We now have eight R8s in stock, installed in our lighting racks. Gone are the days of running copper, and at FoH, our consoles output Art-Net or sACN, which we send to stage via fibre. We then convert the fibre back to Ethernet and plug it into the R8, and the data is then distributed through to our lighting rig.

Being able to configure the R8 via the app over Bluetooth is a great feature. Cheap lighting nodes use USB connections to a laptop, or very basic panel control. Using the NEXEN app, on the other hand, provides control via smartphone and takes out the ‘fiddle factor’ of using the front panel menu. While the front panel on the R8 is useful for simple changes, you can’t access every feature, which is a deliberate engineering choice by LSC to move you onto your phone or tablet. Everyone’s got a big touchscreen in their pocket; why not use that?

There are lots of little touches in the R8 that we love. Show Mode is a great example; one button press in the control software turns off all the LEDs in any NEXEN units in the network and locks them from editing. That tells us that the engineers at LSC really understand the live production environment.

In addition to our R8s, we’ve also invested in the NEXEN P2, a portable unit with Ethernet and 5-pin DMX. It’s a handy little thing! If we’re doing a small gig and they want a floor package, we take in a P2. If it’s a small job that just needs a couple of Universes, why take in a rack when you can take in a P2? It’s a really convenient way to do it.

AJS has had a very long, happy relationship with LSC. They’re an engineering-focused company based here in Australia. I like that, and we’re crazy if we don’t support it.

Like all their gear, NEXEN has great construction quality, a great pedigree and is great value for money.

NEXEN R8: The Specs

• 8-port, 1 RU Ethernet-DMX/RDM gateway with 8 x female XLR5 DMX outputs and 2 x Gigabit etherCON RJ45 connectors
• LCD colour touchscreen, Bluetooth and individually isolated DMX ports
• Power via PoE or an internal 110/240 V power supply with TRUE1 in/thru connectors on the rear panel

NEXEN P2: The Specs

• 2-port portable Ethernet-DMX/RDM gateway with 1 x female XLR5 DMX output and 1 x male XLR5 DMX input, plus an etherCON RJ45 connector
• Features Bluetooth and individually isolated DMX ports. Requires PoE or optional USB-C supply
• Rugged metal housing

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About NEXEN

The NEXEN family is a next-generation range of Ethernet/DMX gateways providing reliable conversion between protocols, including Art-Net, sACN, DMX512-A, RDM and ArtRDM.

New in 2026, the NEXEN family now includes 4- and 8-port rackmount variants, as well as new 2-port installation models. The new models all include a full-colour touchscreen and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), allowing configuration and monitoring either locally or from a nearby smartphone.

The rackmount units have dual Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports and allow multiple units to be daisy-chained without needing a separate Ethernet switch. All NEXEN models feature sACN priority by universe or by individual channel, DHCP or static IP address modes, and boast a boot-up time of less than 2.5 seconds.

Each port can be individually configured as Off, Input or Output, and outputs can have RDM enabled or disabled per port to allow compatibility with non-RDM-compliant devices.

The NEXEN Bluetooth app for Android and iOS allows an authorised user to connect to and configure compatible NEXEN nodes from a range of up to 15 m. There is no need for a bulky laptop computer or to climb a ladder to check settings or change the configuration. Open the app, and within a few seconds, all available NEXEN nodes will appear with a representation of their status screens showing the state of all ports. Tap a device to connect to it and edit the settings for every port.

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Features

Show Mode

For theatrical users, a single button press in LSC’s HOUSTON X software puts all the NEXEN devices into Show Mode. This turns off the screen backlight, blacks out all LED indicators, locks the user interface, and instantly disables Bluetooth. At the end of the show, another button press puts all the units back into live mode.

Multi-Source Merging

Each port of the NEXEN can receive up to four universes of sACN or Art-Net data and merge them into a single DMX output. Art-Net merging is performed using HTP, while sACN uses priority, either by source or by channel.

RDM Injection

If your console does not provide RDM, the NEXEN can be used to inject RDM into the DMX data stream. The NEXEN P2 is perfect for this, but all NEXEN units can do it. Feed DMX into one port, then send DMX+RDM out of another port. The RDM data is made available to any RDM controller on the network using the ArtRDM protocol.

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The Rest Of The NEXEN Range

NEXEN D4 (RJ45), D4 (Terminal)

• 4 x DMX/RDM ports on RJ45 connectors or 4 x DMX/RDM ports on push-fit terminals
• Configure and monitor via HOUSTON X software, full electrical isolation between ethernet input and DMX/RDM ports
• Power via PoE (<15.4W) or 9-24V DC reverse polarity protected power source via 2-pole push-fit terminals

NEXEN I2

• IP65 rated etherCON RJ45 connector, 2 x DMX/RDM ports on IP65 female XLR5 connectors
• Bluetooth, full electrical isolation between ethernet input and DMX/RDM ports
• Power via PoE, rugged IP65 powder-coated aluminium box

NEXEN S2

• Recessed format designed for Australian-spec stage box mounting
• RJ45 ethernet connector, 2 x DMX/RDM ports on male OR female XLR5 connectors
• LCD colour touchscreen, Bluetooth and individually isolated DMX ports

NEXEN W2

• Single-gang wall plate format, recessed format designed for Australian-spec stage box mounting
• RJ45 ethernet connector, 2 x DMX/RDM ports on male OR female XLR5 connectors
• LCD colour touchscreen, Bluetooth and individually isolated DMX ports

NEXEN R4

• 2 x gigabit etherCON RJ45 ethernet connectors. One on front panel, one on rear panel, 4 x DMX/RDM ports on female XLR5 connectors
• LCD colour touchscreen, Bluetooth and individually isolated DMX ports
• Power via PoE or an internal 110/240 V power supply with TRUE1 in/thru connectors on the rear panel
• 1RU half-width rackmount; ships with rack ears plus full-width adapter bracket