Free Art-Net & sACN router for macOS

DMXhub is a macOS desktop app that routes, merges, and maps DMX lighting control data over a network. It ingests Art-Net and sACN sources, merges and remaps their universes, and routes or mirrors the result back out to Art-Net and sACN destinations. You build everything in a visual, node-based editor with live 512-channel previews for every universe and route.

DMXhub is free to download and use. There is no trial period, no channel cap, no watermark, and no paid tier gating features. It is published by CUE++.

Yes. DMXhub is a free Art-Net router for macOS, and a free sACN router too. There is no trial, no channel cap, and no paid tier: download it, route Art-Net and sACN on your Mac, and keep it. It is published by CUE++.

DMXhub is a native macOS desktop application. It is not currently available for Windows or Linux.

DMXhub speaks Art-Net and sACN (E1.31), and only those two protocols. Both are supported on the input side and the output side, so you can ingest either, merge them together, and send out either. You can also use DMXhub as a protocol bridge, for example taking in sACN and sending out Art-Net, or vice versa.

Yes. DMXhub works as an Art-Net to sACN bridge on macOS, and the reverse, because both protocols are supported on the input and the output side. Ingest Art-Net and send the result out as sACN, or ingest sACN and send out Art-Net, converting, merging, and remapping universes in the same routing graph.

Inputs are sources DMXhub listens to on the network: Art-Net and sACN streams, each carrying many universes. Outputs are destinations DMXhub transmits to: Art-Net (broadcast or unicast) and sACN (multicast or unicast). Inputs feed the routing graph; outputs carry the merged, mapped result back onto the network. Each universe on an input has its own on/off switch and a live DMX preview bar.

You draw routes from input universes to output universes and pick a merge policy per route. The options are Priority (a ranked, reorderable list where higher-ranked sources win), HTP (highest-takes-precedence, so the highest value per channel wins), LTP (latest-takes-precedence, so the most recent change wins), and Single/Switch (only one active source at a time). Per input you also get level scaling, solo, honor-priority, and drag-to-reorder ranking, so you can shape exactly how sources combine.

Yes, merging multiple DMX universes is the core of DMXhub. You wire many input universes into one output universe and pick a per-route merge policy, Priority, HTP, LTP, or Single/Switch, with per-source level, solo, and reordering for channel-accurate control over which source wins. Each universe is a full 512-channel frame with its own live preview.

Yes. Each route has a configurable TTL on signal loss, and you choose the on-loss behaviour: hold the last look, snap to zero, fade to black, or jump to a saved snapshot. You can set auto-return for when the source comes back, a crossfade time for switches, and you can manually flip between sources at any time. This lets you run a primary and backup console feed and fail over cleanly.

DMXhub processes and previews at 44 Hz, the standard DMX refresh rate, and every per-universe and per-route preview bar updates live at that rate. Added latency is dominated by your network and the source/sink rates rather than the app itself. Real-world end-to-end timing depends on your switches, host load, and how many universes you are routing.

DMXhub is built to route many universes at once, since a single Art-Net or sACN source typically carries multiple universes and you can have multiple sources and outputs. Each universe is a full 512-channel frame with its own on/off and live preview. Practical limits depend on your Mac's CPU and your network bandwidth rather than a fixed software cap; throughput and pps stats are shown live so you can see how much headroom you have.

DMXhub sends and receives over standard IP networking on your Mac's network interfaces. Art-Net outputs can be broadcast or unicast, and sACN outputs can be multicast or unicast, so you can target a whole subnet or address specific nodes directly. Because it works over normal Ethernet and Wi-Fi networking, it fits into existing lighting network topologies alongside consoles, nodes, and gateways.

No. DMXhub runs on a standard Mac and communicates over the network using Art-Net and sACN, so it does not require any proprietary dongle, license key, or capture card. To get DMX onto physical fixtures you would use ordinary Art-Net or sACN nodes/gateways, which are widely available from many manufacturers, but those are independent of DMXhub and not required for network-to-network routing.

Yes. The merged result of a route can be mirrored to several outputs simultaneously, mixing Art-Net and sACN destinations. This is useful for feeding redundant nodes, distributing the same universes to multiple zones, or driving a backup path. Each output can be independently armed or disabled, so you can prep a destination and bring it live when you are ready.

After merging, you can apply modifiers per route: invert channels, clamp or limit the maximum level, and restrict to a specific channel range. There is also a global master with a grand master level and a blackout control. Together these let you trim, cap, and globally master your output without touching the source consoles.

You can create, open, save, and save-as projects as .dmxhub files, and a start page lists your recent projects for quick access. The editor supports full undo/redo and keyboard shortcuts so you can build and revise routing graphs quickly. Your entire setup of sources, outputs, routes, merge policies, failover rules, and modifiers is stored in the project file.

DMXhub is free to use but is a CUE++ product, not an open-source release. It is a local desktop tool: your lighting data and project files stay on your machine and your network, and routing happens locally rather than through any cloud service. It does not require an account to route DMX.

Support is provided by CUE++, the publisher of DMXhub, through the channels listed on the product site. Because DMXhub works with standard Art-Net and sACN over normal IP networking, most issues come down to network configuration (addressing, broadcast vs unicast, multicast routing), and the live throughput and pps stats in the app help you diagnose where data is or isn't flowing.