Aputure Sidus Four connects up to eight DMX lighting universes for ultimate remote control

DMX (Digital MultipleXer) and its wireless counterpart, CRMX (Cognitive Radio MultipleXer), have been around for a while now. But outside the worlds of DJs, stages and TV sets, it’s not really taken off until recently. As new LED light releases have included DMX and wireless control, it’s become more accessible.

The new Aputure Sidus Four ($2,490) is designed to help you control a lot of lights, probably more than you might need, bringing together four wired and four wireless “lighting universes” into a single, cohesive system. And you can control everything from the Sidus Link app.

Aputure Sidus Four – When you need to control lots of lights

Aputure has been working on its remote control system for a while. Whereas most lighting manufacturers only want you to use their app with their lights, Aputure is taking a more pragmatic approach. The company seems to have spent the last few years attempting to make their systems as interoperable with others as possible.

In 2020, Aputure released Sidus Link Bridge. This was limited to only work with Aputure lights, but it added functionality to Aputure’s older lights to bring it in line with its modern wireless remote control protocols. And in April, only four months ago, they opened it up to others.

The release of Sidus Link Pro and Sidus One meant that you could incorporate lights from companies like Godox, Nanlite, etc. Aputure Sidus One added wireless capabilities to lights and lighting networks that didn’t already have wireless features.

Aputure Sidus Four takes the principles of the Sidus One and massively expands them, allowing you to bridge and control up to four wired and up to four wireless lighting networks. Yes, up to 8 “lighting universes” in total.

Now, you might not have enough lights that you’re running out of DMX slots, but splitting them into separate networks can make life easier. It means that if you have an issue with a light, it’s a lot easier to fault-find, for a start. But it also means you can use simple setups when you don’t need to combine multiple universes.

And for really complex lighting setups, if 8 channels (up to around 4,000 lights) isn’t enough, you can network multiple Sidus Four units together for an almost unlimited number of lights.

It’s an interesting device, that’s probably overkill for many of us. But even outside of its typical stage and TV set use, it’s potentially very handy in a studio – even a home YouTube setup.

Price and Availability

The Aputure Sidus Four is available to pre-order now for $2,490. Units are expected to begin shipping in the coming weeks.