Pharos Express or Pharos Designer: Which system is right for you?

Which Pharos system is right for you?

Pharos Express and Pharos Designer both offer reliable, thoughtfully designed solutions for the control of dynamic DMX & DALI lighting.

Express is a straightforward, cost-effective, single-controller solution, ideal for typical architectural lighting control requirements. Commissioning software is single-view and easy to use, with guided programming and curated lighting tools. The versatile Designer controllers – LPCs and VLCs – are scalable, powerful, and high-capacity solutions, focusing on architainment and show control, offering all the flexibility you’ll ever need. Some projects will always need to be Designer LPCs because of complexity of requirements or high channel counts, but many projects (up to six universes of DMX) may be served by either an Express Control or by Designer LPCs.

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{{tr:ct_blue_header_row}}{{:font-size-150}}Concepts	{{:vam}}When to use Pharos Express	{{:vam}}When to use Pharos Designer
{{tr:ct_line}}{{:ct_blue}}Goal	Dynamic lighting control made accessible	Specialist control, for even the most demanding applications
{{tr:ct_line}}{{:ct_blue}}Usage	Scene setting of static and dynamic scenes, where scenes will typically run for minutes or hours	Sub-second control of content and effects, including specific groups, timing, transitions and priorities
{{tr:ct_line}}{{:ct_blue}}Approach	Ease of use to setup common scenarios	Ultimate flexibility to deal with every situation
{{tr:ct_line}}{{:ct_blue}}Applications	Architectural lighting control in a wide range of indoor and outdoor applications; object lighting, public spaces, office, retail, hospitality, healthcare, education and more	Architainment, themed entertainment, show control and other demanding projects, from façades and structures to landmarks, experiences and many more
{{:ct_blue}}Users	Everyone who is comfortable with lighting control applications	Trained commissioning engineers

{{tr:ct_blue_header_row}}{{:font-size-150}}Implementation	{{:vam}}Express	{{:vam}}Designer
{{tr:ct_line}}{{:ct_blue}}Lighting Playback	Plays one scene at a time in any given space	Multiple timelines and scenes on any set of fixtures as needed
{{tr:ct_line}}{{:ct_blue}}Triggers	User override, clock, system integration, Cloud control	Flexible enough to integrate with almost any system with complex conditional logic options
{{tr:ct_line}}{{:ct_blue}}Presets	Easy to use, curated presets	Presets with a wealth of configurable parameters
{{tr:ct_line}}{{:ct_blue}}Fixture support	Full fixture library, with custom profile support and static extended parameter playback	Full fixture library, with custom profiles, fixture templates, and total control over extended parameters – including dynamic playback
{{tr:ct_line}}{{:ct_blue}}System	Single controller with selected range and quantity of accessories and user interfaces	Fully scalable system
{{tr:ct_line}}{{:ct_blue}}User Interfaces	Easy to configure, curated	Complete flexibility to design as required
{{:ct_blue}}Integration	Enable straightforward integration with curated options to allow third-party systems to trigger the controller. Allow basic actions aligned with scene starts	An extremely wide range of integration options, all flexible to setup. True, bi-directional integration, to control as well as to be controlled

Benefits of all Pharos controllers

Extreme reliability backed by a 5-year warranty

Over 20 years’ experience and development of dynamic lighting controls

Quality built for permanent installations

Compatible with Pharos Cloud for safe, secure remote access from anywhere in the world

Free software for Windows and macOS – no cut-down version, no subscription, no dongle – and all ongoing software updates are free, including firmware upgrades

Extensive fixture library with over 30,000 fixtures

Excellent worldwide Technical Support and free product training

UK manufactured. All our controllers are proudly designed and built in London, England

Compare the ranges

Your first choice in control.

The easy to specify, easy to install, and cost-effective DMX and DALI control solution for architectural projects with decorative and dynamic lighting requirements.

Explore Express

Flexible. Versatile. Powerful.

Comprehensive, scalable, feature-rich dynamic lighting control solutions for architainment, show control and themed environment lighting projects.

Discover Designer

Compare the software

Both Express and Designer software applications are free to download for Windows and macOS. We encourage you to explore and evaluate both, side-by-side, to see which approach and feature sets suits you and your next project best. There are plenty of tutorials available for Designer to give you a feel for using it, the original Expert tutorials are available, and we are working hard on getting more resources online for Express.