i have a question from a console operator that i cant answer

To expand on both Badgers and Anne V's comments, having DMX at the console was useful when the console had 1 or 2 outputs and that was the total number of universes you had to run.   Once you got up to 4 or more, it was a lot of DMX cable to run somewhere.  Most of the data ends up backstage, with the console in the FOH somewhere and network is the most efficiant method of getting it out there, so you end up with nodes to break out the DMX to devices needing DMX, or Net2/3 direct to the Sensor rack CEM+'s, and pretty much no DMX needed directly at the console.  This is more typical setup with an Eos then with an Ion, that does have DMX outputs on the console.

Steve B.

To expand on both Badgers and Anne V's comments, having DMX at the console was useful when the console had 1 or 2 outputs and that was the total number of universes you had to run.   Once you got up to 4 or more, it was a lot of DMX cable to run somewhere.  Most of the data ends up backstage, with the console in the FOH somewhere and network is the most efficiant method of getting it out there, so you end up with nodes to break out the DMX to devices needing DMX, or Net2/3 direct to the Sensor rack CEM+'s, and pretty much no DMX needed directly at the console.  This is more typical setup with an Eos then with an Ion, that does have DMX outputs on the console.

Steve B.

Yup.  Historically, this is really no different than when DMX (and similar obsolete protocols) replaced analog wire-per-dimmer connections.  Those were just fine when you only had 12 dimmers.  Once dimmer racks started being dimmer-per-circuit and hardpatches disappeared, DMX was necessary to reduce cabling & complexity.  Now we're having the same problem again: got 10,000 channels of movers & LEDs to control?  Network cable is far superior to 20 DMX lines, both in cost and simplicity.