Element - limited number of addresses

The Element 1 has two limits: One for number of addresses and one for channels:

• It can control a maximum of 1024 addresses, it doesn't matter in how many different universes those 1024 addresses live.
• It can use 250 or 500 channels.

You're saying that you're using the first two universes fully. If that means every address in those two universes has been patched to a channel then you hitting the limit of 1024 addresses. There is no upgrade available to increase the address count of an Element 1 console.

If however the channel count is what's limiting you then this support article should be able to help you: https://support.etcconnect.com/ETC/Consoles/Eos_Family/Software_and_Programming/Upgrading_Channel_Count_on_an_Element_Console

Thanks for your quick response. It is the address count which limits us.

I do have an idea, but I am not sure if it will work (and how to set it up exactly). We have an ETCNomad dongle + gadget 2, which gives us another two dmx universes. If we were to connect a laptop with a dongle directly to our Element, this won’t help us, because we would only still have 2 universes in total.

But what if we connect them using some MIDI or OSC type of connection (I am not familiar in this area). We then have two show files: one for the Element and one for the laptop. The cue list is in sync: every cue in the Element cue list is also a cue in the laptop cue list. When the Element presses GO for some cue, a signal is sent to the laptop to activate the corresponding cue in the laptop cue list (using the ‘execute’ column in the cue list for each cue?)

This way, we partition our lights over two showfiles and we have the Element as sort of the fake ‘Primary’ and laptop as fake ‘Secondary’. It’s just that it’s not the usual multi console system.

This does require more programming work, of course.
I hope I have explained my idea clearly. I would like to know if it is a reasonable idea or not.