Outputs
Send data and video out of DNA — to lighting rigs, other apps, hardware, and the network.
Inputs bring the outside world in; outputs push your graph back out. Drop an output node anywhere in your graph, wire a value into it, and DNA streams it live every frame while the graph is running. Most live performance setups use both directions at once — a controller comes in, your processed look or control data goes out.
Control-data outputs
These send numbers and messages to other gear and software.
MIDI Out (output.midi) — notes and CC values to instruments, synths, lighting desks, and DAWs. Latency is tiny (1–5ms), so it's great for tight musical timing.
OSC Out (output.osc) — flexible network messages to other apps and machines on your network. Local OSC is effectively instant; over a network it depends on the link.
DMX / Art-Net / sACN — drive lighting fixtures and LED installations. DNA frames full DMX universes and sends them over the network. See the Live performance for the venue-grade fixture and pixel-mapping tools.
WebSocket Out — push values to a web page, a browser dashboard, or any service that speaks WebSocket.
Serial — talk to microcontrollers and custom hardware over a serial connection.
Control outputs pair naturally with the The parameter bridge and Tempo sync — sync your outgoing messages to the project tempo so everything downstream stays on the beat.
Video outputs
Send live video frames to other apps on the same machine or across the network.
NDI Out — stream video over your network to any NDI-capable app (other creative tools, switchers, capture software). Other machines see DNA as a named video source. Local NDI runs at 1–2 frames of latency.
Syphon Out (macOS) — share frames GPU-to-GPU with another app on the same Mac, with under a frame of latency. Ideal for feeding a VJ app or compositor sitting next to DNA.
Wire any image-producing branch of your graph into one of these to publish it live.
Lighting and venue output
For shows with projectors, LED, and lighting fixtures, DNA includes a dedicated set of venue tools: soft-edge blending across multiple projectors, calibration test patterns, LED pixel mapping, DMX fixture profiles, and SMPTE timecode. These live alongside the standard outputs and send over Art-Net or sACN. See Live performance for the full kit.
A few honest limits
Some output paths are platform- or build-specific. Syphon is macOS only. NDI and DMX rely on your network being set up to carry them. When in doubt, the Live performance status overview shows which output services are currently active.
Audio out and the Web Player. There's no live "audio output" node — sound plays through DNA's main audio engine, and you can render a finished mix with the audio export. The browser-based Web Player has no audio output and no native live input/output, so MIDI/OSC/NDI/Syphon/DMX outputs are desktop-only. To bake a finished piece to a file instead of streaming it live, see Exporting.
MQTT is supported too — publish values to MQTT topics to drive IoT devices, installations, and other apps that speak it.