it gives you control over the colour, for example, you can set it for red, green, yellow, red & green, yellow & red, green & yellow, RGY and moving RGY. you can only control the preset patterns, but in DMX control, you have access to other patterns that don't normally appear on auto or sound mode. the software i'm using at the moment can't create a show, but ones that do cost a fair bit of $. the software that comes with the DMX box can create a show, but it will only output DMX signals for the first 12 hours, then you have to register, or install it on another computer or get some other software