Console

A piece of hardware & software to control things.

In lighting, consoles are sometimes refereed to as desks. The word console covers anything dedicated to controlling & running lights. Consoles normally output DMX, and range in size from the size of a laptop, to the size of a large Audio Mixer. They are primarily specialised hardware, running specialised software, designed for lighting control.
Consoles are often one of two types (with rather unclear lines), with many sub categories:
Conventional Lighting Consoles:
Consoles mainly used for conventionals, most have the ability to control other DMX controlled products such as ML's, LEDs, Scrollers, ect.

Moving Light Consoles:
Consoles for concerts or other venues where are lot of ML's are being used. They can do conventional lighting, but in concert situations, conventional fixtures are primarily just used for wash, so do not need as much control. Some examples of Moving Light Consoles would be:

• High End System's Hog
• Martin Exxiter
• ETC's Congo
• Martin's Freekie
• GrandMA