Rosco I-Cue vs Meteor Ellipscan

[Felix]

Currently in our 400 seat highschool theatre, we have 20 S4 fixtures for the FOH. 16 of which are used as a general stage wash. For our next show, i'll need a lot of specials, and rather than buying more S4's, i think it's time we get a mirror attachment for 2, maybe 4 of the S4's and order more S4's for those. Have them move during scene change cause we'll have tons of rolling sets.

The more common one is the Rosco I-Cue. Requires a PSU (good cause it weighs 6 pounds). $500 each + $120 for a PSU that handles 2 I-Cue's.

The other is the Meteor Ellipscan. I've hardly heard anything about them. But they use straight 120 volt, but weigh 11-12 pounds. $399 for the pro.

Any advice?

Ellipscan: http://www.meteor-usa.com/Meteor-elipscan-fixture.html
Rosco I-Cue: http://www.rosco.com/us/lightingequipment/icue.asp

It will be controlled with a Strand 300 48/96

[LDSFX]

Definitely go with the Rosco I-Cue. The internal technology (16 Bit control of the axes) is much newer than the ellipscan and I personally would feel much more comfortable buying a Rosco product than a Meteor product. I worked on a shows that used iCues for actor specials and they worked great. Especially for those specials that you may use only once or twice during a show.

Hope that helped,

-Nick

[jonhirsh]

What about an autoyoke these are much more usefull in my opinion and would justify the extra cost the mirrors have problems with certain degree fixtures.

JH

[LDSFX]

True, autoyolks are more capable, but if the budget only allots for mirrors, if they are mounted the right way they should provide pretty good coverage.

[Foxinabox10]

In BMISupply, an autoyoke is actually cheaper than a mirror by over $100.

[LDSFX]

Foxinabox, if you are speaking of the "Puppeteer Wire Motor Yoke", (found on the same page as the iCue mirror in the BMI catalog) that is not the same thing as a City Theatrical Autoyoke. The puppeteer was recently reviewed by lighting dimensions who said that its movements were jerky and not 100% reliable, it also only has 135 degrees of tilt, meaning it cannot even point straight down. An actual Autoyoke from City Theatrical is just over $2,000.

Hope that clarified things.

[Foxinabox10]

Thanx LDSFX, I didn't realize that the Autoyoke was an particular model as opposed to just a name for the type of item.

[Felix]

Ah, yea we'll definitely go with 2 Rosco I-Cue's.

Next question is, has anyone worked with getting these things working with a Strand 300 48/96 board? That board is quirky.... We've had to send it in once already for repairs.

[gafftaper]

I got two I-Cue's for my previous life as a High School Drama Guy. It totally changed the way I did shows. By becoming all of your specials, it free's up the rest of your limited inventory. I suddenly had enough equipment to have two colors of washes. It was great! I never had a problem with them not being able to point anywhere. Position them carefully. Play around with tiping the barrel of the S4 in all kinds of crazy angles to see what gives you the best range for your space. I ended up using a crazy upside down and sort of toward the audience position that looked wrong but allowed me to hit the entire stage.

Sorry, I used them on an Express 24/48 so I can't help you with the Strand question. But I can tell you this, get in and figure out all the ins and outs of link and follow cues and doing multiple fade times at once. It can be tricky with these lower end boards. I would start a 6 second cross fade on the whole stage, link that to a 2 second blackout on the special, followed by a 0 second move for the mirror in black, followed by a 3 second fade up on the special to hopefully match the end of the crossfade. It's not that hard, but it requires you to really know what you are doing on that board. I liked to use the offline software at home. I would record the basic locations on stage, then take the design home and fill in the blackout movements later.

[kingfisher1]

Never used one myself, but isn't it a bit limiting to not be able to use your shutter cuts because what is cut correctly in one postition is compleately wrong in another. with this your alway limited to a cirlcle unless you can figure out a way to comprimise....