Scrollers (Apollo, Wybron, etc)?

[JSFox]

I'm in a new space with limited instruments and limited budget (so what's new?). I was thinking that I'd wait for LED's to become a bit more practical, but that's looking like a year or two away (I've got a couple of pixelpars, but they're not yet ready for prime time, mostly because of color matching issues). I'd considered investing in fewer CMY type devices (Colorcommands, SeaChangers, Nexera's), but cost keeps me away (if colorcommands had a wider beam and less noise I'd go with them, but they don't so I'm not). So, I think it's scroller time. I hate gel strings and I like CMY coloring options (most of the time), but at least scrollers can be used on a variety of instruments instead of a limited number.

I'm leaning towards Apollo which seems like the preferred scroller on here and costs less. How do these compare to Wybron and others? Noise? Longevity?

Thanks,

[Footer]

Apollo scrollers can be as loud as any other, but it properly configed and tensioned they are nearly silent. They are built well and the stock theatre string is actually pretty decent. I have yet to have any real gripes about them.

[zac850]

I don't know how miniscule your budget is, but Wybron has some nifty color mixing scrollers-two gel strings in each scroller-so you can mix colors. May be a mid-ground to what want and what is practical.

They can, though, be loud if you need to run both scrolls on your entire wash. If you can get over the noise, their good.

[soundlight]

Wybron CXi scrollers will give two strings of gels, I've seen these units used and they're pretty cool. To quote the LD, "There's so many colors! I don't know exactly what to pick! There's shades of this, and tints of that, and all sorts of combinations!" It was for an outdoor music event though, so I really couldn't give you any info on the noise that they make.

[Pie4Weebl]

we have some 3 string mixers called M-Faders I think, they go full cmy mixing with gels.

[Footer]

One thing to keep in mind when you go with the multiple string scrollers is that you start losing output each time you shoot through a medium. Your best bet if you are trying to get the most out of your light is to go with a single scroll and put together a well thought out gel string. And also keep in mind that a new string runs about 30 bux, so in reality it is much cheaper to go with single string scrollers then multiple.

[pacman]

I've had a chance to work with the Apollo scrollers a couple of times. Just had 10 in my theatre last week. They are cheap & work well. Set the fan speed carefully, though; 10 running with the fans at 100% are really loud in a theatre.

If you want color mixing, watch out for new product announcements from Apollo at LDI. One of their people told me at last year's LDI that they were working on a color mixing scroller. I called to check on the progress after the first of the year & was told it was still in development. They may not ever release it, but it might be worth waiting a few weeks to see if anything comes out.

[Lightingguy32]

If this venue is relatively new and you can some how dig out a decent sized lighting budget and you use ETC Source Four Ellipsoidals as your standard fixture, I believe the Seachanger color engine might be worth a try. The cost per Seachanger is around 1500 dollars but you get great strong colors or even light tints like R-02/R-60 from the Dichroic mixer of a seachanger. The color changer basically slides itself into the source four at the gate and the lenstube just slides on the end of the seachanger while keeping the photometric range of that specific fixture. The color mixing engine is known as CMYxG. This is hexachromic mixing which allows for an almost unlimited range of colors. The Sea changer needs something between 8 and 16 channels to run and is very quite since it doesn't need a fan.

[icewolf08]

For inexpensive scrollers i would recommend the Apollo SmartColor. I was also buying new scrollers this year and these are great. I had the Chroma-Q in my inventory (distributed in the US by ACT Lighting). The Chroma-Q runs around the same price point as the SmatColor, but the Smartcolor is a far superior unit. The SmartColor runs really quiet, end to end scrolling at top speed is barely audible from 27' below the units. If the fans are too lound you have selectable fan speeds or you can control them 0-100% if you put the scrollers in two channel mode.

Wybron does make great equipment, but it comes at quite a high price tag. I have used both CXIs and ColoRam IIs from Wybron, and frankly, I can't really tell what make the thousand dollar ColoRam better than the $400 SmartColor. One other thing to consider about Wybron equipment is that only the Forerunner series uses the same 4-pin XLR pinout as other scrolelrs and 4-pin accessories. The high end Wybron equipment uses a different pinout on the same 4-pin connectors thus meaning you need specific power supplies and you can't run other 4-pin DMX accessories on the same PSU.

[stantonsound]

IceWolf8
Thanks, and thanks to everyone that answered. I was going to start a similar thread, as I got a rental order in for 4 scrollers for the summer and was trying to decide on which ones to go with. I currently don't stock scrollers, but when I can guarantee 6-8 rentals of anything, I will buy it. I am very happy with Apollo's new rotators, and have used their scrollers a time or two, but hadn't really had too much hands on time with them (most everyone is using wybron units). They cost so much less that I was a little hesitant, but for outdoor concerts, I figured that they were probably going to get destroyed before the end of the summer anyways.