New lighting board for a high school

[dvyjones]

I'm a part of the auditorium staff at a Portland High School, and we have a really old lighting system. The control console and dimmer units are EDI (who's out of business AFAICS), and the control console is definitely well used. The patch keyboard requires it's own technique to be used. If you push a key too slowly, you get "444" instead of just "4". However, push it too quickly, and the key pops out. Several of the sliders are missing the little plastic handle on them, and there's other parts falling off as well. The dimmer units seem to be working fine. The auditorium staff have been wanting a new lighting system for a long time (I've only been here since September '10, and I'm only staying until June, since I'm an exchange student), but the problem is that the school district is low on money (we're not allowed new light bulbs unless we have looked absolutely everywhere for new ones). I might be able to get a new control console, but replacing the dimmer units I think is out of the question. Therein lies one of the problems: the dimmer units use some kind of funky proprietary format (I think I know how it works, but I haven't really tested it yet). So to use a new control console, which I imagine will be using DMX, we need some kind of converter.

Here's another thing: In a weak moment, before I knew too much about this, I sort of promised to make a computer program to do the job of the control console. However, I now realize how complex a control console is, and how little chance there is I will finish one by mid-June. So what I'm thinking of now is to make my own converter from DMX to the funky format of the dimmer units.

So, I have a couple of questions:

First, do you guys know of an existing DMX-whatever this is converter? The port has eight data/address pins, an address strobe, a data store pin, two overheat pins (I'm guessing there's a loop between them which is broken if a dimmer overheats), a fan pin (which needs 10V), and two ground pins. All of this is in a DA-15 connector.

Second, if not, each dimmer unit also has an "analog" plug, which is a spade connector. I remember reading something about it on this forum, but I can't remember the name of the connector anymore (there's a switch to switch between 0-10V and 2.7-9.something volts). Is there a converter from this to DMX?

Third, what kind of control console do you recommend? As I said, we want something as cheap as possible. We only have basic light fixtures, no moving lights, no LED fixtures, just regular bulbs. We don't do big things very often. One of the more advanced things I think we're doing this year is an assembly this Friday. We're basically fading between three or four different scenes. However, the auditorium is rented out at times, and I have no idea what they do with the lighting, but I know there has been musical events). Our lights consist of work lights in the far back of the stage, one row of white "backlights", a row of red, white and blue lights that are close to the front of the stage (all of this can be raised and lowered with ropes), footlights (again red, white and blue), two spots in the ceiling (non-movable as far as I know), and lights on the sidewalls (three different "channels" on each side). So I imagine having 15-20 different channels (I'm not sure about the terminology yet, I've been doing this for less than a month, but I'm talking about the different sliders on the board that you can map to one or more dimmers) on the board would be nice. So, if you could suggest some boards I would be very thankful. Also, if you have any clue what the price range is it would be really nice to know that.

I hope this post made some sense, and if there's something that doesn't make sense, please ask and I'll try to clarify.

 

[gafftaper]

First off EDI was an excellent company back in the day. They have been purchased by/merged with Cooper Controls in the last year or so. There are a lot of old EDI dimmer racks hanging out here around the Pacific Northwest and they seem to just keep working forever.

There is nothing funky about the connector you see, it's the way everything was before DMX was invented. It's a proprietary analog connection, every product had one of some sort back then. What you need is a DMX to Analog converter box. Doug Fleenor makes the best. Their converter will cost more than other options, which I'm sure will be suggested by others, but they are bulletproof and worth the extra in my opinion. This topic was covered here on CB not too long ago so do some searching and you'll find a full discussion.

From there you just need a cheap basic DMX control console. If you are truly desperate for money and just need something that works, then purchase an ETTEC USB/DMX Pro dongle (about $200) and install Champsys MagicQ (free) on a computer and you are good to go. It's not a beginning user friendly way to go and has a pretty steep learning curve. But you can have a DMX control console for $200 and an old computer. If you can swing it you would be much better off buying (in ascending order of price and reverse order of my preference) an ETC Smartfade, a used ETC Express, or a Strand Basic Palette. All three are much more user friendly to a simple school setting than the Magic Q approach but you are talking around $1200-$3000... plus the DMX/Analog Converter.

Cheap consoles are a common topic around here as well so do some searching. I'm not a big fan of the Smartfade, but for really simple situations where you just need a few pre-programmed submasters or maybe just individual channels, it's a good choice at a good price. If you want a real console from the modern generation of lighting technology on the cheap, my preference is the Strand Basic Palette. It get's over looked because it's "basic" but it's got the same software as the $40,000 Strand consoles, it's very intuitive to work with, and although double the cost of a Smartfade, it's at a great price. In the middle is finding a used ETC Express. They've been out of production for several years now. It is old technology, but they are the most popular console of all time for a reason. For a basic theater setup on a budget, buying a used Express is an excellent option.

 

[EBB]

The ETC Express has become pretty cheap now and in my opinion is a bit more practical than the Smartfade in school environments. But if you have problems with the consoles being mangled and destroyed, then Chamsys may be a nicer choice since it's on a computer and you can just lock up the Enttec Dongle somewhere. But as gafftaper said, it's a pretty steep learning curve since it's better as a moving light console, but still works well in conventionals. There are probably plenty of videos and a decently active forum on how to operate the console though.