Are there any current generation boards that really replace the Insight console? One of the theatres that I'm acting TD at has asked me to develop an upgrade plan for our current Insight 3/ETCNet control system. (Mostly because our stage level ETCNet node is beyond repair, and we're currently using a loaner board from ETC because the AB fader pair on our house board stopped functioning about a month ago.)
The problem I'm running into is that there really isn't any console I can find that offers the "more faders than you'll ever know what to do with" style of control surface anymore while still allowing for theatre-style programming (tracking cues, etc) when it's needed... which at our house is generally a few hours before curtain. (It's a different show every day here with only rare exceptions.) Programming a 300+ instrument conventional rig on the fly with a keypad is tedious at best. It's much easier when you only have to juggle two pages of subs for the entire house rig - one all HTP, one all inhibitive.
The money available for upgrade all depends on what we can get in donations and grants... yay nonprofits... but I'm looking to spec something that's roughly the same list price as the equipment it's replacing - an Insight 3 console and (I think) 2 ETCNet 1 RIUs from 1999.
And now for the lists!
Features I need:
Features I want:
Features I don't need at all but would be really cool if they happened to be there:
Also, I'm not tied to ETC consoles, they just happened to be what was originally installed... I'll look at anything as long as it's reliable... since it'll be ten years till we can upgrade again!
The problem I'm running into is that there really isn't any console I can find that offers the "more faders than you'll ever know what to do with" style of control surface anymore while still allowing for theatre-style programming (tracking cues, etc) when it's needed... which at our house is generally a few hours before curtain. (It's a different show every day here with only rare exceptions.) Programming a 300+ instrument conventional rig on the fly with a keypad is tedious at best. It's much easier when you only have to juggle two pages of subs for the entire house rig - one all HTP, one all inhibitive.
The money available for upgrade all depends on what we can get in donations and grants... yay nonprofits... but I'm looking to spec something that's roughly the same list price as the equipment it's replacing - an Insight 3 console and (I think) 2 ETCNet 1 RIUs from 1999.
And now for the lists!
Features I need:
- Lots o' faders
- Artnet compatibility (at the console at least... remote nodes can be whatever.)
- remote focus unit, either something that can use ETC style 6-pin XLR or a wireless unit.
- "Dimmer check" functionality - Only one of our overstage electrics is labeled with a bus bar and everything, the rest are all socaplex breakouts tied to batons... worst cost-cutting measure ever. The ability to scroll through dimmers without patching them individually is a lifesaver.
- Minimum 2 universes of DMX at the board and 500 logical channels.
- One, preferably two DMX over IP nodes. Can be artnet, etcnet, whatever is compatible.
Features I want:
- Cue Stacks on faders... or anything better than ETC's useless "effect" subs. Just the ability to manually advance steps would be nice.
- Tap tempo for chases - good for the rock shows we get in, they're always asking for it and we can never provide anything of the sort.
- Decent moving light support - Right now our rig is mostly conventional, but I'd like to futureproof.
Features I don't need at all but would be really cool if they happened to be there:
- Motorized faders
- Label displays for subs - the less sharpie on my board the better
- Space Invaders
- Yeah I really don't expect any of the stuff in this section at all.
Also, I'm not tied to ETC consoles, they just happened to be what was originally installed... I'll look at anything as long as it's reliable... since it'll be ten years till we can upgrade again!
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