Your first Memory Lighting Console

Kliegl Performer believe it was called, though Light Pallet III and Q-File also were ancient... but also modern or old in me using. Than of course there was that six scene rheostat one channel I had to design my first "pro" show with. Wish I still had it as opposed to setting it out in the alley before moving one day. Who knew such an unsafe piece of crap might be legassy at some point?
 
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From the LS-8 brochure cited:


I'm curious as to how this was accomplished, as I thought the outputs were simple analog. Dimmer Load Monitoring would not come into widespread use until much, much later; and even today is seldom implemented.

Was this a feature only available in conjunction with certain EDI dimmers? How many LS-8's were actually installed with EDI dimmers, or installed at all for that matter?

BETTER LATE THEN NEVER

How it worked:
There was a current sensor on the Main Feed to the dimmer rack. When you ran a Dimmer Check: The console ran up one dimmer at a time and compared the current(amps) reading to the value from the last Dimmer Check. It actually worked if the load was big enough.
 
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First Lighting console touched was a 2 scene cross fade when I was in High School in mid 1980's. A long time later without touching anything. About 5 years ago I was watching a local on an ETC ION. So I started to investigate what and how. Well when I first programmed it was on ETC Nomad in preparation for going to an ION. WOW what a machine. I was hooked. I have tried others but always come back to ETC because that is what I have access to in the local PAC(s).
I now use Nomad, ION and Element at local venues- Casual employee and volunteer.
Love what I have learnt but only really scratching the surface in what they can do because of relative small rig.

Regards
Geoff
 
My first experience of a memory console was the Strand Tempus M24. I was lucky to have help from the chief electrician of the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, Kevin Scott, at the time, as I found it daunting initially. From there I moved through various Strand consoles including the one I consider to be their best - the 520. Since Strand lost their way, I have been converted to the ETC Eos family of consoles - mostly ION and Nomad.
I have just been sitting in on the series of webinars on the ETC site, including one where Gordon Pearlman and others were discussing the early days of computerized consoles, with much of the time spent on the venerable LS8. It was a great session, and well worth looking up for anyone with an interest in the story of those times.


Denis
 
Strand 300. I came (back) to theatre lighting late, having dabbled at school in 1979 on a rheostat board. I joined the local volunteer theatre in 2010 and learnt to program the 300, then took a step "backwards" and used the Strand GSX that was kept in reserve to be used for "away" shows. In 2012 I had a short spell (one day to learn and perform) on an ETC expression, then moved to an ETC Ion when my theatre replaced the 300 as it was becoming unreliable. That would have been about 2012, I guess. Since then I've had (rare) occasion to use Zero88 FLX and dabbled with ChamSys MagicQ.
 
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Was that the one with the blackout button dangerously subject to getting a script dropped on it? I know in one venue, they taped the top of a furniture polish spray can over it to avoid accidents!!

It's been 20 years since I've seen one in person but from looking at this pic I can see how a script may hit that toggle. Though probably not the button you are remembering.
 

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It's been 20 years since I've seen one in person but from looking at this pic I can see how a script may hit that toggle. Though probably not the button you are remembering.
That looks more modern than the desk I remember and I never saw the button anyway as it was covered! I wasn’t hands-on on that gig and I learned so much from the board op about how to approach programming. Great memories!
 
Electro Controls ILS (Intelligent Lighting System) in 1977 at the University of Houston Central Campus. I was the TD. Brand new theatre complex with the ILS in the main stage. No manual controls.... everything done thru the keyboard. Rack at bottom right housed the Data General PDP-something mini-computer with 8" (?) floppy drive that had to be running for the system to work. The rubber band which masqueraded as the drive belt kept falling off and only the Data General service guy was authorized to put it back on. I believe it was extremely expensive at the time and probably only 3 or 4 ever made (fortunately). Unlike the photo below it was custom-painted UH Cougar red. No backup in any form. After the first couple of shows they forced EC to give them a large (maybe 60 or 70 channels) 2-scene preset board as a backup. Also remembering the "portable" (because they were on casters) Electro Controls custom 12-channel dimmer packs that were about 60"H x 24"Wx24"D and must have weighed 250-300 pounds. Each contained a 3 phase 480v transformer which would plug into receptacles installed around the perimeter of the stage and in the lighting catwalks. And of course the inventory of the just introduced fixed and zoom Parellipsphere ellipsoidals, which were built like tanks with 3/16" steel yokes. The zoom fixture weighed 20 pounds!
Those were the days!
EC ILS.jpg
 
First manual board - Strand Junior 8 (great for making toast). First memory board - Kliegl Performer II, with cassette tape show storage. We used it on a historical pageant at Horse Guards Parade in the centre of London and ran a SMPTE time code to control the narration timing with the effects.
 
Frist memoryboard was a Zero88 Sirius 24/48 from the eighties, latest version without DMX. Used it from 1993- 2013/4. With the serious upgrade of our lighting system it was replaced for a Zero88 Jester ML. Struggled about five years with it before sellling it to purchase a Chamsys MQ60. Although it maybe a bit overkill for our school, the gain in time and loss in trouble are certainly worth it.
Oh, the Sirius is still around with his flightcase collecting dust. If anyone would want to abt it, let me know...
 
I volunteered with West Seattle Totem Theater in the early ‘90s and have vague memories of the board being somehow programmable. I could swear the sliders were motor driven but it was 30 years and two wives ago. I “ran” sound. Meant I got to push play and pause on the DAT deck. And was allowed on stage to admire paint and carpentry and lighting before the set was finished.

Michael
 
ETC 48/96 But why did the question limit to first memory console..
I did the Ernestine the operator patchboard and the massive rheostats that either controlled the lighting
or made the submarine dive in 1976... I was the memory :) We had a really bubbly beautiful classmate on stage.. Think Betty Boop in the flesh..
She was a great actress, but eclipsed and didn't blend well with some of the others in the scene... if everyone had her energy it would have worked..
I remember wearing the cobbled together headset, in the lighting cage stage left.. Director was my eyes..... "Bring down the lighting slowly 10% and somebody shoot Sally Morrow"
Sally is gone now.. but it still warms my heart and makes me smile, every time I think of her.
 
Kliegl Performer II - I still have the storage tape from its last show in 1992. Analog control of Kliegl 6k dimmers with a hard patch panel.

I think we replaced it with an ETC console (Insight or Impression) and a DMX-Analog converter.

-Todd
 
Kliegl Performer II - I still have the storage tape from its last show in 1992. Analog control of Kliegl 6k dimmers with a hard patch panel.

I think we replaced it with an ETC console (Insight or Impression) and a DMX-Analog converter.

-Todd
Strand IDM Cue 1973. Strand clone of Thorn IDM Cue. Built to control 100 Century Strand U.S. built 6 Kw dimmers via analog wire per dimmer. Racks in basement with 80 6 Kw's originally fitted and the last 20 added within the first year. The IDM Cue was in the main stage with much smaller Strand memory console in the studio space; one of Strand's early small memory consoles with entire console built in one desk top enclosure including a ~ 12" monochrome monitor which was one of the first things to require service.

In the main stage, the IDM Cue required two ~40 RU racks housing 23" wide panels; 23" was a telco standard prior to our modern 19" racks. The IDM Cue's memory was a WHINING HUGE drum requiring a double-muff headset to hear cues and a dedicated air conditioner to deal with the heat it produced.
In 1973 the Strand IDM Cue was one of only three in Canada, the other two being in Stratford's Festival and Ottawa's National Arts Center.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
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