Where I work has had a
DMX Kabuki controller in use for at least ten years now without any major problems. It was home built by our head of electronics repair and networking. He wrote software, designed the
circuit boards and fabricated the item which is perhaps unique in the industry.
That said, there is only one of them as opposed to about like ten or more of them that are manually operated both rack mount and as a individual controller I have built over the years. The
DMX Kabuki controller does not get used as much as the other controllers for that option. Don’t know why beyond already limited
DMX channels available on most shows, I don’t do shows. Good controller from what I know of it however (separate department to maintain it from mine.) Six channels of control and rack mounted. Often I expect those with the choice of using it verses just installing
relay switches into the
dimmer pack instead of dimmers is the easier option for many shows.
This than gets us into the concept of
DMX control of one’s Kabuki verses the personal touch. I’m against a
DMX control of the Kabuki for the most part, but it than gets us into what style of Kabuki as a very
broad term is under control by the controller.
Also and of upmost importance is what Kabuki
system one is using as there is many ways to
drop scenery or a drape. Could be as simple as a sort of
roll drop mechanism that spins a pipe with bolts sticking out of it that support the drape and in rolling
release it, to elecro magnet type individual or even ganged blocks of selenoids, to even a electro magnet that in normally on position holds a flexible magnetic strip attached to the drape in attachment while the
power is on. This amongst other concepts in how to
drop a drape.
Where I work in a
system developed before I got there, and only improved upon for
safety and
ease of rigging in my supervision, it uses solenoids that are electro magnets that when
power is applied to them
snap the plunger into the magnet and
release the drape. This is a similar
system to what ILC uses though they have their own style of doing the same thing. Literally over a hundred of these things in use and often a question of just how many solenoids can be used per
circuit and how to
wire them so as not to suffer from
voltage drop while in use. Whole ways of doing these individual
solenoid systems that are based upon a maximum of like 18 per
circuit and needing to based upon a 14/3
wire feeding them, branch out and distribute the
power supply, much less up the
wire gauge for longer runs. Very hard to do and inside the
solenoid 18# cable ties if not plastic shower curtain rings are used as the catch/
release attachment within them so that if one
solenoid fails, a
stage hand can quickly pull loose the stuck part of the drape if it does not fail under its own weight.
On the
roll drop type mechanism, got one or two of them in
stock but they are not used much - takes more room inside the
truss to extend a pipe. Don’t remember how it was operated but I’m sure it would be much more quiet than the classic
snap of thirty or more solenoids going off at once. Not a good thing during a silent moment when drawing attention is not the idea.
Electromagnetic strips and other methods I have not experimented with much but its possible under the
broad guidelines of Kabuki
system. This given a electromagnetic strip would probably work best with shorter lengths such as banners, but they would also be more silent.
DMX draft does not as far as I remember
cover such as a
Kabuki drop system that does not support what would not injure if it failed. On the other
hand for the type of
system I am most familiar with, having
DMX control over your
system is prone to mechanical failure - this especially if written into a
cue.
Those solenoids towards the rear of the
system if the
wire gauge is barley able to manage the amperage will react slower than those near the front of the chain of them. Have a
cue recorded to allow and compensate for all going off and some excess will tend to burn out the ones first going off and remaining in the sucking position. Bad day for a
solenoid when left on too long - it tends to melt down internally in the plastic insulators now preventing the
socket to retract most often. On the other
hand if of
cue, this no matter if
DMX controller or not designed to do it but
relay pack, leave it on too short in time and you now have a few that might not go off sufficiently long especially given
voltage drop (also more heat) in not dropping the ring - but trying very hard to still.
Even with a
manual controller I still at times need to slap people upside the head either testing the
system or using the
system upside the head in reminding them about both leaving them on too long and or testing the
system too frequently and burning the solenoids up. (Not a cheap replacement part and one that only needs to be replaced after abuse.)
So anyway with time, more and more of these solenoids at like 1.75A each were installed into shows with larger and larger scenery or drape used. Our
manual controllers based upon 10A switches began to burn up so I started to install
relay switches into the controller. Than on a multi-circuit controller I noted that at times at random this controller once powered up would
release all circuits under control - powered up or not at random once given
power. That’s a bad thing for a Kabuki
system and wold tend to piss off the
stage hands that just hung the drape. Turns out there is more than one type of
relay switch, and some don’t
play nice with
momentary contact type stuff. Had to have one of my assistants totally re-wire a six banger I had just finished wiring due to this at one
point. Such
relay switches work okay (within in doubt) for singer banger type use but don’t for multi
circuit. Whole new concept for me now in getting into electronics and the other department I don’t do if I can help it.
Still general concept is splitting up the load and majorly considering
voltage drop for the individual solenoids, than beyond that a trained personal
momentary contact control of what is to
drop over that of a timed
cue that does not allow for resistance,
voltage drop etc. Even if some say hot
button on the
DMX control, you still have a lot of stuff that could go wrong added to what can already go wrong.
Not about talent
safety as most Kabuki systems only
drop a drape, more about control in a real hands on means in my opinion. This much like a
hoist controller is
Kabuki drop systems. Separate
system is while not as sleek, more sensible in my opinion.
Side
line... a few years back my boss had me prep a bunch of Kabuki solenoids for a rental to a local lighting company. Got them all working within spec and away they went. Next morning both of us just happened to turn on the news before going to work and found out that Sue the Dinosaur was being revealed to the public
in one public special before our early morning news viewing eyes. The count down... ten, nine, eight....
etc. Both of us in our own homes instantly realized what this rental of our gear was for and started biting our finger nails. Not about the news item, more about would this
system of a lot of solenoids (between 30 and 60 of them)
in one circuit work properly on live TV? Just a push of the
button for most viewing, we knew that so many at once was problematic in a big way. Later we found out how problematic - apparently this rental company (I once worked for) spent the entire night in geting the solenoids properly circuited so they would dependably work due to both
voltage drop and other related circuiting issues - this at the risk of burning them up beyond that... Another factor in them staying up all night in trobleshooting this high
profile drop would be in wearing out the solenoids. Screw it it's rental would not apply if the end result didn't work out on live TV. In addition to having to figure out how to use such a
system in such a large extent, they now had to be really careful not to burn them out as that's all they got for rental package.
3, 2, 1 and down the drape went. My boss and I it would be expected both in getting to work a few minutes late I expect both jumped for joy, not about the
reveal but that our gear worked in revealing it. After that we did do some
voltage readings
etc. and start up a standard for how many on one
circuit, much less proper wiring diagram. The 14/3
twist lock cable feeding the
system was our really old general lighting cable that once was the general lighting cable thus like 20 years old and in it’s last attempted use before becoming trashed. Since than we also took a
bit more pride into even this cable as to condition and operation.
Solenoid based Kabuki
system... nope
DMX is not optimum in my own experience. Less from a sense that it could fail, more from the lack of direct control. Perhaps more forgiving in a
roll drop type motor controlled
system some error code or over extending the
cue to the detrement of the belt or motor driving the
drop, but for something that in theory is instant dropping, some potential
cue written is far too tempting for a crew chief to use which might work for the first show but be really costly the second time if not tenth time such a
system was used.
Go to Myth Busters... see all the times instead of a
switch they just
plug (
hot patch) their
system into an
Edison receptacle. For them it is fine in only taking a few takes of the experiment, in reality, hot patching or things that don't allow direct control by way of circuitry is destructive to what one is controlling.