Hi all!
I work as the master electrician at a community theater. We run an ETC Express 250 with MIDI Show Control from QLAB. We don't have a decent enough budget to even have a LBO on site, so once the show starts, we lock it up under a makeshift light desk and leave it on and have them control it blindly from downstairs. We got this console, as well as a much smaller 24/48 used 3 years ago from a local university. They replaced a 72/144 that someone spilled soda onto and now has 7 functional keypad buttons.
Now for the problem. Lately the console will freak out randomly during the show. I.e. Missing cues, forgetting cue timing, and sometimes unparking things and randomly parking things. We've narrowed it down to definitely be the console and not QLAB or the MIDI interface. I'm positive it's the console. My boss's new favorite thing to say is "flash the memory," which basically means holding down 789 while restarting it to hard reset the memory and then reloading the show. I suspect a memory issue. Or something wrong with the CPU. My boss doesn't want to believe it though.
We can't use the 24/48 because it doesn't have enough channels to support our show and the 72/144 doesn't have a functioning keypad so you can't type.
My problem is my boss. Since we invested $600 in this console 3 years ago he's under the impression that we should be set and should invest in keeping it running. He also wants to start upgrading to LED fixtures. And he fully understands that this console can't run them. He wants to build up an inventory and then use them in 5 years or so or whenever we get our new console.
Then there's me. I completely disagree. I think it's time to get a new console, and just because we've had these consoles for 3 years doesn't change the fact that we got them 15 years used. We should get a console first, and then we should start slowly introducing LED lights into our inventory. (We can't purchase them all at once due to the way he does budgeting.)
We've sat down and talked it out, and eventually I was able to finally convince him that we can't rely on this console to run our shows if it's just a loose cannon that we gamble with and say nice things to in order to run the shows. So we devised to purchase a new ETC Ion 1024. And when I came in to purchase it, he kicked and screamed again about how "it's a lot of money and we don't make a lot of money this time of year." And long story short, we're back to square one. He wants to get a loaner and have our console repaired. (Do they even repair these anymore?) So I called around trying to get something figured out, got a loaner and a shipper for our console on the way and they're just about ready to fix our console (or look at it) as soon as I get my loaner and we can send it off. Except now he's upset that I"m spending money getting a loaner and sending the console in... So I cancel the loaner and devise to just let the show crash and burn so that he'll realize that he's being ridiculous again. Lo and behold, last night, it stopped working again. Unparked the scrollers and misfired several cues. So now he's back in panic mode. And we're going to discuss options again some time next week and hopefully get it spearheaded.
And that's where I'm at. I'm at a loss. Am I doing the right thing by recommending we get a new console, or should we be pushing to fix ours? I understand that we don't have a lot of cash flow, but he was just about ready to throw that amount of money into 6 new LED S4s for the cyc. Which is the main reason I recommended we hold off and put it towards the console. Because then we'd have a good starting point for LED upgrades. Fixing the console, in my opinion, is a commitment. Once we fix it, we're invested in it financially and replacing it becomes a harder thing to do years down the road. He wants facts before we can upgrade. He wants to know what is wrong with the console, if it's fixable, how much it will cost, etc. He refuses to accept that nobody knows and that we have to send it in to get it looked at and pay people to look at it.
My main questions are: Has anyone heard of this issue before? Do you know what the issue could be? Am I barking up the wrong tree trying to get him to upgrade? Does anyone know of a better approach I should take to hopefully get us on the right path?
Thank you for your time.
I work as the master electrician at a community theater. We run an ETC Express 250 with MIDI Show Control from QLAB. We don't have a decent enough budget to even have a LBO on site, so once the show starts, we lock it up under a makeshift light desk and leave it on and have them control it blindly from downstairs. We got this console, as well as a much smaller 24/48 used 3 years ago from a local university. They replaced a 72/144 that someone spilled soda onto and now has 7 functional keypad buttons.
Now for the problem. Lately the console will freak out randomly during the show. I.e. Missing cues, forgetting cue timing, and sometimes unparking things and randomly parking things. We've narrowed it down to definitely be the console and not QLAB or the MIDI interface. I'm positive it's the console. My boss's new favorite thing to say is "flash the memory," which basically means holding down 789 while restarting it to hard reset the memory and then reloading the show. I suspect a memory issue. Or something wrong with the CPU. My boss doesn't want to believe it though.
We can't use the 24/48 because it doesn't have enough channels to support our show and the 72/144 doesn't have a functioning keypad so you can't type.
My problem is my boss. Since we invested $600 in this console 3 years ago he's under the impression that we should be set and should invest in keeping it running. He also wants to start upgrading to LED fixtures. And he fully understands that this console can't run them. He wants to build up an inventory and then use them in 5 years or so or whenever we get our new console.
Then there's me. I completely disagree. I think it's time to get a new console, and just because we've had these consoles for 3 years doesn't change the fact that we got them 15 years used. We should get a console first, and then we should start slowly introducing LED lights into our inventory. (We can't purchase them all at once due to the way he does budgeting.)
We've sat down and talked it out, and eventually I was able to finally convince him that we can't rely on this console to run our shows if it's just a loose cannon that we gamble with and say nice things to in order to run the shows. So we devised to purchase a new ETC Ion 1024. And when I came in to purchase it, he kicked and screamed again about how "it's a lot of money and we don't make a lot of money this time of year." And long story short, we're back to square one. He wants to get a loaner and have our console repaired. (Do they even repair these anymore?) So I called around trying to get something figured out, got a loaner and a shipper for our console on the way and they're just about ready to fix our console (or look at it) as soon as I get my loaner and we can send it off. Except now he's upset that I"m spending money getting a loaner and sending the console in... So I cancel the loaner and devise to just let the show crash and burn so that he'll realize that he's being ridiculous again. Lo and behold, last night, it stopped working again. Unparked the scrollers and misfired several cues. So now he's back in panic mode. And we're going to discuss options again some time next week and hopefully get it spearheaded.
And that's where I'm at. I'm at a loss. Am I doing the right thing by recommending we get a new console, or should we be pushing to fix ours? I understand that we don't have a lot of cash flow, but he was just about ready to throw that amount of money into 6 new LED S4s for the cyc. Which is the main reason I recommended we hold off and put it towards the console. Because then we'd have a good starting point for LED upgrades. Fixing the console, in my opinion, is a commitment. Once we fix it, we're invested in it financially and replacing it becomes a harder thing to do years down the road. He wants facts before we can upgrade. He wants to know what is wrong with the console, if it's fixable, how much it will cost, etc. He refuses to accept that nobody knows and that we have to send it in to get it looked at and pay people to look at it.
My main questions are: Has anyone heard of this issue before? Do you know what the issue could be? Am I barking up the wrong tree trying to get him to upgrade? Does anyone know of a better approach I should take to hopefully get us on the right path?
Thank you for your time.
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