Brand Familiarity

[Grog12]

I'd strongly suggest you look at the Selecon Aurora line of cyc lights. We currently have 20 (3 cell) at work, and I've spec'ed 20 more sky cycs and 12 ground cycs for our new space. They are for the most part really well made and thought out units. Great light output, very even field, and good color life. I'm very happy with them, and don't hesitate to recommend them at all.
My only real gripe about them is how the gel door is attached. On the 3 cell units they have a weakness--the door is too long and it flexes. When you do that you sometimes bend the hinge pine (that's 44" long). Once that's bent, the door does not work correctly anymore. I've spoken to their US rep, the guys that came over from New Zealand to LDI, and someone in the factory about the problem. I'm not sure if it has been resolved, but it's something to be aware of.

The next real advancment in cycs is coming from LED's. Every 18 months they get brighter which means in about 2 years they should be completly usable in any theatre situation. The ones I've played with held up decently against other lights but I think we're gonna keep seeing more and more LED cyc lights popping up on the market.

 

[jmabray]

Continuing with the thread hi-jack -

Has anyone used the Selador line in an actual performace situation? I like the fixture but would really like to know how they do in an actual show.

Thanks

jeff

 

[Jezza]

Used them once on a commercial actually. We lit a white limbo with a whole slew of them so that we could get "white" but also do color changes--they were going for some physcadelic look or something. GREAT color mixing, smoothest I've EVER EVER seen, but not the brightest. The CK strips are brighter.

 

[Radman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGZaONPppxc

Check that out, its the keynote for a show I did in June/July. I was on video but the cyc is lit all by LEDs, I think color blazes but don't really remember. The whole video is a good watch but around 2:56 you can see it start to freak out, just amazing.

Wish I had a picture of when we did the anthem, the LD lit the cyc with a blue section then red and white stripes, and threw star gobos onto the blue field from Cyberlights, it looked positively astounding.

 

[derekleffew]

I believe they [EDI] may have been the first to produce a portable SCR dimmer... anybody know if that's true?

As I recall, and I was NOT there--I heard about it years later, Steve Terry and Wally Johnson and others at Production Arts Lighting used EDI components to build the dimmer racks for the first National Tours of A Chorus Line. Maybe not THE first to offer a portable SCR dimmer (define portable, piano boards were portable) but maybe THE first High-Density Touring racks. Control for A Chorus Line on Broadway in 1975 was of course Gordon Perlman's LS-8, built by EDI. Did Ms. Musser name it Sam? The tours all used Strand-Century Multi-Q and later, Light Palette. Another shameless plug for Linda Essig's book, The Speed of Light. What can I say, I enjoy stage lighting history.

Of course you speak of the Scrimmer dimmer, fun to say and fun to play. I had, IIRC, 6- and 12-packs of 3.6Kw's on wheels in the 1980s. Output was 14ckt, 15amp Fine Thread Milspec multi-cables and the racks even had a "pin patch" with too thin of wire and cartridge fuses inside (so you had to take the 19"? panels off if you blew a fuse). I think control was analog 2-7vdc on an 8pin Cinch-Jones but I cannot remember. I do remember our EDI 48-ch. three-scene preset "rockboard" with the Battleship pin matrix to assign channels to subs. Ahhh, great times.

Last I heard of EDI, they did most of the dimmers for the attractions at the Luxor in Las Vegas in 1993. They're still around at www.edionline.com and I would put them at the top of the "second tier" dimming and control manufacturers.

 

[STEVETERRY]

As I recall, and I was NOT there--I heard about it years later, Steve Terry and Wally Johnson and others at Production Arts Lighting used EDI components to build the dimmer racks for the first National Tours of A Chorus Line. Maybe not THE first to offer a portable SCR dimmer (define portable, piano boards were portable) but maybe THE first High-Density Touring racks. Control for A Chorus Line on Broadway in 1975 was of course Gordon Perlman's LS-8, built by EDI. Did Ms. Musser name it Sam? .

Four Star Stage Lighting supplied the Scrimmer dimmers for the original Broadway production of "A Chorus Line". They were only used in that first production.

Production Arts supplied the system for the Bus & Truck of ACL, and that used LMI RD-2000 dimmers in a PA high-density rack.

Yes, the LS-8 was named Sam by Tharon Musser.

ST

 

[SteveB]

Thread Hijack - now history of ACL, etc...

Maybe not THE first to offer a portable SCR dimmer (define portable, piano boards were portable) but maybe .

Scrimmers from EDI were available at least as early as '72 or so, as were portable SCR 12 packs and 2 scene consoles from Colortran. I vividly recall being a high school student in '73 and salivating over the brochures for all that modern gear while our HS was still using Autotransformers. Kliegl had portable stuff as well around mid-70's as did Skirpan (at least with dimmers)

ACL was '75 and was first produced -according to Wiki, at the Shakespeare Festival Public Theater, but I recall the interview in Theater Crafts way-back-when describing it as in a theater downstairs at Lincoln Center (Newhouse ?), that had an SCR dimming system with 2 scene control.

This part was crucial to Tharon, who realized that she could not replicate the cuing and timing of the 2 scene control on DC resistance piano boards at the Shubert. Thus the EDI LS-8. If memory serves, EDI got into a patent infringement lawsuit with Steve Skirpan over the LS-8 which copied key features of the Skirpan Auto-Cue/Light pen design, losing the suit to Skirpan.

I cannot recall which system Fred Foster has tucked away in Middleton, an LS-8 or an AutoCue. I do know that Steve Short at Litetrol in Hicksville, NY has as part of his warehouse of parts, a lot of the old manuals and sales books from way back and I need to get in there on an off day to do some research. All this history used to mean nothing - we were living it - still are in fact, but maybe documenting some of it is in order.

Steve Bailey
Brooklyn College

 

[STEVETERRY]

Re: Thread Hijack - now history of ACL, etc...

Scrimmers from EDI were available at least as early as '72 or so, as were portable SCR 12 packs and 2 scene consoles from Colortran. I vividly recall being a high school student in '73 and salivating over the brochures for all that modern gear while our HS was still using Autotransformers. Kliegl had portable stuff as well around mid-70's as did Skirpan (at least with dimmers)
ACL was '75 and was first produced -according to Wiki, at the Shakespeare Festival Public Theater, but I recall the interview in Theater Crafts way-back-when describing it as in a theater downstairs at Lincoln Center (Newhouse ?), that had an SCR dimming system with 2 scene control.
This part was crucial to Tharon, who realized that she could not replicate the cuing and timing of the 2 scene control on DC resistance piano boards at the Shubert. Thus the EDI LS-8. If memory serves, EDI got into a patent infringement lawsuit with Steve Skirpan over the LS-8 which copied key features of the Skirpan Auto-Cue/Light pen design, losing the suit to Skirpan.
I cannot recall which system Fred Foster has tucked away in Middleton, an LS-8 or an AutoCue. I do know that Steve Short at Litetrol in Hicksville, NY has as part of his warehouse of parts, a lot of the old manuals and sales books from way back and I need to get in there on an off day to do some research. All this history used to mean nothing - we were living it - still are in fact, but maybe documenting some of it is in order.
Steve Bailey
Brooklyn College

We have an Autocue at ETC in Fred's museum, but the LS-8 is in the permanent collection of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View CA, with stops on the way at Production Arts, Gordon Pearlman's conference room, and the now-defunct Boston Computer Museum.

ST

 

[SteveB]

Re: Thread Hijack - now history of ACL, etc...

We have an Autocue at ETC in Fred's museum,
ST

You should take some pictures and introduce it on a "not yet ready for public viewing" website as the in-between the Ion and Eos.

Cause a few heart attacks amongst the dealers.

Maybe wait till 4/1/08

SB

 

[gafftaper]

Re: Thread Hijack - now history of ACL, etc...

You should take some pictures and introduce it on a "not yet ready for public viewing" website as the in-between the Ion and Eos.
Cause a few heart attacks amongst the dealers.
Maybe wait till 4/1/08
SB

That's hillarious!

Can we name it the "Ego"? PLEASE!!

We would be glad to help facilitate the leaking of that information.


As for my previous post, I guess I was a little off on the EDI history. But going back to the point of this thread. They were a major player in the 70's and 80's and built some pretty good equipment. I had very reliable service from an EDI system at my old high school. We had a 48 channel 2 scene preset with 48 push button subs... that was wide board but it was great for teaching the basics.