Buying Robotic lights
- Thread starterSpikesgirl
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soundlight
Well-Known Member
Touché, and you eliminate any confusion when dealing with multiple universes, likely to confuse the drama teachers. What about two outputs for one universe?
soundlight
Well-Known Member
Put the splitter in the board. Genius! And yes, just one universe is much less confusing to teachers and students who are just starting.
porkchop
Well-Known Member
Sound you have a point with the idea of remaking the console, but thats the point of the expandability. When the teacher comes into the dealer, the dealer should say hey we can get you the ION, get one wing (two if you want 40 faders), we'll attach it to the board permanently (the ETC guys that did our demo swore you could pick up the console by the sides with fader wings attached) and then you'll have your faders.
As far as your point about cramped booths, IMHO your just plain wrong. I'd laugh at you if you thought the console was too wide, but thats not how I read your post. But even as far as depth goes it's not bad it didn't seem any deeper than the innovator 48/96 I had in high school.
EDIT: Looked up the data sheets the ION is a full 8" smaller depth wise than my old innovator. The ION with 20 faders is 27" wide, with 40 its 36", thats a compact console thats perfect for "cramped high school booths" IMHO..... Wasn't this thread once about lights not consoles?
As far as your point about cramped booths, IMHO your just plain wrong. I'd laugh at you if you thought the console was too wide, but thats not how I read your post. But even as far as depth goes it's not bad it didn't seem any deeper than the innovator 48/96 I had in high school.
EDIT: Looked up the data sheets the ION is a full 8" smaller depth wise than my old innovator. The ION with 20 faders is 27" wide, with 40 its 36", thats a compact console thats perfect for "cramped high school booths" IMHO..... Wasn't this thread once about lights not consoles?
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Ion starts smaller than an express. Add two 2x20 wings and you have all the manual control. Wings can be firmly locked into eachother and the console such that you can pick the console up by the wings (unlike the Strand 300 which really didn't lice to be picked up by the wings unsupported). This interlocking eliminates the need for the USB and power connections to the wings as they are fed from the console.
Settings can be recalled from the internal hard drive or from a USB flash drive. Screens can be customized to show only what the user wants to see, be that channel levels, fader levels, cue list, etc. All of this can be recalled from saved settings.
This is besides the fact that the Ion platform really makes life easier for the people who don't know how to use a console. With presets, all a user would have to do is load the default show and then activate (either by mouse, touch screen, or keypad) the preset they need. So you could have presets built for the band, the choir, improv club, etc. Then for the people who need more individual control you have subs which could be programmed to act as channel faders or subs or both.
If the big thing is you want manual control, you can have up to 240 sliders on an Ion, I'd say that is plenty of sliders. Of course each of those 240 sliders can be configured to do just about anything.
It is the real brilliant thing about the new generation consoles. They are totally customizable to what each user needs. It can be as simple or complex as you want it.
As for the price thing, the prices you listed are around where SmartFade is
I was under the impression that you can't turn those ION wing panels into a 2 scene preset. Is that correct? If that's true, it's going to have a hard time down at the local high school with the technophobic drama club adviser. It's got to have 48 sliders and a few subs to make those people happy.
While I'm a fan of ION, I don't buy the reconfigurable approach. I think people either want a 2 scene, a small sub board, or something with submasters up the Wazzoo. Strand gives you the choice. ETC says they can give you whatever you want by reconfiguring. But I think most low to midrange users have a specific image in mind of what they want the console to look like. The reconfigurable thing just doesn't excite me. I see it as an advantage for rental shops and for small but growing theaters that want to add on additional things in the future. But any sort of reconfiguration is just something else for the technophobic drama club adviser to have to learn how to fix.
While I'm a fan of ION, I don't buy the reconfigurable approach. I think people either want a 2 scene, a small sub board, or something with submasters up the Wazzoo. Strand gives you the choice. ETC says they can give you whatever you want by reconfiguring. But I think most low to midrange users have a specific image in mind of what they want the console to look like. The reconfigurable thing just doesn't excite me. I see it as an advantage for rental shops and for small but growing theaters that want to add on additional things in the future. But any sort of reconfiguration is just something else for the technophobic drama club adviser to have to learn how to fix.
I think the smart fade is a joke of a replacement it the express. The thing looks like something made by american dj. Its tiny, and you cannot simply call up dimmers. I am not a strand console fan, I have issues with the syntax. If it were truely up to me i think i'd stick a hog in there with a wing or two and call it a day. I honestly think i could install a strand mini light pallete and they would be more than happy. I just need something with faders, the ability to patch and store cues. I grew up not using a ton of faders and i still dont. On an express half of my stuff is stored in groups, and i only use a small number of faders. They are trying to do this as cheaply as possible. I am definately going to check out the ion, i have schools that are ready to replace their expression3 due to lack of channels and ability to control movers.
/=through
+=and
-=except
2[/]14[-]12[+]18[@] 85 [enter]
It assumes you are talking about channels. The line above means turn on channels 2 through 14 except for 12 and also add 18 all at 85%
[record] [enter]
Record it as the next sequential cue available or you can say...
[record] [cue] 53 [enter]
Do you have syntax issues with that?
While it's true I've had some issues with weird things about where they've placed some of the more advanced functions. Basic programing is VERY simple and will take 5 minutes to learn. The hardest thing is instead of submasters they call them "looks". I suggest you take a more serious look at the new Strand palettes. They sound like a good fit for your needs to me.
Actually, as a Strand user, that syntax, especially for Through would drive me nuts. Why get rid of the THRU key? The / has so many other uses (at least in the 300/500)
However you should be able to eliminate a keystroke when recording cues, because if you can't just hit [RECORD] 53 [ENTER] and have it assume you mean cue then I would get frustrated really fast.
I was unclear there. I meant you can hit [record] [enter] and it records whatever you have up as the next cue or you can add in a specific number if you want to record out of order.
My guess is that's a left over from the Horizon roots and wanting you to be able to program either from the console or the keyboard.
Remember we are talking about this guy buying a new Strand console. The 300 and 500 are no longer made.
The new patch window is really easy to use.
First column is channel
Second column dimmer #
Third column what is it? Dimmer (default) or a pop up box lists a missive list of manufacturers of intelligent products to load their profile: for example find Martin and then select MAC 700
Fourth column if needed is what channel do the DMX device's attributes begin at.
The only annoying or difficult thing I've found is after you load the profile it loses the dimmer data in column 2 so you have to go back and type it in again.
When you go back to the live menu and select the intelligent gear the console knows what is where and what attributes it has. If you particular product is not on the list they will make you one. Took them less than two business days to make me four profiles.
The new patch window is really easy to use.
First column is channel
Second column dimmer #
Third column what is it? Dimmer (default) or a pop up box lists a missive list of manufacturers of intelligent products to load their profile: for example find Martin and then select MAC 700
Fourth column if needed is what channel do the DMX device's attributes begin at.
The only annoying or difficult thing I've found is after you load the profile it loses the dimmer data in column 2 so you have to go back and type it in again.
When you go back to the live menu and select the intelligent gear the console knows what is where and what attributes it has. If you particular product is not on the list they will make you one. Took them less than two business days to make me four profiles.
soundlight
Well-Known Member
One reason that I really like the Obsession is that the profile builder is very easy to use. I can make my own profiles very quickly. Does anyone know if there is a similar profile builder to the Obsession one on ION and EOS? Haven't dug this far in to the offline yet. I really like being able to go in and tweak profiles to my programming style for a certain fixture. It often speeds up programming time.
Not answering your question, but as far as I no you can't build your own profiles for the new Strand Software. There's too much to do to integrate it in to the color library. I wouldn't be surprised if that was true for ETC as well since they are so similar.
I would say it's REALLY hard if not impossible to accidentally profile something on the new Strand Palette software. I don't think there is a Remdim button anymore... don't remember seeing one. As for the clear function you just have to hit the Release button a time or two to clear things. If you selected instruments in multiple groups it make take two or three hits to release them all as it goes backward in order. This is convenient if you have a base group of lights and you are adding one as one hit releases just the most recently added light so you can then leave the base alone and add a few more. Instead of having to reselect all of them.
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