ChamSys QuickQ 20

Robert F Jarvis

Well-Known Member
Been looking for a reasonably low priced console for our smaller theater as the aged ETC Expression 3 is showing signs of senility!
I've used a few of the big boy's consoles and become somewhat spoiled to touch screen, Color wheels, Encoders yada yada I.e. expensive tastes.
Then I came across the Chamsys QuickQ. This little sucker packs a punch. Not up to lighting the Rolling Stones on tour for sure but it will do everything we need for a 100% LED 100 seater theater +++
It does have a few quirks and limitations like the 20 faders (Q20) are restricted to the 1st 20 patched fixtures. Bummer? Not really: you can patch more than 20 and then access them both on the layout screen and within the intensity screen which can be paged.
It works well in 'busking' mode for those bands on stage and in 'Theater' mode for a regular linear cue play.

One thing that does separate it from the more expensive jobbies is you can only patch a fixture (control channel) to a single DMX address. And yet the darn thing has built in networking, RDM etc. Go figure.

We would be interested in hearing from anyone who has experienced console.

Ya'll keep safe out there!
 
It's a neat little desk and fairly priced. I believe on those 20 faders, you can also use them to playback a single cue, just not a cue stack like to 10 playback faders. You can effectively use them as you would submasters on your Expression 3.
The tablet remote is a great feature too. You just scan the QR code from the console and your tablet will automatically be linked to the consoles inbuilt wifi. You can then walk around with it for focus or just use it as an external monitor.
One thing that does separate it from the more expensive jobbies is you can only patch a fixture (control channel) to a single DMX address. And yet the darn thing has built in networking, RDM etc. Go figure.

Ya'll keep safe out there!

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this. You can patch any number of fixtures, dimmer, led, moving lights you want, the only limitation is the 2 universe. If you are talking about multi patching, where you have multiple dimmers controlled by the same desk channel, then I'm not sure, but again, I'm pretty sure you can just make a group for those dimmers and call them up together.

The other notable feature is that the OS is actually MagicQ with a more simplified UI, you can even load MagicQ shows on to the QuickQ, you just only have access to your first page of 10 playbacks, and some editing restrictions, since the QuickQ does not have all the advanced features of MagicQ.

At the end of the day, it is a very intuitive console, easy to learn for casual, weekend warriors, and volunteer staff. I think it offers more features overall than the competition and is competitively priced.
 
Yep, agree with all. And we should add its ability to record color and beam pointing (position) Palettes. You're right about the faders. They can point to the intensity of any one of the 1st 20 patched Fixtures in FIX mode, store a whole (but single) cue in CUE and yep, exactly like our sub-masters (a must for us). The GRP for group is exactly that. The one difference is that apart from just selecting a group you can raise the fader to affect the intensities in the group. The limitation I referred to concerning DMX addressing is that you can only assign a single desk channel (Oh how I hate that overused word) to a single DMX address or set of addresses for a multi-address device. So if I was driving a legacy dimmer #1 I could only patch it to a single DMX address. A moving head consuming say 12 DMX addresses would be assigned the appropriate addresses. But you can't for instance run two fixtures with different DMX addresses through one channel (fader whatever) like you can on our Element 2 and Expression 3. The answer of course to keeping more than one fixture in synch would be to address them all the same. Still, that is a small price to pay taking into account the cost of this console. As to the "casual, weekend and volunteer needs" - I do disagree a bit. It's no competition for our ($$$) ETC stuff but after working another local theater's Phillips Strand NEO I would choose the QuickQ in a heartbeat. Question now like most must be asking here: When will the theater open?
 
I understand. I don't know what other systems call it, but yeah that is a minor limitation. Personally I used to do this with random parcan rigs, where I would just patch all of each color to one channel. Also, I did not mean to assume about the level of programmers/LDs/Etc at your venue. I was just saying that of the clients I have sold QuickQ to, the ease of use for people who are not dedicated to just lighting as a job is a big selling point.
Also, I don't think the QuickQ competes with the EOS line, EOS is extremely robust and offers far more than QuickQ, I'm not even sure I would say that MagicQ is competition for EOS, since they are tailored to very different market segments, more the that QuickQ is designed for the same market as the Colorsource20/40. They even use a similar naming scheme. I actually have not used the Colorsource console, and though I hear good things, the 40 or 80 "Channel" Limit is a non-starter for most places that have at least a 48-chan dimmer rack and kind of pointless if you have 96 dimmers, since each of those dimmers takes up a desk channel, just like any moving head or LED. I know this because there are some users here who are not real happy with the color source because of these limits. The other competition is the Pathway Cognito II, and while I have used it an also find pretty intuitive, with a similar feature set to the QuickQ, and even some pretty advanced, if not obscure feature, it is more expensive and feels just a little more like a toy. (Now Rob from Pathway will come defend is a product. I will note that I call out all products on their individual merits. I spec'd all Pathport nodes on a recent install because they were the right product for the job; no blind loyalty from me) Strand? Why are they still making consoles?


Chamsys is also very receptive to hearing the feedback about their desks. Obviously the QuickQ is designed to be simple to use, so they will never put in all of the advanced features of another console, but keep in mind that if you ever feel like they have outgrown the QuickQ or maybe you have a designer or programmer that want to do more advanced things, you can always use MagicQ PC for free, and run that show on the QuickQ. MagicQ also gives you 64 universes via ethernet for free, using it on its own from a PC, not with the QuickQ.
 
If you have not physically used it yet, find your preferred local dealer, and they will arrange to get you a demo. The same goes for Pathway or ETC. They all have very good customer support, and I would not recommend a product from anyone who did not (hence why Zero88 is a complete non-starter.)
 
Previous mentions about the 20 faders feeding only the 1st 20 patched fixtures, is not all the story. You can patch fixtures to channels > 20. Though they wont have a 'direct' fader they can selected in the Layout panel, whilst switching to Intensity you can 'page' the bottom to see and use > 20 virtual faders. How far this extends (I.E. ?? >40) I haven't tried yet. I've put 20 RGBWAs in the 1st 20 slots and 4 Moving heads and 2 spots on 21 - 26 which can be grabbed in layout and fully controlled.

My references to 'other' manufacture's consoles are not criticism or praise but merely the way we see them as easy or difficult to learn and operate for our particular (mostly theater play) conditions. I could train an operator in our small (100 seat) theater to be up and running in less than an hour with the QuickQ. Not so the Element 2! My concern with the Strand NEO was due to my ETC experiences driving my naïve expectations that all consoles had a similar philosophy. The Strand people who support their board were eager to help and superbly knowledgeable so I was able to set up and run shows. But I found some of the default logic like the subs default philosophy of "Winner Take All" needed some pretty deep behind the scenes manipulation to make them behave in the manner I think Sub-masters should work. Plus I could never really workout the logic behind the LTP/HTP between sub, cues and direct selects at times. That's me, not them!

DJ's are a huge customer base for consoles and their needs for 'live' constantly changing scenes in a none linear manner (I call busking) differ from the regular "Theater" programs, cue and run each performance the same mode. So all consoles will offer different footprints in either camp. It all boils down to what suites your venues, previous experience and perhaps - bottom line - what you can afford. Coming full circle to my original post - I think this little gizmo is a heck of a bang for the buck.
 
Oh yep. And here's another one to throw in the mix David: Look at their "User Forums". Due to it's immense base the ETC Connect forums are total beehives. I've posted questions to get quicker answers then opening the manual! Of course I excuse such lazy behavior because a/ there are so many people on board at any one time that will answer in different ways/slants and b/ My questions (or more importantly the answers) may help others boarders. On the other hand visiting one forum of a popular console I found the last post was 2 months back! Oh dear, on another board the last post was 3 weeks old and (totally embarrassing) was from me (unanswered)!

Bottom line, you're right - there are some very good and dedicated people supporting their products but my shortcut to immediate help and the big picture will often come from the Forums. If a particular product's forum is not too helpful for me then I post here to hopefully find folks with experience.

Keep the lights on and stay safe.
 

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