Colortran Innovator

[jyenish]

I've been working on an Innovator for about five years now, and this year I started learning ETC boards. In my opinion the Innovator is a poor excuse for a memory board. I find myself more often programing the 24 submasters and designing from there, that repatching. Maybe its just me but the repatching just takes way to much effort and its easier to leave it on a 1 to 1. The OS is hard to navigate and occasionally it desides it doesn't want to save info. I'm trying to get the board replaced with an ETC board, but who's got 12 grand lying around?

 

[MircleWorker]

I've been working on an Innovator for about five years now, and this year I started learning ETC boards. In my opinion the Innovator is a poor excuse for a memory board. I find myself more often programing the 24 submasters and designing from there, that repatching. Maybe its just me but the repatching just takes way to much effort and its easier to leave it on a 1 to 1. The OS is hard to navigate and occasionally it desides it doesn't want to save info. I'm trying to get the board replaced with an ETC board, but who's got 12 grand lying around?

I totaly agree!!!

I program 3/4 of my conventional lighting from the subs. Keeping it on 1 to 1 is way easier.

 

[soundop]

it does look like a cross between an etc express (what my school has) and the worlds crapiest computer,jeez does it really need a trackball?

?

 

[alanhagg]

I know it's been a while since anyone posted to this. But I have this to say: if you have to do a show that uses moving lights, and conventional, the easiest way, with an Innovator, is to borrow a board that does movers. Even though you may need two operators, you don't have the frustration of trying to make the Innovator do it...

 

[Nelson]

I also have a Colortran Innovator 48/96 (and i series dimmers, great dimmers by the way). Unfortunately, it is the only console we have. It is okay, but there are a few quirks that I don't like about it. First, I do like the general layout, feature set, and screens. I like how it has 96 manual faders. It seems like newer boards are moving away from having large numbers of dedicated faders. I also like having faders for submasters. Since most of our shows are one-offs or school events, I run most shows just with submasters. Its not usually practical to write cues.

However, I don't like how slow the board responds to commands. This is especially noticeable when typing in circuit numbers or the like. You can't type fast on the Innovator! The board is also unreliable. I've had it freeze too many times. I've also had it start sending zeros to the dimmers even though the screen still showed that channels are up, resulting in a blackout. Then I have to turn the board off and back on. The problems seem to be more frequent when writing and playing back cues or effects. More complicated actions result in more problems.

We also have Lumanet, and I'm not crazy about that either. During shows, we use the board exclusively to run all lights and avoid Lumanet all together.

The good news is that we are probably going to be able to buy a new console. Now we just need to decide what to buy!

 

[Les]

I also have a Colortran Innovator 48/96 (and i series dimmers, great dimmers by the way). Unfortunately, it is the only console we have. It is okay, but there are a few quirks that I don't like about it. First, I do like the general layout, feature set, and screens. I like how it has 96 manual faders. It seems like newer boards are moving away from having large numbers of dedicated faders. I also like having faders for submasters. Since most of our shows are one-offs or school events, I run most shows just with submasters. Its not usually practical to write cues.

However, I don't like how slow the board responds to commands. This is especially noticeable when typing in circuit numbers or the like. You can't type fast on the Innovator! The board is also unreliable. I've had it freeze too many times. I've also had it start sending zeros to the dimmers even though the screen still showed that channels are up, resulting in a blackout. Then I have to turn the board off and back on. The problems seem to be more frequent when writing and playing back cues or effects. More complicated actions result in more problems.

We also have Lumanet, and I'm not crazy about that either. During shows, we use the board exclusively to run all lights and avoid Lumanet all together.

The good news is that we are probably going to be able to buy a new console. Now we just need to decide what to buy!

If you like faders, I'd get an ETC Element.

 

[Nelson]

If you like faders, I'd get an ETC Element.

Thanks for the tip!