I am looking to replace an aging ETC Congo Sr and am seriously looking at Avolites; specifically, the Arena and Sapphire Touch. Part of their appeal comes from the abundance of physical faders they both share. I've seen a brief demo of the Arena in my space with my lights . I've been told the main differences between the Arena and Sapphire Touch are the moving faders, additional touchscreen and three external video outs instead of one on the Arena (and of course, a substantial price difference). I am used to working with three external screens, one of which is a touchscreen, so I am bit hestitant to give up the extra display real estate that would be required of the Arena.
I am aware both Avos run the same Titan software. The Arena has an audio in that the Sapphire Touch apparently does not. I have not been able to determine if they use the same processors, but I know that Sapphire Touch was released several years ago and logically, may contain an older CPU.
I was pretty impressed with how easy it is to do a lot of tasks on the Arena, but understand it is a pretty different way of working from what we're used to with the Congo. I've been watching a lot of the Avolites webinars and software tutorials, and plan to download the software for a spin as soon as my schedule permits.
I am in a multi-purpose PAC that does a lot of scripted theater, but also does a ton of on-the-fly stuff including talking heads, pageants, concerts, etc. I'm using a mix of conventionals, LEDs and movers. I also work with students and some voluteers, so learning curve is somewhat of a consideration. On the other hand, I've had to explain Congo's RPN to people for the last 10 years. It looks like a move from Congo to an Avo would result in loss of a good bit of cue list info; the Avo cue list looks pretty bare bones compared to what I'm used to.
I've not completely written off moving to a Cobalt and have used both the Cobalt 10 and Cobalt 20 in-house as loaners while my Congo was out for service. I'm not a fan of the turn pots replacing 20 faders and there are a lot of quirky little things that are inherent to the Congo/Cobalt software/hardware. Having used a Congo for the last decade, I know it does some things incredibly well, but I have no experience to compare with other modern-day consoles. It appears there are a lot of tasks that can be more easliy accomplished with other consoles. I will say I am definitely not interested in a software-only solution.
I would appreciate any comments from current-generation Avo hardware users, particularly those with Areana and/or Sapphire Touch experience. Also, your experience with Avo software and technical support (US) would be welcomed.
I am aware both Avos run the same Titan software. The Arena has an audio in that the Sapphire Touch apparently does not. I have not been able to determine if they use the same processors, but I know that Sapphire Touch was released several years ago and logically, may contain an older CPU.
I was pretty impressed with how easy it is to do a lot of tasks on the Arena, but understand it is a pretty different way of working from what we're used to with the Congo. I've been watching a lot of the Avolites webinars and software tutorials, and plan to download the software for a spin as soon as my schedule permits.
I am in a multi-purpose PAC that does a lot of scripted theater, but also does a ton of on-the-fly stuff including talking heads, pageants, concerts, etc. I'm using a mix of conventionals, LEDs and movers. I also work with students and some voluteers, so learning curve is somewhat of a consideration. On the other hand, I've had to explain Congo's RPN to people for the last 10 years. It looks like a move from Congo to an Avo would result in loss of a good bit of cue list info; the Avo cue list looks pretty bare bones compared to what I'm used to.
I've not completely written off moving to a Cobalt and have used both the Cobalt 10 and Cobalt 20 in-house as loaners while my Congo was out for service. I'm not a fan of the turn pots replacing 20 faders and there are a lot of quirky little things that are inherent to the Congo/Cobalt software/hardware. Having used a Congo for the last decade, I know it does some things incredibly well, but I have no experience to compare with other modern-day consoles. It appears there are a lot of tasks that can be more easliy accomplished with other consoles. I will say I am definitely not interested in a software-only solution.
I would appreciate any comments from current-generation Avo hardware users, particularly those with Areana and/or Sapphire Touch experience. Also, your experience with Avo software and technical support (US) would be welcomed.