I have several small lighting boards, that I have purchased off of ebay, that would do the job very nicely. I have also several of the software programs using dongles. The reason I have several boards, is that I work as a
Master electrician, and sometime
Lighting designer at a
community theatre. We have three larger
theatre control boards, but our managing director loves to make points by loaning out equipment to the community and to other community theatres in the area. For that reason, I watch for deals on ebay, that no one is bidding on. I loan out the smaller boards in order to keep the better ones from being damaged by borrowers. I also
build and repair a number of
DMX controlled items. I therefore keep one small board at both my home and the
theatre for testing these items.
I personally don't like the software/
dongle systems for testing. They can be a little confusing. I also would suggest that you want a board with at least 24 channels and can patch any of the 512
DMX channels into any of the 24 control channels. The patch is very important so that you can easily test
DMX items, without having to reset their addresses. I use a Lightronics TL5024 w/
DMX and a Lightronics TL3256 at the
theatre depending on which one is not out on loan. (both of these boards have been damaged in the past by borrowers, but they are made of heavy steel and Lightronics have always been super at getting me the parts.) At home I use a Behringer LC2412. This board is a nightmare to program for a show or for
busking, but it has a great patch and is pretty well built. I bought mine thinking that we would use it for shows, but everybody who used it, hated it. I use it strictly for testing, and it is great for that. The main reason I mention it, is that it is always on ebay, and sometimes it is available for not much money. If you go that route, don't pay more than $120.
These are just some thoughts that have worked for me. I am sure there are many others on CB who have had other experiences in different evironments.
Tom Johnson
Florida's Most Honored Community Theatre