Control/Dimming Favorite Lighting Console?
- Thread starterThe_Guest
- Start date
techieman33
Well-Known Member
why does everyone have to leave avo out? Yeah they can be hard to get your hands on unless you have a connection, but they are pretty much the standard anywhere outside of the US.
Or you could necro post to this thread http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/lighting/1097-do-you-prefer.html
grand-MA 4tw in my humble opinion.
I guess I'd have to say Colortrain, but the Levington is not bad either.
Kliegl Performer, no contest.
Oooooo, now that brings back memories !. Performer with the Gold Key was a truly fabulous console. Except having to wait 1/2 hour to back up to cassette tape, it was a well designed and functional console
For myself, it has to be Express. Not my all time favorite to operate, that belongs to the Colortran Prestige, which had a terrific button feel as well as great ergonomics, and the Performer as Derek mentioned, that had very understandable and reliable (for it's time) OS, but the Express as there are 10,000 in use around the globe and EVERYBODY knows how to work one, or has a show disk in that format. That saves me a ton of time and when added to the amazing reliability of the console, it becomes the favorite hands down. I do admit that I hate the Express/ion syntax and cannot wait to get an Ion, having loved the command line syntax of the old Strand Light Palette, that was used in Prestige, Obsession and now Eos/Ion. So I'll be glad to get back to that.
To Ship:
I do not recall that Strand ever owned Colortran. I believe the line want as - Berkey-Colortran, then simply Colortran, then Lee-Colortran, than back to Colortran, before getting purchased by NSI and then Leviton. Are my memory cells scrambled ?.
And to Radman:
The Emphasis system is no longer offered and the last software updates were back in '05 or so. Sad as it had great potential that was not followed thru on. I would be surprised if you can upgrade to 3d, so best check before getting your hopes up. And as a question, why do you want to upgrade to 3d ?. My experience is that if you are sitting in the theater, you see it all in real 3d, so having it on screen is little help. Having it off-line WAS useful, but as the Emphasis system can only work to WYG version 17 and since they are now up to 23, you get none of the benefits of latest WYG versions, including use of recent ML's, LED's etc.. that are in the recent libraries. THAT is a pain in the arse, and I would suggest spending the money somewhere else.
Steve B.
doctrjohn
Active Member
Steve,
I had the same thought when I read his post, but then realized his post was from 2004. Emphasis would have still been in development at that time. For whatever it's worth, I believe the last Emphasis update was in early 2008, which, as you noted, matches the feature set of WYG Release 17.
Best,
John
Jeez.... I never pay attention to the post date (smack side of head), silly me.
I do know that when I received my Emphasis in '05, any development had long since stopped and between the time our order was placed and received, the license agreement between Cast and ETC had expired, placing into doubt what off-line software would be shipping. I ended up with Console Edition Perform, which had 3d but which didn't allow printing of any WYG paperwork. I'm not complaining though, as I was a hard core Lightwright and Vectorworks user and had little desire to migrate to a new paperwork method and not being able to print WYSIWYG solved the dilemma. Emphasis has also done what I asked, reliably, so no real complaints there either.
Looking forward to an Ion system though, hope our grant request comes thru.
Steve B.
Indeed, one must pay attention to the original post date. I've said before, lighting folk are a fickle and trendy lot.
While that may have been true in 2004, evidence suggests it is no longer the case.
kiwitechgirl
Well-Known Member
I've been a Strand girl most of my career - the university theatre where I started out had a 520i so I had that to cut my teeth on. There was a brief period of being Strand-less in one job - we had a Compulite (yuk!) - but that didn't last long as a 550 came our way before I'd been there too long. Apart from that, all the venues I've worked at have had 300 or 500 series desks so it's a system I know and love. Unfortunately our much beloved 520 is reaching the end of its working life (it owes us absolutely nothing, having served us faithfully for many, many years) and after much discussion it rather looks like we're getting an ETC Ion to replace it. I'm fairly excited about this as several people I've worked with in Strand houses have replaced their 500-series desks with Eos or Ion and love them, so I'm hopeful that it will be all we'd like it to be!
Three years ago we did a show with video being the main component for the "light" and used Maxedia servers with a Maxxyz wing and touchscreens. A Martin R&D International programmer helped us to get to know the console and to train a video artist to use it. The possibilities are impressive.
Indeed, it showed some stability problems, but that was due to the fact that we were using a development software not even a beta... the person from Martin R&D was like: 'oh, you are using the console that way, I will include that feature in the next test-release, and some days later we got a new version'. That was awesome! So far, Martin impressed me with the Maxedia/Maxxyz.
However, later I 'met' the grandMA console. I already liked the MA LC24/48 for conventionals, except for its price, but the GrandMA is impressive. Not yet worked on a GrandMA2 but that seems to be even better. Specialy when using all its 3D design/simulation features...
However at a demo I also liked the ETC Congo, it felt easy to get to know.
The most powerfull smaller consoles, for small shows where you have to work fast with little budget and still do great things, IMHO are the ETC Smartfade, or a MA on pc with a DMX node connected with a Smartfade to add plain old faders. The most stable and durable would be the smaller ADB consoles. Worked with Zero88 boards too and encountered no problems.
Dimpacks of choice: ADB, ETC / IES or MA
It's for certain the console you own or are used to work on, is mostly the one you love the most cause you know how to use it and get the most out of it.
Indeed, it showed some stability problems, but that was due to the fact that we were using a development software not even a beta... the person from Martin R&D was like: 'oh, you are using the console that way, I will include that feature in the next test-release, and some days later we got a new version'. That was awesome! So far, Martin impressed me with the Maxedia/Maxxyz.
However, later I 'met' the grandMA console. I already liked the MA LC24/48 for conventionals, except for its price, but the GrandMA is impressive. Not yet worked on a GrandMA2 but that seems to be even better. Specialy when using all its 3D design/simulation features...
However at a demo I also liked the ETC Congo, it felt easy to get to know.
The most powerfull smaller consoles, for small shows where you have to work fast with little budget and still do great things, IMHO are the ETC Smartfade, or a MA on pc with a DMX node connected with a Smartfade to add plain old faders. The most stable and durable would be the smaller ADB consoles. Worked with Zero88 boards too and encountered no problems.
Dimpacks of choice: ADB, ETC / IES or MA
It's for certain the console you own or are used to work on, is mostly the one you love the most cause you know how to use it and get the most out of it.
Gildebrand
Member
I read that article.
Here's my question what if the right tool for the job is the programmer and the board he knows like the back of his hand?
Esoteric
Well-Known Member
I cut my teeth on Flying Pig/ETC. I love my MA's, but I am good with any of the Hogs, Avo Pearl/Diamond/Tiger, ETC Express (for conventionals), pretty much anything except Strand, Martin, Colortrash, and Leviton. The Jands is facinating and I am starting to recommend it to clients, but I would not use it personally.
Mike
Mike
