Have any of yall heard of this board and what do you think of it?

[Shawncfer]

So the place I work at just found a 'LSC Maxim -M' Board in a closet we never knew we had! Well they're looking at selling it because were about to get the smartfade.

Have any of yall ever heard of this board or worked with it?

I turned it on today and know it works, but I've never used one or even seen one before today. It's in great condition and I'm actually interested in buying it myself if its at a reasonable price.

Could you tell me:
Whats an average price on it?
Is it a nice board?
Is it easy to work with and learn?
And just any general information on it?

 

[metti]

So the place I work at just found a 'LSC Maxim -M' Board in a closet we never knew we had! Well they're looking at selling it because were about to get the smartfade.

Have any of yall ever heard of this board or worked with it?

I turned it on today and know it works, but I've never used one or even seen one before today. It's in great condition and I'm actually interested in buying it myself if its at a reasonable price.

Could you tell me:
Whats an average price on it?
Is it a nice board?
Is it easy to work with and learn?
And just any general information on it?

It is made by LCS (obviously) and distributed in the US by Applied Electronics.

More info is available on their website here: maXim Lighting Control Consoles Applied Electronics

I want to say that the M means it has the PaTPad moving light controller built in but I'm not sure. Beyond that I can say they come in six different channel counts with various options (floppy drive, etc). I suspect they are functional but not incredibly powerful and they are probably pretty reliable if Applied is distributing them. I don't know much more and I have never run into one. I recall seeing an MSRP price list for them at some point so some Googling can probably turn that up, which might help in deciding a price to sell yours at.

 

[derekleffew]

LSC Lighting Systems | maXim Lighting Control Console

Much more popular in its home country of Australia than in the US, where Applied Electronics is the rep.

I'd put it in the same category as the Fat Frogs and Leprecons. Those who don't know any better think it's great, and those who do know better will use something else.

 

[LD4tw]

hey man, ive heard rumours about this board and i hear the programmers that made the software for the board also made the software for the Strand Pallete. They say the softwares are almost identical. I have used the pallette extensively and my frecking god...the software is powerful. I suggest you keep the board since smartfades are terribly expensive. You have quite a hidden treasure. Though im not sure if the software will be compatible with the maxim you have so dont hold me against this info.

 

[Illuminazione]

Keep it, its a powerful little board.

As said above, comes from LSC Lighting Systems here in Australia, a fantastic company down here.

If you don't need the money from the sale urgently, its a great board to have lying around for emergencies, simple to use and easy to train on.

I think LSC still service most of their old boards too....

 

[metti]

hey man, ive heard rumours about this board and i hear the programmers that made the software for the board also made the software for the Strand Pallete. They say the softwares are almost identical. I have used the pallette extensively and my frecking god...the software is powerful. I suggest you keep the board since smartfades are terribly expensive. You have quite a hidden treasure. Though im not sure if the software will be compatible with the maxim you have so dont hold me against this info.

While I can't attest to whether or not the same programer(s) worked on the maXim line and PalleteOS, I can say it is pretty unlikely that they run the same software. Looking at screen shots of the two it is clear that the VGA outputs look pretty different. Furthermore, the Palletes run on XP embedded and I am pretty sure the the maXims do not. Again, I have never used the maXim, but I have used various Palletes and nothing I have read/deduced leads me to believe that the maXim has 1/10th the power of Strand's stuff. IIRC, they also aren't really priced to compete with one another. Also, contractions have apostrophes and the first word in a sentence should be capitalized.

 

[Shawncfer]

I suggest you keep the board since smartfades are terribly expensive.

Well I'm not sure what we'll do with it. My only problem with it so far is it's still floppy. And I'm needing to use moving lights which aren't already programmed in. So I have to download the device info from LSC's website, and put it on the board....Through a floppy.... I haven't used a computer with a floppy drive in a while!

It's looks pretty nice though. And once again I haven't had the chance yet to it down and play with it. We barely found it last night.

And as far as your quote from earlier, from what I got from google, the maXim price is somewhere between 6000-10000. The SmartFade ML is going for $2056 from our local dealer. That's not expensive at all!

 

[mstaylor]

The Maxim is a decent board, although it depends how you are using it. I have only used it in a concert setting so I can't speak to it's theatre usability. I have only used it a couple of times but I seem to remember it programing a little odd but easy to learn. I just don't remember what was odd. The last time I used it was a Sandy Patty show.

 

[Synchronize]

I've never personally used the LSC boards, but I've looked into them somewhat extensively. Knowing the smartfade is ungodly ridiculous to work with I would say stick with the LSC. Or, sell the LSC, put that money with what you have budgeted for the smartfade and buy an Ion.

If you do sell it and are looking for a buyer, let me know.

 

[lukejoyner]

As has been mentioned before, LSC is an Australian company, thus are a lot more popular here (down under) than in the states. The 'M' designation is to do with the number of faders. The m is the smallest of the maxim range, and they get larger from there. To use them effectively with moving lights, you need the 'PatPad' add on. It has a reasonably powerful effects engine in the patpad, and once you have learnt how to program it, it is quite easy to use. It is probably my console of choice if I'm doing a show that only needs a 2 scene preset board with mostly conventional fixtures, once you get past about 8 moving lights, it starts getting a bit clumsy to use. To say it is favored by those who don't know any better is a bit unfair... It is a good console for what it is and given the choice, I would choose it over many of the consoles on the market.

Personally, I would hang on to it, if nothing else, as a backup.


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