Control/Dimming Help me pick a console!

chase.... it would be different shows every night, you know, like most concert venues are.

John, I'm going to be the guy on the desk most of the time, so as funny as the thought of getting an obII for a concert venue is, I think I might go for something more traditional. I wonder what the Roadhog 4 goes for? Or what the tiger touch comes in at?

An MA2 fader wing would be in the budget range...
 
Ended up going with a RH4.... now I just gotta deal with an elation show designer till it gets delivered...
 
Ah, but which elation show designer is it, 1, 2 or 3. To be honest, before I posted the idea of the Obi Wan of consoles, I thought of suggesting getting a bunch of DJ controllers, instead of dimmer per circuit, you could have started the trend to controller per fixture.
Please keep us posted, and also, what things do you have to blink, and what things to wiggle, why were they chosen and was it a good choice?
 
Ah, but which elation show designer is it, 1, 2 or 3. To be honest, before I posted the idea of the Obi Wan of consoles, I thought of suggesting getting a bunch of DJ controllers, instead of dimmer per circuit, you could have started the trend to controller per fixture.
Please keep us posted, and also, what things do you have to blink, and what things to wiggle, why were they chosen and was it a good choice?

First show was last night, Rusted Root:
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The installer (not me) installed 12x no name LED wash movers, 12x ADJ Vizi Beam 5Rs (sharpie knockoff) and 12x Chauvet LED Intimidator Spot 350s.

The install was done by night club people, who are morons, so I am trying to shift stuff around to make it more concert friendly (their original plan had the US truss being 6 of the sharpie knockoffs...) For concerts I've started using the LED spots over the dance floor as a wall treatment and have been pretty pleased with it, the gobos while limited in quantity, are a good selection. My next step is going to be doing T-bars down over the stage with some of the beam fixtures to break up the look more and moving two more wash fixtures to the US truss.

Its an elation show designer three which is kinda killing me, and I can't wait for my hog to arrive!
 
Your gonna love the Hog 4!
With me being a High School kid I didnt know how to use Hog. I went to my local dealer and got training on the Hog 500, I was there for a few days. One day they got a Hog 4 demo board in, I think I peed myself when I saw it. I picked up the Hog system very quick and easily.
 
Re: Console suggestions

ETC may be the easiest but they dont work for all set-ups. If your running something like a concert you could use the Congo but its expensive! Also for the price that it runs for you can just get a HOG.
 
Re: Console suggestions

I am a Middle School teacher and the "technical director" of our drama department. We are using an old Melange Pro light board with 6-DDS6000 packs. We have 24 channels (I believe) and 37 old incandescent fixtures. We run plays and musicals from a small stage that feeds out to the gym. We pre-program the light cues and run them back from the internal memory. No moving lights. The board is ready to be replaced. I saw the dmx-lator and was told that we could get a new board and that it should be seamless. I was also told that the Leviton MC 7000 series would work and can hook up to our old lights and offers dmx512 for new ones. I really don't know what the budget would be, I am in the data collecting stage. I am new to this all and really don't know enough to make an informed decision (but I am trying to learn). Any insight would be great.
 
Re: Console suggestions

Im new to consoles/softwares but willing to learn. Im a mobile DJ with 40 rgbaw led par lights, 14 moving lights, 6 rgb lasers, strobes, and 10 other miscellaneous DMX lights. I dont know if its possable but id like to be able to mix into a track and have something that is smart enough to recognize that and go into show that i have programed specificaly for that song (automaticaly i hope). or if not then something that i can select and activate myself while DJing. Somehow it has to work with laser drawing software (or actually be that software itself). I need a visualiser to make the light shows (without using the actual lights). Id like to do everything from a laptop (if possable). Any suggestions would be appreciated
 
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Re: Console suggestions

I am a Middle School teacher and the "technical director" of our drama department. We are using an old Melange Pro light board with 6-DDS6000 packs. We have 24 channels (I believe) and 37 old incandescent fixtures. We run plays and musicals from a small stage that feeds out to the gym. We pre-program the light cues and run them back from the internal memory. No moving lights. The board is ready to be replaced. I saw the dmx-lator and was told that we could get a new board and that it should be seamless. I was also told that the Leviton MC 7000 series would work and can hook up to our old lights and offers dmx512 for new ones. I really don't know what the budget would be, I am in the data collecting stage. I am new to this all and really don't know enough to make an informed decision (but I am trying to learn). Any insight would be great.

Looking at the specs of the Melange Pro and the 7000 series, I think you would be moving in entirely the wrong direction. Fewer channels, no VGA monitor, no soft patch, no macros... Is the current console failing in some way?

A point of clarification: unless you are getting intelligent fixtures (LEDs, movers, etc.) lights do not use dmx, so that is not necessarily an issue. Do you mean the current console outputs dmx? If that is the case, you should be able to plug in any dmx console. Your dimmers are dmx compatible, so that is not an issue.

After that, the real question is what is your budget and what do you project for the future (i.e., next 8-10 years)? Is there power available for additional dimmers? Will you be expanding your inventory, buying new dimmers? Adding a couple LEDs need little to no additional power (they don't use dimmers), but do require additional control channels (3 or 4 per fixture, minimum). Who are your operators and what opportunity do they have for training?

There are a lot of basic consoles out there that are more than adequate to handle a small set-up like yours. I don't have any personal experience with them, but Zero88 and Leprechaun make some good, modest consoles that are probably better suited to theatrical applications (though more expensive). If you have features like complex cue timing, blind editing (altering cues without them showing on stage), tracking, soft patching, etc. it makes a huge difference for programming. In a teaching situation (I used to teach high school technical theatre) it is great to have something with a screen display so you can see what is actually happening.

See this CB collaborative article: http://www.controlbooth.com/wiki/Collaborative+Articles:Sources+for+Used+Equipment for sources for used consoles.
 
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Re: Console suggestions

I'm working on a proposal for an installation and am not familiar enough with small consoles in order to spec it. It's going to be 4-6 lekos and 4-6 LED's at a maximum of 7 channels each. So if I'm looking at a basic NSI or Leprecon then I'm already at 48 channels. I need something that I can pre-program where some seniors can press a button or push a fader and make stuff happen. Definitely no computers! It needs to be small and inexpensive as well. Thanks!
 
ETC SmartFade ML. Not necessarily inexpensive, but probably the most bang for the buck.


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Re: Console suggestions

I need something that I can pre-program where some seniors can press a button or push a fader and make stuff happen.

If you are talking seniors as in the over 65 and not high school, then I would think very simple. I do not like the smartfade ml or lepricon although both offer a lot, for a senior they are far to complex.

As a simple board I like the ETC express 48/96. Yes I know it has been around forever, but it will do the job well, simple, and very easy for a senior to slide up a few channels, hit record and be ready to go. or just run some subs. Very inexpensive.
 
Re: Console suggestions

This is the first time I've ever heard a Leprecon called complex... I'd have to second the Smartfade ML, or even a regular Smartfade. You could program it to just run as submasters and it's a small board.
 

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