I know this is an old thread, but I just wanted to
throw my two cents in:
The ColorMerge is a nice
unit, it bolts onto the Source4 with not much work, and gives beautiful colors. Its also nearly silent if I remember correctly, so I could see no problem putting them in the
house for color changes, since they would be much quieter then
conventional gel scrollers.
There are 3 cons I can think of:
1) if you want to do a
snap color change, it won't happen. It just won't. I tried it, it failed.
Fade time from a warm color (I forget what I had in) to a deep red was about 3 seconds, as my memory serves. Now, this is not a bad time if you do dramas, cross-fades, but if you have a musical or a concert and want a bump color change, this
unit is out.
2) Brains and 4 pin cable. This isn't even a big one, just means you need to
bolt the brain to a pipe somewhere and run 4
pin out of it. Not a big deal, but a minor hassle.
3) Since it bolts onto a Source4, you still need a
dimmer for the Source4. However, this evens out, because just
throw one
non-dim up for the brains, and you can run 10 or 12 ColorMerges (from memory, check for actual number).
The ColorCommand is a very nice
fixture that I like a lot.
Pro's:
1) Very fast color changes. Near-instantanious. I had a bump
cue from warm backlight to red, amazingly fast.
2) Variable
Frost, which for me personally is all the beam control I need for a backlight position. While it won't replace a Source4 for a special, or for a
FOH position, anything that you would want a
PAR for, the ColorCommand could do. Plus you can run the beam size from what amounts to an
ACL to i'd say a MFL (again, from memory, check for beam sizes)
3) If you wanted to, you could put a
top hat or
barn door on it.
Cons:
1) Brains, 4 pin, as stated
2) need another Dim
circuit for the lamp
3) noisy, quiet scene, don't change a color. However, if there is any sort of action on
stage, and these were used on an upstage pipe, i'm sure no one would notice the color change noise.
Now I'd really love to get my hands on a Studio Command, and I'd love to hear from someone who got to try one out.
So, my two cents.
Zac