I-Cues ?
- Thread starterMRlettherebelight
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audioslavematt
Active Member
In my previous life as a high school teacher with no budget and a small 110 seat theater, I managed to scrape enough money together to purchase two I-cues. It completely altered my lighting designs. I had been using half of my small lighting invenetory for specials The I-cues made it possible for me to do almost all my specials with two instruments. This allowed me options with the rest of my inventory for the first time. It was incredible how much I got out of those two units. They are easy to use, a great way to train students about DMX, a good foot in the intelligent lighting world, and a ton of bang for your buck. No they aren't a VL1000, but they also aren't $4500. Get a couple, you'll be very glad you did.
personalZEN
Member
I used 2 icues when they first came out and ever since I've had at least 2 in each of my lighting plots. they can just flat-out save your ass.
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MRlettherebelight
Member
i just got my budget approved to get the i-cues, now my guestion is whether to get the i -cue or the meteor elipscan. I borrowed a elipscan from my lighting supplier and it works pretty well, but its loud, i can hear it from 30ft away. It also makes noise when the mirror is not moving. does anybody have any experience with the meteor against the i cue or know how loud the i cue is, or any thoughts of which one to choose? and what would be the best way to program these with an express 24/48. thanks
soundlight
Well-Known Member
Get the I-Cues! For a few reasons:
1) Noise. The Meteor units are, as you mentioned, noisier.
2) Control on the I-Cues is better, straight 16-bit control instead of 5 channels of weird stuff.
3) The Meteor unit has a built in power head, so it has that unit on the end of it, which weighs it down more and thus has a higher likelihood of causing the instrument to be pulled down slightly from the original focus position, and then all of your marks for cues will be off.
4) The power supplies for the I-Cues can also be used for scrollers and DMX gobo rotators, so you have tremendous versatility there for future use.
1) Noise. The Meteor units are, as you mentioned, noisier.
2) Control on the I-Cues is better, straight 16-bit control instead of 5 channels of weird stuff.
3) The Meteor unit has a built in power head, so it has that unit on the end of it, which weighs it down more and thus has a higher likelihood of causing the instrument to be pulled down slightly from the original focus position, and then all of your marks for cues will be off.
4) The power supplies for the I-Cues can also be used for scrollers and DMX gobo rotators, so you have tremendous versatility there for future use.
My two I-cues were mounted on a pipe that was less than 15 feet above the head of the audience in a 100 seat theater. You could not hear them at all when they weren't moving. You could BARELY hear them moving if the house was dead silent. I've never seen the Elipscan but I can tell you that I never had a problem with I-cue noise.
I also had an express 24/48. I like to use submasters for programing. In a small theater you can cram a lot of different looks into those 24 submasters then just mix together. I would set the board to "one scene with submasters" mode. And then use the keypad and my submasters for entering data. I always ran my I-cues in the 2 DMX channel mode... never had any need for the 4 DMX mode. I would repatch channels 21-24 to the channels my I-cues were set for. That way I could just grab two sliders and move them where I want.
The trick is developing your cue writing skills so that you can move your I-cues in blackouts using link and follow. For example, if you have the I-cues at stage right in one scene and then want them at stage left in the next scene. Set the I-cues to fade out in 1 second while your other lights are fading in 5, then run a cue to move the i-cues, then run the cue to bring up the other lights in 5 seconds, then run a cue to bring up the i-cues in 2 or 3 seconds. You get the idea? Fast fades on the i-cues with quick movements in the middle while the rest of the lighting takes a little slower fade up and down.
Enjoy!!
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MRlettherebelight
Member
soundlight
Well-Known Member
moderately_clueless
Member
I-cues are brilliant. As people said, I've never had a problem with noise. If I remember correctly, they just move to zero position when turned off and move very smoothly. They are easy to set up and take down, not much effort involved. Highly recommended.
soundlight
Well-Known Member
And in response to the other question: you shouldn't have any problem with the i-cues doing any crazy stuff. If you do, just shut off your power supply before killing the board. If you hook the power supply up to a relay pack you can just have a macro on the express that kills the i-cues' power supply before shutting down. Also, if you do get the I-Cues, make sure to get the separate power supply and the 4-pin scroller cable on your order. Very important. And if you anticipate adding DMX gobo rotators or color scrollers to your inventory at any time in the future, get a power supply that is bigger than you need as to allow for expansion in the future. Also make sure that you get return cables for the I-Cues, because the power has to return to the power supply. You may already know all this, but I'm just making sure. I assume that you've already worked all of this out.
They don't have a DMX terminator switch built in if I remember correctly. So you need at least 1 DMX terminator to prevent weirdness in the line. You might get away with two units without it, but more than that and you are asking for trouble.
soundlight
Well-Known Member
DMX terminator? If you put the terminator anywhere, it has to be on the power supply. For those who don't know, the I-Cues run off of a standard color scroller power supply, with 4-pin cable. You just address them, and they pull both power and signal from that one cord. So, you have a 4-pin scroller cable going to the first I-Cue, from that one to the second, and so on down the line until you get to the last one (make sure that your power supply has enough juice), and then you run a return cable from the last I-Cue (or scroller or rotator or whatever) back to the power supply. The power supply receives standard AC current and a DMX signal, and converts them in to the special DMX/power common carrier cabling system. So if you need a terminator anywhere, you need it on the Power Supply, and some power supplies may have terminators built in.
This is the main beauty of the I-Cue, because it does not have to have a line voltage input, power supply and all that stuff on the unit. This reduces weight and also makes this unit quieter.
This is the main beauty of the I-Cue, because it does not have to have a line voltage input, power supply and all that stuff on the unit. This reduces weight and also makes this unit quieter.
Opps, sorry it's been 5 years since I was playing with I-cues and I've gotten a couple of things mixed up. Yeah you are right everything that is plugged into the same power supply is essentially one DMX unit. You would only need a terminator if you had more than one power supply running.
lightbyfire
Member
I have worked with both elipsescans and I-cues, and the difference is night and day. As a matter of fact we just got two more in this afternoon. The I-cue is extremely quite (much quieter than even the fans on a scroller) and is much better at hitting the same spot every time than the elipsescan, even in eight bit, although sixteen does have a noticable difference.
I recomend I-cues over elipsescans particularly if you are in a black box, as the elipsescans make a lot of ambient noise. Also, I-cues do not need to be unhooked from power as they will rest, where elipsescans will continually try to find a signal and makes noise.
I recomend I-cues over elipsescans particularly if you are in a black box, as the elipsescans make a lot of ambient noise. Also, I-cues do not need to be unhooked from power as they will rest, where elipsescans will continually try to find a signal and makes noise.
If you later find the need for repositioning a Leko/PAR with a color scroller, or perhaps larger Fresnel or video projector- have a look at the Apollo Right Arm. This 2, 3, or 5 channel device will allow the actual repositioning of the lighting fixture itself as opposed to the beam of light.
Suggested List price for the Right Arm is $1195 USD and will be available from authorized Apollo dealers April 1st 2007.
http://www.internetapollo.com/Products/RightArm/
Suggested List price for the Right Arm is $1195 USD and will be available from authorized Apollo dealers April 1st 2007.
http://www.internetapollo.com/Products/RightArm/
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