Whoa, Ok, let me clairify somethings... I am the only trained professional at the
theatre, the rest of the volunteers are people that i have trained... I am looking for a board that uses
cue stacks instead of sub mode... I am planning to use some basic
DMX fixtures, namely
LED bars, there is absolutly no chance we will ever use a moving
fixture. My budget is low, I have about 15,000
CAD, to spend, after tax of course. The dimmers take about 10,000 of that... So...I was looking at an
ETC Express, the company that i
purchase from is still able to get me a brand new
console from
ETC, at a little
bit of a discount.
Ok, Now we've got some details to work with. So you want a
console with some basic
DMX abilities (for small
DMX toys like
gobo rotators?), it needs to be easy to use and train, uses a
cue stack, and come in around $5k Canadian ($4k US).
Zero 88 Jester,
Leprecon,
EDI, or an
ETC Express (if you can still get one) technically fit your needs and you should be able to find them in your price range. I don't think a
Strand 200 meets your needs. However, all the consoles above are using 15+ year old ways of thinking about
console design. The
Express was a great
console loved by all of us, but it's time is passed and it doesn't make any sense trying to buy one now when you can get so much more for so little more money.
This thread has a great discussion about the end of the
Express and two scene
preset era of consoles. Is anybody out there such a fan of Windows 3.0 that they are out there buying it today? What about Office 95? The day of the
Express has come and gone. It's time for us to let go of this class of consoles and move on if you can afford it... for just a few dollars more you can join the modern age of lighting control. As Derek said, all of these consoles can use
LED fixtures but you are going to hate programing them.
Your target
console should be one of three:
ETC Ion with a
submaster wing (probably out of your price range at around $6k US), a
Strand Basic
Palette (around $4k US... before your lovely GST) or wait to see what the new
console from
ETC is like. We don't know what the new
ETC console will be like exactly, it's price, or when it will be available... but you
are it's target customer. It should be priced close to Basic
Palette. The Basic
Palette is a fabulous little
console: smart to operate, easy to learn, you get 16 submasters and a cuestack. It only runs 100 channels but you can buy an upgrade if you need more channels down the
road. It uses the same software as
Strand's best $40k
console. Just in a small package. I expect that in a few months I will be saying very similar things about the new
console from
ETC. Both of these consoles use an entirely new different way of thinking about
console design. They are much friendlier and easier for doing advanced things. Even if you never use the built in moving light features you'll still love the way they handle smaller
DMX toys like
gobo rotators. If at all possible, smart you should be waiting a few months to see what
ETC has planned. If you need to buy now, get a
Strand Basic
Palette.
...and you don't want a Smartfade. Search to find my rants on that topic.