MagicQ PC Suggestions/Advice

[Starlight]

Hello, my church just finished our largest annual production, a Christmas musical. I'm the lighting designer and board op for the show every year and this year was a nightmare.

First, our current setup:

ETC Express 24/48 console
96-channel ETC Sensor dimmer rack (24 channels used for house lighting, 72 dimmers available for stage lighting)

Not bad for conventional fixtures, obviously, not bad at all. But no ability to control moving lights when used. This year, we rented 8 Chauvet Intimidator Spot 250's (TERRIBLE lights, BTW, extremely noisy and flakey as can be - used to getting much better moving heads for large shows). I borrowed the youth group's Martin Xciter to control these moving heads.

Our ETC Express console has always had issues since it was brand new - the Enter key randomly activates itself (sometimes if breathed on or tapped near, sometimes out of nowhere repeatedly). The console was sent into ETC while under warranty, but they claimed no fault was found. ETC has atrociously bad customer service, that is one thing I did learn about them. We had some other issues too... the whole system was designed by a consulting firm right before I started attending this church, and everything is ETC (Unison architectural controls, etc). So, you'd think we'd have got pretty good customer service from them. But we didn't, not at all. Anyways, what's past is past... we have a flakey ETC Express that sometimes totally flakes out for no apparent reason. Though given the seemingly mechanical nature of the problem, I'm sure it's an easy fix. Oh, and we've learned ETC Sensor dimmer modules are really, really prone to failing. We had to replace the electronic "guts" of three of those things (the "power cubes") just this last month...

Anyways, during the first weekend of our Christmas musical, having had a couple ETC Express-related problems, and just generally being sick of running the show off two consoles - I decided to give MagicQ PC a try. I had bought a MagicDMX this summer for personal use (a "why not it's under $20" deal), but had never touched it.

Anyways, to say I'm impressed would be an understatement. I spent a day learning the software and reprogramming the show in MagicQ last week, and ran the show - four performances - this last weekend with MagicQ PC. *zero* hitches other than some very minor DMX glitches affecting the cheap moving lights (might well be related to my wiring at the last minute to get everything on one universe - ran it through the Martin Xciter just to split the DMX).

I found MagicQ PC to be easy to use, easy to program, and to work extremely well. However, for anything other than a rehearsed, "keep clicking go" show. That is - for our every Sunday services - the lack of physical faders would be unacceptable.

Therefore, I got a price quote from PRG on a mini wing (just over $1500), and I have written a proposal to our church board that they approve $2000 to buy the mini wing and a cheap desktop PC for running MagicQ PC.

Does anyone foresee any difficulties we would have with this setup? Any words of wisdom before we buy?

Also, they would want to sell the ETC Express to recoup part of the cost - I told them I imagined that we could probably get at least $1000 for it if we could find a buyer. Does this seem reasonable? Too high? Too low? I really have no idea what they're worth, or where to even sell such specialized equipment (eBay?).

Thanks for any help/words of wisdom/etc you guys have for us!

 

[derekleffew]

1. Your experience with ETC is not typical. Many/most here will testify that they have the best customer service of any manufacturer in the industry. I'd contact starksk, HansH, or BLynch regarding your equipment's issues.

2. As to purchasing a MagicQ wing/system, see this thread: http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/cb-classifieds/26875-sale-chamsys-pc-wing-system-3850-a.html .

3. As for selling the Express, $1000 is probably too much for any console with known issues. I couldn't in good conscience sell such a board until it had come back from ETC for service. The only way to determine a fair market price for a used item is to see what similar are selling for: Sources for Used Equipment - ControlBooth .

 

[Starlight]

1. Your experience with ETC is not typical. Many/most here will testify that they have the best customer service of any manufacturer in the industry. I'd contact starksk, HansH, or BLynch regarding your equipment's issues.

2. As to purchasing a MagicQ wing/system, see this thread: http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/cb-classifieds/26875-sale-chamsys-pc-wing-system-3850-a.html .

3. As for selling the Express, $1000 is probably too much for any console with known issues. I couldn't in good conscience sell such a board until it had come back from ETC for service. The only way to determine a fair market price for a used item is to see what similar are selling for: Sources for Used Equipment - ControlBooth .

3. I'm assuming the console gets fixed in that price. A local electronics repair guy thinks under the key that glitches out just needs minor repair - something is triggering it falsely - viewing it as a button like on anything else. He's a very knowledgeable professional, and is going to give it a try fixing it. Assuming that's all there is to fixing it, does $1000 seem reasonable? Obviously unless we were VERY sure it was a quite minor thing, and totally sure it was fixed (it's reproducible as simply a slight tap on the surface - not a depress - is all it takes to "push" the enter key half the time) we would not be selling the console.

2. Thanks for the link, nice setup but beyond our budget. $2000 is a stretch, especially if issue with the Express doesn't turn out to be a simple fix to make it sellable. Other than that issue - which hopefully really IS just something on the contact under there - the console is in absolutely flawless condition. Barely used once a week to turn up some submasters for church service - stuff that can honestly be done just as easily on the Unison controller, then I use it once or twice a year for productions (most of the production stuff that I do is in our youth room).

1. Yes, I've heard that many times. That's what is so odd. All I can say is that it must be luck of the draw in who you deal with. Remember, also, these experiences are a good 6-7 years ago. We've had no contact with ETC whatsoever that I'm aware of in, oh, probably five or six years.

Oddly enough (MUCH to my surprise), ChamSys and PRG have been AMAZING in helping me with MagicQ PC (I've had major issues getting it to run well on Linux machines - and I'd really rather not have a Windows system living up in the booth of a non-profit organization with random volunteers up there), despite my never having bought a thing other than the sold-at-a-loss MagicDMX basic.

But more than that, what I love about MagicQ is the ease of use compared to the Express. Things that are a total PITA on the Express are cake on MagicQ (example, I'm in a rehearsal for a small concert that night, want to program roughly what I think the next scene will be... on the Express I have to enter channel numbers in blind and hope for the best, maybe basing off an existing cue or sub; on MagicQ I just have to blind the programmer and I have all my groups and presets right there for the picking, record it onto the cue stack, then clear the programmer and un-blind. Then when it comes up, to edit it, I just have to include it in the programmer and make my changes and update. So stinking easy because it's so visual.... and so fast)

 

[starksk]

Starlight,

I am very sorry to hear about your past experiences. As Derek pointed out, that is not typical and we certainly strive to provide a much better level of service than you describe.

I would very much like to discuss your repairs issues with your Express console and Sensor dimmers. Depending on age and use, it can be normal to need to replace the power cubes over time, but it is rare to need to do it en masse. There could be another factor that is missing from this puzzle. Please call me at 800-688-4116 at your convenience to discuss some options.

 

[Starlight]

Starlight,

I am very sorry to hear about your past experiences. As Derek pointed out, that is not typical and we certainly strive to provide a much better level of service than you describe.

I would very much like to discuss your repairs issues with your Express console and Sensor dimmers. Depending on age and use, it can be normal to need to replace the power cubes over time, but it is rare to need to do it en masse. There could be another factor that is missing from this puzzle. Please call me at 800-688-4116 at your convenience to discuss some options.

Thank you for reaching out to me Kirk, I will call you later from up in the auditorium with the affected equipment.

 

[Starlight]

You have a voicemail Kirk, thanks again.