Control/Dimming Minstrel Plus / Software

Hi all, I am new to this forum. I help at a community theatre that trains children and teens in music/dance etc and then puts on musicals to th epublic. The light board is a mintsrsl plus and seems to be very frustrating for the operators as it appears to lack such functions as to be able to go into a saved show and put in a new command between existing ones etc. I will confess while I have experience in sound I have zero with light boards.

My question, is there any offline software that would allow us to design "offline", save to a floppy and then run the show with this controler board? I looked at what the board saves nw and it looks like machine code.

Alternatively is there any PC software I might be able to put on a laptop that would interface to the unit to allow us to run from the PC?

Any advice no matter how simple would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thank you,

Glenn
 
No, to both of your questions. A link to the User Manual appears in this thread, if that's any consolation.
 
Your the second person that has wanted to do something like this this week. If you are DMX instead of the microplex for your dimmers, I would suggest losing the board completly and picking up a enntec DMX wiget (you can get them on ebay for under a hundred). You will of course need a computer, but it should get you out of that console fairly easily.
 
Thank you both for your quick and helpful replies.
Excuse my lack of knowledge, but would the DMX vs microp[lex issue be something I would verify against the stage's lighting system?? I am pretty sure their stuff is old so I don't have much hope this will be easy.

Thanks again!
 
I don't think the Electronics Diversified, Inc., Minstel Lite ever supported Microplex, as that was a protocol used by NSI and Lightronics. warriordba, there's (probably) a female XLR on the back of the Minstrel labeled "Output" or "Dimmer Out". How many pins does it have? If 4=AMX192. If 5=DMX512. Both have been around since 1986, before the Minstrel. If it's not a 5pin XLR, but some style of muti-pin connector, you have an analog system, see here: http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...71-diy-dmx-demux-protocol-converters-etc.html.

Tell us what Brand/Make/Model the dimmers are, and we can be of more help.
 
Hi folks, I have the info. THe board's output is 5 pin and is labeled DMX/AMX. The dimmers are also made by EDI. THey are labeled EDI D2. They are dual channel and we have 22 of the boxes. So I assume we get a DMX board for the PC and just connect the 5 pin plug into it and get appropriate software??

Thanks,

Glenn
 

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