Welcome to the Booth! I own the sister
console the
Strand Classic
Palette. All
Strand consoles use the same software just different control surfaces. There are a lot of
ETC only people who would say, "too bad you aren't getting an
ETC console". However I am very happy with my
Strand console. It's easy to learn and has a lot of advanced functions made easy for beginners. Try to push them to get the wireless
network point and remote focus
unit. This gives you a PDA that you can use to turn on and off individual channels, Submasters, record submasters, even run recorded cues all wirelessly from the PDA. The wireless
point also allows you to connect into the
network using any laptop with the
Strand software on it. So while you are in rehearsal you can really easily set up a
designer's remote and run cues from the
console and watching them on a laptop from the
house.
I have one concern about the
Strand consoles in a high school. The top opens very easily and the whole
console pops open. Inside you will find a PC box and discover that everything else is just a USB device. Plugged into the PC is a USB flash drive key. This key is the heart of your
system. The beauty of this is if something went wrong and your
console doesn't start you can simply pull the flash key and
plug it into another computer and the
system will treat that other computer as if it is the main
console. This is an AWESOME emergency backup feature. The negative is, if a dumb student came along and said, "Oh cool shiny red flash drive" and stole that USB key... your entire lighting
system is dead until you buy a new one from
Strand. So you need to plan some good security procedures to make sure no one does that. Oh and by the way as long as you are in there, install another USB flash drive inside the
console to backup your show files. If your
console goes down you just remove the key and the backup drive and you can have the whole show running from another computer in less than 5 minutes. Perhaps during install talk with the
Strand rep about if you can install a padlock on the
console to prevent it being opened without violating the warranty.
As has been said if you have specific questions let us know. Post them over in the lighting forum in the future. This forum is mainly just for saying hello and introducing yourself.