Control/Dimming New ETC console family
- Thread starterxander
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sclausenETC
Active Member
That...actually does not look half bad, except the dreadful animations/squiggles all over that video. Video-vomit. Tasteless crap.
Also looks a lot like a road hog with a fold down screen. Holy **** High End, how hard is it to make adjustable screens! Especially for a console designed for touring.
That new ETC thing could have some hope, if only they could get some decent people to rep for them...
Also looks a lot like a road hog with a fold down screen. Holy **** High End, how hard is it to make adjustable screens! Especially for a console designed for touring.
That new ETC thing could have some hope, if only they could get some decent people to rep for them...
This is not directed at anyone in particular, just my general observations over the past several year.
The problem for the success of the console has more to do with the existing rep network offering it as a viable alternative to an Gio/Ti. Back when it was the Congo lineup, I found far too many people who wrote Congo off before bothering to give it a try. It's not that it was bad -- it's that it was different, and that scared a lot of people on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Another factor to consider is that in North America, people already felt very comfortable in front of an Expression(ion)/Obsession console, therefore they were astounded by how comfortable they felt in front of an Eos-family console. They were like professional drivers who had just been given the keys to a Ferrari. The sky's the limit.
Meanwhile, in Congo-land. Anyone who say in front of an Eos-family console and felt like the sky was the limit, felt dumb-founded in front of a Congo. Expecting the same level of comfort as they had with the Eos-family consoles, they were frustrated by their first impressions. They were offended. They felt like they had just been given the keys to a Boeing 747. They had been told of its power, but for the life of them they couldn't figure the instrument panel out.
People feel comfortable in front of what they feel comfortable in front of. What they choose to feel comfortable in front of is not of anyone's business but their own. BUT -- my experience with the rep network was that it was amateur hour and that caused a propagated a lot of bad juju out into the world in terms of user experiences.
The first time I was given the keys to a Congo, the training guy from the consultant who spec'ed the console said, "We don't actually sell a lot of these. Maybe one in the last couple years. If it had been up to me, this would've been an Ion or an Eos." He taught us who to turn the console on, how to save a show file, and record a preset. That was it. We had been trained.
Frustrated and confused, the manual (a glorified syntax guide) was woefully unhelpful at telling us where to begin. I remember calling ETC on a couple occasions those first few months. I don't remember any of the phone calls being particularly helpful. They just weren't providing a high volume of support in North America to Congo users and it was anyone's guess if the person with the pager that night would be well-versed in Congo or not.
ETC has since thoroughly rebuffed their tech services department so that edge-case users don't feel so much like the edge they're on is a cliff. The damage to the reputation of the product line was long-since done by the time this happened though.
Big picture, my impression is that somewhere along the way, a negative feedback loop occurred that went something like this:
| 1) People noticed it was different. 2) Rather than embracing difference, they mistook being different for being bad, sometimes even wrong. 2.1) As in, "Wow, what was ETC thinking? This is wrong." 2.2) Maybe demos that were given as "Here's what you can do after knowing the console for 30-minutes" instead should have highlighted, "Here's what an experienced Congo programmer can make happen in mere moments." 3) People told their friends and colleagues about how different (read: bad/wrong) it was. 4) People tried Congo out while trying out Eos-family consoles. 5) Popularity of the console in North America diminished as they jumped from their Express(ion)/Obession consoles to the newly offered Eos/Ion lineup, not considering Congo consoles seriously because of their reputation for being different (read: bad/wrong). 5.1) Meanwhile, in Europe, people love the Congo series consoles because in contrast to North America, over in Europe this console felt more like home for programmers as they had grown up on Avab consoles... 6) Diminished popularity in the Congo series while the Eos-family was beginning to flourish led to a lack of support. Most of the people calling into North American tech support were calling about Eos-family issues. Tech support became especially well-versed at speaking about Eos-family consoles like they were in front of those consoles, even if they were responding to the 9PM, Saturday night tech support call from the comfort of the couch in their living room. 7) In exchange for that, the relatively low volume of tech support calls made it so that it was less likely for the average tech support member to troubleshoot a problem without being in front of a console. Even if they were, the deeper nature of Congo's software meant when an edge case called in -- they were about as edge-case as they come. 7.1) "Okay, so let me get this straight. You want to create a chase effect of other chase effects, and you want to fire that off while X, Y, and Z, are also happening, and you're not sure if you should use Chase Effects, new-style Dynamic Effects, old-style Dynamic Effects, Content Effects, or Image Effects?" 7.2) My personal favorite experience in this regard was the night I learned what happens when you press a master button and hold it down while using the wheel. I learned how to make a group of lights turn on that are seemingly untraceable to discern what part of the console is controlling them. I had several lights on stage that I couldn't figure out for the life of me why they were on or how to turn them off. Tech support's response as I called during Act 1 between calling cues for the show -- "You could try restarting the console at intermission." 8) Rough experiences by users who didn't understand why the console was doing what it was doing and why tech support didn't have good answers from them when they needed answers helped further fuel the general North American frustration towards the product line. 9) Meanwhile, an important formula reveals another factor in the negative feedback loop. |
Except...
Frequently when I needed an answer, it would happen after-hours when it was dumb luck if I'd get a hold of a Cong-savvy tech support staff member or not. Generally, I did not.
Other users out there may have had other experiences, but these were mine. I believe ETC has since made a determined effort to ensure other users don't go through the same ringer I and my colleagues (and subsequently, my clients, who wanted to know why those damned lights wouldn't shut off in all of Act 1) went through. I sincerely hope Cobalt's execution doesn't leave end-users with the same love-hate relationship I had with our two Congo-series consoles. There were days I wanted to take those consoles to bed with me, but then there were days I wanted to dump them into the nearest river. It was a complicated affair.
Meh...My experience with etc is fairly limited as far as personnel goes, but it was underwhelming most of the time. I have used the express line extensively(long time ago), the obsession, and ion a few regrettable times, and that is all. My area is Rock shows an events when who-knows-what-the-client-is-going-to-want-next is par for the coarse, so the advertised on the fly flexibility an busking(punting) features could be handy. But as an GrandMA1 and MA2 user, the features would have to be pretty good and the price reasonable. the physical layout looks pretty good though.
sclausenETC
Active Member
Hi all -
In case you're interested in some more information about Cobalt, we've posted a demo video in addition to the flashy intro video we posted earlier.
Are you ready for Cobalt?
Cobalt 20 console demo
If you would like to see Cobalt for yourself, we will have it at the following trade shows this month:
Avita, Helsinki, Finland 13-15 November
LDI, Las Vegas, Nevada USA (in the ETC Lounge) 22-24 November
JTSE, Paris, France 26-27 November
Thanks much -
Sarah
In case you're interested in some more information about Cobalt, we've posted a demo video in addition to the flashy intro video we posted earlier.
Are you ready for Cobalt?
Cobalt 20 console demo
If you would like to see Cobalt for yourself, we will have it at the following trade shows this month:
Avita, Helsinki, Finland 13-15 November
LDI, Las Vegas, Nevada USA (in the ETC Lounge) 22-24 November
JTSE, Paris, France 26-27 November
Thanks much -
Sarah
jglodeklights
Well-Known Member
Blackfaer
Member
Makes me miss my Congo. Yes, I had a Congo and I'm in the US... now I'm in management so I still get to decide what consoles to buy but I no longer get to use them myself; my crew here has a Grand MA and a couple of old ETC consoles that need replacing next year.
That second video really looks like more of a significant upgrade to both hardware and software on the Congo than it does a whole new system, with some notable tweaks, such as serious embracing of touch screens. I feel like it's a Congo with a different focus - I think of the Congo as focusing first on busking without taking your eyes off the console, and second on speed operation. This one seems to focus first on speed and second on versatility. Can't wait to get to play with one!Similar threads
