Here's my professional advice, if you want to be taken seriously DON'T USE SOFTWARE! I've seen countless rigs with tons of potential ruined by poorly programmed scenes from a PC controller, it really limits you during the show, and looks repetitive if you keep using the same scenes. Also doing things on the fly is very impractical. The only way I could see it working is if your show never changes, that way you can run it on a Q 2 Q basis.
Also you should look into putting those
par cans back into your rig and using them as spots or blinders. Nothing beats old fashion
incandescent light, looks very pro.
keep your LEDS for you're
wash.
Personally I'm using an
ETC Smartfade 48/96 is about $1400 new, but lets you patch all your
dmx channels to whatever
fader you want, has 96 channels, 12 pages of 48 presets. and has
DMX in, also has a
MiDi option if you're into that.
But if you do decide to do software, please program
fade times into you're scenes, nothing worse than watching scenes change with 0
fade times, looks very
amateur.
I have to disagree with you about the software. Jay Ashworth is correct about pretty much all
DMX lighting consoles using software, but I believe you are referring more to using software on a personal computer. First off, I have been using computer lighting software for over four years, originally Compu Live software which I upgraded to Compu Show about two years ago. They are certainly not the best
DMX solutions on the market, but they have worked very well for me. Over the past six months I have been learning the Wholehog 2 and the
Road Hog 4 consoles. These are very well thought out lighting consoles that offer a lot of options. There are some small features they have that I absolutely love, namely the "fan" option, that the software I use doesn't have. However, both consoles have limitations that I don't find with my software. The biggest thing that I like about my software is that I can program and operate on the fly with little to no hassles.
I often run lights for clubs when they bring in a big EDM artist. I have to run lights for five hours straight to whatever songs the opening djs and the
headliner decide to
play. They don't offer set lists, alot of times they don't even know what they are going to
play until they "feel out" the crowd. You say programming on the fly is impractical, but for my purposes it's absolutely necessary to be able to react to a sudden change in the music and adjust the lights as I see fit at that moment. Not everything is on the fly. I have all of my color combinations, positions, and basic fx programmed, but being able to pull those elements together in a heartbeat allows me to create different scenes on the go. If I need to create a new look I haven't programmed I can do so
blind and once programmed I can grab it quickly and easily. As for the
fade times, I often do
snap changes using
LED lights. Again, I am running lights to dance music and the
quick change when timed correctly can make a huge impact. There is nothing more satisfying to me as a LD then when I change the look on the
beat and hear the crowd go nuts. It is in fact the
snap change that gets their attention. I would prefer a smooth
fade for a band going from one song to the next, but for a DJ who is spinning right from one song into the next a
quick change makes a huge difference.
Lastly, as I have mentioned in a few posts in this thread, I do recommend a
midi controller to give you some hands on control. The software I use can work well without a
midi controller, you can launch scenes using the keys on the keyboard, but things like faders for dimming and speed controls would have to use a
mouse or a
midi controller, the
midi controller is much easier for that. All in all I just want to
point out that some of the statements made in the above quote are neither fair nor accurate. You have to keep in mind that not everyone on this forum is a
theatre LD or a touring concert LD. What works
in one situation may not always work in another. And as far as
DMX controllers go, some are clearly more limited than others, but if you are determined and creative enough you can accomplish alot with even the most basic lighting controller.
).
