Punting on the EOS

[Jezza]

Hey All-

-I know this forum isn't really geared towards this discussion, but I was hoping someone might have some thoughts.

Just got a call about doing a small rock gig that will need to be run festival style. No idea about the kind of music yet or the nature of the gig, but I'm anticipating, as usual, very little programming time.

-The desk I'm most comfortable on is the EOS, however, am fully aware that its not the best choice for live events of this nature. I've programmed a show on the HOG 3, and fiddled around with the GrandMA before, but neither really enough to be comfortable.

-I guess this really gets into more a philosophical discussion about punting in general:

How do you set up your desk?

-I've been taught/see the merit in two ways:
1. Build multiple cue stacks, with each stack having a different parameter on it. Ie. Stack 1: Intensity Stack 2: Position Stack 3: Color.....When running, you "Choose" through the stacks to the look you want, then play back that specific cue. I'm thinking about the Hog specifically for this.
2. Most things are just run live in the programmer, using macros to toss in timing into the desk, and choosing different looks to playback by using palettes and scenes.

I can set up the EOS to work both of those ways, however, I'm not sure its the fastest or the most elegant way to deal with this. So....Thoughts on the EOS for punting? Thoughts on punting in general?!

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Pie4Weebl]

what kinda fixtures you using for this?

 

[Jezza]

Anywhere from Par Cans to Color Kinetics CBs to VL3500s. Not really sure yet at this point.

 

[SteveB]

We use an Ion with up to 3 - 2x20 fader wings. Having that many faders lets me easily build up Sub looks for the conventionals, as well as having assorted faders for effects of conventionals or cue stacks with a loop all running as zero counts on a bump push. I can easily use up 2 wings with all that on a plot with 120 conventionals and 10 MLs or so.

I then use the 2 touch screen monitors, populating them with Direct Selects in tabs or open in Lower Left of Screen. V1.9s tab feature is a life saver at this, BTW. Thus I have 4 pages of DS's when in 2x20 mode, so I have pushes for Groups, Focus/Position, Color, Beam and Presets. Lot's of options there. I also record a bunch of Effect Subs for my 5 ML's that allow a quick run of a Bally Hoo, Figure * or whatever. The ML effects can be on the 3rd wing, with assorted other ML functions such as Inhibits for lamps, etc... Only thing I wish for was an effect rate control on the fader handle when a Sub is an effect. Still working on that functionality.

EDIT: After re-reading your post, some add'l info. might be useful. I am currently setting up the Ion as described above, with the touch screens doing the lions share of the work of selecting ML's, Focus positions, color, beam attributes (Tri-Wing Clockwise Slow as a Beam Pallette), with groupings of palettes on Presets. I then pretty much run all my MLs off the touch screens, using Recall From for a bump change or Sneak for a pre-defined time, or Sneak 5 for a different defined time. I build very little ML stuff (currently) on subs except any effect I want to add in.

Thus I have pretty good and quick access of particular fixtures, going to DC, with others going Band, add a particular gobo in a rotate, color XX and slide up the inhibit sub and it's up and running.

So far it's been working well for events that I have never seen and whose music I don't know, with the caveat that, as Kyle mentions, Eos/Ion are not really live busking boards so you have to do more work to do certain things (like stopping a running effect in time with music).

One of the reasons I chose an Ion, other then price, was the size footprint and the need to have a lot of handles. An Eos was too big in my space, so we make do with fewer screens.

Hope this helps.

 

[Footer]

Are there any other designers or is it your show? Playbacks and handles are the key to running anything live. I am told that the EOS does support multiple playbacks like most programmer style consoles, so that is there.

However, if you are in a traditional festival situation where you have multiple designer using the same console over a short period of time, an EOS will make people go insane. An Avo Pearl of some sort is by far the most popular festival console out there. Everyone knows it and it is great for busking. Next to that would be the Hog3/Hog2/GrandMA/MagicQ.

However, if you are running it yourself, use the EOS because that is what you know. Know however that you are going to have to do a bit of hoop jumping because this console is not set up to do this as its first purpose. I would make sure you have touch screens and play as much stuff on handles as possible. The more handles and buttons you have the better. Think of the console like a piano, if you want access to play a note, be sure you have a button to push for that note that does require you to open up the piano.

 

[SteveB]

Are there any other designers or is it your show? Playbacks and handles are the key to running anything live. I am told that the EOS does support multiple playbacks like most programmer style consoles, so that is there.

However, if you are in a traditional festival situation where you have multiple designer using the same console over a short period of time, an EOS will make people go insane. An Avo Pearl of some sort is by far the most popular festival console out there. Everyone knows it and it is great for busking. Next to that would be the Hog3/Hog2/GrandMA/MagicQ.

However, if you are running it yourself, use the EOS because that is what you know. Know however that you are going to have to do a bit of hoop jumping because this console is not set up to do this as its first purpose. I would make sure you have touch screens and play as much stuff on handles as possible. The more handles and buttons you have the better. Think of the console like a piano, if you want access to play a note, be sure you have a button to push for that note that does require you to open up the piano.

And FYI, the Eos supports external fader wings should you desire more handles.

 

[Raktor]

I wouldn't mind some pictures of your desk setup if you get the chance, Steve.

 

[SteveB]

I wouldn't mind some pictures of your desk setup if you get the chance, Steve.

Our lighting and sound consoles are just behind the rear orchestra seating, with a crossing aisle behind us, then a mezzanine, with a balcony above the mezzanine. I've attached a picture taken of the house from the stage, where you can see the sound and lighting position. I have limited room L to R due to the size of sound desks and auxiliary gear as well as the need for a video position HR of sound, all between the 2 center aisles. Beats what I started with, which was a 5th floor sealed booth.

Here's a link to the ETC Media section of the website, where I posted a photo of the setup for a recent event.

Ion w/ 3 wing config at Whitman Hall, Brooklyn College - Electronic Theatre Controls

The 2 LCD touchscreens are on platforms I built to get the monitors closer to the operator. The platforms work very well.

I have a series of dance recitals coming up in June and may build up small platforms to get the extreme left and left-center wing more upright and closer as well, so the system has more a wrap-around configuration.

 

[Jezza]

Thanks for all your help everyone. Still looking at some things. Steve, your setup looks pretty fool proof. I just hoped on our EOS the other day to try and make some things work. Right now, I'm having problems "choosing" as if I were on a hog. The EOS doesn't really have the best read out in terms of what's happening live on stage in terms of multiple playbacks and multiple pages of playbacks -- I'm still working on it.

I'm the only LD on the gig btw, just trying to make something fool proof enough to make a good impression. Thanks for all your help. I'll post when I know more.

 

[Kenien]

wow. 3 terms in BC and i never walked in there.