Control/Dimming QLab 4 Lighting?

[cceprod]

Hi All,

I speak more about this in another thread, but we're a pretty large-scale community theater that has all kinds of events going on year-round, including concerts, rentals, small events, musicals, etc. And we're faced with a broken ETC Express 250. We're trying to decide between fixing that, getting a new Ion, and now my boss wants me to look into QLab 4 lighting control. My question is, how effective of a replacement for a console is it? The more I look into it, the more it seems it's too simple and not effective enough for us to be able to use. It doesn't seem practical, I can't find any way to edit cues without having to be at the workstation (which is usually occupied by the stage manager or sound engineer). In your opinion, is it worth considering over a console? (Don't laugh too hard... I know the answer to the question, I just need reasons why it is or isn't so I can show my boss.)

 

[sk8rsdad]

The lighitng control in QLab 4 is very rudimentary at this point. It looks like they're building a good foundation but they have a few years of development ahead of them to catch up to the Express, let alone any modern console. As with most things QLab, it's not designed for on-the-fly activity.

 

[robmerow]

I see it more for driving other DMX devices that are more tied to sound or video effects.
Things like DMX dousers for projectors come to mind, which may be better off & safer in a separate DMX galaxy than what your lighting board is responsible for. Or even cue lights.