Don't give up on the
Express... it's the number one selling
console in history for a reason. Yeah the 72 is a huge board, and it's not the easiest board for intelligent gear, but for standard
conventional lighting it's VERY hard to
beat. In my opinion they made a wise choice when they purchased it.
Thanx for the thumbs up. It is good to know. It worked well on the shows we used it for. The other LD's of the
theatre have worked out many of its abilities.
On the other
hand, I was getting tired of remember macros and numbers. I wanted something where I could name channels, groups, submasters, palettes, effects, and then look them up mnemonically as needed when I needed to put my puzzle pieces together into something resembling a properly
cue'd show. (I'm a software
programmer in my real job, among other things, so am more amenable to well labelled 'objects', and can type well enough to bring it off when describing lighting channels, submasters, shortcuts, and groups). To each his own, I suppose.
I think we have good value for the software. It is under continuous development. It may not match Hog, et al, but as you say, it works for our budget.
The way the screens in the software are layed out, you can run it with touch screens. Maybe not all the programming, but in scene setting, the touch screens with submasters and shortcuts would work admirably. And as it accepts
DMX in, regular control surfaces can supply the equivalent of 1000 submasters.
It might be interesting to meet at a conference sometime, and do a programming bake-off with various control surfaces and software. Obviously, it would be a talent*time comparison, but that just adds more competition to finding the shortcuts and conveying the tricks of the trade.
