SmartFadeML opinions

[stuart]

Looking into buying a used smartfade ml, I have looked and looked and im torn between pc and console but at the end of the day i like real buttons to much and dont want the hassle of running 6 midi controller and spending a week + patching midi faders to software. So that has led me to the smartfade ml.

I primarily do live concerts and high end weddings ect. I like the built in rgb control on the ML , i haven't seen this anywhere else, and anything else in my price range seams like its already so old that its not worth having. I would like to stay under 1500 bucks if at all possible. Im currently running a martin xciter which was a good board for doing small clubs but i have rapidly outgrown its whopping 6 faders.

My system is primarily led, and growing rapidly. I do however have a few sets of martin mini macs and some martin scanners that i still use from time to time. At this time im still well within one universe so i dont need anything massive yet.

i see used mls from time to time for around a grand but i thought i would look for some opinion from people that have had more than five minutes on them which is the grand total of what i have had. I happen to live in the armpit of Atlantic Canada, where we seem to have a technology freeze. Most places are still using gear from the late 80, early 90s. So there is no where i can go short of driving for two days to go and try out new boards.

 

[Les]

The Smartfade ML sounds like a pretty good fit for your current needs. I will warn you that it is a bit "different" to program on. It's not so much because of its age, but its compact size. Once you get used to it it isn't so bad, but it is unlike programing anything else. Think multi-function buttons, pages, etc. I wouldn't call it "fun" but it can be effective once you learn it. The color picking function is nice. The board has been out a while, but there's not much better in a console form in that size and price range that I know of, and like I mentioned before, the age doesn't play as much of a factor as the size does (some sacrifices had to be made). Definitely try before you buy. You may love it or you may hate it -- there doesn't seem to be very many people in between in this regard. I'm okay with it, but I may be one of the few who could go either way.

Call ETC and see if they will send a demo.

 

[cbrandt]

Once you get used to the eccentricities of the ML, it is a really solid little board. Personally, I think it is a great board for running small live shows. The effect engine is surprisingly robust for a board in that size and price range. One thing that a lot of people forget is that you can run up to 48 conventional channels on top of the 24 intelligent fixtures. We have two of them in our shop for small shows, and we rent them to DJs on a fairly regular basis.

It'll take a while to get used to, but after you get done swearing at it because you didn't press the buttons in "exactly" the right order, you'll have a really nice show with some nice playback options.

 

[Pie4Weebl]

With a laptop its a nice little desk as long as you take the time to learn it.

 

[stuart]

With a laptop its a nice little desk as long as you take the time to learn it.

What functionality does adding the computer give you?

 

[cbrandt]

A laptop lets you use the smartsoft software, basically gives you a monitor for the desk. Which is something that it doesn't do by itself. Probably the most annoying part of the desk.

 

[TJCornish]

What functionality does adding the computer give you?

The software is really handy for patching conventionals, editing scenes, editing the stack, and a few other things.

I have an ML. I don't have a lot of experience with other desks (I'm dreaming about a RoadHog 4), but the ML is actually fairly capable, depending on what you're trying to do. The things that annoy me about it - several of which may be user error- are:
- hard to program special functions on Movers like lamp strike
- built-in personalities for movers are sometimes simplistic - only 8 bit control of gobo rotation, etc., but can be overcome with a user personality
- when you change memory layers, whatever faders were still up from a previous page "show through" and can't be used on the next page until they're brought to zero. This is certainly desirable in some cases, but for busking, can be limiting. This is one area I may be using the console wrong - maybe someone can correct me on this.
- built-in color effects are limited. I usually end up making chases with fade times.
- there is a "bug" in the current version that when you save a color to a palette, each color of the fixture must be at least at level "1". For example, if you're trying to save a palette with just green and red elements of your RGBA fixture on, you'll find that recalling the palette that in addition to your desired color, the blue and amber channels will be slightly on, too. I talked to ETC about this, and they added this behavior because they had no way to save a "don't care" value - i.e. don't save a parameter to a scene. They now use "0" to mean don't care for a value, but this value now cannot be saved in a color palette - each channel has a range of 1-255. This is only for palettes - obviously you can still dim a channel all the way to off. I assume most other desks store the parameter enable values or whatever you call them as a separate bit mask, leaving the whole 0-255 DMX range for fixture values.

For LEDs and conventionals, the board

 

[tk2k]

The Smartfade ML is an amazing console for the cost. Stacks/sequences will bug you, but the functionality is mostly there. If you're interested shoot me a PM, we might have one we're selling.

Plan on having a laptop connected, its really necessary for anything cue driven... its sorta like how you could run an express without a monitor, but its a lot worse.

 

[ManowarKill]

Il hopefullly have a video of a show next weekend Im loving it so far.