Strand being Stupid, driving away loyal customers

[VRommel]

"Marooned"? It appears to me that you don't want anyone to get STRAND-ed.

@gafftaper: I hope that no one read a slur aimed at Strand in what I wrote. That was not my intent. As you pointed out, Bobby Harrell is doing a great job supporting the Palette user base and we will do all that we can to support him and the Strand team in that effort. As I said, "We [all] are members of a larger community and there is nothing to be gained from withholding support..........."

Best,

Van

 

[gafftaper]

@gafftaper: I hope that no one read a slur aimed at Strand in what I wrote. That was not my intent.

Not at all. I know you are a first class guy and would never take shots at another company like that.

I on the other hand am a civilian who is free to talk. I am really disappointed at what has happened to Strand (and VL) since the Phillips buy out. They were a great company that had its ups and downs but were really on top of things in the early 2000's. They really impressed me with their customer service and tech support. They acquired VL and Selecon both excellent products. Things were going really well. There are a lot of posts from me here back then about how awesome Strand was at helping me with tech support. Then a lot of good people were fired when they gutted the company and moved operations... and it's been all downhill from there. The Phillips booth last year at LDI was so sad. It was only a few years ago that we had huge booths showing off the entire Strand product line including dimmer racks! Last year, one Strand console, one VL, one Selecon... What were they selling besides carpet?

While I love ETC and their products, competition makes all industries better. It's sad to watch several big dogs be swallowed by a corporate whale and slowly then drown.

 

[ship]

Thanks all to the very interesting read and comments. Thank you for relaying the situation.

 

[tjrobb]

I for one liked the cycle fixtures and "elbow ERS" Selecon had / has. One's gone, hopefully the other doesn't die along with it.

 

[EdSavoie]

@gafftaper So to summarize in other words, Strand still wanted to charge per 50 channels, but you lucked out in that someone bought the fully unlocked console in the first place?

 

[gafftaper]

@gafftaper So to summarize in other words, Strand still wanted to charge per 50 channels, but you lucked out in that someone bought the fully unlocked console in the first place?

Close. My console came with a limit of 4 universes of DMX attributes on 1000 fixtures. The system installer installed it so I could only access 2 universes. The console is actually still capable of a lot more than I have, so if I want to buy them 50 channels at a time Strand is happy to give me more universes.

 

[Judge]

Strand jumped the shark years ago. They are a relic and not worth spending any more time or certainly not money on. This is the perfect time to move on.
If you are pure theatre, get an ETC. Avolites is very capable as is ChamSys. MA2 is very capable and incredibly expensive. Not go much experience with new Hog line though it looks nice.

 

[gafftaper]

I really look forward to the next generation of consoles from the newly combined ETC and HOG family. Perhaps we will finally get a perfect hybrid console that handles both conventional and intelligent lighting in a way that doesn't require different ways of thinking about the programming.

 

[Judge]

Yes it will be interesting to see what happens there. Thing is every console company has their own idea about workflow and programming. MA, ChamSys, Hog, Avo, ETC all very different but all handle dimmers, movers, LED and media equally well.
Seems to be the same thing going on in audio world. Days when you could just walk up to a new board, lights or sound, and being able to get your head around it in 15 minutes are gone :/

 

[RonHebbard]

I can't remember the last time I heard a positive story involving interactions with Strand or whoever owns them this week.

It's a shame.

@irked I could bore you with a collection of "recent positive stories" of above and beyond Strand support, primarily involving Strand 300's, but I seriously doubt many would be interested in reading them.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.

 

[Mac Hosehead]

@irked I could bore you with a collection of "recent positive stories" of above and beyond Strand support, primarily involving Strand 300's, but I seriously doubt many would be interested in reading them.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.

I would! Someone recently gave me one. They used the magic words: "I'm just going to toss it if you don't take it."

 

[ship]

Would be a real shame even for ETC if there were no compition.

 

[RonHebbard]

I would!

@Mac Hosehead A friend in Hamilton, Ontario purchased several Strand 300's on E-Bay. He purchased processors, control modules, submaster modules and hinge parts from a variety of sources in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. Once he had his "collection" together it became my spare time project to clean them up then massage and manipulate the modules into three functional boards. My ace in the whole for parts support was Ron Foley at Sceneworks in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Phone: (519) 837-0583 E-mail: [email protected]
Ron has most of what was left of Strand Canada when they abandoned Canada. Ron used to run Strand Canada's service and commissioning department in Canada.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.