Your first Memory Lighting Console
- Thread starterderekleffew
- Start date
Steve
Do have any idea what happened to the actual LS-8 you used ?, was it replaced at some point in the run ?.
And where did Fred Fosters version - the one that was sitting up and almost buried on top of a storage area in the new factory, come from ?.
I believe there's an LS-8 as well, at a museum in Boston.
And for those of you too young to remember, A Chorus Line was the very first Broadway show to use a memory console - hell, I think B'dway skipped all the 2 and multi-scene consoles and went right from DC resistance dimmers to memory.
Big woop-de-doo and legal troubles at the time about the LS-8 used on A Chorus Line, which was an (ultimately illegal) Electronics Diversified copy of a Steve Skirpan Auto-Cue control system. It used a light pen to access channels on the screen.
Oh the days, as I fondly (and not-so-fondly) remembered programming on the Multi-Q. It was very easy to hit the "Load to Console" button, instead of the "Save to Disk" button, which were right next to each other and looked alike. Very simple process to dump everything you worked on and load in the contents of an empty 5.25" floppy. No error messages we get now days, like - "Are You Sure" ?.
And I do believe it was our very own Steve Terry (correct me if this is a misquote or in error) who, in reply to a Broadway producer commenting on how much easier became the job of Broadway electricians running a computer console, having once had to deal with resistance dimmers, who said "They are not paying us $70,000 to push GO, they're paying us $70,000 to know what to do when the GO button doesn't work".
A Classic line that I have often quoted.
SB
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Les
Well-Known Member
I love "are you sure" prompts. Especially the one in my Kurzweil keyboard. When you're about to make an important change it says:
"are you sure?" [yes]
"doing so will (blah blah blah). continue?" [yes]
"are you really really sure??"
um... [no]?
After all those "are you sure" messages you kinda start second guessing yourself!
"are you sure?" [yes]
"doing so will (blah blah blah). continue?" [yes]
"are you really really sure??"
um... [no]?
After all those "are you sure" messages you kinda start second guessing yourself!
thelightguy87
Active Member
BillESC , I'm fairly certain the Dimmy was a Century-Strand product, and was later introduced much later than 1963. Still searching for "on point" sources, but here's a quote from this site:
The ability to dim light has always been a desire in the theatre, whether this was accomplished by simply blowing out candles, dousing the limelight, moving a handle on a resistance dimmer plate, or sliding a potentiometer on a lighting control console. It was a 1940s invention that made the first significant change in how dimming was accomplished, and that was with the invention of the SCR (silicon-controlled rectifier) by Texas Instruments. In the early days, the device was concealed in bomb sights and other electronic devices mounted in bombers flying missions over Germany and Japan during World War II. After the war, TI was looking for other uses for the product. But it was not until 1959 when the first SCR dimmer system was installed at the newly constructed Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Dallas Theatre Center. This theatre had a number of innovations for its time including a thyratron tube-controlled stage revolve and motorized spotline winches.
The dimmer was designed by Texas Instruments using a single SCR. Since two SCRs are required to complete an AC sine wave, a device was added to the SCR (it looked like a very large torodial choke) circuit to complete the sine wave. This dimmer system was fabricated by Century Lighting and became the predecessor to the Century CCR100. The dimmer worked in conjunction with an Izenour-built 10-scene preset control console. While it is my understanding that this was the first time the SCR was used in a large-scale dimming system, there may be other competing products with the same claim. However, not long after this installation, the CCR100 (tomato can) dimmer became a standard for Century Lighting.
In the mid-1960s, the Edkotron came into being. The Edkotron was the first truly portable dimmer system with six 1,800W dimmers in a very small chassis. And yes, they are still in use. Many six-packs followed, including the Colortran pack in the early 1970s and Skirpan's not-very-portable six-packs of the same era. It was the Colortran pack that caught on with Showco and other touring lighting companies because of its portability.
The next big jump was late in the 1970s, when Strand Century produced the CD80 dimmer. It used SCR technology, but now the dual SCRs were in a cube. The dimmer module was of a very simple design, keeping the control circuitry isolated on printed circuit cards in the bottom of the rack and out of the dimmer module. The point is that the CD80 was designed to be the first mass-produced SCR dimmer. No more massive patch panels that took hundreds of man days to assemble; now dimmer-per-circuit was a reality. It became the most cost-effective way to produce dimmer racks and the standard 96 dimmer enclosure is still used by every major industry manufacturer. Robin Crews, Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams, Inc.
The ability to dim light has always been a desire in the theatre, whether this was accomplished by simply blowing out candles, dousing the limelight, moving a handle on a resistance dimmer plate, or sliding a potentiometer on a lighting control console. It was a 1940s invention that made the first significant change in how dimming was accomplished, and that was with the invention of the SCR (silicon-controlled rectifier) by Texas Instruments. In the early days, the device was concealed in bomb sights and other electronic devices mounted in bombers flying missions over Germany and Japan during World War II. After the war, TI was looking for other uses for the product. But it was not until 1959 when the first SCR dimmer system was installed at the newly constructed Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Dallas Theatre Center. This theatre had a number of innovations for its time including a thyratron tube-controlled stage revolve and motorized spotline winches.
The dimmer was designed by Texas Instruments using a single SCR. Since two SCRs are required to complete an AC sine wave, a device was added to the SCR (it looked like a very large torodial choke) circuit to complete the sine wave. This dimmer system was fabricated by Century Lighting and became the predecessor to the Century CCR100. The dimmer worked in conjunction with an Izenour-built 10-scene preset control console. While it is my understanding that this was the first time the SCR was used in a large-scale dimming system, there may be other competing products with the same claim. However, not long after this installation, the CCR100 (tomato can) dimmer became a standard for Century Lighting.
In the mid-1960s, the Edkotron came into being. The Edkotron was the first truly portable dimmer system with six 1,800W dimmers in a very small chassis. And yes, they are still in use. Many six-packs followed, including the Colortran pack in the early 1970s and Skirpan's not-very-portable six-packs of the same era. It was the Colortran pack that caught on with Showco and other touring lighting companies because of its portability.
The next big jump was late in the 1970s, when Strand Century produced the CD80 dimmer. It used SCR technology, but now the dual SCRs were in a cube. The dimmer module was of a very simple design, keeping the control circuitry isolated on printed circuit cards in the bottom of the rack and out of the dimmer module. The point is that the CD80 was designed to be the first mass-produced SCR dimmer. No more massive patch panels that took hundreds of man days to assemble; now dimmer-per-circuit was a reality. It became the most cost-effective way to produce dimmer racks and the standard 96 dimmer enclosure is still used by every major industry manufacturer. Robin Crews, Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams, Inc.
Derek
Thanks for the reminder about those responses from last year, I did a quickie search under Electro Controls, which of course was incorrect as it's EDI.
And to ST, Never Mind... well sort of, still curious if was you with the $70,000 to press GO comment ?
SB
Thanks for the reminder about those responses from last year, I did a quickie search under Electro Controls, which of course was incorrect as it's EDI.
And to ST, Never Mind... well sort of, still curious if was you with the $70,000 to press GO comment ?
SB
Some form of "Are You Sure" would have been welcome on the Multi-Q, especially for my assistant at the time who, at the end of programming in a days worth of cues for Tom Skelton and the Ohio Ballet, instead of backing up to floppy, managed to dump a days worth of work. At 1/2 hr.
Tom proceeded to sit on the stage floor upstage of the house curtain, chain smoking away as he very, very quickly re-wrote the entire show from a few track sheets and memory. We had cut the breakers to the FOH circuits. Tom was a total gentleman about it (he was a gentleman at all times, in any case), and my assistant, a talented guy goes by the name of Mike Grimes, went on to become a major TV gaffer and head electrician in the NY area. Mike still appreciates an "Are You Sure" from the console, I'll wager.
Steve B.
STEVETERRY
Well-Known Member
midgetgreen11
Active Member
2001. Electronics Diversified Inc. Lite 48-channel
sound_nerd
Active Member
Hmmm. 1978 I believe it was a "Micro Star" Have no Idea who manufactured it. it was based on an Apple IIe. I helped install it into a 96 channel four scene Kleigl console. Love the fade times on it. you caould watch the apples little brain working as hard as it could to count to ten for every 10% drop in intensity.
First serious memory console 1984 Stand Century Mantrix II with 64 channels of love, and cute little hold buttons, and 8 programable subs. AMX 192 talking to ColorTran Dims. I'm sorry Berkley/Colortrans.
First serious memory console 1984 Stand Century Mantrix II with 64 channels of love, and cute little hold buttons, and 8 programable subs. AMX 192 talking to ColorTran Dims. I'm sorry Berkley/Colortrans.
