Your first Memory Lighting Console

[derekleffew]

Animus toward Animator? Nah, it was actually very good in it's time, but frustrating?, oh yeah.

The only console I really hold a grudge against is that POS ETC original MicroVision. Must look for a link for a picture. Oh this is scary: The Royal-George Theatre Center at which I used to work in Chicago, lists a MicroVision in their Cabaret space. It's probably the same console I put tape all over. Nope, no pictures. ETC probably destroyed them all. On the other hand, the board's successor, the MicroVision FX, I liked a lot. We still have and use a couple, from 1993.

 

[TimMiller]

If anyone hasnt used the Hog III lately they should give it a try. Ol Pepe (brad) and his team really went though the software. It is much more stable, and a whole lot more hog II user friendly. They really did some major updating, including some updates to the DP2000's to speed them up.

 

[Grog12]

Now, now, now. No bashing of current consoles allowed. Only defunct ones who can't defend themselves.

What's funny about this is I'm pushing for a Hog3 super widget to be purchased here.

That being said........*cough cough*

 

[Hughesie]

1996 Jands Event 48

yeah were might hire one of those for an upcoming musical were doing

I think Lighting Lab has one

 

[sloop]

Year. Manufacturer. Model. (I'll start.)
1981. Strand-Century. Light Palette v4J.

Oh man that takes me back. I used one of those..... it worked. Sure beat manual boards...

My first light board was 6 banks of 84 sliders. To cross fade you had to manual run one bank down the other bank up. I had shows where we had overlapping cues running on all banks, all with different fade times. It sure gives you a good feel for lighting changes, speeds etc. but you got tired of clearing banks, resetting the levels. I ran one show with 184 light cues in under 2 hours. That's a lot of level setting---fast.

Memory boards took care of problems like that, but they also negated some of the "feel" for the show. With everything running manually there was a very organic flow possible to each cue. The show would always flow with the actors, not on a digital timer.

 

[derekleffew]

...Memory boards took care of problems like that, but they also negated some of the "feel" for the show. With everything running manually there was a very organic flow possible to each cue. The show would always flow with the actors, not on a digital timer.

Yes, it was interesting going from a Ward-Leonard 60x6K dimmer, 5-scene platen-preset system to the Light Palette. The designer tried to keep as many cues manually-timed as he could, but we found that the Light Palette didn't really like manual cues. For instance, one could have up to a 6-part cue if all timed, but could only load one manual cue at a time, even though the desk had 6 faders, two split and four non-split. But sloop you didn't answer the question: What was the first MEMORY console you ever ran? I'm guessing Q-File, as Lee was fond of Kliegl, in which case you would come in second to STEVETERRY.

 

[sloop]

Yes, it was interesting going from a Ward-Leonard 60x6K dimmer, 5-scene platen-preset system to the Light Palette. The designer tried to keep as many cues manually-timed as he could, but we found that the Light Palette didn't really like manual cues. For instance, one could have up to a 6-part cue if all timed, but could only load one manual cue at a time, even though the desk had 6 faders, two split and four non-split. But sloop you didn't answer the question: What was the first MEMORY console you ever ran? I'm guessing Q-File, as Lee was fond of Kliegl, in which case you would come in second to STEVETERRY.

We didn't have the Q-file at Purdue.. the Strand was my first. everything else was manual...

 

[TimMiller]

Want some real fun run a show on a avo QM500. The thing was a monster.

 

[thelightguy87]

speaking of hog3, we were looking to get another DP and when talking to high end about it, they recommended we wait for the brand new DP8000 instead of the DP2000

On the other hand, anyone know if theres a software update for the original ETC insight? or expression for that matter? strangely my high school has both, both unused since they went towards colortran and bought the innovator..big mistake. but they hire me back to work with students on lighting and i'm trying to get them back into the ETC boards, or sell them to me They may be old but are far better than the innovator any day.

 

[derekleffew]

...On the other hand, anyone know if there's a software update for the original ETC insight? or expression for that matter?...

I believe last software revision for both is v3.1.0. Check here, in order to download console software, one must supply a valid console serial number. Hmmm. ETC's FTP site seems to be down, but click there tomorrow.

edit: Sorry, my bad. Didn't notice the word "original" in the post. However, I can't recall any major issues with the first Expressions or Insights, so they should work fine. Hardest part about using them these days is finding a CGA monitor. ETC has an article about that on their Knowledge Base.

 

[icewolf08]

On the other hand, anyone know if theres a software update for the original ETC insight? or expression for that matter?

Well, if you are talking about the Expression 1 (pink/blue/beige with CGA and BNC monitor connectors), it doesn't have software, it is all firmware. Ran into this problem at college when we were having issues with our Expression 1 and ETC support wanted to send us the software updates, until they realized there was no such thing.

I believe that it is the same story for the original Insight. There are only software upgrades for the Expression 2 and Insight 2 and higher.

 

[Charc]

speaking of hog3, we were looking to get another DP and when talking to high end about it, they recommended we wait for the brand new DP8000 instead of the DP2000
On the other hand, anyone know if theres a software update for the original ETC insight? or expression for that matter? strangely my high school has both, both unused since they went towards colortran and bought the innovator..big mistake. but they hire me back to work with students on lighting and i'm trying to get them back into the ETC boards, or sell them to me They may be old but are far better than the innovator any day.

Wow! I'm really surprised they have those boards lying around! That's a steal for any local community theatre or start-up theatre company.

 

[zwolf59661]

I was introduced to a Lee Colortran SceneMaster 60 in the fall of 2005, and learned how to use it a year later. 60 channels, only about 20 being used, and not even consecutively (ie, channels 1-40, skipping a few here and there)!

 

[Van]

Want some real fun run a show on a avo QM500. The thing was a monster.

Had one of those when I was at Hollywood Lights. God that thing could do serious damage when crating/un-crating it. I think it weighed in at 300 pounds. The "Rollo-Cue" thingy was pretty cool though. < Not 300 pounds worth of fun......>

 

[StickMick]

Steve
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" ?.

SB

Did it realy have a lightpen? What I know is that the LS-8 used a PDP-8A and it looks like they used a text terminal as display. I did not find a lot in the net about it. Is there a manual online anywhere in the net or some description and may be a description of how the panel and the dimmer control (analog?) is arranged around the PDP-8. This is all very interesting for me as it is one of the the first memory based consoles and one build around a standard computer.

Do the system disks exist these days? What a fun would it be to see it run

 

[Tracyu]

I'm always amazed at what people will say the old LS8 did or did not do. So for your enjoyment and setting the record straight, I've attached the ORIGINAL data sheet for the EDI LS8 console. What I find amazing is how little "modern" consoles have changed in terms of features and how you do them.

 

[coldnorth57]

The frist lgihting board I use prememory was a home mage unit 5 20 amp reostats (1972 to1978) and if the smell of something burning was not in the air you started looking for somthing wrong. My next board was a 12 channel preset from Control Lighting out of Calgary (1978 to 1985)
Then and old Strand 24 channel Analog board (0 to -15vdc) and the next was a Strand GSX w/ Genius software 1995 the next board is and Marquee and it has 256 channels.

 

[erosing]

Since three people brought it back already, I'll post while it's still alive.

2005 ETC Express 48/96.

 

[Tracyu]

BTW- My first memory board was one custom designed by Thorn for the B iden payne Theatre at UT Austin. I was there for a HS theatre camp in 1979.

 

[hhslights]

2007 Electronics Diversified Minstrel Plus