Smallest/ Cheapest Theatrical Console

[ojc123]

Good for a school with lots of time..

 

So which school would that be?

[MartinT]

I'm going to throw in a bit of a ringer here. but read on anyway.

 

The "desk" in question is called a Lanbox"

 

Basicall it's a little black box which you connect to a PC, laptop or MAC, load the software and off you go. your connection is either USB or eithernet so you can run it on a wireless network.

 

it has 512 DMX channels and you can connect upto 5 (I think) off a standard network hub.

 

Programming is done from the PC you load your fixtures into a stage window(s) as icons either as they are in the rig or place them into groups- to select them you just drag over them with a mouse and alter the attributes in the user friendly window. It runs movers - lanbox have loads of profiles and if they don't will put one together in a week for free.

 

 

Nice touches it is smart too. Say you load your scrollers in and label the colours and are using some ML's with standard colour sets. If yo select the fixtures and type red (for instance) it moves everything to the red colour

 

If you're using LED fixtures you load them as an RGB fixture the icon is a square which changes colour to replicate the colour you're selecting (approximatly) If you are using Chroma panels you can set them out as rigged and pre programm the chase.

 

It works in layers (think playbacks) you can programme every thing up into seperate layers , ML's generics, hazers/smoke chases, effects etc and use a master layer to pick out what you want from each layer for a set cue.

 

And yes it does have a good cue stack.

 

plus all the faciltiies of patching and dimmer curve, you can change the max speed of fixtures (keep you scrollers quiet for instance)

All the cues are stored on the Lanbox itself so you can programme with your smart laptop in the auditorium and just have it controlled by a cheap and nasty PC (go button is the space bar)

 

Here's the best bit - this unit costs 500 EUROS!

 

It really is good - I've run a production on two of them one for generics (inc chroma panels) smoke haze etc and the other for the ml's (30 of them) and they were great. At the end of each night you can unplug the DMX and power and chuck in your laptop bag - try that with a 300 series.

 

 

Now the downside - I hate it! But this is purely personal I'd rather have a 500 in front of me with all the buttons to hand - but that's just me I'm more comfortable and can program faster on a "real desk" but to be fair I really haven't taken the time to learn it Once yo get your head around it's syntax it can do everything a 500 can (with the exception of tracking and automove while dark - but that might be on the new software, which is also free to download)

 

To sum up you could have for £2000 a new laptop and 5 universes of DMX running on a network (I believe yo can use a PDA as a riggers too) with 85% of the funcitonality of a 500 series console if yo already have a pc in the lighitng box and only want 512 channels then it's your for £350

 

If you don't mind using a mouse and computer keyboard for programming - then seriously look at it.

 

 

 

On thing more I used it to run chroma decks on an exhibition stand (using a loop of cues) after it was programmed I just kicked it under the rostra just needin gpower and a DMX feed tto the lights - when the stand was powered up each day it started off from where it was when they'd switched off the night before - the sales team didn't have to worry about bootign up a "proper"lighting console.

[P. Funk]

MagicQ can do that as well, and you can pay £30 for an Enttec dongle for that!

[dbuckley]

Yeah, but do the lanbox and MagicQ both support syntax?

 

PCStage does, but if you use a computer there are usually easier ways to set the level for groups of channels. 'Tis a different world. But some people like real desks... But in my opinion the superior cue stacking of computers wins every time over proper desks.

 

The OP wanted a small, cheap desk with syntax, and certainly computers would enable that feature set to be filled.

[P. Funk]

MagicQ is great, and yes, supports near-strand-style syntax (i.e. the # button rather than @ for full). I've never used it for anything except rigging and busking movers though, as I dont trust my enttec dongle for 'mission critical' lighting - it seems to lose a LOT of frames. Plenty of Art-net convertors out there though!

[Tomo]

I'd go with Artnet plus a PC running *something* - MagicQ seems pretty good (not used it in anger yet though), but there are several others out there.

 

Heck, you could download 'em all and give every op a choice.

 

Desktop PCs are dirt cheap these days, so you can probably put together a reasonable emulated desk for well under a grand.

[Bjaukinbetween]

*Bump to the top*

 

Old question, still relevant. (For me)

 

I'm basically looking for exactly what the original poster was, and since this post is 6 years old, things might have happened since then.

 

Any suggestions?

 

bB

[paulears]

magicQ and a fader wing, job done.

[mal421]

How about the Lite Puter Junior. Will do all that is required but you will have to page the faders and you can't save a show however it is the size of a book and shouldn't be too expensive if you can find one.

[gareth]

How about the Lite Puter Junior ... you can't save a show

 

... In which case it's about as much use as a one-legged man in an arse-kicking contest.

 

This is one of those questions to which you'll get many different answers, none of them definitively correct and only some of them out-and-out wrong.

 

My suggestion, based on personal experience, would be for Chamsys MagicQ installed on a laptop and outputting through a USB dongle. Very intuitive UI, which has much in common with consoles which are what one might call 'industry-standard' (indeed, MagicQ seems to be becoming more and more widely adopted by the industry these days - even in places like the world of TV lighting, where Vector was previously king) ; extremely compact (laptop in a rucksack, dongle in a side pocket? Yes please) ; and as many people already have a laptop for other reasons, it's as cheap as the cost of a dongle (which, if you're happy with an Enttec Open USB version, is very cheap indeed).

[inthe128]

Another vote for Chamsys here, despite its rock and roll and busk abilities, it handles cue-list style very well, so theatre style syntax this@that, thesethru@, you know the deal. Also worthy of note is stuff like cue only, record + remove, record state, easy to block cues, in fade and out fade times, waits, delays, I would say the timing side is a very strong point and easy to use, follow cues, its all there for this discipline. Copying info from this to that is a very strong point. If a production gets bigger its easy to deal with or fixtures change then the morph and clone features are strong. It can be set up in a number of ways, tracking etc, options for how faders can act, I could go on and on. If I was not to use this then its back to hog and ma for me for the same sort of feel and features, view it like that then look at the cost.

[jono9691]

Etc obsession?

[stagey]

On the ETC route either a second hand Express, or the Elament if buying new. The elament is more capable on moving lights/LED, but this means its more complicated, so while non-experts can probably pick up the basics pretty quickly, it would rely on someone a bit more savvy to jump in.

 

I've used the Zero88 Jester once. Better than the Frogs imho, not a command line desk, but you can build a cue list fairly easily and quickly...

[Joe Bleasdale]

Definitely recommend an Element for a small theatre desk. Maybe some of the offerings from Zero 88 too if they fit your bill. Depends on price etc really. Take a good look around and get some demos on products your interested in.

 

Thanks.

[JDLX]

It would be useful to know what your budget actually is.