**New** Strand Light Palette

[Oovis]

Surely the biggest reason why a trackpad is utterly idiotic is that the Palette is said to have a "point and click interface".

With a trackpad.

 

Erm, I think I'm missing your point here, but a trackpad is just another device for moving the 'point'er around the screen and 'click'ing.

 

If they've kept the functionality they had at PLASA you could always hook the desk up to a touch screen...

 

I've been playing with the Marquee OLE for the last few days, mostly using my laptop's trackpad, and it becomes intuitive after a short while. Admittedly it needs a wheel-mouse for wheel-like level setting, but I'm sure that's not the case for the finished desks.

 

Edit: Aha - looking at the pics of the Light, Classic and VL version of the Palette they all seem to have a level wheel on the right-hand side.

 

I like the Marquee OLE apart from the annoying number of mouse moves and clicks needed every time you need to change position, focus and colour of movers. hopefully that's something they've ironed out to make it more Strand-like. An odd thing it is works perfectly on my laptop, but not my work machine, both running WinXP Pro.

[Tomo]

Erm, I think I'm missing your point here, but a trackpad is just another device for moving the 'point'er around the screen and 'click'ing.

My point is that trackpads are hideous for long-term use - mice and trackballs are much less likely to result in RSI.

 

I get a cramp if I use a trackpad for longer than half an hour or so, while I can mouse or 'ball all day.

If they've kept the functionality they had at PLASA you could always hook the desk up to a touch screen...

Which are expensive and therefore one of the first things to go when the accountants get their sticky paws on a project.

Shame though, as they are really cool.

 

But I'd better shut up now, as I'm somewhat biased!

[JMC]

One of my biggest criticisms of these desks was the context-sensetive keys, and the fact you had to look at the screen to see what they had changed to each time. Gone are the LCD screens!

 

For example, no time button, that became S7 or something like that, but there's no screen above or around S7 to tell you what it's function is at the time....

 

Therefore, don't know how the claim about "Light Pallet command line .... built in to every console" can be valid... as they don't have all the buttons!

[Bryson]

But one of the disadvantages of the 300-series was the need to use an external trackball due to the lack of a built-in one - building this fault into the new desks can't be a clever thing to do, surely?

 

Having had a 400 series and a 300, I'd actually say that the external tracball is a feature, not a disadvantage. It means you can get a trackball you like (actually, the Microsoft one that comes with the 300 is pretty good, anyway) and when it breaks (as they invariably do) it's an easy, user-level repair, not a depressing, service-engineer level job.

 

That said, I'm entirely with you on the buttons front. In fact, I'm researching getting a PS/2 replacement numeric keypad with proper keys on for my 300, as the rubber buttons are terrible! I'm not familiar with the Lightboard, but if they're not as good as the ones on a 500 (the 500 ones are perfect) then it's a step backward, for sure.

 

You know, I think the whole "integrated control surface" vs "customisable control surface" thing is interesting. I'll start a whole new thread with quotes from this one soon to discuss it more fully....

[Oovis]

Having played with the MarqueePC software I was looking through the site and found this page which contains a picture of the Marquee-ILC. This seems to be where the new PaletteVL comes from. Not in itself a bad thing, though. The MarqueeOS has become PaletteOS. I'm still trying to get my head round a few issues, such as the effects engine, but it feels a lot more modern than a 520i running on top of DOS.

 

The windows and menu system will take some getting used to. Obviously I've not tried anything on a physical Strand desk yet, but there are a lot of things to navigate in the MarqueePC software to simply change a lantern's colour and position.

 

One thing I hope Bill Richards and the Boys can insert into the software (unless it's already there and I've missed it) is CopyFrom. One command that makes life so much easier.

[henny]

I wonder , if you look at the Marquee PC it has 3x rj45's for adding external fader pannels ect, im wondering wether this is compatable with the s-bus on the 300, it would be good if they did a usb box that allowed you to use 300 pannels with a pc with the new palette softwhere.

 

henny

[Tommo]

The Strand website has finally been updated with info on the Light Palette. No PDF's yet, but the "Abstract control model" is a bit of interesting reading.

 

Rumour has it that the desk will be demo'ed in Oz before the end of the year......

 

Tommo

[gareth]

Rumour has it that the desk will be demo'ed in Oz before the end of the year......

It's a sad state of affairs for a once-proud Great British company, isn't it? The new desk is being developed in America, sales are apparently being handled through the Hong Kong office, and now it seems that the first demos will be in Australia. And they say they're not turning their back on the UK market ... ;)

[Ian Ferguson]

sales are apparently being handled through the Hong Kong office, . And they say they're not turning their back on the UK market ... :huh:

 

Strand sales are, as they have been for many years, being handled by their dealers, if you are after a demo contact me off forum and I will see when I can arrange one.

[gareth]

I was mistaken about the Hong Kong thing, but their website definitely says :

To place any new orders, check on existing orders, or any other sales inquiries anywhere in the world (other than Asia), please contact our North America Factory at:

 

Strand Lighting, Inc.

6603 Darin Way

Cypress, CA 90630

Phone: (+1) 714 230-8200

Fax: (+1) 714 899-0042

(My bold.)

[dougmorgan743]

Rumour has it that the desk will be demo'ed in Oz before the end of the year......

It's a sad state of affairs for a once-proud Great British company, isn't it? The new desk is being developed in America, sales are apparently being handled through the Hong Kong office, and now it seems that the first demos will be in Australia. And they say they're not turning their back on the UK market ... :(

 

Hi Gareth, there should be a demo desk in the uk sometime this month.

[Tommo]

G'day,

 

I got to see a demo of the new Light Palette classic yesterday and I must say I was very impressed. Bill Richards took us through some of the very powerful features of a pre-production desk.

 

The biggest issue that I had was the lack of "customisability" of the channel layout. The 3 "colour spaces" and linear movements are superb features.

 

I'm looking forward to the production releases arriving here sometime early in the new year.

 

Cheers

 

Tommo

[JHarpur]

I've been running a Light Palette VL-16 as a demo console for a few weeks now with a touring production - I'd previously used Horizon as a console, so the jump to this one was more "where's that button now" than "how do you make that work?". Having said that, there has been a fair amount of "Why is it [not] doing that?", too.

 

For those of you who've yet to see them, this console has 16 faders, 2 DMX outputs, 3 external USB connectors (2 on the back and one on the front edge - which doesn't impress me much), a trackball, an intensity wheel, a 5x5 matrix of preset keys, several macro- and context-driven soft-keys, a keypad, four encoder wheels, one video output, and some other keys and connectors (there's an ethernet jack - I don't know if that's for ARTNet or ShowNet, or just for internet access, maybe? I'd need to look it up). Pop the hood, and inside the console there's also a couple of available USB jacks - very handy for having that backup thumb drive plugged in all the time!

 

This particular console is set up for controlling 750 channels, with the remote video and remote focus functions, neither of which I've had the chance to use... yet... It's running PaletteOS on a pared-down version of XP, with a Horizon-based software engine. The CPU is a Celeron 2.00GHz running at 1996 MHz (so, not overclocked) and there is 1015 MB of RAM installed. Actual, released-to-the-wilds-type machines may vary.

 

It should also be noted that I'm running with beta software installed - final release software is bound to be more stable. ...um. I hope. Keeping that in mind, and please, excuse the emoti-bulleting, here are some observations I've had:

;) The "Go" button often lags, or fails to operate at all. Generally the delay between command and execution has been ¼ second or less, but there was one instance where there was a good, solid four count between pressing Go and the cue starting to run. We've been averaging one missed command per show. As in, "firmly press Go, feel it hit the bottom, let up on the key, watch as nothing happens at all". ;) The console has various commands mapped to the external keyboard as well - with the space bar used as a Go button, it occasionally misses the command as well.

(Remember: We're running Beta software! :unsure: )

:o Just going to the 'control panel' has sometimes caused the machine to freeze completely.

:o Bump Button caps can fall out of the console while in transit.

:huh: The faders, when moved rapidly, have a staggering amount of sawtooth – Dimmers could snap from full, to 60%, to 23%, to out on a fairly quick manual fadeout – very visually apparent. [Cues run off the cue stack don't exhibit the same behaviour, though.]

:up: Swapping fixtures out - say, Martins for Veri*Lites, or Coemars for Robes, maybe - is supposed to be very simple - the software remaps the parameters to the fixture. So if you've now got a fixture that pans sixty degrees more than the previous fixture, no problem - it still points where it should - 30 degrees up and 23 degrees to the left on one lamp is 30 and 23 on another, too. If it's supposed to be dark blue, and can be dark blue, it will be dark blue. While I haven't yet tried this with multiple manufacturers' equipment myself, I can say it works within Martin fixtures of differing types.

 

Physically, the console feels solid in general - keys feel nice, with easily-felt tactile response, and just the right amount of firmness. I'd say the shortcomings were the wheel and the faders, both of which look good, but feel ...cheap. Active softkeys and palette keys with stored values have LEDs indicating they're used/useful, which is nice, but not as nice as onboard LCD displays or labelled touchscreens, for example.

 

Sadly, I didn't have a touchscreen (though it's supported, if the docs are to be believed) but the click [-and-drag, if you like] of the mouse wasn't difficult. (There's an option to use the trackball as a mouse, which is nice if your mouse dies, or if your elbows have been tied to your belt, I suppose) Resizing display windows, labelling fixtures, and eliminating unused fixtures is all easily done.

 

The four encoders change function depending on your fixtures' feature profiles and which pallette you have selected - press a softkey to select a colour wheel, press the same key again to get colour wheel 2, et cetera - very intuitive and fast. Incidentally, anyone who wants to try the software out can download it here:

http://www.strandlighting.com/index.php?sr...PaletteOS_Users

It's a free download, after you register with Strand. :o

 

A word of warning, though: Don't mistake this for an updated Strand console - or even Horizon, or Marquee - it's entirely it's own beast, albeit having similarities to both. Not a tiger, not a jaguar - a panther, maybe?

I have to admit I like where it seems to be headed. While this has the potential of being an extremely good midrange moving light console, IMO it's not quite there yet.

 

[david.elsbury]

That's an interesting read, thanks for sharing. Do you have any plans to upgrade the firmware to a current version? When? If not, why not? Why haven't you done that yet? ;)

 

PS, Welcome to the Blue Room! :unsure:

 

David

[SoLiEn]

thanks very much for that. we have just purchased a strand pallete VL 16 as well, and should be with us a in few weeks. I ahd a demo at strands office on it and quite liked it, it seemed stable enough but tbh it was in an office environment and with only a few hours to play on it with vari lites and generics you arent going to get a full idea of what its going to be like. I will post back when I have had time to do a few shows on it with my thoughts and experiences.

 

Dan