Duelling Lighting Desks

[Sarah Q]

Bit of a random conundrum...

 

I'm going to be involved in a theatre's open day soon, and the tech dept are relied upon to create some sort of technical "entertainment" for the visitors. We've done all sorts in the past, from rather dull talks about the different types of lighting equipment, use of gel and stuff like that, through to son et lumiere shows (albeit with slightly old, battered equipment.)

 

This year we have some more decent kit to play with in the form of 6 Mac 500 profiles and 10 Mac 300's..... one of the ideas we came up with was to set up our two Strand desks (a 520 and a 300) and see if we could have a duel.... ie fighting it out with the Mac's, two teams, tag teaming it, points for use of colour, shape generating, etc etc....

 

Have had a google around and can't find anything - but is it feasible to have two lighting desks controlling one set of moving lights?

 

Any thoughts?

[Ben Langfeld]

You could merge the two DMX streams, but this won't give you the effect you want. You'd be better off running half of each from each desk. But I don't see how you plan to busk effectively from a 520 or a 300. :S

[Sarah Q]

Busking off a Strand desk is the easy part.... spent August lighting a Cuban rhumba show from scratch every night because they changed it so often.... It's amazing what you find yourself learning when under that sort of pressure...

 

I've never heard of merging DMX streams before...

[Ben Langfeld]

This is an example. You could do it using something like that, and only patch certain fixtures to each desk. This would be rather pointless though. You might as well run two DMX lines, one from each desk. You don't want the other team using your fixtures, after all!

[pritch]

You could merge the two DMX streams

 

Don't cross the streams!

 

(Sorry)

[niclights]

:) :( ;)

[Latro]

If you are using shownet it's possible to configure the node(s) to give each source a priority. HTP can be included if you need as well.

[Dj Dunc]

See if you can find a vehicle of some sorts (toy + small) that reacts when a light gets near, and moves in the opposite direction, then you could effectively play "football" perhaps using a light sensor with a not gate built in?

 

2p in box

 

dunc

[Jamtastic3]

I don't understand how you could 'fight' it out using the same equipment (from my guess) at the same time.

 

What about a music design competition?

I've done this in the past where you are given a piece of music - it could be anything from eletronica to rock to hip hop or to something obscure. You basically have to light it as best as you can, ideally fitting your design with the music. Both teams get the same music. You get points for: overall lighting performance, chases and shapes, use of colour and gobos, relation of the design to the music (ie moods ans tones), etc.

[smeggie]

sounds fun,

 

please excuse me if I'm being dense, but isn't the 520 going to whup the 300 just because it's set up far more effectively for movers than the 300 series? [having said that it was years since I played with a 300, and didn't get into movers much on them]

 

I mean more of the busk-ability of the 520 for fast programming over a board that hasn't got encoders for attributes?

 

although having reread the topic, I guess the ops will get some plotting time to start with, so the 300 is likely to be a bit easier what with so many assignable subs?

 

[just that I've used the 520i for damn fast shows, and done fine with it (amazing how handy the shape generation is on it :D) but am more used to the pearl style of busking]

 

 

Edit: back to the original q, yes, it's possible to set the two boards to control one rig, but normally it's on a HTP basis, I've personally only used it in this fashion to program two sets of movers at the same time - i.e. assign channels 1-->50 to one board, and 51-->100 on the other.

[gareth]

It sounds like you've got some very fancy ideas, but is there really any need? I mean, pressing some buttons on a desk to make some waggly lights sing and dance is everyday stuff to us, but to Joe Public it's really something. Why not just set up the gear on stage, split them half and half between the two desks, program a whole load of macros and cues that do interesting things with the lights and assign them to softkeys on the desksfind some interesting things (nice shapes and colours) for them to point at, choose some good music to play on the PA, and let the punters have a go at making the moving lights do stuff? Have someone on hand at each desk to explain the basics of what to press to make it go and to make sure nothing gets broken, and let the visitors create their own little "light show" in real time. I'd imagine that most non-technical people would find that quite entertaining!