What do you want to see on a lighting console?

[andystone]

OK guys, here's your chance, let us know what you need and maybe it will be implemented.....

[Stu]

I love -

 

Lots of submasters. The more the better - none of this crap about having x amount over lots of pages, I'm sorry but that simply doesn't work for me - I like to be hands in my approach, and have access to say 20-30 different states without having to change page or rolacue up/down! (Strand MX48 was good for this - 48 submasters! woo ;))

 

Also likes lots of palettes - say, 60 odd, on the desk, so you can have loads and loads of different looks (all the gobos, all the colours, nice gobo animations, prisms etc) at your hands, instead of having to flit around looking for things on menus, remembering numbers etc.

 

User programmable menus - a good example is the ability to make up ATC pages 51-56 (?) on a 500 series to be whatever you want really, so when you press the middle button above the trackball, the 6 customized menus come on the LCD panel. Feature me up.

 

And this is one feature that is my fab favourite - the Strand MX Fx panel. What a feature. The ability to change the time, fade time, direction, type of chase, reaction to MIDI/Smpte/Audio - all LIVE and in your living room. No menus, no key presses. Just simplisticty. Great for live and dirty gigs - oops the band have gone into half time - no problem, select chases 1-3, drag fader down. Lovely.

 

Menus that change depending on what your doing (ala Strand 500s) - more flexability out of a desk and perhaps limited resources.

 

Lots of user programable buttons (i.e. the User button a 5x0) - a particular menu command / macro you like - shove it on that.

 

A release button (ala Expression 3)

 

Good moving light software that doesn't require a physics degree in order to operate it. Particular like (and only like this bit of the desk) the ability to selectively record channels on an Axiom 48/96 by pressing the button underneath each channel (I.e all the colours, all the gobos etc) - think of a way of introducing this (say a bank of 15 buttons on perhaps 4 pages, that could be user definded, so on Page 1 button 1, is all Mac 500 colour channels, Button 2, all Mac 500 static gobo channels but Page 2 Button 1 could be all CMY channels) so you can quickly and easily make palletes up.

 

All I can think of for now.

 

Stu

PS. Oh and something that makes the tea.

[colinmonk]

Re: Many Submasters

 

One of the very many clever bits of the Compulite Vector when it comes to submasters *(assigned to controllers)* is that the actual controllers *(faders)* are all motorised faders, so although you will switch pages, the faders move to the position of that page, and keep all the outputs active on all the pages they are up in.

 

( similar to the way a Yamaha 01V sound desk would work when you flip pages )

 

So this means that you can have all your many many many many submasters spread across say 24faders (cant remember the actual no.), but although your flipping through pages, you are technically not doing it in the same way you would with any other lighting desk.

 

( Andy - please correct me if im not quite right )

[andystone]

Stu,

 

There are desks that do all of that, but what sort of money would you expect to pay for these kind of features? £5k, £10k, £20k or more???

 

Andy Stone

Stagetec

[Stu]

Ah well as for actually costings I really couldn't say - a desk wouldn't have to use all the ideas I offered, as some are more theatre based, some are more live based, but I suppose a desk between £6k and £10k with as many features as possible would be a more budget friendly desk, and therefore more appealing to people?

 

Colin - do you basically mean when you change from Page 1 to Page 2, the subs will move to show whatever percentages you'd left Page 2 last time you were there? If so, natty feautre! Me like ;)

 

Stu

[colinmonk]

Thats exactly it!

 

As I remember from the conversation with Andy, but also these faders (so called controllers) can be assigned as Submasters / Groups / Chases and probably a few other things now.

 

I cant remember exactly how many pages your allowed but I do recall it being quite a lot!! Andy will be the man to clarify that. But a very clever feature!

[gareth]

when you change from Page 1 to Page 2, the subs will move to show whatever percentages you'd left Page 2 last time you were there

I believe the Maxxyz does this, as well as the Vector.

 

In fact, you can see the motorized faders in action on the Maxxyz in this little film. (Yes, that's the lighting console making an appearance as a prop!)

[James]

This may be bias but the first moving lights desk I learnt and used regularly was an ALS Enigma - hence I'm still used to expecting large numbers of toggle buttons,

 

I would realy like to see that on a conventional lighting desk - the ability to put attribute chases and effects on buttons rather than subs, I mean when do you ever need to fade in a gobo chase? Either that or a bit of software where you can get the flash buttons to latch?

 

Am I alone in my ignorance of other ways of working here?

 

James

[merlin24]

This may be bias but the first moving lights desk I learnt and used regularly was an ALS Enigma - hence I'm still used to expecting large numbers of toggle buttons,

 

I would realy like to see that on a conventional lighting desk - the ability to put attribute chases and effects on buttons rather than subs, I mean when do you ever need to fade in a gobo chase? Either that or a bit of software where you can get the flash buttons to latch?

 

 

 

James

Ok its a moving light console as well as conventional, but the grandMA range of consoles have this function. being completely user configurable (hardware and graphically)if you want toggle buttons you just set the buttons to be toggle. May be a bit more expensive but if you are set in the way you work then well worth it.

[mike]

... haven't selected a category yet, as I would love a lighitng desk to have an "I love your disc" button, so that it doesn't matter which venue I am in, the lighting desk takes my strand show disc and reads it perfectly.

I have particular problems with ETC and ADB, and only occasionally with other strand desks which are operating on a significantly lower version of software. ;)

mike

[wodp]

I do lighting jockey stuff occasionally at the club I glass collect and we have an enigma. I don't understand how the eff you program it or initialise smoke machines (which I must find out) but I like the toggle on off buttons. That's why I'm looking for some Mac OSX-based software thatll do something similar so I can setup change colour presets etc. As well as have presets thatll change colour, shutter, pan/tilt etc

 

Dave

[andystone]

Thats exactly it!

 

As I remember from the conversation with Andy, but also these faders (so called controllers) can be assigned as Submasters / Groups / Chases and probably a few other things now.

 

I cant remember exactly how many pages your allowed but I do recall it being quite a lot!! Andy will be the man to clarify that. But a very clever feature!

Colin has it just about summed up.

 

There are two versions of the Vector - Blue has 10 submasters and Red has 20. In both cases these are motorised and currently have 10 pages (more may be added later if people need more than 100/200 submasters!) and as the faders are motorised you can have all the pages active simultaneously, when you change page the faders move to the correct level you have set on that page.

 

Apart from this everything is configurable so the fader can do rate instead of level and each submaster has three buttons that you can assign to any function you want.

 

In addition to this you can also group up to 5 submasters together to give you a kind of 'super playback' - you might have two faders as a crossfade playback, one as level, one as master level and I can't really think of a use for the fifth!!

 

Andy

Stagetec

[andystone]

I would realy like to see that on a conventional lighting desk - the ability to put attribute chases and effects on buttons rather than subs, I mean when do you ever need to fade in a gobo chase? Either that or a bit of software where you can get the flash buttons to latch?

James, you need to buy a Vector!

 

In addition to it's motorised submasters you also have something called Q keys - 10 on the Vector Blue and 20 on the Vector Red.

 

These are basically one button playbacks with no fader, you have a select button to load you scene, Q list or chase and then a second button that you can program for whatever function you want, usually start/stop.

 

If you need more control there is a touch screen above and you can set up a row (or rows) of macro soft buttons to do whatever you want.

 

Andy

Stagetec

[danyoung]

What about reliability? I've never used them, but these motorised submasters sound fabulous. Has anyone used them for a long time? I guess the little motors need to be pretty robust, and probably are, it just seems to me like you could easily end up with a situation where you're trying to move the fader whilst the motor is trying to move it at the same time? I know all lighting desks are breakable if handled without due care, but are these types robust?

[andystone]

What about reliability? I've never used them, but these motorised submasters sound fabulous. Has anyone used them for a long time? I guess the little motors need to be pretty robust, and probably are, it just seems to me like you could easily end up with a situation where you're trying to move the fader whilst the motor is trying to move it at the same time? I know all lighting desks are breakable if handled without due care, but are these types robust?

Motorised faders aren't something new to the industry, just new to lighting desks, they have been used in sound desks for years and are just as reliable as a conventional fader, if not more so as the construction is more robust.

 

Andy Stone

Stagetec