Pardisaster Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 As this is a theatre forum its amazing how few people ever mention any theatre lanterns.Thats so true... being mainly based around am dram, MAC's are a rarity to me... theres the top end of the scale when I've used 5 or 10 in a rig, but im more a common user of me good olde generics.... god bless the 743s and cadenza's. For most techs, in my opionion... this is like buying a lambourgini to take the kids to school in... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Console Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 As this is a theatre forum its amazing how few people ever mention any theatre lanterns.Nice one! :o I have not spent long looking at the specs but do you think they will invert the pins of the cans, just like they do with the macs? I am fed up with making jumper leads!I have however, set up a Light Jockey system. The manual just says the best way to get it to work is to play with it! HELLO, could we have it in writing please? Sorry, after three weeks, I managed to get the rig (8 macs, 10 scrollers, 24 generics) into the program, in an order, all DMXed and ready, ran the visuliser and programmed in a sequence of cues. Took it to the venue for a display in front of the big wigs and disaster, the rig worked, but not one light hit the spot it was supposed to on the screen. Also no generic lanterns work in the visuliser. So if it is the same version which the pic in the manual hinted at, no thank-you. I have also had training on the HogII with Wysiwyg, and it was great so I have faith in visualisers.Trackball good idea, shame it couldn't have gone in the middle for lefties like me. Don't like the look of this:Real-world paradigm - pictures, dynamic text labels, and actuals are used instead of channel numbers, values and percentages - wherever possibleSurely this is a headache waiting to happen if sometimes a number then a picture, and what is wrong with percentages? Although I guess you don't need that info for moving lights, and a gel number could be more use than C23%, Y100%, M75% :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P. Funk Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 or maybe a simulation of the colour resultant from the CYM value? saw the maxxyz at the PLASA show, but haen't used it. just a little bit outside the budget I would be working with... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Console Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 or maybe a simulation of the colour resultant from the CYM value?Even better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andystone Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 or maybe a simulation of the colour resultant from the CYM value?Surely Maxxyz has this, the GrandMa, the Hog 3 and the Compulite Vector do! AndyStagetec Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam.henderson Posted March 2, 2004 Author Share Posted March 2, 2004 Another fact about the Maxxyz I have just found out (from the frog forum funnily enough); It has programable Sub Master Names- Just press the flash button and the name is displayed. Only a small thing but a feature I would like to see on a lot more desks! Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 Strand Genius (300 and 500 series) desks have submaster naming. Do you mean the buttons have text on them? Thats just an expensive gimmick IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam.henderson Posted March 2, 2004 Author Share Posted March 2, 2004 Strand Genius (300 and 500 series) desks have submaster naming. Do you mean the buttons have text on them? Thats just an expensive gimmick IMHO.Ni I'ddont think the buttons actualy have text on, you just press the flassh button and it displays the name. Not the hardest feature to implement I shouldn't imagine. Maybe assujested in the Frog Forum a nicelittle addition to that desk. Sam PS- WHat does the abbreviation IMHO mean? I don't know that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 Hell, my old Jands Event has submaster naming. As do almost all new computerised desks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 IMHO = In My Humble Opinion The Maxxyz does have text on the buttons. Its all detailed in the full Specs, which you placed a link to above. http://www.martin.com/mediagallery/images/maxxyzlot%20(29).jpghttp://www.maxxyz.com/images_large/hard10.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Console Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 If my memory serves me, the Compulite Micron 4D has a label feature on backlit LCD slimline pannels, but only a few characters. Things we had were "SOS" "PRE" "INT" "PST" (postset).Although this is a gimick to some extent, it does remove the need for sharpie all over the desk when you miss/run off the LX tape labeling channels.Like the moving faders idea, but it says there are 100 pages of 10 submasters so it must have some sort of fader level recall? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmac Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 The Light And Sound Design ( now Fourth Phase) Icon system had LCD switches back in 1992. All functions could be labeled as needed, ie colour names on the pallette select etc. As I remember it was 3 lines of 6 characters 2 lines of 4 or just 3 characters depending on the font size. madmac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickb12345 Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 The frog series has submaster naming aswel. Press F2 and then the flash button of the submaster to enter a name. Same for memories, Press F2 then press memories, then select the momory number. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andystone Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 If my memory serves me, the Compulite Micron 4D has a label feature on backlit LCD slimline pannels, but only a few characters. Things we had were "SOS" "PRE" "INT" "PST"Yes, you are quite right the Compulite Micron 4D does have LCD displays for the submasters allowing for up to 4 characters of text per submaster. It also has an LCD touch screen withy soft buttons that you can label. When they started designing the new Vector there were quite a lot of discussions about using buttons with LCD tops, but there are two problems: firstly they are very expensive and secondly it is much better to have a button that you know where it is and what it does, surely it would be hell if all the buttons could be moved around whereever you wanted them and renamed as you want, you wouldn't know where you are and it is much better to design the panel layout right to start with. If you want buttons with text labels, then just use buttons on the touch screen as with the Hog, GrandMA, etc, this is far more flexible and easy to use. AndyStagetec Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Allan Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 Dear All, Having just read this thread I will try to answer most of the comments posted although Im sure that I will end up missing some ------------------------------------Posted by:Peter"To be honest, I'm not too keen on the Maxxyz. Its buttons are huge! It feels like you're playing with a Tomy "My First Lighting Desk". Martin have gone for a lot of gimmicky features which will probably begin to break down after a few hard tours, and will be expensive to replace. Motorised faders are nice, but unncessary. Also, why would I want a DVD player in my lighting desk?" Yes the buttons are bigger than most but that may not necissarily a bad thing. Have you tried the console ? I would be happy to give you a demo.What "gimmicky" features are you refering to? As for reliabilty the desk has been out on the road was the last year or so with hardly any breakdowns (if any) at all. At the end of the day its a piece of equipment that contains electronics, just like any desk so there is always a potential for something to go wrong. I dont think any desk manufacturer would ever say that there desk is un-breakable. As for the expense of replacing parts, the desk is quite modular inside meaning that if a part does ever need replacing you will only end up having to potentially replace a "smaller" board, and not an entire board containing lots of electronics that work fine, which is what can happen with some other desk manufacturers. Motorised faders not needed? They are ideal in TV work.The DVD player (which is also a combined CD/RW) is there for various reasons, one "Stu" mentioned in an earlier post and the other reasons are more for future "multimedia" type things coming at a later date.------------------------------------------------ Posted By: IkeI really cant see me using some of the new features and if you take a look at the forum you can see a few of the problems others are having with it. I know its a new desk and bound to have a few 'glitches' but I don't think I would trust an important show to one just yet (not that I'm saying not all my shows are important btw). I dont know what specific post you are refering to but the desk is VERY stable and although we do get the odd crash (like with all consoles) the people currently using the desk seem to be very happy with the stability.As for trusting it on important shows, Sting, Super Fury Animals, Britney Spears, Aerosmith, Incubus.......to name but a few, dont seem to have any problems trusting the console.------------------------------------------------- Posted By: ZiggyThe description of the desk is 2 PC mother boards inside with a single harddrive. If the desk is built using PC parts reliability is not going to be great. PC power supplies are not good at dealing with power spikes and vibration. The pci slots are not reliable again for vibration and also in conditions that can give condensation, ie straight out of a cold truck into a warm venue. The software is written by the same people behind the Case desks according to a friend who works at Martin UK and they were not easy to use or stable. The Maxxyz actually has 2 Industrial mother boards (quite a bit different to what you have in your PC at home), No PCI slots, 2 Hard Drives on anti shock mountings and an Industrial power supply. Yes the software is written by the same people as the those behind the Case desk (the same also goes for the hardware). I would'nt say the Case desk was difficult to use, it was just....different :wacko: As for the stabilty of the Case desk, well it was based on DOS so it was about as stable as any desk could be and in my own very humble opinion, it was probaly one of the most stable desks I have ever used.------------------------------------------------- Posted By: IkeQUOTE many different ports (parallel, USB Etc.) "Are there uses for these? I'm all for future proofing but not at the expense of system stability and a large extra cost." The Parallel port is for attaching a printer. The USB can be used for most things USB i.e. External touch screens, keyboard, Memory stick for saving shows, installing updates etc etc.------------------------------------------------- Posted By: TomoOnce again a desk using WinXP embedded - but this time no real-time OS handling the really important bits. On another note, it seems very limitd in playback capabilities - only 1000 available cues? With a large rig I can see myself running out.The Celco Explorer I use at Uni has about a quarter that number, but that's designed for rigs of less than a tenth the size. The software guys actually wrote thier own real time application.DMX processing and Playback is a realtime module. Screen views have a slightly lower priority. The Effects engine is also real time. 1000 Cues????There are 1000 playbacks (Cuelists) which can have up to 65,536 cues ineach!------------------------------------------------- Posted By: Light ConsoleI have not spent long looking at the specs but do you think they will invert the pins of the cans, just like they do with the macs? I am fed up with making jumper leads!I have however, set up a Light Jockey system. The manual just says the best way to get it to work is to play with it! HELLO, could we have it in writing please? Sorry, after three weeks, I managed to get the rig (8 macs, 10 scrollers, 24 generics) into the program, in an order, all DMXed and ready, ran the visuliser and programmed in a sequence of cues. Took it to the venue for a display in front of the big wigs and disaster, the rig worked, but not one light hit the spot it was supposed to on the screen. Also no generic lanterns work in the visuliser. So if it is the same version which the pic in the manual hinted at, no thank-you. The data pins on the entire Mac range are wired as per the DMX512 (1990) spec. e.g. pin1-Shield, pin2-cold(-), pin3-hot(+). So you should not need a "jumper" if you are using a DMX outputting console (a 5-3 pin convertor on the earlier Macs, maybe :) ).Where the fixtures in the visualiser hung the same way round as they were in the venue?As for the Generics, its works for me. What fixture are you using?As for the help file, LJ has a built in help file which is available in virtually every window that opens up. It is VERY comprehensive but as with any desk, the best way to get to grips with it is to play with it. We do offer training courses on Light Jockey, as with all our products, if you want more expert advice. Call Martin UK for more info.------------------------------------------------- Posted By: AndyStoneQUOTE (P. Funk @ 2 Mar 2004, 04:04 PM) or maybe a simulation of the colour resultant from the CYM value? Surely Maxxyz has this, the GrandMa, the Hog 3 and the Compulite Vector do! Not yet it does'nt, but it has been talked about.-------------------------------------------------- I hope all this helps answer some of the questions/concerns that have been posted about the Maxxyz desk. No doubt there will be lots more questions and I will do my best to answer them all. I know that the software guys do not read this forum so some specific questions maybe better answered at the maxxyz dedicated forum which can be found at.... http://www.martin.dk/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=19 I hope this helps clarify things for you all. Should you have any further questions, then please dont hesitate to ask. Cheers Simon AllanProduct Manager Stage/Studio & ControllersMartin UKsimon.allan@martin.dk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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