Hog 500

[Harvey_51]

Hi,

 

I am going to be doing lighting for a panto in feb, and I was thinking of using the hog 500. It would be controlling around 24 dimmer channels and a few movers. Would this desk be suitable or would any one reccomend another one.

 

Also would I have to programm the show on the submasters Like on the strand MX desks?

 

Hope that makes sense :(

 

Jordan

[iamchristuffin]

Depending on how many movers (less than 12) how about the Fat Frog? Then you have a cue stack, an easy to program desk, with a smaller manual!!

 

2p

[LeeStoddart]

Sounds like overkill to me - unless you are using a serious amount of moving fixtures.

 

Fat Frog does sound more like the right realm for this application.

[gareth]

If I were you, I'd ignore that recommendation for the Fat Frog - the Hog 500 will be just the job for you if you can get one at a reasonabe price. The way this desk works when you're looking at a linear cue stack for a pre-programmed show is so much nicer to work with than the Frog range. 24 dimmers and a handful of movers, programmed into a flexible, user-friendly sequential cue stack but with the option to bring things out onto subs for instantaneous control if you wish - the Hog 500 is just perfect for that sort of show. The things that it doesn't have compared to its bigger brother the Hog 1000 (more subs, hardware buttons for instant access to palettes) sound as though they're things that you won't really need.

 

A suggestion - if you go for it, visit this page and download the latest software (build 177) and make sure you install that on the desk if it doesn't already have it. Also, you can download Hog2PC for easy off-line programming of your show before you get into the venue - it has the look-and-feel of the bigger Wholehog 2 rather than the Hog 500, but any shows that you save from it will load into the 500 without any problems. (There's also the added advantage that, although you can't create custom effects on the 500 or 1000 - that feature was only available on the Hog 2 - you can create them offline in Hog2PC and save them into a show which you then load onto the little Hog.)

[paulears]

I'll go with Gareth - you can run at as a sub-only type desk, or put a cue stack on one fader and run it as a sequence of go cues - or a combination of them both. For a panto I'd not have a problem with this style of operation - you can do the show in whatever way you're comfy with.

 

The OP asks if the desk is suitable - which it is - so I get confused when people jump straight in and say Frog Frog Frog - which is a capable desk, but I can't think of a reason to use a Frog when presumably a Hog is available.

[tokm]

but I can't think of a reason to use a Frog when presumably a Hog is available.

Looks like silly, irresponsible posting to me... Just saying.

 

In regards to the subject at hand.. While not strictly the same scenario as a panto, consider this.. a large amount of musicals and concerts, both environments where some slight flexibility of cue list is required, use hogs as their primary LX desk. Anything from 500s on smaller shows to 1000/echelons & 2's on larger productions and a fair amount of regional theatre tours, to multiple hog2's or a Hog 3/Hog Ipc on large concerts & touring musicals alike.

 

Seems like proof enough Hogs (of all kinds) are used for similar work with success.

 

If you've got a hog500 available, use it if you can.. It's perfectly suitable for the job :(

 

Tom

[mac.calder]

The hog range is a really good theatre style desk. It is hell to busk with (in my opinion) but anything with a cue stack, if I just needed a small theatre desk, I would choose one hands down. I find it has a very logical programming sequence and if you think about your programming correctly, the page function (which personally I hate - it makes the name labels look messy (OCD kicking in)) will give you more submasters than you need)

[Harvey_51]

Hi

 

Thanks for all the replies, I have used the fat frog before and I did like that I could program the whole show before hand and simply press GO during the show instead of pushing up faders. Can you programm the hog so that you just press GO?

 

Thanks

 

Jordan

[mac.calder]

Yes.

 

Each fader has a Choose, Play, Pause and Flash button (by default - you can change the actions assigned to the buttons).

 

When you record cues, (so [record] and hit the choose button of a fader), if there is no cue list assigned to the fader, it creates a new cue list, and makes that the first You need to remember that it is a full-tracking console by default - if you don't want the cue list to be tracking, hit [*PIG*] and the choose button of the fader where you have assigned the cue list and then deselect "Maintain state".

 

From memory, the way the Frogs work is different to the Hog, in that on a Frog console, you record as a certain type (either record a scene, record a chase, record a cue list), although it has been a long time since I used a Frog - on the Hog, they are all the same thing. A scene is a single cue in a sequence. A chase is a sequence which has the chase flag set. And a cue list is a sequence with more than one cue.

 

There is no dedicated "Playback master" where you load a sequence into it, and it has a lovely big Go button though, if that is what you wanted to know.

[dbuckley]

Though if the 500 works the same way as the Hog3, you can use one cuelist and one play button as the "master", and then use inter-curlist control (forgotten the proper name) to run (and stop) other playbacks, and set up this way, you do have just one go button.

[indyld]

It seems to me that some of the replies on this thread have come because of two different requirements in the OP question.

 

Jordan,

 

1. Do you want to replay the show using submasters? To clarify terminology, that is where you have each cue/state/look recorded to a different fader and fade up and down as required.

 

or

 

2. Do you want to replay the show using a Go button in a pre determined sequence?

 

While not totally exclusive of each other, these requirements show some confusion as to how you would like to run the show. If you consider both questions and choose one or the other, you will have a clearer idea of which desk is right for you. Both desks will do pretty much everything you need from them but with slightly different styles of operation.

 

I would always choose any Hog based desk over the Frog but, like all console choices, that is down to my personal preference. If you have used a Frog before, that might give it the edge due to familiarity. A 24 dimmers and a few heads is not hard to run but it is a lot harder if you are not experienced with the desk. I assume that, because of the questions you are asking, the replies detailing playbacks, pages,choose, cuelists, stacks, macros, etc. are all Greek to you anyway, so don't get too bogged down with them at the moment.

 

Both desks will do what you want, either Go button (Hog - more sophisticated) or Submasters (Frog - slightly easier due to more acutal faders available on the desk - and no "tracking" by default).

 

Use a) The one you have readily available. or b) The one you are most familiar with.

[Harvey_51]

Hi

 

Yes I would like to run the show using the GO button.

 

Thanks for your replies

 

Jordan

[gareth]

but I can't think of a reason to use a Frog when presumably a Hog is available.

Looks like silly, irresponsible posting to me... Just saying.

Why? It's neither silly nor irresponsible - it's good, sound advice. Speaking as someone who's used both Hogs and Frogs (!) fairly extensively, there's absolutely no contest when it comes to which one I'd recommend. Oink.

Yes I would like to run the show using the GO button.

If you have a Hog 500 readily available to you, then it'll be a great little desk for your particular application. You can set one cuelist up as your 'master' cuelist, use the rest of the faders (if required) for other incidental stuff, and you can use comment macros on your master cuelist to fire off any other stuff (effects, or whatever) that you want as either actual or virtual cuelists, in a way that's far more flexible than some other desks (ribbit) could ever hope to achieve.

[MarkPAman]

but I can't think of a reason to use a Frog when presumably a Hog is available.

Looks like silly, irresponsible posting to me... Just saying.

Why? It's neither silly nor irresponsible - it's good, sound advice. ........... Oink

 

I think Tokm was saying the frog sugestion was silly, not Paul's comment. That's how I read it anyway. ;)

[gareth]

You might be right! I guess you could read that comment, in context with the post that was quoted directly above it, in one of two ways. I guess Tom was in fact referring to the people who jumped straight in with the usual "Use a Fat Frog!!" knee-jerk reaction. Anyone who's had experience of both desks and is in possesion of a brain wouldn't dream of using a Frog when there's a Hog available to them.