Lighting board

[DJDK]

HI I am looking for a lighting desk co controol 4 moving heads,1 Projector(Falcon), a fog machigne and 24 par cans . I understand I need 24 chanels for the parcans and at the monent use 4 spare chanels on my projector but as yay can see in the picture I dont think it is how you are supose 2 controol a projector B-) .

http://www.mjlstagelighting.co.uk/images/catalog/showmaster_24.JPG

 

So I wonderd if you could advise a lighting desk and a rough price

 

Thanks Andy ;)

[Davethsparky]

Sorry but your post doesn't really make much sense to me, and I'm sure a great many others are having the same trouble. Can I suggest you have a look through the existing topics about Lighting desks. The type of desk you need will depend on the situation aswell as the equipment you wish to control. If you could give us more information about what you want the desk to do then maybe someone will be able to advise you. As far as prices go this really depends on what deals you can get/negotiate with your supplier.

[DJDK]

hi I want to controol 6 moving heads, 1 fog machigne, 1 4ch projector and a 24 ch dimmer powering par cans

[smalljoshua]

What moving heads are they? What fog Machine is it? What 4Ch projector is it? What is your budget? What do you want to be able to make the console do? Theatre? Discos? Club Nights?

 

Josh

[HobitLight]

What do application do you want the controller for? Is it for live events, theatre, dance (though judging from the equipment you need to control I'd take a guess at band gigs).

 

Also, does the board need the ability to be easy busked or would an ordinary cue list be suffice?

[Davethsparky]

hi I want to controol 6 moving heads, 1 fog machigne, 1 4ch projector and a 24 ch dimmer powering par cans

 

Yes, I got that much from your original post (except you've gained two heads since then). but what do you want the desk to do? what do you want want to do with the desk? are you lighting shakespeare or the local disco? What desk do you use at the moment? have you read through the other threads about lighting desks? what desks have you used before? are you going to be the sole operator? are you looking to expand the rig?

 

And as a side note, you will have a much better chance of getting replies if you could improve your english a bit, nobody expects perfection but we do like posts to be clear and make sense.

[DJDK]

What is the diference between busked and an ordinary cue list?

at the moment I am using the desk in the picture above.

I will be the sole operator

we wont be expanding the lights

I have a falcon projector at the moment

we havent got the moving heads yet as the school carnt aford them all this year and we were looking at the Chauvet Q-SPOT200 DMX512 Moving Head Lighting Effect (we will get 6 I had a type error I ment 6 )

the fog machigne that we will be gettting is http://www.terralec.co.uk/fog_and_haze_mac...ol/19474_p.html

we will be doing panto`s and plays

and as for lighting desks I have used I have used the leap frog 88 but it was all ready set up and my mate just said push that button when I say also I have used the desk in the picture above and I have programed that one.

 

Thanks for the help and sorry about the "bad" english and lack of knowlage as I am just rely getting into theatre

[Genus]

A busked desk isn't fully programmed, you might program certain states/effects and moves but not everything will be in the nice easy stacked order. Another phrase is Light Jockey-ing. A cue list means you program everything in advance and just press one button to move from one state to the next (normally the big green "GO" button), much like your experience with a leapfrog.

 

It's usual for theatre shows to be programmed as a cue stack or list, with the operator pressing one button, whereas gigs, events, bands and so on are more likely to be busked.

 

I don't know those moving heads. However I'd venture to suggest that for straight plays you'll get more use out of conventional fresnel and profile spot lanterns (parcans are not ideal for nice even lighting, and designers aren't keen on the colour temperature of the discharge lamps in movers - they're not 'warm' enough).

 

Although I don't know the fogger described, I would say that that a hazer (with a finer, more diffuse haze) is more appropriate (Personally, I like the Unique 2 Hazer)

 

It's worth bearing in mind that for the money needed to buy those movers and a decent desk to control them you'd be able to buy a huge amount of conventional lighting kit that will be very useful (though, admittedly not as shiny and whizzy and gadgety)

 

I've had a look for that projector (admittedly only a brief google search) however I can't find it and am still unsure what you want to do with it.

 

I think giving you specific directions on lighting desks would be inappropriate as you seemingly haven't considered the bigger picture of what you need from your lighting rig.

 

Also, I would venture to suggest that you won't be the only person operating this desk. Maybe for know, but how long will you be doing shows at the school? According to your profile, you've left the school. Therefore it's reasonable to suppose that maybe other people in the school will be needing to understand the desk. Actually, I would think that it's quite unlikely that any desk brought will only ever be operated by one person.

 

It might be worth going to a local lighting hire/sales company and asking for advice, they'll be able to show you some desks, maybe let you have a go on one, and offer training and after sales support (certainly companies local to me do).

 

(edit for various reasons...)

[tokm]

Right.. Put simply, this desk isn't' designed to control moving lights. It'd be perfect to run the dimmer rack for the 24x par cans. That's about it!

 

Yes, the lights will respond to the desk if you patch it correctly.. but it'll take rather a long time to program anything and the limit of 24x faders means you'll have to group a lot of the channels together, which causes all manner of issue's.

 

The long and short of it is, don't buy this desk. Not only is the wrong type for the intended use, its also pointless! Let the school buy a desk if they want one, you as a student shouldn't have to shell out for equipment.

 

I'm not going to get into the whole schools Vs cheap movers thing, you can look up for yourself why that's a bad idea. Take my advice, don't waste your time or money on getting a desk. If they school needs one, tell them they need one and either recommend something that's at least half suitable, or just leave it to them and they're supplier.

 

I have used the leap frog 88

There.. you've already come up with one suggestion for a desk all buy yourself.

 

parcans are not ideal for nice even lighting, and designers aren't keen on the colour temperature of the discharge lamps in movers - they're not 'warm' enough

Hmm, be careful what you say.. Saying things like that are very much 'against the grain', as I'm sure others will agree.

[Genus]

Tokm:

 

I think (though the OP doesn't make this abundantly clear) that the picture is of their CURRANT desk. From what I understand, I think they have 24 pars and that desk (and the associated dimmers).

 

DJDK: Am I right?

 

I stand by my colour temperature argument! And seemingly, so do the manufacturers who are now producing more and more tungsten movers. Martins TW1, Vari*lites TS range...

 

I also stand by my opinion of using parcans in straight plays. The argument has been done to death so I'll stop before dragging this more Off topic.

[Simon Lyall]

I'm actually really looking forward to the barrage of replies that will soon come (hopefully) from our knowledgeable, experiences (and generally older B-) ) members of the forum, but to summarise (perhaps as a sort of prologue) what will probably happen soon:

 

Movers: do you need them? Can you afford them [cost to buy, cost for lamps, cost of rigging, cost of maintaining them] do you have the resources [to maintain them/fix them]. Is it worth buying budget movers [noisy, short life, slow movement, low light output, poor features]. Do you have time to program them effectively [time, experience, knowledge, people who want to do it]

 

Lighting desks: cost vs features vs ease of use. I reckon the frog range will be floated by a few people, people will question you're ability and thus whether there is a lighting desk that fits your requirements (has the features and you're able to understand how to use it). Other factors might be, it's status in the professional world [do you need one that is, say 'industry standard'? Does this affect what you want? Will other people use it (you wont be the sole OP forever)] Also, reliability and life [cheaper budget/DJ desks are unlikely to last too long: dodgy faders, PSUs etc]

 

People will also (and already have) talked about perhaps looking at spending money on decent theatrical lights (seeing as that's what you've identified as it's use) as well as a decent theatre desk (that does stack playback)

 

 

 

However, the overriding point that will be pushed is: your distinct lack of knowledge or experience. What puts you in a position to spec equipment for a school (possibly funded by us: the tax payers) when you clearly are not qualified to do so? You appear to come from a DJ-esque background and thus you're unlikely to have the indepth knowledge of theatre in schools.

 

Conclusion? Probably: get a proffesional involved, possibly your local hirecompany might be interested in this 'project'

 

 

my advice? Listen to the following threads (and probably subsequent locking of this thread), read around here and look at the plethora of similar people to you posting and the advice they are given (and often it gets ignored ;) ) and look at the wiki.

 

 

Goodluck,

 

Simon

 

 

*sits down, grabs popcorn and gets ready to watch the thread*

 

Edit to add: if you add your location ( Loughborough, Leicestershire possibly?) then a friendly blue-roomer might offer some more tailored, personal advice.