desks

[melkin]

Hey all,

 

Sorry to keep asking similar or related questions but heres another one for you if I may.

 

What would people recommend as the nearest desk to a Strand 520i with regards to how it is operated and software etc. I have no experience of any other desks and know the strand very well as I've used it for 12 years now and we are currently exploring options on new desks and I just wandered if seeing as strand dont make them anymore, what is the nearest thing to it as I really dont have a lot of time for the changeover and need to jump straight on to a new one potentially during a busy season and be able to use it and not look stupid or foolish in front of incomig people when plotting etc obviously.

 

Any opinions or comments will be very greatfully received.

 

Thanks

 

Mark

[tommulliner]

For me it depends on what your using the desk for - ie, Moving heads, generics, Leds etc.

I haven't used the Strand 520i but I know that (for generics) - and some may disagree - but somthing like the Zero 88 frog or Fatfrog are quite quick and easy to get into. I used one for the fist time at a venue two years back and very quickly (with the help of the manual) got to grips with it.

[J Pearce]

The Strand Palette isn't bad and actually has some really nice features, but to be honest if I had the choice I'd go across to ETC Ion/Eos which is close enough in terminology to make a reasonably quick transition.

[gareth]

What would people recommend as the nearest desk to a Strand 520i

somthing like the Zero 88 frog or Fatfrog

Oh, do me a favour! Chalk and cheese!!

 

I haven't used the Strand 520i

Exactly. So you're really not qualified to answer this question in a meaningful way, are you?

 

From the point of view of someone who has used a 500-series (pretty extensively), the closest you're going to get to its operating philosophy these days is probably the new Strand Palette range. But there are much better desks than that, which anyone who's a competent Strand programmer should be able to get to grips with fairly quickly. The example that springs immediately to mind is the ETC Ion. You're not going to find anything that works in exactly the same way as your 520 - but to be fair, that console and its software are 15 years old and things have moved on a long way in that time. Whatever route you go down, there's going to be a small learning curve to climb.

[melkin]

This is brill, thanks guys. We mainly use generic washes and gobos etc, we have 1 scroller wash consisting of 16 units and 4 moving lights with only 112 channels in total and thats about it really. We mainly are generics though and have mainly small touring shows that just want a 3/4/5 colour wash and a few specials with a few of our own small shows thrown in here and there.

 

Thanks though guys and the more opinions the better.

[tommulliner]

Exactly. So you're really not qualified to answer this question in a meaningful way, are you?

 

 

Op said:

Any opinions or comments will be very greatfully received.

[gareth]

Sounds like the Ion might be right up your street, then. A compact little desk that you can carry around under one arm, but with all the power and functionality of its big brother Eos.

 

As a bit of a 'left-field' suggestion, you might also have a look at a Chamsys MagicQ MQ100. It's not as close to the operating style of a 500-series, but it's a very easy desk to work in a command-line sort of way, like a 520, and offers huge possibilities in terms of busking shows - which might be a factor if the sort of incoming tours you have are the kind which just want a few nice washes and turn up on the day with an A4 sheet with the lighting plot on it which it's then up to you to interpret 'on the fly'.

 

 

A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on.

 

Op said:

Any opinions or comments will be very greatfully received.

But if you've never used a 520 (which, by your own admission, you haven't) how could you possibly express any sort of meaningful opinion regarding which of the crop of current desks on the market are close to it in terms of how they work?!

 

I'm not going to go down this road again - let's try to keep this thread on-topic - but to be able to offer advice about a particular subject you need to know something about it. You can't offer meaningful advice on a matter about which you have no knowledge or experience. It's simple common sense ...

 

{Edit for spelling ...}

[GridGirl]

We've just replaced our much-beloved 520 with an ETC Ion and we're all feeling like we've definitely made the right decision. While there are a few little things that the Ion doesn't do which the Strand did with ease, they're mostly very small - and when we've asked questions on the forum about them we've certainly got the impression that they're lined up for future software updates. We got ours just before the biggest show of the year; my operator (who is a top Strand operator) spent an afternoon with the desk and some movers, and then plotted the show (including nine movers plus a whack of LEDs) with no problems at all. While I haven't used the Palette at all, my op has and says he much prefers the Ion to it. I haven't used the Ion extensively yet, but when I have been sitting behind it it's felt very intuitive and "thinks" very much like the Strand does.

[Young Johnstone]

I'll second ETC!

 

See if you could get one on demo and see how you and others from your venue feel about it!! Add some fixtures and have a play!! It's got to be something you can feel comfortable on!!

 

Al

[SoLiEn]

We may be in this same situation, we are looking at ETC desks for several reasons, one, a converter exists to go from a strand file to an etc, which is bloody handy, two, they are solid desks with a company not about do go under (fingers crossed!) and three, I think they still offer free training. . .

[agermich]

The Ion sounds like a good option for you. We have been using an Eos for our main house and Ions in our studios for the past 2 years or so. They have all been excellent, reliable desks. It's relatively easy for someone with 520 experience to get their head around programming an ion once you have remembered that you need to close the command line by pressing [enter]. Importing showfiles is a fairly painless process if they don't contain any movers. The support from ETC is fantastic, infact our former head of lighting liked them so much that he left us six months ago to go and work for them. The National theatre also replaced their strand desks with Eos and Ions and I get the impression that they have been very happy with the desks

[alexanderjoseph]

I would recommend a look at the EgoControls desks.

http://www.egocontrols.com/

Give them a call because the smaller desks they have are not on their homepage.

Alexander

[gareth]

Hmm. I suspect they might not be the best choice for a UK venue. The chances of finding a technician in the UK who's even seen one of those before, let alone knows how to work one, is pretty much zero, as to the best of my knowledge they haven't sold any desks into the UK yet. And if you needed a spare desk, perhaps to replace a failed one just before a performance, where would you get one from in this country? At least with an Ion, several of the major rental houses carry them in stock, and ETC are conveniently situated in London should you need to get support from them in a hurry. Ego don't even have a UK distributor yet.

 

That said, though, someone has to be the first! And there's certainly a few high-profile venues in continental Europe using those consoles so there's clearly something about them that's worth considering! I see they've been at PLASA for the last three years - sadly I haven't due to work, but I'm hoping to get down there this year so I think I'll try to catch up with them and have a look at what they're doing ...

[RoyF18]

Another vote for ETC ION - not hard for a Strand user to transfer onto the desk. There are differences (some reasonably significant) but as Gareth says, the 500 series was designed some time ago now and software/hardware has come on a great deal since then. ETC support is very good as well.

As for the comparing the 500 series to a Fat Frog, I didn't think that would be possible! Completely different ends of the market, completely different targets for customers, users, scale etc etc. Fat Frogs are designed for schoolkids to be able to operate quickly and easily, 500 series is for use in professional theatre, by professional operators and on a scale that the Fat Frog wouldn't even be able to cope with the houselights.

It's like a comparing a Fokker Triplane to a Space Shuttle - one is a stratosphere above the other...

[JDLX]

Yep another vote for ETC Ion, very similar programming style to the 520i.