Would this work?

[maxjones2000]

At school, we have a musical coming up and we are using the school's lighting (parcans, fresnels and profile spots) with a Jester Zero88 to make a cuestack. However, we are also using 6 moving lights (Martin MAC 250 Entours), and we are going to run these live during songs using a different desk (Avolite Pearl Tiger), as the Jester does not support moving lights and the Pearl Tiger's cuestack function is poor. So, I was thinking that we could plug the desk directly into one moving light (using a long DMX cable) and then feed the other 5 and a magnum hazer off this one MAC 250... Would this work okay? Cheers ;) (sorry its a bit long-winded )

[Mrrock101]

So, I was thinking that we could plug the desk directly into one moving light (using a long DMX cable) and then feed the other 5 and a magnum hazer off this one MAC 250... Would this work okay? Cheers ;) (sorry its a bit long-winded )

 

 

Hi,

 

Yes, this is how you would connect up the MAC's and Hazer. The DMX Run would go Desk-->MAC 1-->MAC 2-->MAC 3-->MAC 4-->MAC 5-->MAC 6-->Hazer. Remeber to put a DMX terminator on the end of the last fixture in the chain to prevent interference ;)

 

Hope this helps,

 

Josh

[maxjones2000]

Hi, Thanks Josh ! Do you reckon the people we are hiring the lighting from will supply us with a terminator? ;)

 

Max

[Mrrock101]

Hi, Thanks Josh ! Do you reckon the people we are hiring the lighting from will supply us with a terminator? ;)

 

Max

 

Hi Max,

 

Yes they probably will, although I would check with them first. ;)

 

Josh

[maxjones2000]

Ok thats good [pheww] ;)

 

Thanks again! I can't wait until the show

 

Max ;)

[Davethsparky]

There's nothing wrong with the cue stack function on the pearl.

[maxjones2000]

There's nothing wrong with the cue stack function on the pearl.

 

Yes, apparently its not very good (I haven't tried it though)

 

However, the Jester is made specifically for cuestack lighting - thats why the school bought it ;)

[jamed2017]

There's nothing wrong with the cue stack function on the pearl.

 

Secounded but would proberly be quicker for them to programe on the jester than learning how to use the stack on the pearl.

 

Definatly worth asking your hire company to include a terminator. Most wouldnt charge you for one and you most likely wouldnt experience any problems if you didnt ...but just to be safe

[tokm]

So, I was thinking that we could plug the desk directly into one moving light (using a long DMX cable) and then feed the other 5 and a magnum hazer off this one MAC 250... Would this work okay?

Possible, yes, but equally over-complicating the job. One desk for the entire rig's a much better solution. Running the rest of the ML's live for a theatre show.. Erm, definitely not advised if your not a skilled operator. You'd still have to do some programming to get some usable states from your macs, or we're you planning on not even doing that?

 

(I haven't tried it though)

Exactly, so why not try the online simulator, read the manual and see what you think. They're simple enough desks, if your having to patch and control fixtures you've already done the 'hard' bit. Using the stack will seem simple by comparison.

 

I'd be hard pushed to be convinced a budget end desk like a Jester has a 'better' stack than a Pearl. Its not perfect by any means, but its certainly not cr@p! It'll record/lets you edit cues, you can alter fade, wait & LTP times. Surely for your application this is all the functionality you need?

 

No offense to them/Z88, they're good little units, but not quite in the same league as a pearl, but they're not supposed to be are they!

the Jester is made specifically for cuestack lighting - that's why the school bought it

I suspect the school bought it because its a good desk for that environment.

 

I probably sound like an AVO salesman, but I shan't have my favourite console manufacturer put down unduly . Glad someone agree's (Cheers Dave!). It makes sense to try run the entire rig off one console where all cue changes happen at once and through one command/push of the go button.

 

Just my advice from having used Pearls/Avo's for years. Best of luck with the production!

 

T

[ahocknul04]

Yeah I don't see why not, I assume you know about the DMX Adressing you have to set the Mover's to as well and how much you should leave in between E.g DMX 10 and then somthing like 28.

 

Correct me if I am wrong

 

Ally

[maxjones2000]

Basically, the moving lights will be off (grandmaster faded down) during MOST of the acting and then will be being run live during the songs. I didn't mean to put down the pearl - it's by far my favourite desk and is brilliant, it's just that I think it would be simpler (as I'm only a yr 11 student) and it might be worth having both desks going next to each other (not exactly environmentally friendly but meh)

[smalljoshua]

I'm only a student myself but given your situation I'd definitely use the Pearl for the entire show. It would be not only a good learning opportunity but also much more flexible than the (good for its price) Jester.

 

Josh

[dmoffat]

I would recommend hiring a Jester ML, if you are hiring in 250 Entour's

 

The Jester ML can interface with the Jester, you can plug the two together and then it can operate as one cue stack, single programmed desk.

This is the functionality the ML was designed for.

[maxjones2000]

Yeh I just got to convince my music teacher

 

With the Pearl is it possible to have a cuestack going and then when it comes to a song switch over to running JUST the moving lights live?

 

Sounds strange, but I want to run the moving lights live for the experience on my CV as I have used a cuestack for theatrical and for a public speaking thing, have learnt about rigging and designing so its only live to tick of now. Thanks everyone

[niclights]

With the Pearl is it possible to have a cuestack going and then when it comes to a song switch over to running JUST the moving lights live?

You can have it do whatever you want within reason. Just program it how you need. People often put down the Pearls Theatre Stack function but in my experience this is usually due to not understanding its functions. While it might not be as comprehensive as those found on the Strand it is a lot more capable than many people realise.

 

You should also consider that you can have stacks within normal running mode by unlinking chase steps.

 

As for 'running moving lights live', it's hard to understand what you mean. Generally it's all about degrees of flexibility in the programming. ie. you could program an entire show that runs start to finish (possibly timecoded) from a single button press. Or you could program only intensity on faders and select positions, colours, gobos etc. from elsewhere on the fly.

 

Whatever, as I and others have suggested all you need to do is play with the simulator and visualiser. They're both free and perfect ways to learn.