Ashley R Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Hi all this is my first post here. But I have been reading alot! After looking through 10 pages of search results and not finding what I was looking for I decided to make a new topic. so sorry if this is repeated somewhere buried deep inside. The console/controller I currently have is a Studio Due Control 5 I am quite happy with it but I am looking for something with a bit more on the programming side and basically a bit more grunt and I would like the ability to control both Conventional and intelligent fixtures easily. I currently run 10x16ch Moving heads, 8x8ch Scanners, 30x LED Panels/Par cans 6ch and 12-48ch of conventionals. I was just looking to see whats out there and then armed with new info able to research prices here in Australia. my options are at the moment that I have found are a Jands Event 416 (used) or a Avolites Pearl 2008. not sure if the Pearl meets my needs but I kinda expect that it would(only just found it 30 mins ago so haven't had time to research it). Oh and I dont especially love PC Based things! Thanks for your help Ash Sorry if I rambled a bit there :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron-Hill07 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 OK, First of all I'll ask you a few questions that the rest of us will need to know to help you. So... 1: What is your budget?2: What type of shows do you usually do? Theatre? Concerts? Corporate?3: Will guest engineers be using the desk? They're just a few of the questions which we need the answers to, to get a descent answer for you! The Pearl series is fantastic, a lot of people on this forum use them but I certainly wouldn't say buy one if your doing theatre as they really aren't a theatre desk! If your a busking live concert technician, the Pearl will be your best friend! HTH,Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljoshua Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Firstly, what is your budget? Secondly, could you expand on your dislike of PC based things? It that a dislike for using a computer with an interface or is it a dislike for things running under Windows embedded too? If your budget will stretch, There is the MagicQ MQ100 it's a full console running on Linux as a underlying OS with very powerful software. There are other items in the MagicQ range too if you haven't seen them. Their website can be found at http://www.chamsys.co.uk/ BTW I don't work for Chamsys, I just like the MagicQ soft/hardware Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grum Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 +1 for MagicQ I started off with a basic PC wing and now have three systems and I'm looking at a fourth. The range is amazingly reliable, very powerful and exceptional value for money plus the customer support is second to none. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron-Hill07 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Quick question kind of related to the topic... how much can you get an MQ1000 for? I'm looking at other consoles to change over from my Avo.. Also is there anywhere I can do some training on those desks? Thanks guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wol Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Quick question kind of related to the topic... how much can you get an MQ1000 for? I'm looking at other consoles to change over from my Avo.. Also is there anywhere I can do some training on those desks? Thanks guys @AaronIf you're interested in prices for products, drop us an email at sales@chamsys.co.uk or give us a call on 02380 238666 and we'll be able to give you some more information. We do free training courses at our unit in Southampton if you did want to come down for one of those. I'm not sure when the next one is currently, but if you drop clare@chamsys.co.uk an email, we should be able to sort something out for you if you were interested in coming down. It's a MQ100, not MQ1000 by the way ;-) We've managed to get up to the hardware equivalent of a MQ900 before though (MQ100 + 8 wings), but not in one chassis! @Ash If you were interested in ChamSys products and not had a play with the MagicQ software already, you can give MagicQ a try for free by downloading the PC version of the software from http://download.magicq.co.uk. If you like the look of it, then it is the same software that runs on our consoles so you wouldn't have to worry about getting used to a different bit of software on the actual hardware. If you've got any queries, feel free to drop us an email and we'll try to help you out. Also, the Australian distributor as far as I remember is lighthouse distribution (linky and linky) Hope that helps! edit: un-screwing-up the links! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley R Posted March 24, 2010 Author Share Posted March 24, 2010 At the moment I do a bit of Theater, Raves so a bit of both worlds really which doesn't help. I also do hires so the experience of users will vary heavily but then again I try and match a console to their abilities. Well to start with I like having faders and alike to grab hold of also I don't have a Laptop That will sufficiently run anything decent as the one im typing on right now is I think getting on 5 years old and is already on life support! My budget is quite flexible I'm looking up to $6000 AUD Hmm ill have a look into the MagicQ Ive seen it already posted a few times here so must be a popular console in the UK but haven't heard much about it here in Oz A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on. The Pearl series is fantastic, a lot of people on this forum use them but I certainly wouldn't say buy one if your doing theatre as they really aren't a theatre desk! If your a busking live concert technician, the Pearl will be your best friend! HTH,Aaron What makes the Pearl series not suited to Theater? Ive made all kinds of wacky rigs with the lowest budget consoles (u know those 192ch ones that go for $100 but I was using 3 of them :) in a nice rackmounted fashon) ill have to look up some more details the pearl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron-Hill07 Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 The theatre stack on the pearl isn't great, however the new Titan software in the Pearl Expert has changed that and the theatre stack is a lot easier. But for your budget, you'll be looking at a Pearl 2000 which I wouldn't reccomend for theatre. Of course you can do it, but it's just not that easy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunk_1984 Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 But for your budget, you'll be looking at a Pearl 2000 which I wouldn't reccomend for theatre. Of course you can do it, but it's just not that easy! Why would he? Why not a tiger or a 2008 if he stretched his budget a little. I programmed theatre stack earlier this week, no not the easiest use of the desk, but not un-doable. I'm not necessarily recommending the pearl to the OP, just fixing your discrepancies. The Jands or the Chamsys would certainly be good consoles to look at. Also when you're in the realms of a wing there is the Jands vista S1 and S3 to look at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron-Hill07 Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Well, actually yes your right.. he could go as far as the Tiger or 2008 if he added a bit to the budget... but he'll still find it awkward to program as it's all on the same firmware. Of course as I said, it's doable just not the easiest desk to program with cue stack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grum Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Hi Ashley, I was recently in Australia for the big day out and I took my desk (Chamsys MQ100) with me. If you know anybody who worked on BDO (I was in the Boiler room) they might be able to give you a bit of a review as they all seemed quite interested in it and certainly asked a lot of questions. As for new operators, if they're used to a Hog OS then they'll have no problem switching accross (I always think of it as a Hog 3 that actually works). I had mine on hire to a venue for a few months and a few touring LD's used it. All I can say is that none of them had anything bad to say about it, one even tried to buy it from me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley R Posted March 25, 2010 Author Share Posted March 25, 2010 Im swinign towards the Pearl 2008 as I can get it a Great price! as long as its kind of doable I can make it work. remeber ive done theater shows with consoels that dotn even have a full univerese of control! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_the_LD Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 The Pearl is a fantastic desk - I love 'em. If you can get a 2008 at a great price then bite the bullet I'd say - however it would definitely be worth trying before you buy it so you can check whether you like it or not. With 60 handles per page it's easy to patch say the movers and conventionals on the first page and then have the next page (out of 4 fixture pages) for the LED screens. When I use a Pearl for theatre I often just use the playbacks to be honest - so easy to photocopy states from a previous playback and paste them somewhere else - or just spin the rollercue back. In a rock and roll environment it's so easy to plot stuff on the rollercue and then whisk round it as and when. Takeover mode is also very useful. The Avo tech support department are also awesome. Whilst the theatre stack is not the same as on a desk such as the congo, it is still perfectly useable. For example you could plot then show on playbacks then set up a stack full of macros (which is stepped through with the go button) which fires the playbacks at the relevant time. You can also unlink chases on the subs and have loads of 'mini stacks' if you wish. It's also a desk lots of people are familiar with and it's very easy to use and I'd say that it would get more hires than some other desks. Probably doesn't help much but I've tried! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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