Village hall lighting desk

[Tomo]

There's also the SmartFade 2496 - in two-scene preset mode that matches your dimmer count perfectly, and it has a few 'extra' channels in 'Normal' (submasters, chase masters and theatre stack) mode should you hire in some extra stuff on occasion.

[Hilary Watts]

Without wanting to start another 'B********" war I feel I should put in a word for the LC2412, having had one for several years. It's actually quite easy to use as a two preset desk for twelve channels and I have lent mine on several occasions to primary schools for use in this mode with the operator being a member of staff with no previous experience. In other cases I or an interested staff member have set up 12 standard presets which can be assigned to individual faders on the bottom row (the 'B' faders) and the operator then brings up the appropriate fader or combination of faders for the scene in question.

 

It's when you go beyond this and start programming chases that it's easy to run into difficulties and while I think the manual is accurate it's not at all easy to comprehend. However, I think the main shortcoming form the point of view of the OP is that in order to access channels 13 to 24 you have to use a shift key -ie both sets of faders relate either to channels 1 to 12 OR channels 13 to 24 - it's not possible to set the upper row of faders to control channels 1-12 and the lower row 13 to 24*.

 

My understanding of the OP's requirements is that he wants (in layman's terms) 'one light per fader' - it's easy to understand and a novice can set up a scene on the presets, jot it down on paper, and recreate it at a later date. This implies 24 physical faders and on this count the LC2412 fails. :P

 

Hilary

 

 

*(actually, on second thoughts I think it might just about be possible but it would involve pre-programming the desk and could be very confusing as well as having the risk that the program might be accidentally overwritten)

[JonM]

When I want to use 24 channels on my LC2412 I just program the 'B' faders (Memories) to hold the values of 13-24. Therefore the top row control 1-12 and the bottom control 'memories' of channels 13-24. Its simple, although I am not sure I am making much sense. If anyone is interested and doesn't understand then let me know and I will try re-wording it, or even writing out a step by step guide.

 

Jon

 

Edit: Spelling as always

[parfitt101]

The Jester 24 would supply 24 channels in wide mode?

Used this desk a few months back and found it very easy and simple to program and run.

[Hilary Watts]

Thanks Jon- that method is what had occurred to me in my 'second thoughts' - although I haven't actually done it in practice. Presumably however you can only set one scene at a time and don't have the luxury of presetting another scene prior to bringing it up on stage.

 

Hilary

[nicemms]

Have you considered the Strand 200 series?

 

http://www.usedlighting.co.uk/control/cons...control-console

 

I have used this board at a high school and think it would be a suitable desk for your requirements. The version I have linked to can handle 24 faders in two preset mode. However for the advanced user it has submaster cabailbilties and you can store chases on it.

 

I have a copy of the manual if anyone knows how I can upload it?

 

EDIT: Found the manual online - http://www.strandlighting.com/clientupload...sole_manual.pdf see page 15 for two scene preset mode.

[JonM]

Strand 200 Series manual

 

Link

 

Edit: Beaten to it by nicemms

[boatman]

The Strand 200 24/48 looks like a good contender. I know it's overkill for anyone on this forum to need a full two preset knob-a-channel desk, but that is what they have now and, unless the new desk looks very similar but with additional programming facilities, my phone will never stop ringing. In the Community Theatre we have a Fat Frog with 48 channels of Chilli dimmers and I'm frequently being asked how to get channels 25-48 to work! For the village hall I want to get something that anyone can use in a basic 24 channel two preset mode.

 

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

 

.... or perhaps not. I see the Strand 200 can only use a 32Mbyte compact flash card for backup. The manual implies that no other size will work and the filing system is proprietary so can't be read on a PC. I suspect it won't be long before 32MB CF cards are like gold dust, so maybe that's not such a good idea.

[benweblight]

+1 for the Jester range. Personally I think unless you are particularly interested in the more advanced functions it comes down to a price call between these and the ETC Smartfade.

 

And as mentioned above...the LC2412 will work perfectly well as a two-preset desk in theory.

It's worth noting that the wide mode on this desk works differently to the Zero 88's.....you just use faders 1-12 and there is a button to to switch between these controlling channels 1-12 and 13 to 24. Its even has a primitive GO stack mode (though no fun to use!) and some analogue outs (though only 14 channels IIRC).

[Just Some Bloke]

The Jester and Smartfade both have a USB port so will have backup support for at least another ten years.

Not quite. The Smartfade doesn't have USB, it has SD card support instead. Nevertheless, it's a quick desk to pick up and I can certainly recommend it. Using it in 2 preset mode or for recording memories (i.e. subs) and chases are a doddle. The stack isn't perfect, but for the price you pay and the sort of use you're looking to give it, definitley worth keeping in the shortlist.

[boatman]

Well having spent most of the morning going through the various manuals I've downloaded, it's a toss-up between the Jester 24/48 and the Smartfade 24/96. I see on the Stage Electrics website that there are some special offers on Jester at the moment which means there's only £20 between the ex VAT prices.

 

All I need to do now is convince the hall committee to unlock their coffers!

 

Thanks to all who have contributed, it's been a very helpful thread.

[TomHoward]

My experience may not reflect everyone's, but personally I find the old Frog range more user friendly than the Jester - especially for programming. We've got a Bullfrog as our primary desk, and we bought a Jester as a small alternative, and given my experience with both in your situation I'd be looking for a 24/48 Frog rather than the Jester.

 

I may have never figured it out correctly but unless I'm mistaken you can't program on the fly with the Jester - you have to take it out of 'Run' mode and into 'Program' mode, whereas the Frog is a lot more intuitive.

[benweblight]

I may have never figured it out correctly but unless I'm mistaken you can't program on the fly with the Jester - you have to take it out of 'Run' mode and into 'Program' mode, whereas the Frog is a lot more intuitive.

 

Edits can be made to the current cue. You have to make sure you have the right cue selected in the stack in run mode and then switch modes, save the changes and switch back to run.

 

Though in this situation 2 preset operation seems to be the main requirement anyhow.

[richard_cooper]

I see on the Stage Electrics website that there are some special offers on Jester at the moment which means there's only £20 between the ex VAT prices.

 

Having had a "discussion" with a Stage Electrics rep about the price of a Jester 12/24 quoted to a sister organisation, I'd check around.... the price they suggested was nearly three times the price I'd just brought one for. Admittedly the cost difference is less now, and less on the 24/48 but check out Lighting Partners for alternative pricing, or others of course!

[pritch]

That said... I bought a Jester 24/48 from Stage Electrics, and they beat Lighting Partners!

 

I think the lesson here is... shop around!