Smoke noise level

[spiffoiow]

Our theatre group is in the market for relatively cheap DMX smoke machine to use in our productions.

Budget is up to £200.

We have hired in the past but use one quite regularly enough to justify a purchase.

 

My experience with how much noise they make varies. Some seem to bellow thick stuff quietly while others hiss out finer stuff.

 

We want a quiet one above all else!

 

Can any one recommend one to fit the bill?

[Ynot]

To be blunt, I think that for £200 you're not going to get too much for your money.

Kit in that range will tend to be basic, have local remote control only (ie no DMX) and in many ways suited more to the DJ side of the game rather than theatre. That means they're unlikely to be able to sustain any decent volume of output for very long, and may also cool down in cycles, meaning you won't always be guaranteed that burst of smoke immediately when you hit the button.

Noise can also vary with price, though not all expensive machines are quieter - it depends on their application.

 

I suspect you'll be needing to up the budget somewhat...

[WiLL]

I also suspect that you are mixing up smoke machines and hazers.

Smoke machines pump out thick gouts of smoke and generally there is a fair amount of noise associated, whereas hazers release a much finer smoke which hangs in the air and are generally far quieter.

[spiffoiow]

well thank you for assuming I don't know the difference!

We already operate a haze machine during the majority of our shows so from your response I take it that there isn't a great range of performance for this level of kit. I thought it would be worth an ask first before clicking buy however.

[WiLL]

If you buy from a 'proper' theatre supplier such as stage electrics or white light you can ask to come down and have a play with their hire smoke machines with a mind to buying. Although as YNot said, £200 is a pretty small budget for a decent smoke machine.

[Ynot]

well thank you for assuming I don't know the difference!

Well, with respect, James, as your profile is not complete, all we know about you is your name and the fact that "I do amateur theatre lighting and more on the isle of wight, UK".

For all we know you could wel be a 14 yr old wannabe, or a 60 yr old top-flight am-dram or somewhere in between.

[Jivemaster]

Smokers/foggers of the hot lump variety have a inherrent heat cool cycle. The block heats to working temp then it becomes active in the cooling phase, at the lower end of the temp range it becomes inactive until the heating cycle stops again.

 

In cheap machines this cycle is slow and for say 30% of the time (the heating cycle) no smoke will happen.

 

This means that you have about a 30% chance of missing the smoke cue and a greater chance of not doing a whole smoke cue. OK in disco style use NBG in theatre.

 

More expemsive machines can include a better temperature controller and have less or no off time once warmed up initially, They can still be cooled into submission by attempting too long a blast of smoke, but overall the behaviour is better suited to theatre.