Wholehog 2 vs. ETC Expression

[goatface]

Hi there,

 

Long time listener, first time poster. I'm an occasional freelance LD working in the US. Most of my professional life has been spent lighting theatre events in small to medium venues. Over that time, I've used mostly ETC light boards, with the occasional horror show of a Leprecon. My first exposure to light control was on a Pulsar Masterpiece, which I know is viewed with derision around these parts, but I digress...

 

I've been contracted to work on a job at a largish local venue, for a site specific theatre piece. The venue has it's own equipment, including around 100 generic units, a bunch of moving yokes (mostly Martin MAC 250/500) and a wholehog 2.

 

Never having used a wholehog 2, I'm curious, from a theatre perspective, how comparable to an ETC board (e.g. an expression or express) I'm going to find it, specifically the programming syntax. I usually use a lot of split timings, follow cues, multipart cues, and use features on ETC boards like inhibiting submasters quite a lot.

 

I've downloaded the manual from flying pig, and at first glance it seems like I'm going to enjoy it (esp. if I decide to use those yokes).

 

I'm wondering if anyone out there has any advice for a theatre guy on using a WH2? Are there any pitfalls, tricks or knowledge I should have before I manage to get into the venue itself?

 

I should mention that I exclusively use a Mac, and don't have bootcamp or other PC emulation, so haven't been able to use the HogPC software to get a feel for the operation.

 

Thanks for any thoughts people might have...

 

Goat.

[Bryson]

The programming syntax is pretty familiar. I certainly had no real problems transferring from Strand to WH2. The one thing to remember for people used to theatre consoles is that it's like having the console in tracking mode all the time.

 

If you want to do the clever stuff, have a careful read of the macro chapter in the manual - it's worth it to learn that part.

[GridGirl]

Never having used a wholehog 2, I'm curious, from a theatre perspective, how comparable to an ETC board (e.g. an expression or express) I'm going to find it, specifically the programming syntax. I usually use a lot of split timings, follow cues, multipart cues, and use features on ETC boards like inhibiting submasters quite a lot.

 

I am 99% sure (but willing to be corrected if wrong!) that the Hog doesn't do part cues as Strand/ETC know them. You can assign individual fade times to a channel, but you can't split a cue into two parts and say "I want part 1 over 6 seconds and part 2 over 3 seconds with a delay of 5 seconds". Effectively you can achieve this with individual channel timings, but it's a PITA when you want to change the timing on one part of the cue....

[obsoperator]

I can't think of a board (i.e. Hog 2) that's more unlike ETC consoles of the same period. The Hog 2 is much more oriented to busking and moving lights/scroll moves, and is far more powerful than an Expression. The offline version does not give you a feel for the power of having LTP as the general default concept, and for the power of having all those executors sitting on live buttons available simultaneously. Only possible minus is that the Hog doesn't have proportional intensity Groups like ETC. But those who love the Hog never go back to Expression.

 

Just to note, my background is scripted dramatic theater and repertory dance, so I prefer Expression. But the Hog 2 is a magnificent machine. You need to prepare for this opportunity.

[gareth]

I'll echo Bryson's suggestions of brushing up on macros - the comment macro function is very useful if you've got one 'master' cue stack (which is how you'd probably be running a theatre-type show) which may then be triggering other stuff on other playbacks. Also take the time to look at the extra functionality the Pig key brings you - it does a lot of useful things when combined with other keys (e.g. Pig+Time 'stickies' the time window on screen, Pig+Clear brings the previous contents back into the programmer if you've inadvertently pressed Clear, Pig+Thru allows you to enter fanned times directly into the command line).

 

If you use a lot of part cues, remember that to edit complex times you need to load a cue back into the programmer - you can only edit simple times directly from the command line.

 

When setting fixtures using the wheels, remember that holding down Set puts you into fan mode.