Jump to content

ETC Smartfade ML


Biskit

Recommended Posts

I've been looking for a while for a 'personal' lighting desk to to use when I'm doing an op in a venue with a desk I'm not familiar with. Price range is £1000 to £2000 but ideally the lower end rather than higher end of that, which puts things like the Ios, Eon, GrandMA, Hog, Pearl Expert, Tiger Touch etc out of range.

 

I've just come across the Smartfade ML... not really heard much about this, and there don't seem to be many detailed reviews on the net about it. So can anyone comment on it from experience? In terms of dimmer channels (48) and fixtures (24) it seems to fulfil my needs, and has encoder wheels, shape generator and pallettes which are essential for busking of moving light and generic mixed rigs.

 

The kind of thing I'd like to do is use the 24 faders to pre-set a mixture of static states and chases, and intensity for various sets of movers, then recall other moving light attributes from the pallettes. However a few questions:

 

Are there 3 x 24 pallettes for each fixture or 3 x 24 in total? Ie. if I had, say, Mac 250s and Mac 500s in a rig, could I use the same pallette button for 'red' for all fixtures of either type which are currently selected? Or would I need to use seperate pallettes for each type of fixture, thus using up the pallettes very quickly? How fast/easy is it to quickly select a group of fixtures and select pallettes for them? Is it possible to interchange what is stored in pallettes on the different pages? Eg. I might want to have colour, gobo, position and movement pallettes on the same page? And finally, the manual refers to speed and size of shape effects being saved to the 'effect' rather than to a pallette. Does this mean that if I want to use the same shape effect for two or more different groups of fixtures simultaneously, that the speed and size would have to be the same?

 

Obviously before buying I would hire and fully demo one, but might as well find out if it is a non-starter. I know I could get something like a second hand Pearl in my price range, and I have used Pearls a lot before, but they're too big to carry about really, and have annoying limitations which I don't really like (such as in order to use pallettes, the playback flash buttons are disabled). Tiger Touch looks brilliant - but I fear well above my price range and also far more complicated than I need.

 

Thanks in advance for any info received!

 

Ben.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good little desk. Has alot of very useful features that some of the higher end desks have. My only gripe is that you cant in-bed a sequence (Chase) into the stack of cues. Would recommend that you run it with Smartsoft on a laptop or computer as this makes the whole job alot easier I find.

 

If it doesn't already come with it, get V3 of the software as its MUCH better than V2.

 

HTH, Tom.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the comments guys.

 

Nic - I do quite like the look of Titan mobile, but my main concern was the lack of faders (obviously the idea being to make it as compact as possible) and also a general Avo thing of having the flash buttons above the playback faders rather than below - a silly thing but one which I've always found slightly annoying as I like to be able to 'play' the flash buttons piano style at times. I'd also assumed Titan Mobile would be way over my budget... probably daft to assume, but out of interest what is its intended price point?

 

Brian - I will download the PC app as you suggest. What sort of events/style of operating do you do with it? Have you found any particular limitations or annoying bits?

 

Thanks,

Ben.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What sort of events/style of operating do you do with it?

Anything and everything.

 

As with anything which attempts to sit across a number of marketplaces there are compromises.

 

The stack is a basic playback stack with a limit to the number of cues it will hold. However, for smaller theatre type shows it works fine. For busked shows with movers I don't use the palettes for playback. As you can record masked states onto the subs, of which you have 240, I use those.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The stack is a basic playback stack with a limit to the number of cues it will hold. However, for smaller theatre type shows it works fine [and] For busked shows with movers.

 

I agree with what Brian says. We had one for our school and I will say that I think there are more user friendly desks out there such as the Jester ML that IMO would have been a better choice. I do feel that the desk has more of a busking quality more than a set, theatrical show, which is kind of shown by the inability to put a chase into the stack.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used the desk on a Robbie Williams tribute gig..

 

I didn't particularly like the UI, I found it all a tad fiddley.

having said that, I created a device and programmed it without reading too much of the manual!

 

I think that the smaller size is a slight compromise, but once you get it, and are able to navigate around it quickly, some impressive busking could be achieved.

 

I found that the desk didn't fade smoothly though I'm unsure what software version it was running!

 

I have forgotten the various workings of it, so cant answer your questions! sorry!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My only gripe is that you cant in-bed a sequence (Chase) into the stack of cues.

 

Off topic I know, but as you are a student continuing to learn about lighting... I thought it would be worth mentioning that even the "high end" desks behave this way. Hog, GMA and Vector are all the same, they will not allow you to embed a chase into a list. You must trigger the chase (as it is a separate cue-list) from the source cue-list, usually by the use of Macros. It is worth understanding this method and its benefits early on, so you can manipulate it more when you come to program shows yourself.

 

Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My only gripe is that you cant in-bed a sequence (Chase) into the stack of cues.

 

Off topic I know, but as you are a student continuing to learn about lighting... I thought it would be worth mentioning that even the "high end" desks behave this way. Hog, GMA and Vector are all the same, they will not allow you to embed a chase into a list. You must trigger the chase (as it is a separate cue-list) from the source cue-list, usually by the use of Macros. It is worth understanding this method and its benefits early on, so you can manipulate it more when you come to program shows yourself.

 

Thanks.

 

 

I believe you can embed a chase into a cue stack in Chamsys, perhaps Matt or someone can confirm?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

, getting a decent touch screen monitor (granted that monitor might be a bit overkill) and using it with Chamsys MagicQ and a MagicDMX dongle would be by far the cheapest option (software=free, dongle=£10, montior=£100, so £2000-£110 gives quite a lot of change!!), and possibly the best, as you get all of the features and functions of a MagicQ console

er no not a monitor an All in 1 touch screen pc forget the dongle,the £10 dosn't give you ALL the features of chamsys,nor any faders,and is limited to 5 hours use between resets. The mini wing at around £600 is the cheapest way to get real faders,all the software fearures and no time limits.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.