Lighting Desks

[lightbulb789]

Problem with the Frog range (am I not knocking them, they are great desks for certain applications) is that they are not really theatre desks. OK, they are great hands on desks, but if you are plotting theatre shows cue to cue, where you may want to set complicated cue times and trigger other things all from one GO button, not so great.

 

Just my humble opinion!

 

Andy

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thats kinda true. We want to Trigger a number of cues in a scene from just pressing the GO button at the begining of the scene.

What I mean is -

 

Example: -Scene 2- Press Go, Channels 10, 5, 6, 12 34, @10 and then 10secs later 10, 6, 12, 34 @ 4 If you get what I mean.

[Brian]

Thats kinda true. We want to Trigger a number of cues in a scene from just pressing the GO button at the begining of the scene.

What I mean is -

 

Example: -Scene 2- Press Go, Channels 10, 5, 6, 12 34, @10 and then 10secs later 10, 6, 12, 34 @ 4 If you get what I mean.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Isn't that what 'Dwell Time' and 'Trigger' on each memory is for?

[PDD]

Just my tuppence... ETC Express 48/96... traditional theatre style, with lots of lovely presets and submasters, ideal for a school application, but also with the usual range of memory features for the more experienced user. I don't have a problem running the occassional mover either - recently had a S4 Revolution and the desk was fine. Now we have 2 Express's as we like them so much. Having said that, they're not big desks... I still like the Strand 500 series.

[sam.henderson]

Did get annoyed that I had to tap thru cues

 

You can- if you plug in the keyboard all you need to do is enter the cue number (0-999) and then hit enter and it will take you there, then if desired hit GO to playback the cue.

 

I agree that the frog range is the right way to go, great desks! I would say that for 48 channels of dimming and the occassional bunch of mls then the FAT FROG would be the one to look at.

 

Persoanlly I think the Fat Frog is a good medium between wholy theatrical desks (channel thru channel@100 etc/ Multiple Cue Stacks etc. etc.) and rock and roll desks (for shows that are entirly busked). There are physical faders (48 channel faders and 12 sub faders on Fat) which some people prefer over having to type channel numbers and percentages in (but that is a personal thing). I think physical faders over typing is preferable in a school type application.

 

Some parts of the Frog really remind me of the Pearl (not a desk I would recommend for this- good for rock and roll but I really dont like the theatre stack!) like Program by Channel and Partial programming for instance!

 

I dont think the theatre stack on the Frog is that bad and to be honest for most of the stuff people will do at school it will suffice.

 

To have a look at the frog download the 'Phantom Frog' the Offline Simulator where you can practice patching/ programming etc. etc.

 

HTH

 

Sam

[Benj]

Sound and Light Company offer of the Week FAT FROG £1489.90 including VAT!!!

 

sound-light-company.co.uk ;) :** laughs out loud **: :huh:

[robloxley]

Well having had just about every sensible desk suggested, can I just add that the way forward is to get in each desk that fits the brief & budget, on demo, and decide from there. As long as you buy a mainstream desk then you probably can't go far wrong.

[lightbulb789]

I know that Zero88 Offer Grants of up to 50% of there products to schools etc

[DSA]

I know that Zero88 Offer Grants of up to 50% of there products to schools etc

Thats news to me. Have you got a link? Zero88 people can you give any information on that??

 

Thanks,

David

[gareth]

Persoanlly I think the Fat Frog is a good medium between wholy theatrical desks (channel thru channel@100 etc/ Multiple Cue Stacks etc. etc.) and rock and roll desks (for shows that are entirly busked).

Have to disagree in part - the Fat Frog is not, IMO, a very good desk on which to busk moving lights. There's one feature in particular which really spoils it, and that's the fact that beam palettes can't separate out parameters - they record in an "all or nothing" kind of way. What I mean by this is that you can't have separate palettes for gobo selection, gobo rotation, prism, etc. - all the beam parameters record in every beam palette, which is so not what you want for busking. For example, with Mac500s running on a Pearl (very common combination!), you might record a gobo palette for each rotating gobo (5 palettes), and perhaps rotation palettes for 'stop', 'slow', 'medium' and 'fast'. With this system, you can access any of the rotating gobos, each of which can be rotating at a choice of four speeds, by recording 9 beam palettes (5 gobos, 4 rotation). Because you can't separate out parameters on a Frog, you don't have this facility - so to give you the same level of busing flexibility you'd have to record a stop/slow/medium/fast palette for each of the rotating gobos - so that's 20 different palettes, just for rotating gobo selection 'on-the-fly'.

 

Add in things like prisms, and the problem just compounds itself. For example, let's say that on top of the above example you wanted options for no prism, static prism, slow-spinning prism and fast-spinning prism. That's another four palettes on the Pearl, taking it up to a total of 13. Try to set yourself up with the same level of 'instant-access' buskability on the Frog, and you're instantly up to 80 palettes!!

 

So - no, not really a buskable desk, I'm afraid.

[andystone]

The Frog range offers great features for the money and as I said before I'm not knocking it. But, in being what it is, it can't be the best desk for any particular need i.e. busking, theatre, moving lights - yes, it can do all these things, but there are desks that are better suited for each of these applications.

 

I repeat what I said at the start, IMHO coming from a theatre background, if it's a theatre desk you are looking for then you should look at ETC, Strand or Compulite who all make a good range of desks specifically aimed at this market.

 

Andy

[lightbulb789]

I know that Zero88 Offer Grants of up to 50% of there products to schools etc

Thats news to me. Have you got a link? Zero88 people can you give any information on that??

 

Thanks,

David

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

http://www.zero88awards.com/

 

Adam.

[sam.henderson]

Have to disagree in part - the Fat Frog is not, IMO, a very good desk on which to busk moving lights. <snip>

 

So - no, not really a buskable desk, I'm afraid.

 

Fair enough- that is a good point. You can't like the peal seperate the indervidual parameters (gobo rotation etc. as you say) from the general attributes (beam shape/ colour etc.) but then every desk cant be perfect!! Have never really thought of that, so thanks for making me realise that!!

 

Just out of interest though which desks arround that price range are better for busking?

 

Sam

[andystone]

Just out of interest though which desks arround that price range are better for busking?

 

Sam

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I think that was my point earlier, there isn't much else available at that price range that is better, that is the great thing about the Frog range. It is worth taking a look at the Jands range and the LSC maXim, but they both have their weaknesses too. Bottom line is that you just can't get all the features on a budget desk, otherwise no-one would buy the more expensive desks!

 

Andy Stone

Stagetec Distribution

Compulite UK Distributor

www.compulite.co.uk

[lampieman]

Hi, andy I am looking into getting a desk, and I remember speaking to you at plasa about the Dlite desks, however I cant remember the sort of price range they are, I am very interested in this thread as I am currently looking out for a desk, could you please PM me with a rough price for the dlite and the other compulite desks, also if anyone knows of any Q Commanders or Avolites Azure going let me know.

 

Gareth