Jump to content

Colour changing PAR 36


Tom Baldwin

Recommended Posts

Looking for a parcan-like fixture, capable of colour mixing, for an upcoming gig with a Motown band.

Fixture needs to be available for rental near London (or south-east area)

 

There's a real lack of space onstage and in the set, so a good starting point might be a PAR36 with raylight reflector and a Morpheus S-Fader - but ColorFaders aren't that common, and the hire company may not thank me for squeezing the fairly intense thermal power of a PAR36 ray through their S-Fader. It would also be "nice" to have a single fixture, rather than two elements.

 

The Irideon AR5 might be an alternative, if it wasn't for the pan and tilt (I don't really have space for fixtures flailing about) - also not sure if it's got the brightness

 

I think I want to avoid LED fixtures, because:

I) I want a classic PAR-style rock'n'roll beam through haze

ii) there are Pixellines elsewhere in the design, and I'd like some contrast in the character of the light

iii) I quite like the way PARs bump up and down (rather than snapping in).

 

And after that I'm stuck!

 

Can anybody think of a better solution than a PAR36 ray + S-Fader?

 

Cheers,

 

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm afraid so - it's the smooth transitions I'm after, rather than having a large pallette of actual "show" colours.

 

Your suggestion made me think of the new ColorPros - not sure of their hire availability, though, and the size is creeping back up...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

VL5s are quite big in this application.

The idea is vertical Trilite sections, each with a four fixtures on the top (two per cord on two out of three cords). Allowing enough space for each VL5 to calibrate would make it quite big.

Question - can you stop 300 series kit calibrating pan and tilt on start up? I know you can for the VL1000, but don't remember anything about this for the VL5...

 

(BTW, "don't be silly Tom, that sort of thing just doesn't exist" is a valid answer!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest lightnix
Looking for a parcan-like fixture, capable of colour mixing, for an upcoming gig with a Motown band...

The Irideon AR5 might be an alternative, if it wasn't for the pan and tilt (I don't really have space for fixtures flailing about) - also not sure if it's got the brightness

The AR5 only had a 35W lamp and was designed for archtectural applications, so it certainly wouldn't cut through the rest of the lighting. They were also hugely unreliable and fell to bits very easily. Don't go there :huh:

 

I think I want to avoid LED fixtures, because:

I) I want a classic PAR-style rock'n'roll beam through haze

ii) there are Pixellines elsewhere in the design, and I'd like some contrast in the character of the light

iii) I quite like the way PARs bump up and down (rather than snapping in).

Fair enough, although you might be able to sort iii) by putting a time into the intensity. Somebody the other day (not in here) was saying, "wouldn't it be nice if you could give LED fixtures a 'tungsten profile mode'" to simulate the thermal inertia of said source.

 

Question - can you stop 300 series kit calibrating pan and tilt on start up? I know you can for the VL1000, but don't remember anything about this for the VL5...

Yes, you can. Simply remove the yoke cover on the PCB side and unplug the motors (the two larger "bimba" connectors at the top end of the board, with the grey ribbon cables coming out). It will take a little longer for the luminaire to calibrate, due to it searching for those functions, but it works perfectly well and has been done on many occasions. Great for truss toners and tight spaces. Works for 6s, too.

 

Apart from that, I am also a great fan of Robocolours :blink: I used to run them as banks, with just one or two base addresses. At just five channels each, you can run them from good old fashioned faders, without them taking up acres of desk. Also recommended: the Miniscan HPE. OK, so it doesn't fade colour but it does sooooo much else, you can't really ignore it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I can't imagine it will do a narrow PAR look, which is one of my key requirements. Also not sure who'd hire that sort of thing out?

 

What sort of brightness do you need, Tom?  Wouldn't a VL5 be incredibly bright compared to a Par 36? 

 

I was planning on using raylight reflectors in the can, which would give me a 500W lamp with a very peaky narrow beam - to the extent that the perceived brightness is not a million miles away from a CP60/61/62 - or a VL5

 

iii) I quite like the way PARs bump up and down (rather than snapping in).

Fair enough, although you might be able to sort iii) by putting a time into the intensity. Somebody the other day (not in here) was saying, "wouldn't it be nice if you could give LED fixtures a 'tungsten profile mode'" to simulate the thermal inertia of said source.

It would be very nice. And only a little bit of extra code in the fixture - or a little bit more code in the desk, to allow fixture profiles to have times associated with parameters, and modifiers to colour parameters.

BTW, how well defined is the edge on (say) a PixelPar? Can it give a CP60 like beam (obviously not as bright...)?

 

Question - can you stop 300 series kit calibrating pan and tilt on start up?

Yes, you can. Simply remove the yoke cover on the PCB side and unplug the motors

The simple solutions are the best! Thanks for that, excellent tip.

 

Also recommended: the Miniscan HPE. OK, so it doesn't fade colour but it does sooooo much else, you can't really ignore it.

 

Agreed, Minscan HPEs are very nice fixtures. May not use them in this gig, as the intention was to have all the "movement" achieved through colour fades, and (for a change) do a gig with no beam movement (or hard edged lights).

 

Thank you to everyone for the suggestions so far - getting some great ideas, even if we haven't found the dream ticket yet!

 

Cheers,

 

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest lightnix
...the intention was to have all the "movement" achieved through colour fades, and (for a change) do a gig with no beam movement (or hard edged lights).

I can respect that :huh: Too much wiggling going on out there anyway. If it's soft edged beams you want, there's nothing to stop you from defocusing a Robocolour, or putting a piece of Hamburg Frost over the lens - it's worked for me before :blink:

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.