Will Uli (Behringer) do an X32 for lighting

[jamesd]

I started out doing lights but for the last 10ish years have been a noiseboy.

Now getting back into lighting and looking at controllers. As most of you know in the audio world the Behringer X32 has set new levels of price v performance and is the biggest selling digital audio console by far out there.

Are we likely to see the lighting equivalent?

 

In going through posts on the Blue Rooms to find opinions on this and very few have been posted. You get posts in threads like

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=62901&st=15

which I get the impression guys from controller manufacturers are saying this is not going to happen, we need to sell small numbers for as much as we can get away with because we dont want to support to many users so we can be very profitable and then a post at the end of this thread

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=63185

where the guy from Chamsys who designed the MQ60 says it just needs someone to do it, all the parts are in place for it to happen. If Chamsys are not already planning to do it.

 

Is it possible that the Music Group might return to do more lighting products and kick the existing console manufacturers *rses?

Would it be a good thing to price low a third or quarter of existing desks and sell large numbers in the lighting controller business given that this type of company has the manufacturing plant and low cost expertise already in place?

I guess Harman-Martin would also be in the running as they do a huge amount of manufacture in China..

 

James

[KevinE]

It's about time, the Eurolight LC2412 was a spirited but flawed attempt at a budget desk a cut above your average chinese DJ controller. You'd think they'd be on the led DMX band wagon as well, not like them to miss a gap in the market. Perhaps they just need to take over a european lighting manufacturer. <_<

[timsabre]

I think not, the market for complex lighting desks is far smaller than for sound desks. But the cost of product development won't be much different. Therefore the potential profit is much lower.

[Stuart91]

I could see the sense in Behringer doing something around Jester-level, there is definitely a gap in the market at the moment where Scenesetter style cheap desks are a bit nasty, whereas the offerings at that level from the established brands seem rather expensive. I can't imagine coming up with their own version of Avo Titan or taking on Chamsys is going to seem like an attractive prospect though.

 

Then again, if anyone popped up on the forum a decade ago and suggested Behringer would buy Midas and Turbosound, they'd have been laughed out of the thread. Who knows what other plans Uli has up his sleeve?

[Rob_P]

As things become increasingly software based the options expand massively, especially if potential reuse of existing hardware or design modules is considered. I'm sure that the DSP in an x32 would be capable of running a very serious lighting console - If Soundcraft can add DMX functions then why not Behringer?

 

Maybe we will see a DMX expansion card for the X32 one day, or even an iPad based DMX console!

[timsabre]

The software is the time consuming and expensive bit though. Why would you need dsp in a lighting console?

[Shez]

I think the difference is that an experienced sound person can sit in front of almost any digital sound desk and get at least the basics working with minimal reference to the manual - all follow a pretty similar paradigm.

Lighting consoles are a whole different kettle of fish with a much wider variety of operating methodologies and programming styles - they need an operator to become intimately familiar with that particular model in order to be able to use it well. People are happy to put in the time with the usual contenders' desks as they'll keep regularly encountering them - there may not be much point in learning all the ins and outs of a Behri LX desk until they have a significant market share which they won't get until lots of people are using them. Chicken and egg.

[Stuart91]

Shez makes a good point, and having come to Avo Titan late in life I can appreciate the learning curve involved in picking up a new system. So certainly for the high end consoles that's going to be a formidable obstacle, but if Uli fancied having a shot at making his own version of the Jester range, I suspect it would sell a bucketload. The main places to make savings are in the hardware - a traditional 24/48 board uses a lot of faders and buttons. Behringer have their own fader factory, and could clearly leverage economies of scale to come up with something that would shake up the market some.

[timsabre]

but if Uli fancied having a shot at making his own version of the Jester range, I suspect it would sell a bucketload.

 

Would it really though, compared to the market size for something like the X32. It's a far smaller and more specialised market.

[jamesd]

"Lighting consoles are a whole different kettle of fish with a much wider variety of operating methodologies and programming styles - they need an operator to become intimately familiar with that particular model in order to be able to use it well"

 

I would have argued that a professional should be able to work out enough to do a show, but then read about new MA dot2 and the new Zero88 . Both these make a point of being very easy to use, the operator is guided thru how to use the desk.

 

For a low cost desk it has to be able to be programmed by a drama teacher setting up for the kids show with the low cost movers leds etc that the PTA has bought them.

 

To work the same as the X32 it needs a user interface that existing consoles do not have.

 

James

[Judge]

There's a new Zero88 ?

[Jevans]

There's a new Zero88 ?

Not much info yet that I've seen but there's a page for it on the Z88 website: Linky

[alistermorton]

The FLX is coming soon. Looks, from the video, like a nice, compact desk with built in guidance and touch screens.

 

Proof of the pudding will be in the programming, of course.

 

EDIT: to add link.

[Don Allen]

Re FLX video, interesting colour picker window, instead of showing the colour name, it shows the effect/mood/motivation. That I like.

[timsabre]

Re FLX video, interesting colour picker window, instead of showing the colour name, it shows the effect/mood/motivation. That I like.

 

It looked more like a way to pick a set of complementary/matching colours.

Of course it could just be some user-named and user-programmed palettes which you can do on any number of consoles already.