jona1984 Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 I tech manage a venue part time which is putting on an event for which I'm hiring some moving lights (only 2x 575s) but it somehow completely slipped my mind that we only have an old Jands ESP II generic theatre desk...! And I've already quoted the client without desk and they can't afford to pay any more so I don't want to ask...! I'm assuming I could theoretically patch both lights in (we have about 48 channels to spare!!) and then have control of intensity/pan/tilt/colors/gobos etc....? Has anyone ever managed to achieve this or is it just worth me biting the bullet and getting a desk in/using one of those USB dongles for control? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jevans Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 In theory, yes, it'll work. DMX is DMX, and it's wouldn't be the first time someone's done it, and it wouldn't be the last! In practice, it's not something I'd recommend personally. A MagicQ dongle is only £60 - only £10 if you can put up with rebooting it every so often and get the basic/trial version- and a Titan One dongle is around the same I think, so a USB based solution is not too expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 You can certainly patch each parameter to a channel, and it will work - the only real issue is that older theatre control make it difficult to do one thing fast, and other things slowly - without multipart cues, and of course a grand master does bizarre things. If you plot carefully, you can do it - and programming via subs works ok. It's just the weirdness with 16 bit pan/tilt - where probably best to just ignore the fine parameters and put up with the coarser movement. recording a few positions and then running them in a loop or chase can do the wobbly bucket stuff, but you just have a rough time programming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Its totally doable yes. I remember running Golden Scans with an old Jands theatre board. Depends on how busy you want to get with those heads really. What is the client expecting?A tenner will buy you the basic MagicQ dongle and you can run the free ChamSys software on a laptop - as long as you can deal with virtual faders.I think the Avolites Titan One dongle costs around £80. Both great options - if you are familiar with them. If not could be a steep learning curve and a World Of Pain. But like I said, it really depends on what you aim to achieve with your spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Golden scans were only 6 channels though! Fitted nicely on a masterpiece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 All depends on what you want to achieve! Simple changes will be easy to do but complex chases will be hard work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 As has been said - it's perfectly do-able as long as you don't want to get too fancy in terms of effects and dynamic stuff. Some careful assignment of subs, and splitting cues out into parts for different parameters (does the ESP do that? Can't remember ...) and you can get them doing stuff. If it's such a low-budget job that they can't even afford a basic desk to rent, I'm guessing it's only going to be a couple of very basic fixtures (MAC500 or that sort of thing), so yes, it's possible - although it may not be as pleasant an experience as you were hoping! Reminds me of my first-ever moving light programming job - six Golden Scans on a Zero88 Sirius 48 http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Allen Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 If you made half a dozen different looks for the 575's and put them on to group faders for easy access and ran your generic lighting on a stack for the rest of the show, it would work. That would be easier than trying to mix conventional lighting and movers on the same cue, which slows down plotting. It will also avoid fading down your mover attributes when fading a conventional lighting cue which will give undesirable results. You would need to have the 575 dimmers on a group by themselves for this reason. It would also allow you to "move in black" or preset your movers. If you had the time, you would get better value from your movers by using a pc with a dongle, while still using your ESPII for conventional lighting. You could trigger one from the other, but it is a lot of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Coker Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 As everyone has said, it's perfectly possible - move when dark and preset positional palettes are things you will miss out on. It might be worth reversing the Pan on one of the fixtures as you won't be able to do this on the desk.I would go along with the cheap dongle and a laptop vote. KC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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