High School Upgrade

[ledman]

I am not sure quite how I can tackle this as yet, but if you contact us directly we can supply you a PC Based [uSB] via DMX 512 to control LED Lighting Luminaires. This is easily in your budget, and will leave you plenty of scope for training.

 

All fittings will easily be mounted to a truss system, as most are designed for these applications.

[Hope I can say all this??] I only signed up yesterday.

 

But to cut a long story short, you need to realise what you want to illuminate, how you do, what with and the protocol should be DMX.

[david.elsbury]

I am not sure quite how I can tackle this as yet, but if you contact us directly we can supply you a PC Based [uSB] via DMX 512 to control LED Lighting Luminaires. This is easily in your budget, and will leave you plenty of scope for training.

 

All fittings will easily be mounted to a truss system, as most are designed for these applications.

[Hope I can say all this??] I only signed up yesterday.

 

But to cut a long story short, you need to realise what you want to illuminate, how you do, what with and the protocol should be DMX.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

:) advertising :o

Why the need for LED fixtures? The dongle may well be in the budget, but are the actual fixtures? I'd say not.

And I doubt that truss will be installed in this installation- maybe bars, but not truss.

And in my opinion, in a school environment, I'd rather have a board that pretty much anyone can walk up to and use, rather than having to be trained in the use of a PC program. Schools have a relatively high turnover of (student) technicians.

 

But to cut a long story short, you need to realise what you want to illuminate, how you do, what with and the protocol should be DMX

Agreed.

 

David

[axle]

I'll post pictures of our current setup on Monday as I promised, but to explain what we have now. It's basically a large scaffold grid suspended from the ceiling, so not overly accessible.

 

For the lighting control I was definitely looking for PC based control systems with possibly a small external desk to patch into it for on-the-fly scene control (a la BlueLite X1) but I'm not sure what the standard/best PC based control software is, wether it's affordable, but most importantly, easy for the students to learn.

[J Pearce]

Speaking as an ex High school student tech and current sixth form tech, a board with attached computer program will be more useful.

 

Ie use computer when you have time to program a show, but use desk when you get 5 mins to do some lights for that concert no-one told you about etc.....

 

just my opinion.

[the kid]

I agree with jivemaster, it might be better to have a overhaul of everything. I think there are still some DMX cards about for the 24/48's so you can have the capability's of DMX if you want. But of course you can't have movers on a Sirius.

[Bryson]

Can I just point out that PC-based control is quite certainly not the norm, and would certainly not be my recommendation here. You'd be much better off in this situation with a "hardware" desk - some kind of "subs" based desk. The Zero 88 Jester, Strand 200, ETC Smartfade all spring to mind immediately.

 

PS: When you do post said promised pictures, make them small, with liks to thefull size elsewhere, so the dial-up peasants can still read the thread.

[axle]

PS: When you do post said promised pictures, make them small, with liks to thefull size elsewhere, so the dial-up peasants can still read the thread.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

XD

OK, I will do (I know how much of a pain 15-20 full size images is on dial-up)

 

I've so far been unable to source a supplier for the Sirius DMX cards. As an offshot for the fact I'd need to open it up to do this (and replace the dials) does anyone know a good method for removing cross-threaded screws? as there are at least two under the desk.

[ledman]

Sorry this is my second telling off for advertising, I am not trying to advertise but merley trying to help. I was told not to draw attention to the business, and request a private email, I do this and get slated for that.

What do I do??

 

In my opinion, the PC based is far better...Search google for Sunlight DMX USB Box, excellent budget bit of kit that will deliver exactly what is says.

 

Truss is acceptable for schools, budget/against practicality. Truss is affordable and is ideal for no moving heads ina RGB environment.

 

This is all MHO so please dont shoot me down.

[MrDan]

And in my opinion, in a school environment, I'd rather have a board that pretty much anyone can walk up to and use, rather than having to be trained in the use of a PC program. Schools have a relatively high turnover of (student) technicians.

What you can do with a PC based system (like the BlueLite X1) is, that you don't have to train everybody on it. Only a few people have to actually know how to use the system to create cues (looks) with it. After you create say maybe a couple hundred looks, then you save them on presets and most users never need to touch the computer at all. They only need to know how to recall presets and use the faders to bring up predefined cues. But maybe I'm oversimplifying it :o

 

And by the way the learing curve on a PC based system is not that huge as you might think. (At least on some PC based system(s) ;))

 

Dan

[axle]

And in my opinion, in a school environment, I'd rather have a board that pretty much anyone can walk up to and use, rather than having to be trained in the use of a PC program. Schools have a relatively high turnover of (student) technicians.

What you can do with a PC based system (like the BlueLite X1) is, that you don't have to train everybody on it. Only a few people have to actually know how to use the system to create cues (looks) with it. After you create say maybe a couple hundred looks, then you save them on presets and most users never need to touch the computer at all. They only need to know how to recall presets and use the faders to bring up predefined cues. But maybe I'm oversimplifying it :o

 

And by the way the learing curve on a PC based system is not that huge as you might think. (At least on some PC based system(s) ;))

 

Dan

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No, I picked it up near instantly with the (extremely extensive!) manual and the demo video. The only downside is not being able to test it out Live due to lack of DMX capable fixtures and the X1 harware.

[paulears]

Forgive me, but in my humble opinion, a PC based lighting controller is not a huge amount of use for a number of reasons. In an educational environment, then a basic control surface with a minimum of knobs, but each one that is there clearly labelled with buttons and faders labelled with sensible stuff like REC, GO, GM etc etc all allow anyone to fathom out basic operation. PC based systems may well offer zillions of gadgets and multiple wigglie head operation but they are not lighting desks, they are controllers.

 

Learning any of these won't help you when you walk in to your first real theatre and see a strand, adb or similar or the rock show with avo, frog, or any of the other common r&r desks.

 

Show me a PC that doesn't crash and I might consider using it. I've no problem hanging a pc off a 'real' hardware desk as a back-up - they do die from time to time, but the only way I'd consider a pc based system would be with a dedicated control surface - this is done in audio - protools, steinberg, mackie and even behringer have these. Perhaps when these type of things appear for lighting, I may go there but until they do - hitting the G key in a hurry (or whatever) to run a cue without hitting another key seems a bit daft.

 

The snag as I see it with innocent advertising is that if you have a product to shift, you're not exactly neutral. Recommending a PC based system because you sell them doesn't make your advice too reliable. It may well be the best thing ever invented - but I've never heard of it, so for it to be recommended seems a bit strange. I appreciate it may well be a new product, about to sweep the market due to cleverness, reliability and facilities. I'd be quite happy to review it as an impartial reviewer waiting to be impressed. If it has a professional market, I don't mind plugging it in the ALD members magazine, where many LD's will be able to read about it.

 

There is a very fine line between a recommendation and a plug. Here on the Blue-Room we spend a lot of our time trying to be fair - sometimes failing, but at least trying to keep a balance.

Paul

[ocfe]

I've so far been unable to source a supplier for the Sirius DMX cards.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

FYI there is one on ebay at the moment. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...7513880913&rd=1

 

Have you tried contacting Zero 88 for a DMX card? They are very helpful people and in my experience always do their best to help.

[ledman]

Paul,

 

Very informative read.

 

Just to clarify the DMX controller is PC based, or Hardware standalone.

This is not our product, it is an impartial advise..we use both types and found for the budget concious this is an unbeatable product.

 

We do not sell or MFR this item, I was purely recommending..this is where I feel there is too much high moral ground in here...free advise is worth alot, and this maybe something you guys have not seen because you are all focused on hardware/desk/ etc...

 

Please do have a look, I cannot you it is the best thing, but for the price it is very good, and we have used 100's of them on some big projects over the years.

 

If I am alowed, here is their link: www.nicolaudie.com

[MrDan]

Show me a PC that doesn't crash and I might consider using it. I've no problem hanging a pc off a 'real' hardware desk as a back-up - they do die from time to time, but the only way I'd consider a pc based system would be with a dedicated control surface - this is done in audio - protools, steinberg, mackie and even behringer have these. Perhaps when these type of things appear for lighting, I may go there but until they do - hitting the G key in a hurry (or whatever) to run a cue without hitting another key seems a bit daft.

I just want to say one word about computer crashing. I think this is a little bit outdated. I know that in the Win98, WinMe days (and before) crashing was very common. But I worked with my Win2K machine now for 5 years (I am a software developer) and I think it maybe crashed once at me when I was testing some driver stuff). We very carefully limited our software to Win2K and WinXP because of reliability concerns. With WinXP you just have to make sure you don't have any viruses and spyware. But if you use a standalone computer (not hooked up to the Internet) then that should not be an issue.

 

From what I read in other threads about e.g. the new Hog3 console, it just baffles my mind how they can release something that crashes all the time. Our product has been used now for more than 6 month on the road and didn't have a single crash. Not even in the Beta test phase.

 

The snag as I see it with innocent advertising is that if you have a product to shift, you're not exactly neutral. Recommending a PC based system because you sell them doesn't make your advice too reliable. It may well be the best thing ever invented - but I've never heard of it, so for it to be recommended seems a bit strange. I appreciate it may well be a new product, about to sweep the market due to cleverness, reliability and facilities. I'd be quite happy to review it as an impartial reviewer waiting to be impressed. If it has a professional market, I don't mind plugging it in the ALD members magazine, where many LD's will be able to read about it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I totally understand your concern. That's why I always identified myself as the co-developer of the BlueLite X1 Show Controller and not as a regular user. So everybody knows that I'm biased and can take my comments with a grain of salt.

 

I looked at your profile and I think you would be an excellent person to review our product. I will contact you per e-mail and offer you a free evaluation unit. I would be happy if you find the time to review it. Then you can make an impartial post of what you think. I will also offer Axle a free unit so he can try it. If he doesn't like it then all he has to do is send it back.

 

Sounds fair?

 

Dan

[axle]

Sounds more than fair to me :o;

only problem with that being, the only equipment that I can presently get at is still analogue.

If I can get hold of a De-Mux (which I'll need to run the floods regardless of what gets purchased in the end) and one or two moving fixtures to test it with, I'll drop you an email to let you know. I'm certainly all for the publicity of being the first location (and LM) to have an X1 installed in their main project location in the UK. And I don't think it'd hurt your sales in the UK too much either, especially if we can get interested parties to view one of the schools drama performances run off it. Maybe even let them have a play with the interface for a bit.