I wish they made....

[Bryson]

I thought I'd start a thread for the things you wish people made. The type of thing where the technology exists, but no-one (or only one manufacturer - choice is good, right?) make it.

 

I'll start: I with more people made lighting pipe raceways with built-in dimmers and relays. The only one I know of is the Strand R21, and I would love to have more options.

 

I also wish manufacturers made stripped-down "basic" moving lights. Pan, Tilt, Zoom, Focus, colour. I don't need 2800 prism effects or a choice of 258 rotating gobos.

 

What do you wish you could buy? Maybe if we're lucky someone at a manufacturer will see something and decide we're not totally deluded.

[Stuart91]

Mid-range audio consoles that have plenty of faders but limited onboard preamps. It always bugs me to have to buy, say an X32 or A&H QU, which is being used with a remote stagebox, but there's no option but to have 32 onboard preamps which aren't being used.

[timsabre]

So coming from the manufacturer side, for Matt's basic moving light without gobos and Stuart's sound desk with no preamps, why do you want to miss these things off - are you hoping it'll be a lot cheaper? The thing with both of these is that manufacturers want to make a product that ticks as many people's boxes as possible, they don't want to be making 10 different products for a bloke who wants gobos but then another wants 5 prisms and someone else needs animation wheels. The extra cost to add these features is not great, an X32 without preamps would be maybe £25 cheaper in parts cost but the extra r&d / production to make a separate product would push the cost back past that again.

[Seano]

A three-phase inverter powered by a chunky drill battery or two, light and portable enough to be comfortably carried with a shoulder strap like a handbag, that outputs enough power to run a hoist. Doesn't need enough power to lift a load, as long as it'll do to run the chain through and float the hoist itself.

[Andrew C]

Not theatrical* but we would all benefit; A Teleport. Powered by a potato (see The long Earth for reference), simple to use, no chance a big corporation could buy it up, next best thing to free.

No more traffic jams, no pollution, anyone could be anywhere in seconds - thus breaking down all the barriers so afflicting humanity.

 

 

 

 

 

*Could also be used to get followspots up to impossibly remote balconies.

[ninjadingle]

Mid-range audio consoles that have plenty of faders but limited onboard preamps. It always bugs me to have to buy, say an X32 or A&H QU, which is being used with a remote stagebox, but there's no option but to have 32 onboard preamps which aren't being used.

 

Roland follow this model - and Yamaha did the M7CL with an Ethersound card and 8x8 IO....

[timmeh2]

My turn...

Wireless power would be handy for installs where the nearest socket is 300m away.

 

Oh, and serious mode... lighting and sound kit that can run natively on 400Hz AC, rather than having to use heavy and inefficient phase converters.

 

All the best

Timmeh

Edited March 6, 2019 by timmeh2

[MarkPAman]

Quite a modest one here.

I'd like Powercon version of T-Line connector, or even a nice small 2 way splitter.

[Stuart91]

I'd like Powercon version of T-Line connector

 

There's been many requests here for an IEC version of the T-line too.

 

Roland follow this model - and Yamaha did the M7CL with an Ethersound card and 8x8 IO....

 

Yep - my first (serious) digital desk was a Roland VM7200 system and whilst I can see the drawbacks of that kind of approach, the flexibility was really useful for us.

 

I recently saw an installation where they had opted for an M32 desk, but had a remote stagebox with identical preamps. If the big selling point of the M32 is the preamp quality, then why not just buy an X32? (It's sitting in one spot and being used a couple of times a week so it's not as if the upgraded build quality would make any difference either)

[sunray]

I'd like Powercon version of T-Line connector

There's been many requests here for an IEC version of the T-line too.

 

Many years ago I made up loads of cables for a customer which had IEC T-lines, I'll describe them as a pair of right IEC's back to back so when plugged in there was another socket straight out the back to take another plug, both genders were available ie male/female and female/female so effectively he had an extention lead with 3 sockets. They came from Norman Rose when they were in Grays Inn Road but I've never thought about them since.

[vinntec]

I wish they made a light source which stopped after lighting an actor and before hitting the scenery!

[Ynot]

This MAY already exist, but I've yet to see anything that satisfies my ideals...

 

A software package that you can import your favourite audio file and EASILY set up cue markers alongside that file that you can then send to trigger specified cues your favourite LX desk, be that as MIDI or other protocol.

The theory (in my limited head) would seem to be logical and relatively simple, but the fact that it doesn't seem to be out there suggests that maybe it isn't... :)

[Stuart91]

A software package that you can import your favourite audio file and EASILY set up cue markers alongside that file that you can then send to trigger specified cues your favourite LX desk, be that as MIDI or other protocol.

The theory (in my limited head) would seem to be logical and relatively simple, but the fact that it doesn't seem to be out there suggests that maybe it isn't... :)

 

I've seen a similar concept to this, where a boyband had MIDI cues alongside their backing tracks. These were fed to an autotune unit, so that each of the four members could be kept in harmony with one another. I didn't get much of a look at the actual software - they were being quite furtive about it all - but I'd see no reason why the same cues couldn't advance a stack on a lighting console.

[alistermorton]

I wish they made a light source which stopped after lighting an actor and before hitting the scenery!

 

I have been asked on more than one occasion if we can light an area in black.

[Andrew C]

I have been asked on more than one occasion if we can light an area in black.

Already been done - you need a Furse clone of a Patt 45. Sucked all the light out of an area.