Strand Spectra

[willjam39]

I have just seen an ad pop up for the new Strand desk, but it looks to be a rebadged Zero 88 FLX S24. Have Strand finally given up making their own desks?

[ianknight]

Strand & Zero88 are now "sister" companies under the same owner so it's very likely that it's a rebadged FLX.

[willjam39]

I didn't know that. Wonder if its a way to get Zero 88 products into new markets using a widely known name? (I don't know how well known the Z88 brand is known over the pond)

[alistermorton]

There's a dead giveaway in the announcement - "Built on the award-winning ZerOS software".

There's another huge clue, that there is a quote from Jon Hole.

From interacting on CB, Zero88 seem definitely to be less well known than Strand.

Edited June 25, 2021 by alistermorton

[gareth]

Strand & Zero88 are now "sister" companies under the same owner so it's very likely that it's a rebadged FLX.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

Edited June 25, 2021 by gareth

[J Pearce]

I had the displeasure of the strand rebadged horizon controls desks. Much as Zero88 are a useful and honoured company, rebadging their output as Strand is disingenuous to both companies.

[Junior8]

Now let me think.. when did I last buy anything new with the name Strand on it?

[kgallen]

I had a Google. Bit by bit it’s stacking up…

 

https://zero88.com/forum/topic/9150-the-show-does-indeed-go-on/

 

http://www.etnow.com/profiles/david-catterall

[ianknight]

Strand & Zero88 are now "sister" companies under the same owner so it's very likely that it's a rebadged FLX.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

 

Indeed - Strand went from world leader in controls (there wasn't a venue on the planet that at one time didn't beat a path to Strands door for desks & dimming) to not having an original control of it's own design (I think Genius on the 300/500 platform was the last). They let their lead slip to ETC & MA and appeared to lose the will to offer mid range but powerful hardware to control fixtures leaving a hole for Zero88 to slide in with very innovative and intuitive software (Jon Hole has done some stunning work on that).

 

The Strand/Botex link was never going to work longterm except by providing some low cost hardware for entry level users but FLX eclipsed even that - I'm not sure where Botex is in the new company (if it figures at all) but I do know that the Zero factory in Wales is now producing PCB's again as they bring production (and not just assembly) back in house so I suspect that at least by buying Strand, people can be content their desks are built in the UK.

[Junior8]

Indeed - Strand went from world leader in controls (there wasn't a venue on the planet that at one time didn't beat a path to Strands door for desks & dimming)

 

The thing that staggered me as far back as the early eighties was how they seemed to be prepared to desert various sectors of the market to the point that in many small venues no one was bothering to spec their products at all. Zero 88 have been a force to be reckoned with for it must be well over 35 years now for looking after everyone from the 12 way two preset market upwards while Strand's marketing still goes big on a heritage that the present owners wouldn't understand. (I can visualise the yawns and glances at the watch if I tried to explain it.)

Edited June 26, 2021 by Junior8

[Oovis]

For many years I was a link in the chain of Chief Electricians of the Strand Theatre in London. I've been out of the business for 5 years now but still get pangs thinking what happened to the company founded by my predecessor.

 

We had a show there in 2009 driven by a Palette VL (from memory). The software was buggy and inconsistent and we had so many missed cues due to the desk not reading the Go button reliably that we spent hours swearing at it.

[J Pearce]

The Palette I had in 2009 spent more time in bits or at the dealer than it did in my booth. I had several calls from Strand USA (as was) trying to fix it, which rather impressed the school’s receptionists.

[gareth]

Strand went from world leader in controls (there wasn't a venue on the planet that at one time didn't beat a path to Strands door for desks & dimming) to not having an original control of it's own design (I think Genius on the 300/500 platform was the last). They let their lead slip to ETC & MA and appeared to lose the will to offer mid range but powerful hardware to control fixtures leaving a hole for Zero88 to slide in with very innovative and intuitive software (Jon Hole has done some stunning work on that).

 

The Strand/Botex link was never going to work longterm except by providing some low cost hardware for entry level users but FLX eclipsed even that - I'm not sure where Botex is in the new company (if it figures at all) but I do know that the Zero factory in Wales is now producing PCB's again as they bring production (and not just assembly) back in house so I suspect that at least by buying Strand, people can be content their desks are built in the UK.

 

I don't think the Strand name will ever return to the all-dominating position it once held. They used to be the only option 'back in the day', and when the company was at its peak no-one could come close to unseating their grip on the market locally. Rightly so, too - just think of all the innovative stuff that's come out of the Strand stable over the years, from Light Console onwards. I used to be able to take a show out on tour and turn up at pretty much any theatre in the UK, wave a GeniusPro show disc at them, and that was that.

 

The Genlyte acquisition in 2006, and a subsequent catalogue of terrible decisions, soon put paid to that. And then ETC's timing with the release of the brand-new Eos at the end of 2006 couldn't have been better - just at the point when the earliest Strand 430s were coming to the end of their useful life in 2006/7, everyone looked at Eos and said "Well, this new ETC console is so much better than that awful new Strand Palette thing, isn't it?". The rest, as they say, is history.

[jonhole]

Hi all,

 

Your combined detective work seems to have filled in most of the picture!

 

In 2016, Philips split off it's Lighting Divison (including Strand, Vari-Lite, ColorKintetics, Hue, etc). In 2018, this new company was renamed "Signify" - https://www.signify.com/global/our-company/news/press-releases/2018/20180516-philips-lighting-is-now-signify.

 

In 2019, Eaton announced a similar move, splitting off it's Lighting Divison (including Zero 88, iLight, etc). This was purchased by Signify.

 

So Strand, Vari-Lite and Zero 88 are now one buisness - a management team, R&D team, sales & marketing team, support team, etc fully focused on the Entertainment Industry.

 

Hope this clears things up?!

Edited June 28, 2021 by jonhole

[kgallen]

So Strand, Vari-Lite and Zero 88 are now one buisness - a management team, R&D team, sales & marketing team, support team, etc fully focused on the Entertainment Industry.

 

<user mildly panicing...>

 

I hope Zero88 get to stay largely autonomous (although someone getting a solid grip of the software development process wouldn't be a bad thing). I'm not sure this Signify stuff makes me feel particularly comfortable at this point in time.

Edited June 28, 2021 by kgallen