Hence my suggestion of Luminair as middle-ground.
That's not what I'm getting at. In my opinion Luminair would be a poor, if not at least cumbersome choice here because of the secondary equipment needed to get it working. The product has its niche and does it good job when utilized appropriately, but this isn't a good application for it.
IMHO the LC2412 is the worst light board ever made. A cheap NSI or Lightronics console, even a used one, would be far superior in terms of ease of use.
I don't think I'd go that far, but it's a different flavor of board when compared to others in a similar price bracket. I like mine, and it's held up well over the past 12 years and still works to this day. The board does feature a number of surprising features that usually aren't seen on products under $1k, but in compromise it can be rather difficult to program and even more difficult to modify programs after the fact. It'd work here too, but Scott P. would have to spend a little time getting to learn it.
My personal recommendation here would be a Chauvet Obey 10 or Obey 40, depending on how much that budget can be stretched. I honestly don't really care for the board due to its limited nature of control and obvious missing features (Grand Master, bump buttons, etc.), but it'll check the boxes, be easy (enough) to use, and comes in on budget. Just my personal input though!
