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Author Topic: New lighting board from Eaton/Zero 88 FLX series  (Read 6561 times)

Scott Holtzman

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New lighting board from Eaton/Zero 88 FLX series
« on: April 16, 2018, 02:55:44 AM »

Has anyone had a look at these?  Very exciting price points.  Seems to bring the power of the big boy boards to a small operator price point.  Sure looks to be a ground breaking product.

Playback fader, palettes, programmable faders, 7" touchscreen, external touchscreen and keyboard support, remote app. et al... Quite a list.  Workflow looks very "pro" and automated fixture centric.

For $1500 I am fairly sure going to but one this quarter.

Any opinions or experience?


http://zero88.com/products/consoles/flxs/index.shtml

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Scott AKA "Skyking" Holtzman

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John Fruits

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Re: New lighting board from Eaton/Zero 88 FLX series
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2018, 05:50:01 AM »

Looks like an interesting console, have you found a US dealer?  Their current US distributor is Lehigh who doesn't even mention them on their website. 
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Jeff Lelko

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Re: New lighting board from Eaton/Zero 88 FLX series
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2018, 06:51:32 AM »

Interesting indeed.  I haven't seen this one yet!  On paper though it looks like it might be an excellent choice for those shopping in the $1-2000 price bracket.  Some may view the single (or upgradable to dual) universe as a limitation, but for the price you can't complain. 

One thing that jumps out to me is the lack of buttons.  I'm not sure if this just really pushes all its programming to the touchscreen or if you need to supply an external keyboard, but the 47 page manual is a bit sparse.  Either way I'd bet this has a lot of potential to compete with ETC's ColorSource series along with the Cognito. 

I'd really like to see one of these in person, and Scott if you're considering buying I'd strongly suggest a demo too.  John brings up a good point though - Zero88 doesn't have a huge presence in the US.  I learned that back when I was shopping for consoles 4 years ago, but maybe things have changed since then.  Good luck!

Edit:  Scott, where did you see a $1500 price tag?  The numbers I'm seeing are more in the $4-5000 bracket, at which point this might not be such a good deal...
« Last Edit: April 16, 2018, 07:18:00 AM by Jeff Lelko »
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Kevin McDonough

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Re: New lighting board from Eaton/Zero 88 FLX series
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2018, 07:25:15 AM »

Something that may interest you as a comparison is that Chamsys have also came out with a similar range of desks aimed at the same market, the Chamsys QuickQ....



http://www.chamsysquickq.com/
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duane massey

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Re: New lighting board from Eaton/Zero 88 FLX series
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2018, 10:49:35 AM »

I'm always looking for something to use in place of the Showdesigner series, and these look sexy, but not certain they are my next "go-to".
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Duane Massey
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Scott Holtzman

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Re: New lighting board from Eaton/Zero 88 FLX series
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2018, 01:51:30 PM »

Interesting indeed.  I haven't seen this one yet!  On paper though it looks like it might be an excellent choice for those shopping in the $1-2000 price bracket.  Some may view the single (or upgradable to dual) universe as a limitation, but for the price you can't complain. 

One thing that jumps out to me is the lack of buttons.  I'm not sure if this just really pushes all its programming to the touchscreen or if you need to supply an external keyboard, but the 47 page manual is a bit sparse.  Either way I'd bet this has a lot of potential to compete with ETC's ColorSource series along with the Cognito. 

I'd really like to see one of these in person, and Scott if you're considering buying I'd strongly suggest a demo too.  John brings up a good point though - Zero88 doesn't have a huge presence in the US.  I learned that back when I was shopping for consoles 4 years ago, but maybe things have changed since then.  Good luck!

Edit:  Scott, where did you see a $1500 price tag?  The numbers I'm seeing are more in the $4-5000 bracket, at which point this might not be such a good deal...

$1799 from Thomann shipped to US.  I figured they would be a bit less expensive when they arrive here. 

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Scott AKA "Skyking" Holtzman

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Scott Holtzman

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Re: New lighting board from Eaton/Zero 88 FLX series
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2018, 01:53:03 PM »

I'm always looking for something to use in place of the Showdesigner series, and these look sexy, but not certain they are my next "go-to".

Replacing Showdesigner and Magic260's is exactly what I had in mind.

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Scott AKA "Skyking" Holtzman

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Dave Garoutte

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Re: New lighting board from Eaton/Zero 88 FLX series
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2018, 03:41:27 PM »

If it only had flying faders. . .
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Scott Hofmann

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Re: New lighting board from Eaton/Zero 88 FLX series
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2018, 03:46:04 PM »

Replacing Showdesigner and Magic260's is exactly what I had in mind.
The Pathway Cognito2 is about a grand higher than the zero88 but the excellent tech support is priceless. Zero88 seems to have a good reputation in the UK though.
People tend to knock Lehigh but I've had great tech support from them on their older discontinued products. No idea how they support Zero88 stuff.
If you are considering purchase of the console, I would at least give Lehigh a call and discuss what their support efforts are.
« Last Edit: April 16, 2018, 03:50:46 PM by Scott Hofmann »
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Scott Hofmann

Jeff Lelko

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Re: New lighting board from Eaton/Zero 88 FLX series
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2018, 04:05:49 PM »

$1799 from Thomann shipped to US.  I figured they would be a bit less expensive when they arrive here.

Ah, I see what you're referencing now.  I had been looking at a model higher up in the series.  Zero88 is a reputable manufacturer, and once in a while I still run across something from the old Frog series.  The only real downside is their lack of widespread support and availability in the United States.  I'm not sure what getting service would entail on one of these, but at the same time it's still in the semi-disposable price range so that may not be an issue for you.

I'm far more excited to see how the new ChamSys series turns out!  At least with Chauvet handling the US distribution you shouldn't have any issues with service, and the ChamSys user community is pretty widespread and active.  Both of these products should really help to bridge the massive gap between the budget DJ boards and the $4000+ solutions for hardware consoles. 

A lot of it will come down to implementation, but hopefully with so many faders these desks can handle busking to some degree.  At least on the QuickQ 30 that's 50 faders at your fingertips.  The 10 playback faders are self-explanatory, but I'm really curious as to what you can put on the other 40.  If it's just fixture intensities I'd think it's a missed opportunity (but still useful for busking), whereas if you can put palettes and effects (similar to Cobalt) then it'd be quite a powerhouse.  The same argument goes for the Zero88 product. 

I'd still question how effective the programming syntax is if you're nearly 100% constrained to touchscreen input.  I know some people really like that sort of thing - I just tend to be much faster with physical buttons.  At least both desks include encoders, which is a nice step up from ColorSource.  I guess we'll just have to see how "diet" the software is on QuickQ versus the popular MagicQ!
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Re: New lighting board from Eaton/Zero 88 FLX series
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2018, 04:05:49 PM »


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