Matt Stoneback wrote on Sat, 08 January 2011 18:43 |
First, what exactly is the v2 Bryon Software? I have heard of it and that is about it.
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byron is the new version of vista...it adds a ton of features (like matricies and video effects...my favorite feature as you can pixel map leds- or any other fixture directly from the desk and play animated gifs over them) although it's still in the public beta stage of development
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I believe I just have the regular vista software downloaded onto my Mac Book Pro.
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likely as byron currently does not have a mac version available
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What are the benefits of Bryon?
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check out the manual and compare...there's a lot that's been changed
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Can I download the demo of Bryon like I could of Vista?
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yes, pc version only though at the current time
http://www.jandsvista.com/download/public-beta/Quote: |
Do all of the consoles now ship with Bryon or is it just a beta?
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still in beta...the desks don't even ship with the most current release of vista, but it's a free download off their site so i'd recommend updating the desk to the most recent version as soon as you get it
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I was thinking about getting either a license for a 512 or 1024 dongle. Which would you suggest? (I think the 1024 might be a little bigger than what I really need).
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that would depend entirely on the size of shows you're doing...if you need more channels later though you can upgrade your dongle and get a discount on a bigger size
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Third, is programming and playing back just through the Mac Book Pro a viable solution? I am looking towards purchasing a control surface, but the budget might only allow me to get a dongle. Is it a deal breaker if I don't have a surface?
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again this would depend on what you're programming...i do smaller shows with the pc only version and a usb/dmx dongle from time to time, and scale up as necessary
i find as soon as i'm running movers in an actual 'show' environment (ie. not a corporate one look type thing) that I like to have at least an s1 so i have the physical encoders to make positions and whatnot
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Fourth, when I do decide to get a surface, which would you suggest? M1, S1, S3?
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what you could do, depending on budget, would be to get multiple desks. the main shop i work for was looking at buying a lighting console around the 6-8k budget, with vista and an ipc being the options. i suggested this:
2 m1 + 256 channel dongle package (~$1700 each)
1 s1 + 1024 channel dongle package (~$4000)
which came in just under 8k, and gives them not one but three consoles (or one big console, as the desks will hook together via usb...dongles won't combine though), so they can send out just an m1/256 on a smaller show while sending the rest out on a mid to large show, or do two smaller, no mover shows and one small show with movers, or do a huge show with all of it, etc.
it's better to buy in this fashion than spring for an s3 and dongle for the same price, as you're increasing your versatility and don't need to send out a big desk to do a little show
a comparable system with say, hog pc, would consist of two playback wings, a programming wing, two widgits and one super widgit to get the same number of physical outputs and the same amount of hardware. the cost for this is well over $15,000, and that's probably a low estimate seeing as how hog wings are $3-5k each. half the price, just as much (or more) desk.
if you have to deal with riders, the only reason someone wouldn't accept vista (provided you supply a competent programmer to walk lds through the desk if they're unfamiliar) is that they're doing a fly in, are specing a specific rig and have their show on a disk/key. in 12 years of production, i've had this happen maybe twice, so on those occasions you can just cross rent what they need.
on strictly a cost vs cost basis for consoles, vista will give you more versatility at roughly half the price of other 'big boy' desks, not to mention the countless other great features
i've walked unskilled lighting guys through the desk and had them doing basic programming in under 15 minutes. try and do that with MA, Hog or Pearl
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Hi Matt, I've just gone through the same decision making process! For me it came down to Vista/Byron or Clarity by LSC. Both are excellent but I ended up going with Clarity as I found it much faster to program and much, much better for busking a show. The various playback options are great. I'm not sure how well known LSC is on your side of the globe? LSC and Jands are the two big ones here. There is a free demo download on the website. Most manufacturers have a free demo version, so try them all and see what suits your style of work. Darren
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only lsc board i've got any experience with is the old maxim, which goes into the pile of desks i'd rather never see on a show haha...hopefully they've made it better
vistas pretty decent for busking, although buskability generally depends on the size of the rig involved. if it's a huge rig (say, 40 movers, 128k of pars, strobes, blinders, and other crap) you need a lot of console to busk effectively. my house rig is a dozen movers, 36k and some acls, and the s3 i have is more than enough, even when i have to bring in more stuff