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Author Topic: Upgrade or add?  (Read 4422 times)

Jeff Lelko

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Re: Upgrade or add?
« Reply #10 on: November 11, 2019, 07:23:55 PM »

I was going to suggest light bars - now I see they're called "Batten Lights" - thanks Jeff!
...

Another way to create movement with fixed pars, is to create some scenes where some of the lights are not on at all. Followed with another scene that has different lights that are off. That's how you did it back when they were gel'd par cans - still works today.

Bars, battens, strips...  In this context they’re usually all the same!  Theater land is a different world of jargon, but at least here we all seem to speak the same language.

What you explain about movement is what I was trying to poke at when I say tasteful programming.  A dozen LED Pars in the hands of an experienced programmer can work wonders - no haze or moving lights needed.  Tying into what Mark said, you generally want these to be all of the same fixture (or at least same series of fixture).  I’ve seen a mixture of COLORdash Par sizes alternated tastefully, but a random collection of lights not so much. 

David, my only caution about the bars is that they’re a fixed length.  While they might fit your rig now, if you choose to expand your setup again in the future you’ll be at odds as to how to integrate them.  This is where using individual Pars will shine.  While no, you won’t get a dozen of them in a 1m stick, you can add/subtract and space them as needed depending on your setup.  The ADJ Mega Hex Par is currently my favorite sub-$100 LED Par.  While they’re not terribly bright and use too much plastic for my preference, for their price they’re a bargain for truss warming and eye candy (which is what I do with mine).  You can buy a dozen of those for the price of 2(ish) decent LED bars and will have far more versatility with them.  Just for food for though.  Good luck!
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David Junius

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Re: Upgrade or add?
« Reply #11 on: November 11, 2019, 09:08:07 PM »

Bars, battens, strips...  In this context they’re usually all the same!  Theater land is a different world of jargon, but at least here we all seem to speak the same language.

What you explain about movement is what I was trying to poke at when I say tasteful programming.  A dozen LED Pars in the hands of an experienced programmer can work wonders - no haze or moving lights needed.  Tying into what Mark said, you generally want these to be all of the same fixture (or at least same series of fixture).  I’ve seen a mixture of COLORdash Par sizes alternated tastefully, but a random collection of lights not so much. 

David, my only caution about the bars is that they’re a fixed length.  While they might fit your rig now, if you choose to expand your setup again in the future you’ll be at odds as to how to integrate them.  This is where using individual Pars will shine.  While no, you won’t get a dozen of them in a 1m stick, you can add/subtract and space them as needed depending on your setup.  The ADJ Mega Hex Par is currently my favorite sub-$100 LED Par.  While they’re not terribly bright and use too much plastic for my preference, for their price they’re a bargain for truss warming and eye candy (which is what I do with mine).  You can buy a dozen of those for the price of 2(ish) decent LED bars and will have far more versatility with them.  Just for food for though.  Good luck!

Well I didn’t take that into consideration. I do know that Chauvet batten comes in 2 sizes, and both sizes can play nice together and appear as one larger fixture. I will have to look into those pars though. I can see that with the right clamps, those could mount the same as the batten fixture and do basically the same thing minus lights on the fixture itself chasing. Plus using more pars probably will eat up less channels than battens so I could eventually add movers without having to add another universe. This definitely has me rethinking how I want to approach this. It’s also ironic that I just came across a YouTube video talking about using only par cans for a lighting rig!

Thanks
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Jeff Lelko

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Re: Upgrade or add?
« Reply #12 on: November 11, 2019, 09:21:15 PM »

Well I didn’t take that into consideration. I do know that Chauvet batten comes in 2 sizes, and both sizes can play nice together and appear as one larger fixture.

They do (as do many of the pixel/bar/strip/batten products), but unless you need to make an odd/large continuous length with them then this probably won’t apply to you.  Otherwise, yes, Pars tend to be far more versatile than bars.  The overall “look” you’re trying to achieve falls into the artistic portion of lighting design which is where only you can decide what the right choice is for your application, but there’s a reason why I have around 5 dozen Pars in inventory and 0 bars. 

In terms of channels, it all depends on fixture modes, but there are several ways to tackle the problem if you’re running out of channels on your controller.  Best of luck with your decision!
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David Junius

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Re: Upgrade or add?
« Reply #13 on: November 12, 2019, 08:04:37 AM »

They do (as do many of the pixel/bar/strip/batten products), but unless you need to make an odd/large continuous length with them then this probably won’t apply to you.  Otherwise, yes, Pars tend to be far more versatile than bars.  The overall “look” you’re trying to achieve falls into the artistic portion of lighting design which is where only you can decide what the right choice is for your application, but there’s a reason why I have around 5 dozen Pars in inventory and 0 bars. 

In terms of channels, it all depends on fixture modes, but there are several ways to tackle the problem if you’re running out of channels on your controller.  Best of luck with your decision!

Thanks Jeff,
This has brought a whole new insight as to how I should approach this next step in my lighting rig. I’ll definitely look into those cheap adj pars. I can see how depending on how they are used( like eye candy effects) that overall brightness isn’t as much a concern since they won’t be actually trying to light a particular object. I’ve very comfortable in knowing where the scientific and artistic elements of sound separate and combine, but due to my novice experience with lighting haven’t learned that yet. I can see though that 2 dozen of those cheap pars is equal in price to 2 decent moving wash lights yet my mileage will be much higher with 2 dozen pars versus 2 moving wash lights.

So I think what my plan will be is to expand my inventory of pars. Then step 2 will be to add more truss to inventory and get more of a professional look on stage and then see where I’m at and what my needs are at that time as to adding different fixtures to the inventory. Thanks again everyone for your input.

David
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Steve Garris

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Re: Upgrade or add?
« Reply #14 on: November 13, 2019, 12:40:34 PM »

One thing I’ve noticed with the battens, not all have individual pixel control. Some only control sections at a time. I’m sure they will integrate with my software, but since I haven’t used them I’ll have to figure that out. I know Chauvet has one, colordash batten and I’ve seen those on a show. Blizzard just came out with one that’s a little different called the spektACL. looks interesting to say the least.
As far as movement with pars, I’ve been doing that some. The vista software has some FX built in so I’ve been using those for now and need to spend more time messing with it to get more proficient. My biggest problem is that I start with the idea that I’ll do x, and then I see that for a little more money I can do y, and then if I’m going to spend that much I might as well just do z. They I realize I’m planning on spending 3 times my original amount and start all over. So right now the general consensus is the battens with upgrading my front wash soon thereafter to have a common fixture across the whole front and then look into more truss totems for additional lights. Sounds like I have a plan!

Thanks guys,
David

Yes, since my last post I had to program a light show with Chauvet Colorband T3's on the back walls. I don't like this fixture at all. Only 3 colors, and they don't even seem to emanate from the same place on the diodes. Each light has 12 led's in 3 groups. Not very bright, and the auto programs are kind of slow, and are based on sound activation.

I have an old ADJ MegaBar RGBA that actually kicks ass! It's super bright, and looks good even when running in sound active mode. It's 42" long, about 2" longer than the Chauvet Colorband, and the addition of amber makes it much better IMO.
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David Junius

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Re: Upgrade or add?
« Reply #15 on: November 13, 2019, 04:01:05 PM »

Yes, since my last post I had to program a light show with Chauvet Colorband T3's on the back walls. I don't like this fixture at all. Only 3 colors, and they don't even seem to emanate from the same place on the diodes. Each light has 12 led's in 3 groups. Not very bright, and the auto programs are kind of slow, and are based on sound activation.

I have an old ADJ MegaBar RGBA that actually kicks ass! It's super bright, and looks good even when running in sound active mode. It's 42" long, about 2" longer than the Chauvet Colorband, and the addition of amber makes it much better IMO.

Well the actual fixture I was looking at was the Chauvet pro colordash batten quad. Comes 6 or 12. Has pixel control and seemed bright on the one outdoor show where I saw it used. I’m really liking that ADJ hex par fixture though and think I’ll buy 8 of those soon to play with. Plus there’s a chance they are actually brighter than my current pars. But for the price I really can’t go wrong just for eye candy. 8 of those pars will be cheaper than 2 of the battens I was looking at.

David
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duane massey

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Re: Upgrade or add?
« Reply #16 on: November 13, 2019, 08:38:17 PM »

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Duane Massey
Technician, musician, stubborn old guy
Houston, Texas

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Upgrade or add?
« Reply #16 on: November 13, 2019, 08:38:17 PM »


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