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[Tim Weaver]

How do they stack up in a pretty large rig (8 universes right now)?

Which do you prefer? Why? Which is easier to tech a volunteer on?


My new job (big church) has the Onyx stuff, but in January there will be a big remodel so if I wanted to change desks that would be the time to do it. I'm familiar with MagicQ and I like it a lot. I know next to nothing about Onyx, but that is what they have here.

What's your take between these two? BTW, before you say MA, I'm not spending that kind of money. I'll have like 4 or 5 systems in this church. Got to keep it reasonable.

[John L Nobile]

BTW, before you say MA, I'm not spending that kind of money. I'll have like 4 or 5 systems in this church. Got to keep it reasonable.

MA3 on PC might fit your budget. I have MA2 on PC and most of the LD's use it unless they're traveling with their own MA3. Seems like a very powerful platform that I'll never get my head around.

[Jeff Lelko]

Hey Tim,

I don't think I'd call myself "really familiar" with either of your options, but if nothing else I'd vote for MagicQ simply because of its larger user base and general acceptance within the industry.  At least from my perspective Onyx hasn't really gone anywhere since the buy-out from Martin, and even then was only seen as a very budget option as a PC controller.

How much of an investment are you considering?  I'd agree that a proper MA3 system isn't on the table, but an army of Hedgehog 4s might be doable.  You'd need to expand on the 8 universe part as the Hedgehog can only support 6 universes out of the box, but depending on how your 4-5 systems are set up you could do something like 4 Hedgehogs and a Road Hog?

Alternatively, what about something like a central unit such as the Hog 4 HPU (64 universes) with multiple control surfaces mapped in to control ~8 universes to each location in the church?  There'd be some intricacies here that would need addressing but it might come out cheaper and easier to wrangle once set up versus buying 5 "entry level pro" consoles to juggle around.

Hope this helps!

[Tommy Nikiforov]

Ive toured both, and installed both.

Out of the 2 , MagicQ is vastly superior, has a much larger userbase , excellent support, just in general the better option IMHO.

Onyx technically has a "better" pixelmapper, but that is just because the MagicQ one is a little complicated to get the hang of.

Additionally ChamSys gives you 64 free universes out of the box. on any old pc you got kicking around.

Consoles go from 8 to 256 universes, no "processing boxes" needed.

[Tim Hite]

How do they stack up in a pretty large rig (8 universes right now)?

Which do you prefer? Why? Which is easier to tech a volunteer on?


My new job (big church) has the Onyx stuff, but in January there will be a big remodel so if I wanted to change desks that would be the time to do it. I'm familiar with MagicQ and I like it a lot. I know next to nothing about Onyx, but that is what they have here.

What's your take between these two? BTW, before you say MA, I'm not spending that kind of money. I'll have like 4 or 5 systems in this church. Got to keep it reasonable.

I'm using MQ on PC and it's been just fine. A $300 Entice node got me 2 universes run over ArtNet on the show network I already cart around for audio console control. I've heard the MQ50 is a bit slow and that the MQ70 is more desirable as channel counts go up. The PC solution has got me through 2 seasons now and I don't feel rushed to buy a console. Learning hte MQ software was pretty simple for someone who didn't know anything much about modern lighting consoles.

[ProSoundWeb Community]