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[Karl P(eterson)]

I am looking at the options right now for a budget (ish) console (IE: Not necessarily a 5k console, but not a 40k either). That will be able to do the following:

- Not super hard to learn (moderate learning curve tolerable, some volunteers will be touching this system).

- Start small, but scale well (Shortly would be controlling a sensor rack, 15~30 Wigglers, color mixers, led fixtures, fog, strobe, haze, snow, etc etc)

- Ability to have good pre-programability, but easily deviate from that if necessary.

- Strong enough user interface to do stuff on the fly.


I am open to pretty much all options and ideas.

Let 'em fly!

Karl P

[Dan Brown]

Avolites Pearl 2004 w/graphics tablet $12-15000.
This would be my first choice.
sincerely,
db

[Luc Buytaert]

Try the Chamsys. You can start with a PC Wing if you have a small budget and later on go to the ChamSys MQ consoles.

Everything is compatible, software, interfaces, wings,.... And price is good.

Posibilities can be compared with a Hog2.

Have a look at: http://www.avl.be/chamsys.htm

Best regards,

Luc

[Michael E.]

Well what kind of budget are you talking about? There is $35,000 between the extremes of your figures, there is a LOT going on in there.

Sorry, not no volunteer is going to be able to do anything with any $5K+ moving light desk without a bunch of training. All you will end up with is a bunch of messed up cues.

Will everything be preprogrammed? How important are direct handles for the conventionals? Can you not do two desks? With unfamiliar users especially, it is going to be easier to get things done if one guy can focus on the conventionals and another on the intels. The Avolites stuff is great when you need both on one desk. I love them for festivals. The Hog and the MA stuff are one step up from the Avo in moving light abilities, but are much harder to do any kind of conventional work on the fly. I think you would be better off with something like an Expression AND a Hog.

[Karl P(eterson)]

For the price:

Ideally we would stick below the 20K mark, and anywhere over the 0 mark. Even still, It is well understood by the powers that be that if we are going to be playing with the numbers of fixtures we are talking about, we will need to pay the entry price. That is why I asked the question as I did, we could probably consider something all the way to 40K (If we needed to), but it would be better if it was under 20K.


I would not expect a volunteer to be able to sit down and start doing stuff in an hour. I would expect that after a month of learning it 10~15 hours a week, they would be able to start getting something respectable. I would also hope that it could be taught to another person (At least the technical aspects, that is) over a similar 1-monthish period (Maybe a better way would be to say 40~60 hours).

90% of its life will be pre-programed, although as I indicated, it is important that it be do-able, to wing something if we needed.

Handles for the conventionals would be (potentially very) helpful, but not 100% mandatory.

Sadly, due to booth space, and our utilization of every other inch of the place, we can not do two consoles.

I agree with the possible "Goodness" of having 2 operators, but due to the restrictions in space, as well as the desire to foster the development of techs who are capable of "creating" atmospheres on the fly (no small task, I understand), I think that 1 op will have to do for the moment.

I had been looking at the Frog consoles and Avolites, but was/am kind of in doubt whether or not the Frog range really had enough tactile control, or would scale quite as well as the Avolites, but on the flip side, I didn't know what prices the Avo's went for.

Hope this gives some more ideas,

Karl P

[Karl P(eterson)]

Is that really "All" they go for? That seems like a pretty good price for the offering.

I guess the only question is would the Sapphire make more sense from the handles side? If so, does anyone have any clue as to the price of this monster (with or without tablet) ?

Or would I maybe need to look for a used Sapphire instead of a new Pearl?

(All of this assuming the Avo is a good mix, that is)

Another thing I should mention: It will be used for a fairly equal parts Concert and Theater/Drama.

Just to clarify: I am trying to get down to LDI to try out the offerings, and then will try and bring them in to play with, but I am looking for as much "other" input out there as possible.

Karl P

[Dan Brown]

If you are looking for a console in the 20k range.  The Sapphire 2004 would be the one to go with. It is around that price.  Last time I checked it might have even been 18.5k.

Great board, very nice.

If you have the budget get that.

sincerely,
db

[Michael E.]

You can get into a Sapphire 2004 w/ tablet for well under 20K. From what you have told us, this seems like one of the best choices for your application. The Frogs wouldn't be a good choice for something of this scale, you need a real desk.

[Alex_C]

I'd say a Pearl 2004 would fit your requirements very well. Even as a sound guy, I could confidently program and operate a show on this thing after about an hour of playing with it. At the same time, it's a very powerful desk capable of a great performance.

I'm not really familiar with the Sapphire, so I'm not in a position to compare the two.

Alex

[Michael E.]

alexc wrote on Thu, 25 August 2005 14:34

I'm not really familiar with the Sapphire, so I'm not in a position to compare the two. Alex

Same dealeo, just the Sapphire has 5 more playbacks, isn't as packed onto the surface (there are groups of playbacks with digital displays above them instead of all in one line) and a bunch more conventional handles. No Rollacue on the latest models, just LCDs above everything - which isn't bad. I just like the rollacue because on festivals I don't have to remove my scribble tape and put it back on later.

If you can mess around on a Pearl the rest are basically the same (except the Azure b/c it only uses an external screen and you have to be familier with the different display else it all looks like French).