paulears Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 Charlie - playing with an off-line version of a product with no real lights on the end of it is NOT a basis for a recommendation of a very expensive piece of hardware. Is learning to fly on a simulator good enough to get in a real aircraft? Same thing with lighting controls. You sit with your off-line version, and I will call you on the phone and yell instructions at you in real time, just like people do every day of the week, and then, you can make your mind up. Assuming you have a load of moving lights patched to your virtual rig. Try this. Imagine it is coming over a headset. Great. They are all in the middle on the singer. Can two of them swing over to the drums for the bit when it goes boom boom in the next verse ........... Now!brilliant. Standby for them to go back again.......Go.Can they all slowly spread out into a line ........ Goget ready to go green on all movers and stage wash ....... standby ............ NO - go red Go. Can you remember what we did on the drum solo? I want it again, but this time in yellow, and strobing? ........Go. Can your virtual control do these things, and most importantly, did the lights do what the person wanted? This kind of thing is typical in terms of request. How easy and quick is making the lights do what is asked. How easy is it to grab just the fixtures you want, make them go somewhere else, and change colour? How simple are groups and pallettes to use. How awkward is it to label things in a hurry? You cannot stick lecky tape and a sharpie onto a virtual desk. Some very popular controls are difficult to busk on, others much easier. Others can be both depending on the skill and knowledge of the op, but getting up to speed takes a very long time. See the problem with recommending things you have not USED in a real situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leejlight Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 Have you looked at School Kits, my school found it easier to do it this way rather than buying individual items? Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.elsbury Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 And what is a "School Kit" ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommulliner Posted August 29, 2009 Author Share Posted August 29, 2009 found it easier to do it this way rather than buying individual items? We arn't buying all the items individually, just the desk, and the supplier may get us that too, I am just looking at a desk that I can recomend to the school to buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamienip Posted August 29, 2009 Share Posted August 29, 2009 Dare I suggest a Hog 500??? Clicky It is not quite as good as a 1000/2/3/roadhog, however, IMO it is reasonably idiot proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leejlight Posted August 30, 2009 Share Posted August 30, 2009 And what is a "School Kit" ? Its a range of lighting equipment that come in kit form i.e. desk, dimmers, cables, lanterns etc to suit your school hall or similar. found it easier to do it this way rather than buying individual items? We arn't buying all the items individually, just the desk, and the supplier may get us that too, I am just looking at a desk that I can recomend to the school to buy. Ok, you did mention in your first post that your school was getting new lights aswell so I'd thought you might be after some other equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlieH Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 OK Paul, I get your point; I was merely saying that it seems alright, and I (I think!!) would be happy to use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 The Jands Hog 500 is a nice little desk. Takes a while to get used to it, but it can do pretty well everything you want, in a small box. The LCD screen is big enough to display all the main functions, but an external monitor is always handy. It still uses floppys though - and these are getting a bit rare now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bleasdale Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 I cant really comment on the Hog 500... I am a Hog 3 guy. The Hog 500 runs Hog 2 software. I little work of warning however. The Hog 2 software is no longer in development (they stopped a long time ago). However new fixtures can be created in a number of ways - the main one being Denis Hessenberger's Library Creation software for the Wholehog 2 software. You can get 500's fairly cheap now and they are still stable as ever, remember Hog 2 was an industry standard. If you got a 500, you can learn the software quite easily and still have a good infentory of tools for a good price. Then when you leave school there are still alot of Hog 2s around running gigs so you will be able to use them, and it will also ensure a good transition to the newer Wholehog 3 software to take your programming abilities further. I would take Pauls advice considering he owns a Hog 600. It would be a good step for you. Questions specific to Hog 2 software can usually be answered in the Lighting forum, but if you dont get manay replies there... the HES support forum still has a section for the Wholehog 2 software. http://forums.highend.com/ Whatever choice you make, be sure that it is one that can last for other students to come and that doesnt require to much capitol or time. Ohh and avoid a PC based system at all costs. They are hard to look after, program with and it will cause far more trouble than a console - trust me! Best! EDIT: To add comment about PC based systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 AC have a brand new one for two grand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simschr Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 I'm fairly sure the console is still a current product available from Jands? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommulliner Posted September 9, 2009 Author Share Posted September 9, 2009 Well, an update, I told the school about the jester ML24 today, and they said that it was well out price wise!, so we will probably keep our alcora for norman lanterns etc, and get something computerised to use the movers with.Its a shame we cant get a jands or a jester, but it is a school and we would only use it like 2-3 times a year (personally, I dont see why we can't continue hiring!!!) but hey ho, the dream will live on!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommulliner Posted September 10, 2009 Author Share Posted September 10, 2009 Does anyone know of a suitable computer based thinggy (sorry, I dont know much about computer controll for movers) for a school with two movers? (we cant spend much!!) >£1000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Here we go again. This just confirms what we all keep going on about, and then getting slammed for being negative on schools going clever. A school have said they are going to buy movers. We started talking about a Vista, it went to a 1500 budget, which eventually turns out to be no budget. They are buying movers and have not planned the budget to actually make them waggle. So now we're down at the entec dongle and free software end of the market. How strange. What a waste of time, effort and budget. What is clear is that the school have no clue whatsoever about what equipment they really need. Instead of working out what they want equipment for - as in what will the benefit to the students be, they just steamed into an area they have shown themselves to be severely out of their depth in. BTEC say quite clearly in the popular lighting unit that there is no necessity for automated lighting equipment to run a unit - this is a pretty clear indication that clever lights are not required for good student results. If the school don't do BTEC, then there is even less need for automated lighting as it's not on the list for A level either. GCSE drama don't need it, so why are they buying movers? Seems a lot of money pointed in the wrong direction. Why do people insist on wanting to buy toys to play with in schools and colleges? All the suggestions people have made about what to buy here are really wasted if the school don't have the budget to buy anything! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedd Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 If you're desperate to go the computerised route (I'll echo all the above comments about keeping hardware based wherever possible), we've been playing with the products from ChamSys. You can get the software as a free download to play with first (bit of a learning curve, but we're getting there!) and then add an inteface or better still one of their wings. If you're not spending the whole £1000 on the kit, I'd suggest a good touchscreen if you're running anything PC based. But I have to say......If your school are making an investment in some moving lights and are hoping to see good results from them (all the usual movers in schools arguments aside) then they need to think about investing in the control surface as well. My personal preference would be to go for a more expensive, better specified and more industry acceptable desk, which will handle movers, then hire them in for your shows. In such a case, I'd be suggesting a Pearl Tiger as the way forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.