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ARTICLE - GUIDE - CHOOSING A MOVING LIGHT CONSOLE |
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Choosing a console for moving lights
This information was compiled from a workshop held at Spectra Rental Company in Stockholm by Bullen Lagerbielke, Thijs Wiessing and Ulf Sandström. The focus of the workshop was to destill the important points when you are choosing a console for running moving lights. The three involved speakers have a combined experience of theatre, show, television and event lighting situations involving all types of consoles like Avolites, Hog, Varilite Artisan, Avab VLC & Pronto.
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To know what is important when choosing a console for moving lights, it is equally important to know what kind of moving lights it will be used for, and what kind of lighting situations it will be used in. After discussing different types of moving lights, the lack of standardisation and odd products, the workshop ended in a collection of questions that seem relevant when facing a choice of a lighting console for moving lights.
Lighting Situations
- Will it be used for theatre, television, show, music or disco?
- Is it important to be able to improvise, or is the possibility to program everything and run from a Go button more vital?
- Is the lighting designer and the board operator the same person?
Quality
- What situations will the hardware be put through in means of different users, transportation, reliability?
- What is the life expectancy of this investment, and how long will the manufacturer/sales company support the product?
Learning Curve
- How many operators need to learn the console?
- Is it common, making it easy to find replacement operators if necessary?
- Does it have a high or low learning curve?
- How well is it documented, and how are the manuals?
- What is the support of the manufacturer?
- Is it possible to work fast, and improvise?
Specific Functions
(in no specific order)
- Do you need many masters?
- Will you be using Time Code in any situation?
- Will input devices such as touch screens work in daylight on an outdoor venue?
- Are there multiple sequences, and are they needed?
- Is there a possibility to set effect timing in BPM?
- What kind of effect generator is available for moving lights?
- Are there templates/personalities for many types of moving lights, and is it possible to add your own?
- Are there reference presets (focuses, palettes) for moving light data?
- Does the console handle LTP and/or HTP and how?
- Can you set time per parameter in a moving device?
- Is it possible to invert pan/tilt per moving light?
- Is there a Flip function for repositioning moving heads during programming?
- Are the command syntaxes that are available for selecting channels and levels fast and efficient?
Security
- What happens when the power is cut?
- Is there a backup, can it be run tracking online?
Installation And Options
- Is there Ethernet output directly?
- Is there a remote control?
- Is it possible to print a show?
- How many screens are needed, and how many are possible?
- How is MIDI and Time Code handled?
Outer factors
- Is it Ergonomic?
- Is it attractive as a tool?
- Is the size appropriate for its use?
And last of all the most important feature of them all:
What is the price tag?
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