A scene is simply not complex enough for my application. For example, I intend to create an opening sequence with the two movers going what appears to be randomly around, trying to bring attention to the stage at the start of the show and blinking stage-aimed cans. There will be little to no cohesion between these events, but will be sequenced to non-existant music(which will be provided later, I will get beat and length definitions later on).
Also, during some points of the show, I wish to have the movers again moving around, but have the lights switch to different colors or different color banks in timings that won't necessarily line up with that of the movers. Also, I may wish the movers to move fast, but the color changers to change slower, or vice versa with dimmming time being a factor as well.
I really don't have time to memorize or name scenes, much less remember what the heck I programmed, even if I document it. Working 120+ hours a week between the various things I do, I try to remember as little as possible. I also never get time at an event to program my DMX Operator. My clients typically thing this is magic that takes no time to set up, so programming is flat out out of the question. If I can design my "show" off-line, that would be a major time saver and I can see what I think I'm going to do.
Input of an external DMX controller is a must. Why? Back-up in case of failure on the computer. Also, in many cases, a lot of my events will require the computer for a different task at the beginning of the event(say, archiving contents of digital camera memory cards so the cards can be re-used), but by the time the music truly starts, the computer will be back in position. I can also use the controller to do a manual over-ride. Then again, I might just want to screw with something that is running for whatever reason. In a live environment, look at the weak point and see where you can build in redundancy. Requiring controller input saves me if my computer should take a dump on me mid-show. If a DigiCo Live D5 audio console can take a poop on you mid-show and crash in the middle of a song and bring things to a halt for 5 minutes, why couldn't the same thing happen to a a lighting computer?
Now, despite the fact that my controller can be triggered via MIDI, it is only valid for scenes. Not good enough. Not bad, just not sufficient enough for my application. What if I want control over dimmer times? I just need more control.
My goal is to have a show director. I just want to do sound. Get a lighting operator, get a video director(maybe the show director) and able to switch the active camera going to BetaCam SP. We are designing things around 30 minute sets with a 1 minute break between sets to facilitate tape changes. Recording to tape is faster and more convenient(and reliable) than going direct to DVD-R or CD-R, and it takes less time to change media.
The bottom line doesn't come down to price, it comes to features, THEN price. If the Elation product(which I've already downloaded, just not installed anything yet) is more feature rich, then that's good.
I've already printed scene sheets for my DMX operator(Channel, value, description). It is hard to visualize when you're working in the living room with 6 dimmer packs and no lights connected up. Now adding DMX fixtures, well, that's just more complication.
I'm ordering my movers tomorrow. I'll order a pair of some intel scanners when they go on special or something. I'm ordering follow-spots later in the week. After AES, I make my final decision as to my wireless IEM configuration. I'm also probably going to take out of active production 3 channels of wireless to replace them with 4-10 additional channels of true diversity UHF.