lights for a small band

Hi Randy,

The request you're making is difficult to reply to for several reasons. First of all, there are few (if any) systems on the market like the one you are interested in. I've seen some LED kits that are similar, but they're usually very restricted in functionality and probably won't fit your needs.

My advice would be to get the LED cans you want and then figure out how to control them the way you want to. Elation's units are nice, especially the TriLED or RGBW units. They will use DMX protocol, so you'll need a DMX controller as well. Find one that will accept MIDI triggering and then get a MIDI foot petal. With a bit of programming you should be able to make that work the way you want and have far more capability than a boxed system.

The other thing that's difficult to address is that I can't recommend any individual units to you. I don't know how big your venue is, how much ambient light you'll have, and many other factors. On the controller end, it comes down to what you personally like to program and run with (palette vs preset , chase vs cue stack...). For someone new to this it can be a daunting task. I would suggest you visit your local equipment dealer and talk to them. They should let you demo and try out the gear before you buy it. Since you say cost isn't as important, you'll want to get a system you like!

Hope this helps!

Something that will get you at least 90% (and maybe everything) you want would be to get a Magic 260 controller and then control it with a a Behringer FBC1010.

With this rig you can use the FBC1010 to select up to 100 "Shows." A "Show" is either a static light setting, or lighting setting in which the lights are changing over time, either with the beat via tap tempo or audio or with set changes at set times.

You would be able to cause a dim by selecting selecting a dim Show(eithet a black out or to a preset low light level) and set the fade time to whatever you want.

There may be a way to control the overall light intensity (master fader) with the FCB1010 pedals, but if there is, I'm not aware of it. you may have to compromise by setting the overall (master fader) by hand on the face of the M260.

The manual neither unit is all that clear as to how to do this. I would be able to walk you through it.

Randy, I have a small sound for hire and stage lighting production company in Stillwater OK. I want a similar type system for my own band. I have not found "exactly" what I want.

There are some foot switch controllers for DMX512 systems. I can't chew gum and walk at the same time, so I do not want to play bass in my own band and try to futz around with a foot switch controller that requires me to be fluent in knowing where I want to go quickly. The American DJ LED-T-FC is relatively new on the market (considering when I was trying to find something when I first got the LED fixtures). The LED-T-FC is dedicated to controlling just one single product, so that may not work for you. I also assume you saw the LS-80 LED system.

Thus my LEDs tend to get used mostly for the sound&lighting for hire company. We use a 24 channel Elation DMX512 board with six first generation ADJ P64LED fixtures.

I have seen some other products similar to the LS-80 LED system that had color changing LEDs and foot switch controls, but I do not recall any American DJ products' parts numbers...and to be candid, I suppose the other devices I saw were from a different manufacturer.

For what my opinion is worth, I own over 24 ADJ products and have owned at least that many more over the years. I have never returned any ADJ product for warranty or other repair. I have had a couple of other brands and felt the quality was inferior, so I don't do much shopping for gear from other brand names...

Again, take my advice with a grain of salt, but...I tend to use "par style fixtures" for stage wash which I tend to leave fairly static. We will "black out" and we will do some fading of intensity...and when running "for hire" for a hard working touring road act (lots of college age bands pass through our town) we will put one of the tech production crew (fancy name for soundman and roadie) on the task of operating the DMX-512 mixer...and the point I wanted to make is that having the sound "mixed out front" and someone sitting at that same table who controls the lighting lets you get a better show...

Oh, yeah, forgot...for "flash and attention getting" we usually use effects lights pointed towards the audience. If we use any Par fixtures for that, it is probably some spare Par 38 devices with gels on a LTS-50T tripod stand system with 10ft I-beam truss. While these Par 38 do "slightly" shine on the drummer and back light the band (nice for silloute the performers from behind)...but the main purpose is to put "color" in the eyes of the audience.

A lot of the outdoor shows we work have ambient lighting that really "washes out" the stage color wash effect...street lights, parking lot lighting, building security lights, signs from near by businesses...you would be surprised how bright that gets. So, sometimes, my small lighting system (regardless whether I take the traditional 500 Watt Par 64 or the newer P64LEDs) I find that we use very light colors to get as much light on the stage as possible to make the band more visible...and we use the color on the back line to shine in the audiences eyes and give them the hint of color...as often as not, when the 500 Watt Par 64 are on the down lighting for the band, I will take the LEDs and put them as back lighting. That way we can control the intensity of the LEDs for backlighting and "mood or emotion effect"...we can make the LEDs a much "darker" or more intense color of the same family of color on the front of the stage...for instance, we use a Roscolux #60 No Color Blue gel as one of the front colors and will use the darkest and most intense blue we can from the LEDs to suggest to the audience that what they are seeing is a "darker blue than they really see"...

Hey, it is theater of the mind...it's "show" business.

Best I got for you...

Good luck...