Trying to decide which controller to buy...

Revision on my last post. I have 12 par cans.

Thanks,

jasonv

Hey Jason,
I haven't been in a band before, so take my advice or leave it It's all good
If I were you, I'd use a controller like the CC-2016 to run the lights, and then I'd have the intelligents do their thing automatically. If you have a simple controller for the intelligents (you didn't say which model/make) then you can simply flick them off when you don't want them, and run automatic when you want them on. The CC-2016 controllers just chase to the beat of the music.


Basically, I don't know if a programmable controller can do things specifically enough for you- such as have a certain set of lights doing certain things for a specified time. Most programmable controllers can do sequences but it's hard to make it all work in sync with the songs you play. It's hard for a band not to have a dedicated sound guy to catch some feedback and make instant adjustments and the same for lights. In my opinion, if you have a sound guy, then get the Operator Pro and have him/her run the lights also.

Good luck, hope I didn't make you more confused

Dan W
http://www.stage1sound.com
Mobile DJ Service
Minnesota

oh by the way welcome to the boards!

I would do the operator pro, since it was designed for just this situaltion. Intels combined with Pars/pins.

Sorry Resound, we can't allow links to competitors products. It may work for his situation, but we cannot comment, suggest, recommend or not recommend other manufacturers equipment here. Legal reasons.

The adj dmx operator pro wont work I dont think, because it says it can only handle 8 par fixtures , and he has 12... right idea though.
correct me if i'm wrong.


vm

well if he gets the DPDMX20L he can put two cans on the same channel.

-AMP

If it has 8 channels for pars he can set up a mirror set on the other side of stage using the same dmx channels and controll 16 pars with 8 channels. a dmx device does not know if others are called the same. turn on channel 1 and however many dimmers you set as that channel will operate the same.on one of my dimmer packs you can have all 8 outlets think they are the same channel.you could use 64 pars that way. in 8 groups.

good to know!

something that will help me now alot I think .

But you have to have a dimmer pack that will support that much power, be careful... you cannot do this on a dp dmx 20 dimmer pack.. with 500 watt bulbs. doubling the outlets that is, the pack cant handle that much power.


...I hate dimmer packs they are such a budget killer in my mind. I am making a new system for my school as well and its a pain to fit the boards budgets sometimes.

vm

If you want to run straight up scenes, go with a plain DMX operator. I started out with four mighty scans and two dimmer packs controlled by one DMX Operator. Pre program lots of "looks" before the show and play them back. Real easy, it just takes some time programming the desired scenes.

At the venue where I run/program lights. We have five trackspots and six DMX dimmer packs all controlled by one DMX operator. Works perfectly. We have banks dedicated to different "moods".

For example:
Bank 1-3 are the "rock" looks. Lots of color changes, bright punch effects, etc.

Bank 4-6 are the "chill" looks. Deep dim colors, some slow gobo scrolling via the trackspots.

Bank 5 is the "emo" bank. Nothing but deep colors

Bank 6 is the "hard core" bank. Los of red. some strobing on the intelligent lights.

Bank 7 is the solo page where the intelligent lights key in on a performer on stage (ie scene 1 is on the drummer, scene 2 is on the left guiter, etc)

(hopefully you get the idea)

This setup works well when you have someone who knows NOTHING about lights running lights. I am not there all the time and sometimes we have volunteers run lights. You can't screw up with pre programmed scenes.

Some pre programmed looks:

ok so i take it you play in this band...i don't know much about DMX but i am sure that there is some type of foot controller that would work for you...this would probably be the easiest way to cycle through scenes while playing

Did someone say FOOT CONTROLLER???!!
-AMP

Hey, thanks everybody for the advice. I'm giving the Operator a try with two DMX 20 dimmer packs. I considered a simple 8 channel on/off foot controller, but I think it would take the fun out of playing...and the results wouldn't look as good.

So, I'm giving the Operator ad try.

Thanks again!

Good luck and have fun....


I am not in a band, I am the lighting director of a concert venue here in Jacksonville called the Murray Hill Theatre

I play in a band that uses intelligent (auto spot 150's), effect (vertigo's, etc), color changers and par cans. We also MUST run it ourselves (this implies a foot controller).

I didn't think it would be so hard to put together a system, but I burned alot of money and time trying things out. Heres what finally worked for ME (ymmv, etc)

Creating my own chases for intelligent lights: I started off thinking I would just use the "auto" feature on the autospot 150's, and just use a on/off foot controller. When I saw what you could do by programming your own chases, I couldn't possibly go back to "auto mode". So I needed a controller with a bunch of chases. This ruled out the operator.

I spent a lot of time with less expensive controllers (operator, etc) and finally moved to the Show designer. I know its some money, but I found NOTHING short of this that was adequate. I bought mine as a refurb for under $500. It seemed overkill for me, but it was really the only thing that worked for me.

Foot controller:
Yikes!!!! what a pain in the butt! The DMX foot controllers are frankly a joke for anything but the most trivial needs. They are simply extreamly limited "dmx controllers" that allow you to cycle through your scenes with a foot button. And note that you can't "jump" over scenes. You have to cycle through all scenes to get to the desired one. Yuck. They also have limited chases, etc.

I spent hours and hours and hours looking for a small compact MIDI foot controller that would send midi note data (thats what you need to select scene info). I really only found one that would work. Fortunately it works very well and is very cheap (approx $100). Unfortunately its much bigger than you really need as it has two expression pedals included. I can't provide the name on this board, but email me if you'd like info. It starts with "B", so you can probably figure it out from there. I would have paid 5x as much for something smaller. Alas - I can find nothing.

Using MIDI I can connect this midi foot controller to the Show designer, and jump to any scene I want to with a touch of my foot.

To use this system with traditional PAR cans, you'll have to get a DMX dimmer pack. Personally - I'd dump the PARs and go with color changers or better yet, the Elation stage color. I have two and really like them. Because of the cost, you will probably run fewer cans overall, but the fact you can get a bunch of colors out of one PAR and they look real cool slowly fading from one color to the next, will make up for that. We used to run a "few dozen par can" show back in the 80's so I know how fun and cool it can look to get the beams going in cool patterns. You can achieve the same thing if you are programming your intells and have a few stage colors. This is another reason to stay away from auto on the intells.

I have programmed a bunch of scenes I can access from the MIDI foot controller. Works wonderfully.

Have fun.