What to get?

Is it possible to dim a fixture that doesn't haven dimming built in to the fixture itself. If I remember, the DJ Scan250's do not have built in dimming capabilities. Someone please correct me on this though if I am mistaken. OR do you need dimming capabilities for other lights, like pars?

Aside from that, I'd recommend the Show Designer. Any model of it is great. I use the original model and it gives me 1024 scenes and 256 chases (with up to 256 steps each I believe) and many, many other features. It gives me outstanding control over my shows.

The best part is that the software can be updated as needed. Plus, there are a bunch of great users on this and the other message board that can help you out if you have a question or nine about it.

That's just my two cents on the subject.

I dont think the original Show Designer has a master dimmer on it (the newer ones dont). The Operator Pro is probably what your looking for. It has control for 8 channels on the dimmer half of the board (they follow a master fader so its great for cans) and it has 8 intels (16 channels each) to play with on the other half of the controller. It has plenty of scenes, I just felt limited w/ only 6 chases for the cans and 6 chases/shows for the intels. Its a pretty inexpensive unit too. I do live bands and I wanted more intels and a lot more control over my shows (more like a real concert where each song has its own show/scenes/chases) so I upgraded to the ShowDesigner 2d, but I used the Operator Pro for a while (still have it). For DJing I think the Op Pro is a pretty good fit. Its easy to run your chases synced to audio, to tap, or a specific time setting from 0.1 sec to 10 minutes. Here's the URL: http://www.americandj.com/product.asp?ProductIDNumber=1400&cat=DMX_Controllers

Let me know if you have any questions about it. I used this unit quite a bit.

--Kevin

Thank you both. I did a little more diggin and I like the Show Designer 1 a lot. I also found two other boards, the Show Q and Stage Q. Anyone have any thoughts on those two boards or the Show Designer.

Will

I also agree with kev, I think the board for you would be the operator pro. I own the board and can say it is a great board because of its hybrid design. There is also the ability to essentially create unlimited amounts of scenes and chases through the use of the flash card, however from personal experience the flash card leaves a lot to be desired at this time but the bugs should be worked out within the next few months as i'm told by adj.