May 2016

Let's Talk Lighting Consoles
 
I am writing this while programming a show for the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky.  It's nice to have the opportunity to be out of the office and actually work on a show for a change.  I've had a couple of conversations onsite with various stagehands and other lighting folks about what my preferred lighting console is.  As we are creeping so very close to the due date for my newsletter article, I thought this would make an excellent topic to share with you, fine people.
 
On this particular show, I happen to be using a Road Hog 4.  This is what I would consider a pretty typical little corporate ballroom show.  I've got a stage wash, 3 logo gobos, 6 Vipers for effects and cyc looks, and 6 LED strip lights to provide color on the cyc.  It's starting to seem like this show is going to have somewhere in the vicinity of 35 cues, as well as a couple of handles for lecterns, stage wash, and backlights.  The Road Hog 4 is an entirely acceptable console for this show and is doing a fine job for me. 
 
With that out of the way, here are my thoughts on the lighting consoles on the market today.  I'm sure this is going to disappoint some folks, but I don't currently have a "favorite" right now.  I prefer either a grandMA2 or Hog 4 product,  but this has more to do with my personal comfort level with the programming hardware and nomenclature than any feeling that one manufacturer's product is better than another.  The best console is always the one that the programmer is most familiar and most comfortable with using. 
 
Allow me to wax nostalgic for a moment.  Personally,  I miss the grandMA hardware.  I liked the console layout, and I always felt like it did a good job of being small enough to keep the lighting FOH to a reasonable size while being big enough to provide ample faders and buttons for most shows.  But alas, as with our beloved Whole Hog II, the industry has moved on.  Currently, I find it to be a pretty even toss-up between MA2 and Hog 4.  I give a slight edge to the Hog 4 software, but I also think much of that stems from having spent a very long time with the Hog 2 console during my early years of moving light programming.  It is just comfortable for me.  I also spent lots of time on the Animator consoles, although I do not have the same warm and fuzzy feelings about the Animator line.
 
ETC consoles are still reliable platforms that always deserve consideration.  I must admit that they lost me in the early 90s when they insisted on clinging to a syntax, and cue structure that just didn't work well as moving lights became more and more prevalent.  I am aware that in the intervening years, ETC has done a much better job, and their consoles are still workhorses that deserve a good hard look.  I certainly know some LDs and programmers who do fantastic work on the ETC consoles, granted most are in the theatre end of the business.  Having said that, they are not on my short list when more than a couple of moving lights are involved.
 
Much like Hog consoles, Avolites will always have a special place in my mind.  I don't think anyone who ever ran a big show standing behind a QM500 will ever forget the feeling.  And so many rock shows from clubs to sheds have the Rolaque to thank for their high energy, crowd pleasing shows.  The new Avolites software and hardware platforms look fascinating to me.  I haven't had the opportunity to spend much time with them yet, but what I have seen leads me to believe that they will be a solid console choice for many years to come.
 
Honorable mentions go to the Martin M line of consoles and the MA dot consoles.  Honestly, I have no experience with the Martin consoles past the MAXXYZ.  I liked the software then, but the hardware left me wanting.  I hear good things about the current Martin consoles but haven't been around them enough to form an opinion.  The Dot line from MA are very functional consoles, although I question the proprietary operating system separate from - yet similar to - MA2.  I personally don't know that there is a great market for this type of entry level console, but the market will prove that out one way or another soon enough. 
 
Well, this reflects my current thinking on lighting consoles.  I know there are many I didn't take the space to mention.  Jands, Chamsys, Hedge Hog, and numerous others certainly have their pluses and minuses.  Please don't take my lack of mention for these consoles as an indication of their lacking quality or worthiness.  It is worth stating again that the best console you can have is the one you are most knowledgeable about and comfortable with.  If that happens to be an MA Scan Commander (from some 20 years ago), then make it sing, and bless your little heart.

Until next month, I leave you with the timeless wisdom of one Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”