[SML] Mac-based Lighting Control software: thoughts?

Wed Feb 11 14:21:44 UTC 2015

I understand they have improved but they had me at goodbye...  Same happened with hog 3 when they came out two years earlier than they should have.  Also the Maxxyz that only provided 511 Dmx channels because the engineers started at zero.   Now all three boards have to prove to me that they have grown up and become reliable.   Hog trashed the three series and became a reliable hog 4 , Maxxyz is gone and Is now the obtuse M1 and m2go line which I'm unwillingly programming this week.  

 Chamsys is Indeed some of the flying pigs.   Obviously their marketing scheme is to get students to use it and that's fine.  

Why would I worry about reboot time?  Consoles shouldn't crash..   Advertising a reboot time sets off warning bells.   Of course they do crash , they all do, but I wouldn't advertise reboot as a feature.  "Hey this car stalls a lot but the ignition is a champ, so restarting a bunch is easy".  :) 

I don't mean to trash the console and I'm sure it's appropriate for many.  Do they still only mirror the one center console screen on the outboard monitor? That was an early bugaboo.. I assume that's gotten better.  

Keep me posted if anyone starts using it in class.  I'm curious to hear about it.  

(Apologies for not trimming its a pita on the iPad )

Sent from my H-pad

Herrick Goldman
917-797-3624
www.HGlightingdesign.com

> On Feb 11, 2015, at 09:06, Ford Sellers <fsellers at chauvetlighting.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Herrick,
> I don’t know if you’ve looked at their stuff recently, but I think you might be surprised.
> Their actual consoles are pretty good.  They remind me a lot of the Hog II, but with some newer technology in them.  The MQ60, for instance has all of the basic stuff, with 12 universes of DMX (4 hardwired, or up to 12 via artnet), a built-in UPS, and the dest reboot time is like 10 seconds (as opposed to the minutes that are required for most consoles to get back up and running).
>  
> I’m not saying they are GrandMa, but they’re decent, and (in my limited experience with them) very stable.
>  
> I don’t even blame them for adding in all those extraneous letters (ok, just U) in their spellings… dang British.
>  
> Plus, I think Jon was looking for free/low price…
> As you said, “Ain’t no such thing as a free lunch” Tanstaafl
>  
> -Ford
>  
> From: Herrick Goldman [mailto:herrick at hglightingdesign.com] 
> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2015 8:50 AM
> To: Ford Sellers; Stagecraft Mailing List
> Cc: Jon Ares
> Subject: Re: [SML] Mac-based Lighting Control software: thoughts?
>  
> Yeah if only it didn't use magic to make the Q work....  I've touched that console before..   When it came out there were mis-spellings in the interface and the park function would park pan and tilt but not intensity.   Suffice to say I won't be using it for anything mission critical in the future.   Also never name any professional device "magic-anything".  It implies that there's a mystery in its functionality that we can't be expected to comprehend.  Would you expect uncle bill to use "magicmotr" to fly something over your head?
>  
> Free is good TANSTAAFL tho..  
>  
> I think Ma on pc software is free if you have a Dmx dongle. 
>  
>  
> 
> Sent from my H-pad
>  
> Herrick Goldman
> 917-797-3624
> www.HGlightingdesign.com
> 
> On Feb 11, 2015, at 08:38, Ford Sellers via Stagecraft <stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
> 
> I agree with Smashwolf,
> Chamsys' Magic DMX is pretty awesome.  And, they may give it to your students for free.
> " Colleges that run full time Lighting Design Courses where students are expected to have a profesional career in lighting, can apply to be part of a program that provides free MagicDMX Basic interfaces to the students.
> Please contact your local distributor or get your course teacher to fill out the MagicDMX Lighting Course"
> https://secure.chamsys.co.uk/en-us/
> https://secure.chamsys.co.uk/magicdmx
>  
> the Chamsys USA office is located in sunny Florida.
>  
> -Ford
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stagecraft [mailto:stagecraft-bounces at theatrical.net] On Behalf Of Jon Ares via Stagecraft
> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2015 12:02 AM
> To: Stagecraft Mailing List
> Subject: [SML] Mac-based Lighting Control software: thoughts?
>  
> Greetings all... as I await a DMX/USB interface (intended for testing and troubleshooting, not for running shows), I'm thinking of integrating said device or two for educational purposes... mini-light labs and the like - again, not necessarily for running shows (although I'm not ruling that out - let's see where this goes).  Any recommendations for Mac-based software consoles that are easy to use?
> (Just want students to learn the basics, but in a uber-portable way.) And I say Mac-based, cuz that's what we happen to have lying around the theatres.
>  
> Free is great... low-price is good, too.... but simple/easy is important. The purpose of this is to teach/explore the basics of the lights, dimmers, DMX, etc, not days/weeks of learning the software.
> Thoughts?
>  
> --
> Jon Ares
> www.arescreative.com
> Follow my twits @jon_ares
>  
>  
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