OT - Help with stage lighting recommendations?

[ChiefDanG]

It seems like you can get a decent, small setup (8 LED pars, DMX controller, stands) for under a grand. Was looking at a Chauvet Obey40 controller, but many reviews were negative as far as QC/flimsy feel/lack of memory.

OK, so this is for a weekend warrior rock band playing mostly small/medium rooms, and outside a lot when the weather is nice. What are you guys using?

I wanna be able to just hit a button to set a mood or highlight a soloist/singer - maybe 16 different scenes and a chase or 2. No dedicated light-person, just me on stage.

I find it hard to believe that cheaper controllers have no memory. Do they expect you to program all your scenes before you play? Is that why some controllers have USB, to load up your "show" ?

Anyhow, any recommendations or pointers are welcome.

Dan

[ElmerJFudd]

It's not a great state of affairs when Chauvet is getting poor reviews because a step down is typically American DJ. Although ADJ pricing is competitive.

[ChiefDanG]

Yeah-poking around seemed to always bring up the same three names - Chauvet, ADJ, and Entec(?? name escapes me right now). When I realized that ADJ was American DJ, I got the shivers remembering when I worked in a music store in 80s and having to deal with their junk back then.

[mate stubb]

The buttons on all those inexpensive Chauvet and ADJ controllers get flaky in time.

 

Careful, stage lighting can be like modular synths and crack. I bought a mid level system a couple years ago to play with and ended up spending about $6K.

 

I would give one piece of advice though - avoid the par cans with individual red, green, and blue LEDs. These give what they call the "lite brite" look, with multiple colored shadows which are very confusing and hard on the eye. It's old technology.

 

BOO HISS:

 

http://www.americanmusical.com/ItemImages/Large/81870.jpg

 

 

Instead get par cans with RGBW or RGBA elements integrated behind a lens. The color mixing is much better.

 

YAY:

 

http://www.adorama.com/images/Large/blq12puck.jpg

[mate stubb]

Look at Blizzard Lighting. They have good fixtures plus some of the all in one systems you mention.

[Stokely]

We play small/medium (mostly small) bars and clubs, and we were getting complaints about our lighting....being overkill. One member had gone berserk and starting buying lots of lights/lasers/fog machines you name it....he built this big frame that attached to his riser that had at least one laser and a whole assortment of lights. This in addition to our two side sets of lights that attached to our PA stack, 3 lights per side.

 

Really cool engineering but it was way overkill for most of the places we played in...and the lasers were bothering people...and most places don't like the fog machine thing LOL

 

So now we just have the 3 lite-brite type on each side and they seem to work great. I don't doubt that the other type mentioned above might be better though.

[mate stubb]

I'm doing a lighting gig Saturday for a 80s hair metal band reunion. It's going to be as foggy and flashy as I can make it LOL.

 

Lasers are dangerous. You cannot aim them where a person's eye has any chance of being.

[mate stubb]

And don't use fog machines. Use a water based hazer machine. It will light up the beams without choking your singers and setting off fire alarms.

[Kl285528]

Just bought a Chauvet 4 bar for 399. May get another. Simple to use, brought it to the gig in the box and hooked it up in 5 minutes. Two should light most bands in small venue.

[ChiefDanG]

Hey, K1285528 !

Are you using any sort of controller ?

Hoping to find some sort DMX controller that will give me easy access to 8-16 scenes, and the ability to retain these scenes in a memory. It's not clear (to me) if these little hardware boards (like Chauvet Obey 40) remember your programming once the power is off.

Thanks, Mate Stubb - that Puck Q12A looks like the way to go for fixtures. Do you have any experience with Blizzard controllers ?

[Kl285528]

No controller being used by me. There is a three button foot switch. One button for blackout, one for sound activation on and off, and one to step through preprogrammed scenes. I believe you can use a controller with them.

[Markman]

I use an Obey 10 for DJ gigs. It is made of metal (seems fairly robust) and I have had no issues with it at all (I chose the 10 for its smaller form-factor). The Obey 10 (and I assume the 40) retains the chases/scenes when you power it off - mine has saved the settings for months being powered off.

 

For lighting fixtures, I agree with the notion of avoiding the "lite brite" (i.e. Older technology) LEDs. The newer COB (Chip On Board) lights will give a more even wash, but you could go with the RGBA/W pars (should be less expensive). Either way, I think 4 pars would be fine for your application. The disadvantage of the Chauvet 4Bar product is that you cannot separate the pars - you may want the flexibility of spreading them out or perhaps having 2 pars on one side side of the stage and two on the other side. With separat pars you will, however, need cables (unless you go with a wireless DMX option = more $$$).

[b3maniac]

I've been using (2) of the Chauvet 4 BarTri with an Obey 70 controller for a few years with no problems. The Four Bar Tri units come with stands and a light weight carrying case. The fixture case is the least robust element out of all of the equipment. Cost of this set up would be about $1350 + the cost of

some DMX control cables. The Four Bar Tri units are pretty bright and do a good job. If you're playing small places, you can start with one Four Bar Tri unit and controller, then add a second Four Bar Tri unit later if you think you need it. Don

 

[mate stubb]

Here's a vid of my RGBAW based system, working on presets for the gig tomorrow.

 

[video:youtube]

[Brettymike]

Here's a vid of my RGBAW based system, working on presets for the gig tomorrow.

 

[video:youtube]

 

 

 

Everyone must be asleep here or something , these lights and fog system are Awesome!!

Brett

[vonnor]

I just recently got this system:

 

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m305/Koda_Vonnor/63be1a14-a607-4e14-a1ca-cf9b6882e633.jpg

 

I am running them in DMX 15chan mode using an Obey40 controller. The controller lets you set up 30 banks of 8 scenes per bank (240 total) and remembers the scenes after power off. It is not easy to program the individual par cans but it can be done. Up to 12 of these 4-can bars can be accessed via the controller and programmed, and on 15chan DMX mode the sliders control the following:

 

1. Operation mode for the bar (preset colors, auto chases, manual mode - to program you want manual mode)

2. Master dimmer

3. Strobe speed from Off to Epileptic Seizure.

4,5,6. RGB for can-1

7,8,9. RGB for can-2

10,11,12. RGB for can-3

13,14,15. RGB for can-4

16. Not a damn thing (bars are on 15-chan DMX)

 

Basically pick a fixture (bar) then set chan 1 slider to manual mode, pick RGB's for each can in the bar, set the dimmer if you want, then save it to a Bank/Scene number.

 

Easy way to program color symmetry is to turn one of the bars backwards and spin the cans around to point where you want them. Then just select both fixtures (bars) on the Obey40 before doing up the RGB's.

 

You can also use MIDI to do hard-cuts between scenes, strobe and blackout via note-on commands to the Obey40, but you can only access the 1st 15 banks (120 total scenes). I'm still working on programming my midi foot controller to do that.

 

~ vonnor