# Another High School Student



## ajblanck (Jun 19, 2009)

Hello All,

I'm a High School Student from Pennsylvania who runs and occasionally programs our high school's shows. I've been looking around ControlBooth for a while and the information here is really helpful. Our school is looking to by an ETC Ion this summer for our shows to replace our Colortran / Levaton Innovator. I think that the Ion will come in handy for our shows (our chorus concerts often run 150+ cues).

~ajblanck


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## DaveySimps (Jun 19, 2009)

Welcome! Glad to have you here. Be sure to check out the Wiki and the search function. Do not hesitate to jump in and start posting. Enjoy CB!

~Dave


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## Shakspeares suck (Jun 20, 2009)

ajblanck said:


> Hello All,
> 
> I'm a High School Student from Pennsylvania who runs and occasionally programs our high school's shows. I've been looking around ControlBooth for a while and the information here is really helpful. Our school is looking to by an ETC Ion this summer for our shows to replace our Colortran / Levaton Innovator. I think that the Ion will come in handy for our shows (our chorus concerts often run 150+ cues).
> 
> ~ajblanck



....but didnt you know? The Innovator is the best console ever!!!!!..................Maybe not, i would know i use one too...welcome to control booth nice to have you 

shaks


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## rochem (Jun 20, 2009)

ajblanck said:


> ...(our chorus concerts often run 150+ cues).



150 cues for a high school chorus concert? Whenever I have the great misfortune to have to run lights for our chorus concerts, it's basically a "lights up at the beginning, lights down at the end" kind of thing - I just push up a submaster, don't even bother programming it into a cue. I can't even fathom 150 cues for a high school chorus chorus - at least not our kind of chorus concerts.

Anyways, welcome to the booth! I'm also a high school tech, from upstate New York, about 15 minutes north of the NY/PA border. Stick around and have fun!


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## listerofsmeg (Jun 20, 2009)

Welcome to the Booth. Rochem, 150 cues are stranded for a high school shows with inhouse techs. Its different when using venues.

Edit: Stranded for us Aussies


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## soundlight (Jun 20, 2009)

Welcome aboard! The ION is a great board - very easy to use, and it will probably be an industry standard for a long time to come. So it's definitely a good board for a high school. I'll put up a show file for the light show that I'll be doing in August on the ION when I get there. We'll be getting our IONs soon - two of 'em, along with an RPU and focus remote.


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## ajblanck (Jun 20, 2009)

rochem said:


> 150 cues for a high school chorus concert? Whenever I have the great misfortune to have to run lights for our chorus concerts, it's basically a "lights up at the beginning, lights down at the end" kind of thing - I just push up a submaster, don't even bother programming it into a cue. I can't even fathom 150 cues for a high school chorus chorus - at least not our kind of chorus concerts.



Well, I see your point. Our chorus concerts are very unusual; they are more like mini-musicals. Our vocal director is cue-crazy to a fault; she seems to want a lighting change every 10 or so measures of music. Oh well, it keeps me busy. 


Shakspeares suck said:


> ....but didnt you know? The Innovator is the best console ever!!!!!..................Maybe not, i would know i use one too...welcome to control booth nice to have you



Yes, the Innovator is a very "interesting" board. Ours really wasn't that bad until the director decided to rent some moving lights for this year's performance of Joseph. Well, even though the Innovator has encoders, it really isn't the best thing to control six movers. After the musical, the Innovator decided that recording cues also meant rewriting the contents of submasters. Hence our desire for a replacement.


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## VanJohnson112 (Jun 21, 2009)

Hey, I am also a high school student and just recently joined Control Booth, I am a lighting tech running a Diversified Troubadour III, a ETC SmartFade ML, and a ETC Element. Welcome to Control Booth


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## chris325 (Jun 28, 2009)

My school is also trying to replace its aging, annoying Innovator with ETC. We plan to try to get an Element, I'd recommend it because of its design for smaller venues like high schools. (Thing is, because the Element is so new, it's pretty hard to find.)


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## gafftaper (Jun 29, 2009)

chris325 said:


> We plan to try to get an Element, I'd recommend it because of its design for smaller venues like high schools. (Thing is, because the Element is so new, it's pretty hard to find.)



I'm not sure that ETC has even started shipping the Element yet. It's VERY new. You are right it's a VERY good choice for schools with an all conventional inventory up to schools with a small number of intelligent lights and other DMX toys. The few high schools out there with a lot of intelligent lights should look at Ion. 

As I am a pretty happy Strand customer I would suggest you take a look at the Palette line as well. I'm very happy with my Classic Palette. Both brands are making consoles that are very powerful and easy to learn. Call you local dealer and arrange a demonstration.

EDIT: I just checked with a friend. ETC has *not* begun shipping Element to customers yet. It sounds like there aren't many demo models out yet either, so it may be very difficult for your local dealer to arrange a demo at this point. It's still VERY early in the production process. This isn't like the tricks some companies pull with low production runs of the latest gaming system at Christmas. ETC will get everything up and running full speed soon. They announced Element in March. Four months from announcement to actual delivery is very typical for something like this if there are no complications in getting parts ( 5 or 6 months is not unusual). My guess is that they will be easily available by the end of August, but that's just a guess.

Personally I haven't seen one yet and can't wait to check it out.


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