In case people didn’t know I am a man. I state this fact only to tell you that I don’t read manuals. In previous posts I mention that we upgraded our lighting console to Jands Vista consoles. One of the reasons that I picked the Vista T2 was that the on site training was included. Well, this week Steve Irwin came out and did some training for the volunteers and myself.
As stated before, we chose the Vista because it was easy to use and much more familiar to computer users. That being said, it is also a very powerful and expandable lighting platform. While I was doing pretty well handling the programming needs of regular services, I was glad to get some expert training.
The best part of the training was seeing the volunteers finally get why I was so excited about the Vista. Both JT and Greg each had their moments when they saw things that excited them. At first I thought that I would get the training and then teach the volunteers. I t was much better to have JT and Greg learn from Steve because they asked questions that I would not have due to their different experiences programming. JT for instance does more concert style programming for student events; where I do more cue to cue style programming. With Steve’s vast experience in lighting and programming, he was able to show us how we could use the Vista in both scenarios.
Just this week, I have already applied things from training that are making me a faster and better programmer. Steve was able to train on the console, but also extended the training by giving many general programming tips along the way. At the beginning of this week, I was wishing that training was not going to take two days out of my crazy week but at the end of the week, I’m glad that it did.
This Sunday I will say goodbye to the first lighting console that I ever programmed on. We have not had too much trouble with the Avolites Pearl console other then floppy drives going out. So why make the change? We have just made a switch in the way that we program. When I started working with the lights it was very manual and not much programming. Over the time that we have gone to the other extreme. Today we program cue to cue for all three services. Avo has a theater stack mode, but it is not the most user friendly to work with and I started looking for something different. I spent much time reviewing products and got as many recommendations as I could. All roads seemed to lead to one place, Jands Vista products.
There is lots to love about the Vista product line. You can start with a PC or Mac based solution with just 128 DMX channels or have a large console with 8 or more DMX universes. We decided that it was a full range solution that we could standardize on campus wide. It also gives us the ability to make changes from our workstations. We had a way to program the Avo on the computer, but it is very slow process. Vista is almost as fast to program on your computer as it is on the console.
So we bit the bullet and purchased a Vista T2 for the worship center and a Vista S1 for both the new gym and the LYF center. Now our lighting operators should be comfortable in all the rooms with lighting on campus. All should be in on Monday and ready to go for next Sunday. Just remember, is it Jands Vista and not Microsoft Windows Vista. Friends don’t let friends use Windows let alone Windows Vista.
This afternoon I spent some time hanging lights we are trying out. I’m looking for some architectural lighting options as well as some added color changers. I’m somewhat new to lighting systems and design, and I have really enjoyed learning what I have so far. The one thing that I have learned the hard way is the value of color mixing fixtures. I spend much of my programming time building transition cues to compensate for lights that don’t color mix. The fixtures that I’m testing this weekend are the 
