ETC’s Unison Echo family just got more powerful. New common v3.1 operating software adds customer-requested features to the architectural control system, including tuneable white and sequence control for the Echo DMX Scene Controller, and more.
DMX Scene Controller can now control tuneable white DMX luminaires, giving users the ability to choose a colour temperature that best suits their space. Control for colour-changing fixtures has also been expanded, allowing users to mix a chosen temperature of white as well as colours.
A new sequence feature has been added to provide dynamic lighting control. Trigger functions in the DMX Scene Controller have been expanded to control how the system should behave if a DMX source is plugged in, or what to do if a primary DMX source is lost.
Echo stations and sensors now support preset control across multiple spaces. A single button push can control multiple rooms, including the ability to turn off lights in multiple spaces. Plus, Echo photo sensors support a new inhibit function that prevents the sensor from raising levels when they have been purposefully set to a lower level. This is useful in classrooms with projectors and many other installations.
All products in stock currently are being reworked to ship with this new code. Remember that only products with the microSD card slot are field upgradable. Please contact ETC Technical Service for details.
For more info on the Unison Echo line of products, visit etcconnect.com/echo
Please contact us or your nearest ETC Dealer for more information on ETC products.
PLASA Show returns to Olympia London later this month and visitors to the ETC stand – J30 – are in for a treat. PLASA Show 2017 will mark the global tradeshow debut of the recently launched Ion® Xe lighting desks and the soon-to-be released ColorSource® Cyc fixture. Also to be unveiled is the eagerly anticipated Cobalt® software version 8.0. Additionally, Source Four® turns 25 this year and ETC will be honouring the occasion on stand J30.
Ion Xe
With compact footprints and full-featured Eos® software, the new Ion Xe and Ion Xe 20 consoles bring award-winning programming power to smaller venues. Since the new consoles feature the same backlit keyboard layout as their larger Eos family siblings, workflow can transfer seamlessly from desk to desk. Accompanying the consoles are the new Eos Fader Wings which provide 20 or 40 standard faders in handy, USB-connectable modules that match – and are compatible with – all the latest Eos family hardware.
ColorSource Cyc
PLASA visitors can get a sneak preview of the upcoming ColorSource Cyc fixture. Slated for release later this year, this purpose-built cyclorama light is bright, compact and affordable. It’s also the first ColorSource fixture to add a fifth colour to its LED array, incorporating indigo with the RGB-L mix to achieve rich, theatrical hues. The Cyc will be joining fellow family members on stand J30, including ColorSource Spot and PAR fixtures, ColorSource AV control desk, and ColorSource Relay wireless power control solution.
Cobalt version 8.0 software
Engineered for lighting on-the-fly, the Cobalt line of control was designed to rid the lighting process of unnecessary keystrokes and complicated syntax. Debuting at PLASA, Cobalt software version 8.0 introduces several key features and improvements, including a new multi-console network structure; a redesigned graphic interface; a clone feature to copy show data from a single channel to other channels; and a completely new Magic Sheet engine, giving users quicker and more manageable control of their rig.
Source Four turns 25
ETC will be commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Source Four fixture. The product has played a significant role in the company’s history, has made an enduring impact on the industry, and almost 3.8 million Source Four fixtures have been shipped since its launch, which gives ETC plenty of reasons to celebrate.
More from ETC
Available for demonstrations, there will be a Gio @5® lighting control desk, which brings the acclaimed control of the Eos Ti® and Gio® consoles within reach of users with smaller spaces and tighter budgets. There will also be opportunities to see Source Four LED Series 2 fixtures in action and to speak to the rigging specialists about the Prodigy® P2 hoist system and QuickTouch® rigging controllers.
For more information on ETC and its products, visit etcconnect.com.
Please contact us or your nearest ETC Dealer for more information on ETC products.
Strange to say, but until this year there had never been a museum dedicated to the Revolutionary War. That all changed this past April when The Museum of the American Revolution opened in Philadelphia And the “rock star” of the museum, according to The New York Times, is George Washington’s field tent. Yes, that George Washington. The actual, more-than-200-years-old tent that General Washington ate in, slept in, and plotted in (it was called the original Oval Office) is on display at the museum. Making sure it can be seen, though, was a tough battle in itself. The museum had to satisfy the requirements of the conservators—making sure the centuries-old fabric was preserved—yet create an engaging show that would be compelling to modern audiences. To balance these competing directives, they turned to Ted Mather and Rachel Gibney from New York City’s Available Light. And they, in turn, chose ETC ColorSource fixtures.
Mather has extensive experience in museum lighting. “I started getting pulled into this in 1999, when exhibit designers were realizing they had to up their game,” says Mather. Museums realized that simply presenting a wall of information and artifacts behind dusty glass wasn’t connecting with modern audiences, and they were losing the battle for attention with the new generation. “What they started to do was create immersive environments that felt like science labs or operating rooms. When the environment around you changes based on your actions, you feel engaged and there’s a reason for you being there, as opposed to just sitting there,” adds Mather. “Visceral experiences stick with you afterwards.”
Available Light designed lighting for the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, PA.
And while Mather and Available Light’s experience in the theatre realm gives them a keen understanding of the dynamic ways to use light to tell a story (color, contrast, texture, movement, angle, focus), their experience on the exhibit side means they know how to do it simply. “There’s no run crew in a museum,” explains Mather. “Available light has learned to use a theatrical lighting language without requiring the maintenance and support a show does. We are attuned to doing design work that can withstand the architectural environment.”
All of which is exactly why they were called in for George Washington’s tent. The museum knew they needed to produce a show that would get audiences emotionally invested, and had hired a video production team to create a film-like experience around the tent. The experience would show what the tent meant to George Washington and the success of the American Revolution, all while changing the times of day and locale, evoking a sense of the travels of Washington, depicting different locations of fields, foliage, frozen streams, snow and winter.
“Basically the video is different locations and times of year,” says Mather. “Our lighting needed to track those times of day, where the sun was coming from and going to, then light the scenery around the tent as if it were in that setting—gobos for patchy clouds, some dappled green for foliage.”
But now that the museum had a video exhibit, they had two competing directives — and a lot of restrictions.
Directive One: Docent viewing. The museum still needed a traditional “isolated jewel” look for the tent, showing it off under white light. “Whatever was lighting it had to reveal it as an artifact, a piece of historical material. The fixture had to do white very well,” says Mather.
Directive Two: Show looks. For the video show, the light needed to be able to show a variety of colors as well as have a variety of texture to wash the tent as if it was outside, in the actual environment being displayed on the video. “The whole point here was to show it ‘outside,’ out there with the men in the middle of winter, the middle of summer.” In this mode the light had to be carefully controlled so that it wouldn’t spill on the video projection surfaces, or out into the house.
George Washington’s tent in its display, with a video backdrop and lighting featuring ETC ColorSource fixtures. Lighting design by Available Light.
In addition to these artistic guidelines, there were numerous technical demands that had to be adhered to. The light had to be UV and infrared free. And finally: There was a hard limit on how much light could hit the tent. The tent could handle no more than 50,000 lux hours per annum. “Whatever the brightness was, we had to meter all of that and add it all up – brightness, length of show, number of shows per day, week and year — at the end of the year it all had to stay below 50,000 lux hours per annum.”
The competing demands for viewing, combined with the hard restrictions on lighting output led to a museum staff that was skeptical the exhibit could happen without damaging the tent.
“The fact that I have a show background immediately raised red flags to some people on the museum’s staff. ‘Will they know anything about conservation?’ ‘Will they be responsible with the artifact?’ We had to build trust,” says Mather.
They did that by conscientiously listening to conservator’s requirements on UV, infrared, and ozone, and using in-depth measurements during thorough test runs. The hard cap of 50,000 lux hours per annum the tent could be exposed to annually? Mather brought in a color spectrophotometer to measure and record the output of lights. That hurdle crossed, the conservators demanded the lights had to be placed at least eight feet away from the tent. Why? “Fibers in the tent will expand and contract from heat,” says Mather. This requirement is a holdover from the days of halogen and has become irrelevant in the age of LED sources—but the conservators didn’t know that. “I had to leave a light on for a few minutes and then ask them to feel the fixture, to see how not warm it was. I took the time to educate the conservators about the lights, because it’s such a big responsibility for them.”
Mather and his crew also built a full-scale mock-up of the exhibit in Orlando. They used it to test several different fixtures, measure output and judge the quality of the light. “We tested several different fixtures: ETC’s LED Source Four Series 2 with the Lustr and Tungsten arrays, ETC’s ColorSource fixture and a few others,” says Mather. “We needed a fixture with a high quality white and good color. We wanted pick a fixture that would make the historians happy.” They chose the ColorSource line of ellipsoidals and PARs thanks to the quality of their light and their beam shaping capabilities. And the historians were happy—so happy, in fact, that they asked Available Light to design the light for the rest of the museum, too.
The result is a show – and museum – that preserves the historical artifacts of our nation, and also creates an excitement around it.
“I’m delighted to have been able to work with such a creative team dedicated to making the tent a meaningful part of our nation’s story,” adds Mather. “I’m thrilled with how it turned out! Rather than an embalmed artifact, it really breathes life into our relationship with George Washington.”
Not bad for a 200-year-old tent and the latest in lighting.
For nearly a decade, ETC’s Ion® consoles have brought powerful control to theatres, concert venues, studios and events around the world. Now, with the release of two Ion Xe consoles and two new fader wings, the small but mighty workhorse of the Eos® family gets an upgrade.
Power in a small package
With compact footprints and full-featured Eos software, Ion Xe consoles bring high-level, award-winning programming power to smaller venues. Since the new consoles feature the same backlit keyboard layout as their larger Eos family siblings, your workflow can transfer seamlessly from desk to desk. Ion Xe desks support up to external two multi-touch monitors, so you can take full hands-on advantage of colour tools, Magic Sheets, Direct Selects and more.
Ion Xe consoles feature full main playback controls, fader controls, level and rate wheels, four rotary parameter encoders and support for up to five USB-connectable wings and devices. Ion Xe consoles are available in two output counts: 2K (base) and 12K (expanded), providing control for a wide variety of rigs. For extra security and flexibility, ETC has also released a new Ion Xe RPU (Remote Processing Unit), which can serve as a backup, remote programming station, or primary controller for your system.
“The Ion brand is much loved for its compact footprint and powerful feature set at a very attractive price,” explains Eos family Product Manager Anne Valentino. “We wanted to ensure its replacement maintained those attributes, while providing a more consistent hardware design with the larger products in the family. Ion Xe is a powerful addition to a product line-up that covers a broad cross-section of the market.”
Customise your faders
The new Eos Fader Wing accessories provide 20 or 40 non-motorised faders in handy, USB-connectable modules that match – and are compatible with – all the latest Eos family hardware. The wings share the profile of the Ion Xe and Eos Motorized Fader Wings, and they can be used with all Eos family products (with the exception of Element).
Fader wings make it easy to customise your Ion Xe to the specific needs of your show; you can connect up to three motorised or non-motorised fader wings to any Ion Xe desk. Want manual playbacks as a permanent feature of your work surface? The Ion Xe 20 model streamlines your control booth setup with a built-in bank of 20 page-able, non-motorised faders.
New versions of the iRFR and aRFR remote apps for Eos will be available for purchase on the App Store and Amazon Marketplace starting this week. The overhauled mobile applications feature fully redesigned user interfaces, more intuitive connectivity, and expanded feature sets that include a full-featured keyboard and Direct Selects.
Software v2.6 or higher must be installed on the host Eos device for the apps to function.
The new line-up of remote apps is as follows:
iRFR-BTS/aRFR-BTS (sales benefit US-based charity Behind the Scenes)
iRFR Classic/aRFR Classic (previous iRFR and aRFR apps, renamed and available as free downloads)
iRFR Preview (unchanged; available as a free download)
Customers who previously purchased the iRFR and aRFR apps may upgrade to the new versions free of charge with a simple update.
The new iRFR and aRFR apps are NOT compatible with Cobalt devices. Any users who inadvertently update can revert to the old software by downloading one of the Classic apps.
This November marks the 25th anniversary of the birth of the Source Four® fixture at ETC. Between now and this year’s LDI tradeshow, we’re taking a look back at this product that has become such a major part of ETC’s story, the fixture that has made a long-lasting impact on our industry, and the product that has inspired many additional ETC fixtures.
When asked what he remembers about the first time he saw the Source Four, ETC CEO Fred Foster says “When I first saw the Source Four it was just a HPL lamp, glass reflector, and a lens on an optical rail in Dave Cunningham’s lab. But it was 40% brighter than a 1000W FEL and used only 575W of power. I was awestruck. It was even more fun to watch the looks on the faces of the LDI attendees when we launched the product a year later.”
Ellen White, outreach and training specialist at ETC, was working in ETC’s booth in 1992 when Source Four was first revealed. “We launched three products at that tradeshow and we really thought the talk was going to focus on the Sensor dimmers and the Obsession console. But Source Four started a small buzz that morning and became the topic of conversation at many dinners that evening.”
Since launching at LDI in 1992, ETC has shipped nearly 3.8 million Source Four fixtures. That gives us plenty of reasons to celebrate this milestone.
As part of the anniversary celebration, we’re creating a video showcasing the longevity of the Source Four fixture. We want to see as many of those millions of Source Four and Source Four LED fixtures as possible. As part of this crowd-sourced video project, we are asking you to send photos of your Source Four and Source Four LED fixtures hanging in your theatres, your churches, your schools, and your community centres.
Between now and 1 October, please submit photos through this online form in exchange for a limited edition Source Four 25th Anniversary t-shirt (while supplies last) and the chance to win one of ten Source Four Mini LEDs.
The last 25 years with Source Four have been an inspiration. Here’s to the next 25!
For nearly a decade, ETC’s Ion® consoles have brought powerful control to theatres, concert venues, studios and events around the world. Now, with the release of two Ion Xe consoles and two new fader wings, the small but mighty workhorse of the Eos® family gets an upgrade.
