TAKING THE M2PC FOR A TEST DRIVE IN PMB
Marcus Henning, theatre technician at the Hexagon Theatre at the University of KZN's Pietermaritzburg Campus, gives his impressions of the M2PC Lighting Control system.
I've been interested in getting an M2PC system for some time but experience has taught me that demo rooms usually don't have your gear mix in them and because there is no actual show to program for during the demo you're left a bit up in the air. So I borrowed mycolleague Evan's demo M2PC Lighting Control to check it out in a real-life situation: an upcoming show in the Hexagon Theatre.
On the Sunday before the show I set up the desk parameters on my laptop, using the free PC interface. This involved inputting into the programme what fixtures I have in the theatre and patching the addresses, ie. generic dimmers and intelligent lights. This can be time-consuming depending on the number of fixtures – but in my case it took about 20 minutes. The good news is: this is the most onerous task. Once that is done creating groups of channels and fixtures is a breeze.
On the Monday morning before the technical rehearsal, I put up the desk, loaded my basic setup from a flash drive onto the system. By 9h00am I was up and running - programming on the fly.
By 10h30am the 'tech' rehearsal was over, the show was programmed (yes, that's really all the time I was given) and ready for the run-through at 11h00am. Adjusting cues throughout the run through was easy, it was simply a matter of selecting the fixture and the parameter, and adjust them. Adding point cues or deleting extra cues is just as easy.
My previous experiences with tracking had all gone horribly wrong, with states that were returned not looking the same as programmed earlier – but for the first time tracking worked seamlessly. The M2PC did not put a foot wrong, I could jump around the memory stack at will, and each time the state on stage was correct. I programmed the entire show with the houselights on and all it took was to return to cue 2 and remove them: once updated, no more house lights except where they were required as part of the show.
In particular I loved the fade curve facility which allows one to shape how the dimmers behave. The automated chase window is also an extremely useful feature.
When I got stuck, the You Tube videos demonstrating common procedures that Evan had supplied were a great help. I also consulted the PDF manual, but found the videos more helpful.
The M2PC has the feel of a large desk without the large desk cost. Out of the box the M2PC has all the features I need in the Hexagon Theatre with the possibility of expansion if my needs change. I'm still raving about this desk after my short trial on the demo desk. I feel have barely scratched the surface of this desk's capability and look forward to experimenting and expanding a lot more when my desk is delivered. I can't wait for it to arrive!