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Is Congo being replaced?

So I was looking at the new Cobalt console and was noticing its similarity to the Congo in the look and layout of the console.  I also noticed on this datasheet http://www.etcconnect.com/docs/docs_downloads/miscdocs/4370L1005-GB_Cobalt_Family_App_Sht_vA.pdf that it lists Congo jr and Congo kid as being "powered by Cobalt", but no mention of the Congo, Sr.  I'm curious how this is going to work.  Are you using the same facepanel but given a choice of software on the smaller consoles or are you going to stop developing the Congo software altogether, thus leaving the Congo a dinosaur?  I've been a champion of the Congo console for many years now and would hate to see it stop development, every new release has made the desk even better.

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  • Hi JR - 

    No worries, the new Cobalt software will work on Congo consoles as well. The Congo console hardware itself, however, is no longer being manufactured (as always we still support everything we've ever made.) As we continue development for Cobalt, the intent is to keep the software compatible with the older Congo hardware family. There may be a point in the future, however, where the old hardware can't support something we do in the new software, but I cannot foresee this happening any time soon. Make sense?

    Thanks much -

    Sarah

  • in reply to sclausen

    Thanks, Sarah.

    I was suspecting something like this would happen, I just hope that the backwards compatibility will continue for some time, like I said I love the updates.

    Frankly, the Congo console is the fastest programming console in the ETC line that I've ever used.  I recently programmed a show on an Ion and was so happy with the choice I made almost 7 years ago when I chose to go Congo over the Eos line, even though that the Eos philosophy has become the industry darling.  I was excited to see the new Cobalt console, it looks great, and am excited to see more as you release more information.  

    One thing that it looks like the Cobalt is missing, something that I severely miss and the Congo, Jr we have on our second stage, is the trackball that I love on the full size Congo.  Both in programming and in live situations it is so much easier to use the trackball instead of the encoders for pan/tilt while still having access to beam control without having to switch between encoder pages.  Is there a way to make a USB trackball behave the same way?  It would be wonderful for my Jr and would make me even more excited for the Cobalt should my Congo ever become a dinosaur.

    Thanks, 

    J.R.

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  • in reply to sclausen

    Thanks, Sarah.

    I was suspecting something like this would happen, I just hope that the backwards compatibility will continue for some time, like I said I love the updates.

    Frankly, the Congo console is the fastest programming console in the ETC line that I've ever used.  I recently programmed a show on an Ion and was so happy with the choice I made almost 7 years ago when I chose to go Congo over the Eos line, even though that the Eos philosophy has become the industry darling.  I was excited to see the new Cobalt console, it looks great, and am excited to see more as you release more information.  

    One thing that it looks like the Cobalt is missing, something that I severely miss and the Congo, Jr we have on our second stage, is the trackball that I love on the full size Congo.  Both in programming and in live situations it is so much easier to use the trackball instead of the encoders for pan/tilt while still having access to beam control without having to switch between encoder pages.  Is there a way to make a USB trackball behave the same way?  It would be wonderful for my Jr and would make me even more excited for the Cobalt should my Congo ever become a dinosaur.

    Thanks, 

    J.R.

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