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    Ricky Ng
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Re: Need help to decide to buy Congo Jr.

Hi all,

I chance upon this forum and am seriously interested to consider buying a Congo Jr. But I would like to find out more about this console. I am working in an arts school theatre and at the moment we are using a Strand 300 series board. We're planning to upgrade to a better board that can support both threatrical lights as well moving lights. How reliable is this Congo Jr.?

I would like to ask those users of Congo Jr. for their opinion about this board. I am looking for something which is user friendly as well as not so difficult to program the lights. I see the Congo Jr as fitting my requirements.

I also need some sub-faders where I can record cues, FX, channels etc into them. This would be important as some students prefer to run simple show with just the faders. Can the Master wing perform this task? Is the show files interchangeable with my present Strand board if I intend to use the Congo Jr. as my main console. My intention is to use the Strand 300 as a back-up board. Actually, I would like to have a hands-on demo but the local distributor for ETC which is Desisti is unable to obtain one and demo us. I wonder if a demo set can be made available for the local distributor to showcase and market it to all the clients here. BTW, I am from Singapore.

I would be grateful to all your effort in replying to my queries

Thank you 

Parents

  • I don't own a Congo Jr, yet. However, I did have the pleasure of trying one while on demo at Applied Audio/Brighton Lights outside of Rochester, NY and i was thrilled with the usability of the hardware and the software. At the time, my High School theater was trying to decide between an Express 72/144 and the Congo Jr to request to replace our Idea 48, and after that and our playing with the offline editing software, we're ordering one for next year.

    The Master Wing panel is a pretty sweet thing, especially because of its multiple modes- the Jam Mode, Masters, and Channels. The ETC rep there patched things to the master mode in a matter of seconds, which was impressive to me.

     If you still want to lean things, you can download the Offline Editor software and play around with that, most of the console keys have keyboard mimes, and its helpful with learning many of the cooler features (channel layout anyone?) as well as allowing you to familiarize yourself with the console before buying it

  • in reply to Arel

    I own a Congo Jr, with a fader wing.

    Its a great piece of kit, packed full of features including great theatre playback and great live busk-ability. the console is a very different way of working  and does take a while to know your way around.

    On the bad side - I have lost alot of trust in the console due to software crashes, I dont think the software running was really ready for release yet as I have found many errors, which have nearly cost me a show!

    I would wait for software version 4.3 to come out and check back to this forum to see weather many problems have been resolved - or not. We shall see. I am hoping for a much improved update because this console has a lot of cool features about it.
     

     

     

  • in reply to user86

    Chris,
     If you are still having problems after we replaced your original faulty unit, then please contact me directly about them as I don't check the forum all the time!
     Remember that you can contact Jeremy regarding additional training for your casuals - I believe the next organised session is in a couple of weeks time, but he can confirm this.

  • in reply to Richard
    I think everybody we also forgot to mention the great tech support from ETC :)
  • in reply to Arel

    Im not forgetting the Congo support - ETC have been really helpful and and have gone way out there way to help me and have listened to everything ive had problems with - one of the main reasons why i decided to give Congo a 2nd chance and keep using it. (special thanks to Richard)

    All im suggesting is that there are still bugs in Congo software and people should be aware before they buy.
     

     

     

  • in reply to user86
    I don't think anyone should be discouraged from buying a congo or jr because it crashes. Any ML console crashes. BUT I DO BELEIVE THAT IT SHOULD NEVER CRASH WHEN RUNNING A SHOW! Not saying the Congo did this, just hope ETC reads this and never lets that happen.

    MZ
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