PLEASE HELP!!! Congo Jr: Inexperienced

First of all, download the following two installers from our website:

• Congo & Congo jr Software v6.0.4 (Console, Client & Offline Editor)
• Congo v6 Training Tutorial Movies Installer (for Congo, Congo jr, Congo Light Server and Client/Offline PCs)

These include installation instructions for Congo v4 and Congo v5, and can also be installed on any Windows PC.
(The Mac version is also on that page)

Use these to upgrade your Congo jr to v6 and to install the Training Tutorial Movies.

Once you've done that, start Congo and have a look in the Media section of the 'Browser' for the tutorial videos.

Some basic concepts in Congo:

One Desk Channel is one 'real physical light' - so each of your real Clay Paky moving lights is one Channel (one box in the Live tab), and each of your dimmer circuits is also one channel - there's no difference.

Intensity is always on the level wheel (the silver one).

If a channel does more than just Intensity, these 'extra' things (Attributes) appear on the four Encoders (purple dials under the LCD display).
You can change what is shown there using the [Focus], [Color] and [Beam] buttons to the right of them.
- [Focus] will show 'aiming' type of attributes, like Pan, Tilt etc,
- [Color] will show Colour attributes, like Cyan, Magenta, Yellow etc
- [Beam] shows everything else - so Gobos (patterns that go into the beam), Frost etc

Here is a short cheat sheet of commands (normal mode).

The entire manual is built into the console - hit the [?] key to open it.

Holding [?] and pressing any other button gives you some help on that button.

With Help open, you can press [Text] to search in the Help file.

Finally, ETC run regular training sessions.

Scotty,

Where are you located?  Maybe there is a Congo user near you that could help you get up to speed.

Good luck,

John

Scotty,

Definately follow the advice to view the video tutorials on the console or online & as suggested, upgrade to the latest version of the software.

Take some time to get used to basic operation of the console before diving into the Clay Paky instruments. I know they are there & they can do some sexy things, but it's better to have a good understanding of how to get light on the stage & some confidence about what you are doing, than sweating over whether a moving light is going to wiggle in the right direction. Hopefully, since it is early in the school year, you'll have time to deal with them later.

I use a full size Congo in a school district facility. I'll be glad to respond to questions & offer help directly via email at kellison@henry.k12.ga.us, if you wish.

Good luck,

Keith Ellison

Henry County Performing Arts Center