dual console system

"productions" are fully supported theatrical productions with a series of specially written cues and a dedicated operator...

"events" are activities that happen in the space such as concerts and lectures that do not require more advanced lighting than house out and stage lights up, and rarely have a dedicated light board op...

my reason for NOT using the Ion for both situations is focused on simplicity of use... also there are times when an event occurs in the middle of the tech proccess ...

so the Y-Cable will not work even if only one console is powered up? if that's the case a merger or A/B switch is the way to go ...

If the consoles are located near each other, then just swap the DMX cable(s) to the one you want to use. Easy, foolproof and no extra cost.

If you really must have system you suggest, you need to look into DMX Mergers.

Personally, I'd just build a snapshot that switches to an easy layout with subs already laid out for the events, and another that is a production one. Then instruct your board ops to always switch to the events snapshot at the end of the shift. This is coming from a person that has both an EOS, Nomad, and an expression, and has a DMX merger already. There is no real point in having the expression anymore other than just a backup if the EOS goes down.