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    Joe_ML
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Whats next?

  I currently don't own a Ion, but I know the Ion is at v1.9.6. And I visit the forums a lot to help me in understanding the console better.  I have been putting off the investment of the Ion, for hopes of either cosmetic change or something better, when v2.0 comes out.

     But just recently, the congo brand had a child, so i'm thinking the EOS line might get something new added to the list. Although I'd rather see something between the Eos and the Ion.

 I know that spilling news about upcoming consoles are rare, but I'm not a school or theatre. I am my own business, just me. And investing in something with this price, only to find a newer and better console being release shortly after purchase, would really upset me and my wallet.

 

Parents

  • The question is - what do you need from a desk?

    The Congo Kid is, for all intents and purposes, the Element of the Congo range: so don't expect a new Eos range desk because of that. I think that both families of desks are well catered for: now we have two ranges of desks that can cater for small, large and huge venues in both "mainstream" and "live music" venues (and others, of course. I am purposefully generalising).

    You say you want something in between the Eos and the Ion. What do you want that's in between the Eos and Ion that one or the other doesn't provide?

  • in reply to David_Hately

    My ideal console would be under $13,000, have 2 monitors like the look of the EOS including touch screens, faders with labels like the 2 x 20 fader wings, 10000 cues, the "audio in" on the back, made usable, such as able to pick up sound to go with the beat of the music via 1/4" instead of RCA, tap to sync button for sequences, 3 DMX universes outputs, unlimited effects, additional USB ports for other devices, built in visualizer, a wrist cushion, a lighted GO button, 2 littlite XLR connections on both sides, built-in HDD yet removable.



    [edited by: Joe_ML at 8:51 PM (GMT -6) on Mon, May 2 2011]
  • in reply to Joe_ML

     For those of you who replied, Thank You!

     

    So going back to the original question, Will there be any cosmetic changes to the ION when V2.0 comes out?

       Or is every user satisfied with it?

    And I keep hearing people change out there keys with x-keys? So I'm thinking the users would like better key labels or something...



    [edited by: Joe_ML at 6:57 PM (GMT -6) on Wed, May 4 2011]
Reply
  • in reply to Joe_ML

     For those of you who replied, Thank You!

     

    So going back to the original question, Will there be any cosmetic changes to the ION when V2.0 comes out?

       Or is every user satisfied with it?

    And I keep hearing people change out there keys with x-keys? So I'm thinking the users would like better key labels or something...



    [edited by: Joe_ML at 6:57 PM (GMT -6) on Wed, May 4 2011]
Children
  • in reply to Joe_ML

    Joe_ML said:

     For those of you who replied, Thank You!

     

    So going back to the original question, Will there be any cosmetic changes to the ION when V2.0 comes out?

       Or is every user satisfied with it?

    And I keep hearing people change out there keys with x-keys? So I'm thinking the users would like better key labels or something...

    The hottest x-keys thing is to replace all the stock keys with the old keycaps off the Ion. Thus no issues with the new key caps or labeling.

    To Fix/Add:

    - Submasters, Supermasters (Oh Please, Oh Please), and a general re-working of the fader/sub system.  It's in the works I know.

    - Ability to disable sub bump buttons while in submaster mode. Sometimes you just don't want those things active.

    - Solo in submaster

    - Maybe make the upper bump button on a sub with an effect the Rate Override button, thus pressing would populate an encoder wheel with the effect rate control ?.  That would make running effects in a busking situation really useful.

    - Being able to import and map certain text info from Lightwright into stuff like Channel labels in a Direct Select page (like a truncated Purpose such as "Fnt Pnk DR"), or map an LW text label to a Submaster label ?. So a general cleanup and improvement to the LW Import area. 

    - Ability to populate upper half of a screen with channel tiles, the lower with cue/playback status.  Maybe in the works as well. 

    - Ability to turn off the multiple file saves with different time stamps.  I manage my files and find the collection of show files a pain to deal with at times as I really have to pay attention to time stamps.  I know, I know, it's old school to worry about file space and it is a huge HD, still....

    - I wish the VGA port was still usable with dual touch screens plugged, as a third screen ?, maybe the split channel data and cue/playback ?. 

    - More USB ports.  I have 2 used with dual touch screens, 1 with the RRFU, 2, sometimes 3 with fader wings, mouse, plus keyboard, thus am running a powered hub.

    That said, if they stopped development at 1.9.6, I could happily live with what I have.

    Steve Bailey

    Brooklyn College

     

     

     

     



    [edited by: Steve Bailey at 8:30 PM (GMT -6) on Wed, May 4 2011]
  • in reply to Steve Bailey

    Steve Bailey said:

     For those of you who replied, Thank You!

     

    So going back to the original question, Will there be any cosmetic changes to the ION when V2.0 comes out?

       Or is every user satisfied with it?

    And I keep hearing people change out there keys with x-keys? So I'm thinking the users would like better key labels or something...

    - Solo in submaster

    - Maybe make the upper bump button on a sub with an effect the Rate Override button, thus pressing would populate an encoder wheel with the effect rate control ?.  That would make running effects in a busking situation really useful.

    [/quote]

    Solo in submaster - Yes!!

    I would REALLY like the upper button for a fx sub to be a TAP button to set the rate.

    -Steve

     

  • in reply to Steve Bailey

    Steve Bailey said:

    - I wish the VGA port was still usable with dual touch screens plugged, as a third screen ?, maybe the split channel data and cue/playback ?. 

    - More USB ports.  I have 2 used with dual touch screens, 1 with the RRFU, 2, sometimes 3 with fader wings, mouse, plus keyboard, thus am running a powered hub.

    I'm afraid that the Ion and Element actually only have two monitor outputs.
    There is no third output - in fact the VGA connector is simply a built-in DVI-D to VGA adapter with an internal automatic switchover unit.

    With regards to the wings:

    Did you know that you can dock wings to each other in sets of three, so you only need one USB cable and PSU to the middle one?
    - Of course it does depend on your way of working (and desk space!) as to whether that's really a useful tip.

    I really don't understand why you'd ever want to turn off the historical file saves.
    I'm pretty certain that within days of doing that you'd realise that somebody messed something up and you desperately needed a previous version of the show file to import the bits that were accidentally lost. They're a metaphorical lifesaver (and literal showsaver!)

    - When you were working with floppy disks in the dim and distant past you didn't just keep saving to the same disk. You saved to disk 1, then 2, then 3 etc so you'd always have the previous few versions available 'just in case'.
    The timestamped older versions are the 21st century way of doing just that.



    [edited by: Richard at 4:22 AM (GMT -6) on Thu, May 5 2011]
  • in reply to Richard

    Richard wrote:

     

    "With regards to the wings:

    "Did you know that you can dock wings to each other in sets of three, so you only need one USB cable and PSU to the middle one?
    - Of course it does depend on your way of working (and desk space!) as to whether that's really a useful tip."

    Yes, and that was how I had it setup originally in 1.7.  At some point way back ('09) I had read that ETC was recommending that users connect via USB rather then direct connect, due to software issues related to the wings, thus have simply kept the wings on USB.  In practice, this works well as I remove and store the wings (one to left of console, one to right, both as 2x20) depending on the event requirements, such as needing the desk space for a visiting console, etc...  So I then find I need a total of 7 USB ports, so I end up with a hub.  Thus more ports would be nice but not critical.

     

    "I really don't understand why you'd ever want to turn off the historical file saves.
    I'm pretty certain that within days of doing that you'd realise that somebody messed something up and you desperately needed a previous version of the show file to import the bits that were accidentally lost. They're a metaphorical lifesaver (and literal showsaver!)

    I agree with the concept and if I were doing 1 or 2 week cuing sessions of the same show, I'd be grateful for and would use the multiple file saves.  As I usually am doing one-offs as well as being old school, I file manage and thus find it more work to have to find the most recent file to archive, while dumping the rest.  As well, having a ton of files with the same names means you really, really have to pay attention to the time stamps.  Be aware that when you see the file list from the CIA, the most recent saved file is at the top of the list, while in the shell file manager, the most recent is at the bottom of the list, thus that inconstancy makes it more work then it's worth sometimes and as such I'd like to be able to turn off the multiple file savings. 

    Steve B.

     

     

  • in reply to Steve Bailey

    Steve Bailey said:

    I file manage and thus find it more work to have to find the most recent file to archive, while dumping the rest.

    In the maintenance shell, one of the backup options is "Latest" which saves only the most recent version.

     

  • in reply to sk8rs_dad

    sk8rs_dad said:

    I file manage and thus find it more work to have to find the most recent file to archive, while dumping the rest.

    In the maintenance shell, one of the backup options is "Latest" which saves only the most recent version.

     

    [/quote]

    If I think about this, the option would be to go to shell, do this archive, only saving Latest, presumably it only saves the latest for the different events, then just dump all the files in the main folder.  Then transfer the archives to a USB drive to store off the console.

    I'll give it a look at.

    Thanks

    Steve B.

  • in reply to Steve Bailey

    Is storage space the issue? How large are your show files? 

  • in reply to usesafesets

    Nope, as ETC has stated, the desk has tons of HD space.

    But like I stated in an earlier post, I "File Manage"   Maybe too old school, but I've created a set of folders in the file system "Old, Current, Upcomming", so as to keep track of what is sometimes 4 different events a week. 

    If I had kept the original system with all files in the Show Archive folder, I end up with 15 or more show files of the current running event, plus the 2-3 upcoming events ready to load, plus the multitude of saved files from past events, with 5-10 events a month, sometimes more, times 19 mos. of console use.

    Sometimes I can re-use parts of a past event, say effects and presets for one of my operators who ran the Gospel show back in January and wants her Effects and Presets. for this Sunday's Gospel show, ;etc...  Finding the correct file on a cluttered HD without using folders is a PITA, especially with hundreds of duplicates that have same names, just slightly different times.  Thus I "manage". 

    One of the first things I do after an event is go to shell and dump old files.  Possibly the built in Archive will take care of this and I will look at this next time I'm at the console.  But the bottom line is that my old school practices of using the HD as a backup to the file residing in the console, having done this with floppies, then the HD on an Emphasis, makes me aware of the need to never assume the HD files will be there, thus we backup all to the Kingston USB drive that sits in the facepanel slot, as well as to a 2nd USB drive off the hub.  Eventually all the Old files get put on my Laptop HD for add'l storage. 

    Just being careful.

    SB

     

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