A really easy guid for how to use the nomad

I think I understand where you're coming from, but at the end of the day it is a system for a lighting designer -- or at least an aspiring one. In many ways there isn't any videos that I'd really suggest for my operators who just want to operate something designed by a programmer. The reason is that depending on the type of show, programmer, and technical requirements, what the operator needs to know is extremely diverse. In my primary environment currently, over 95% of the cues are automated for timecode. We have training for what to do when timecode breaks and how to troubleshoot it but since it is more than just an ETC system, we have a custom video that follows our signal chain from Ableton throughout the rest of the interconnected systems and the most likely thing to break. As far as the other 5% it is simply hitting GO at the correct time, depending on what is going on in the live environment.  And the less than 1% is all various macro buttons that are on a single magic sheet (preset show, turn on ghost lights, shutdown macros, etc) all extremely specific to my environment. 

In other enviornments you want you operators to move faders, or perhaps do more -- adjust front lights, change colors, etc., but I'd contend that there is more venue specific knowledge that applies versus generic what the console/software can do.

As far as making a do hickey do a thingy, the website does provide exactly that -- you could have provided your students the resources at https://www.etcconnect.com/eoslearning/ and which is complete with virtual rigs and starting from patching, all the way up through basic lighting.

As far as why go with EOS versus another console, I think it has very little to do (initially, high level thinking) about HOW to do anything, but rather what it can do from the glossy sales brochure approach. Basically see: https://www.etcconnect.com/Eos-Family-Software.aspx

You use Nomad the same way you use a light board. 

I clearly said mine had 1024. Some have more. Some have unlimited. That's what I learned in all my research and through talking to a dealer. If that's wrong, I need to do more research. I should have stuck with the term "outputs" in the video since that's consistent with the Nomad marketing. I said channel because I'm used to saying "8 channel mode" to talk about how many parameters a multi-parameter device has. 

I know MA limits by parameter but I was always under the impression that ETC does it by universe. If that's wrong, then.. idk

I made the video because when I moved from a console to needing to output DMX from Nomad, it took a ridiculously long time to figure out what I needed to do. None of their communication just told me what the darn thing does exactly. It took way too long. I didn't have the time or money to spend money on a thing and then have it not work. I made the video because that was the exact video I needed during that time and that video did not exist, full-stop. I had to figure it all out myself. The marketing is extremely lacking in clear communication. 

Hi Jolson, 

According to your profile, you are a lighting designer with 25 years of experience, and you are a great person to have when I a theatre teacher with an MFA in directing need help. That said, no ETC does not start at the beginning. They start where a lighting designer would begin. Is it their job to educate us on what patching is? Well, no. But if they want me to recommend their equipment to other people, I’m certainly going to do so if I understand it without having to call my lighting designer friends. A lot of people have offered their input on this thread. I’m still not sure that were I in a place now that I was when I purchased the Nomad and gadget II before the pandemic I would be able to dig into my undergraduate class on lighting design and come up with how to make the doohickey do the thingy. I would still likely be better used as a very expensive hockey puck. (Just FYI, I have spent many hours over the past few years learning how the nomad system works, and we now have an ION Xe and my school is paying for me to get advanced training on how to use it. I am thrilled with what it can do, but the learning curve to get where I am now was huge.)

Either way the whole thing is confusing as hell for newcomers. So many words.

I would tend to agree with Mathilda; while it might be helpful for some (AND at least you produced something), it was very difficult to navigate through the copious errors in the video. Cheif among them is the average around "unlocked" -- an unlocked Nomad dongle is 6144 parameters, not 1024; rather you're referring to a Nomad Key... There is a huge difference between channel and parameter -- it my case, I have several universes contained in less than 100 channels. Additionally a 1k parameter is not necessarily 2 universes either, it can be any number of universes, the only thing that really matters is the parameter count. And there is no "unlimited" nomad. I understand making information approachable to new users, but that doesn't mean we should be confusing terms.

However, at the end of the day, it didn't seem to address the OP question which is "how do I use Nomad" - I know that isn't the title of your video, but it was the question you were proffering to answer.

Cheers!