Oh......If only ETC would produce a new line(designed from scratch) of consoles with all the latest features, and yet still retaining all of those features that made the expression and obsession boards so popular..... A desk that any Expression or Obsession user would feel right at home on!
After all, how many Express / Expression / Insight / Emphasis / Obsession consoles did ETC end up selling anyway?
I have heard rumors to the effect that the ETC folks studied the original Strand Century Light Pallate console from the 70's (which by the way is nothing at all like their new pallate series) when they were designing the Obsession console, in order to find out exactly what it was, that made that desk so popular. Therefore, I would think that they should at least apply the same kind of effort to their own legacy products when designing new ones.
I think we would all agree that there is somthing about most of ETC's products that just........well.......clicks (for lack of a better term). Think of the source 4 fixtures, the sensor dimmer racks; what exactly is it about these products that really impressed you when you first started using them. What is it, after years of use, that you still admire about these products, even after using newer products from the competitors. If you could describe "it " using only single words, what words would do "it " justice? Words like rugged, simple, elegant, easy, compact, slick, relieable, tough, benchmark, intuititive, faithful, flexible, and in some cases indestructable come to mind. Think of all the other products we use in everyday life that also have "it ". I often refer to such products as the "Swiss army knife of [name of product category here]".
Thus it is with the expression and obsession boards, "the Swiss army knife of lightboards". Long obsolete they may be (technologically not so much functionally), yet I do hope that future ETC boards will reflect on the design values of these desks; especially in the area of the user interface and command syntax, which was brief and to the point, and totally easy to learn. And I liked the fact that the same basic command structure was used to record, label, and edit everything.... groups, subs, and focus points, as well as cues in live and in blind modes. Blind mode is where the expressions really shine; being able to quickly view and edit the data as a list, a tracksheet, a spreadsheet or as a single block, and haveing multiple ways to get to any perticular data point or parameter with a minimum number of keystrokes is simply a must for any future console. And the expression family boards were plug and play; no external processing engines, no fader wings, just a good, solid, roadworthy desk. Hook up a standard keyboard, monitor, and printer (for the era), and you're in business. Even the buttons were great, nice and clicky... and not mushy like so many other products I shall not mention. And in light of the fact that there was a model in that family to suit anything from lower budget schools and churches right on up to professional touring shows, all with the same powerful operating system and a common show file format and offline editor, it's no wonder that these things sold so well.
Oh if only.......a desk that brought these wonderful concepts to the realm of moving lights and leds....if only!!!
