Im am looking to buy a hog 500 lighting board, but I was seeing if anyone thinks its a good idea. I have my hands on one for $2200. is that a good price? It comes with a case too. I can operate a hog IPC board fine but dont have $8000 to buy one. thats why I am buying a hog 500. please let me know what you think.
Scott, writing your own fixture-libs is really not very difficult. I mostly figured out how to do it by looking at other lib files. The good news is though, if you go to-
Flying Pig kindly provides a link to download an excellent Wholehog 2 Library Generator, a software program that generates libs for you.
On the issue of buying a Hog 500, several things come to mind to consider. First is that the Hog 500 is a REALLY old console, and even if they have only been used moderately, the 500s and 1000s are starting to fail and die in large numbers. Also, the 500 doesn't have menu banks, which really slows you down when it comes to accessing the palettes. And, you can't create custom effects on the 500.
There is an alternative you might consider. You can download the PC version of the Hog 2 or 3 software for free and load it on a laptop or desktop, and then I think for roughly the same amount of money as this 500 you're looking at (I haven't checked the prices in several years) you can buy a Widget (1 DMX universe) and a Playback wing, which, depending on your needs, would make it possible to run a small-scale show. And then of course you could choose to add more Widgets (up to 4 for the Hog 2) and a Programming wing later.
And by the way, don't let the snobs who sniff their noses and say, "It's not a real lighting board" scare you off. That's nonsense. I have been an LD for 25 years now, and I have used Hog 2PC-based systems for, I guess, probably the last 8 years or so. I recently did a concert/event rig with 60 movers and about 130 LED fixtures, and the Hog 2PC handled it like a champ.
Scott, writing your own fixture-libs is really not very difficult. I mostly figured out how to do it by looking at other lib files. The good news is though, if you go to-
Flying Pig kindly provides a link to download an excellent Wholehog 2 Library Generator, a software program that generates libs for you.
On the issue of buying a Hog 500, several things come to mind to consider. First is that the Hog 500 is a REALLY old console, and even if they have only been used moderately, the 500s and 1000s are starting to fail and die in large numbers. Also, the 500 doesn't have menu banks, which really slows you down when it comes to accessing the palettes. And, you can't create custom effects on the 500.
There is an alternative you might consider. You can download the PC version of the Hog 2 or 3 software for free and load it on a laptop or desktop, and then I think for roughly the same amount of money as this 500 you're looking at (I haven't checked the prices in several years) you can buy a Widget (1 DMX universe) and a Playback wing, which, depending on your needs, would make it possible to run a small-scale show. And then of course you could choose to add more Widgets (up to 4 for the Hog 2) and a Programming wing later.
And by the way, don't let the snobs who sniff their noses and say, "It's not a real lighting board" scare you off. That's nonsense. I have been an LD for 25 years now, and I have used Hog 2PC-based systems for, I guess, probably the last 8 years or so. I recently did a concert/event rig with 60 movers and about 130 LED fixtures, and the Hog 2PC handled it like a champ.
