Sidekick is a universal faderboard designed to add real faders and easy-access buttons to the increasing range of PC-based lighting controllers. Sidekick offers ten faders, thirty-seven buttons, one rotary encoder and an LCD display. All of the faders and buttons are configurable, and can be set to output DMX commands, MIDI commands, serial data or other protocols. Sidekick has a DMX output, MIDI in and out connectors, USB ports and an RS232 port, allowing communication with a wide range of lighting control systems.
For the Chitty tour, lit by Mark Henderson and programmed by Stuart Porter, Sidekicks are being used as additional fader panels for the Whole Hog 2 which runs the entire lighting rig. The Sidekicks are connected to the Hog 2 using the Hog's DMX Master function, with the Sidekicks programmed to output appropriate levels for playback mastering and the console's 'choose' functions.
For the Tonight's The Night tour, lit by Adam Bassett and programmed by David Miller. Sidekicks are being used as USB playback fader panels for a Hog PC; the Hog PC is running as a backup to the Whole Hog 2 which is being used to control the rig.
Both systems were configured by White Light's technical director, Dave Isherwood, who says: "the Hog PC/Sidekick combination works very well, providing us with a flexible solution for backing up the ever-popular Hog 2 while at the same time allowing programmers the 'hands-on' control that they prefer."
Sidekick is just one of many DMX tools manufactured by ELC, others including the FocusHand wireless DMX control, the ShowStore and MiniStore real-time DMX recorders, the dmXLAN range of DMX to ethernet converters, DMX splitters and mergers and a range of architectural lighting controllers.
(Chris Henry)
