The Pleasance, a Fringe venue with 23 different performance spaces, originally used a SmartFade - ETC's smallest console - in one of their spaces. But when Calder Sibbald at ETC's Edinburgh-based dealer Black Light offered them a Nomad Puck for use instead, they were keen to give it a try, especially given the extra power it would bring.
Over at the Forth Children's Theatre, lighting designer Grant Anderson, who had programmed the lighting for two Edinburgh shows on an ETC Ion, was delighted when he could upload his show file for one to a Nomad Puck, while the other could remain on the Ion.
"I already had the Eos show files for Les Misérables," he says, "so it was a great relief when I was able to replot using just a touch screen, keyboard and mouse plugged into the side of the Puck, which was hidden out of view to save space.
"We were using 12 moving lights, as well as 30 ETC Source Four LED Lustr+ fixtures, which the Puck handled really well. As a designer, the new Eos software made it really simple to program with, even during the dress rehearsal."
For users who have their own computer, Nomad Puck's sibling, simply called Nomad, plugs into a spare USB port on the PC or Mac, and performs exactly the same functionality as the Puck.
(Jim Evans)
