Zero 88 does the trick for Cirque Enchantment
- Details
He wanted a powerful, physically small and quick-to-programme console for the inaugural tour of an exciting new performance concept which blends the breath-taking audacity of circus acts and aerial performance, hi energy choreography and a powerful rock, pop and classical soundtrack, fusing the disciplines of circus, dance and concert performance in one edge-of-the-seat experience.
Produced by Umbrella Productions and directed / choreographed by Stuart Glover, Richard was delighted to rise to the challenges of tight get-ins, an expedient sized lighting rig – which had to stretch a long way to cover the show’s varied dynamics … and fit into a small van.
The Orb XF sat right at the heart of the lighting scheme. Richard specified it because it’s his favourite desk for fast programming. “When time is tight, you have to move very fast on site at each venue” he explained, “and the Orb XF has many assets including offline functionality so I could programme stacks, or set up groups and palettes utilizing pockets of down time.”
He also likes the fact that it feels like a busking desk, however you can record on the fly, another benefit when working in short timeframes.
He made the most of the ‘Learn’ function on this show, there the Orb XF records the follow time of the music automatically, so while it’s not directly synched to the backing track/s, if you start the process at the correct moment, it will stay synched in time via an internal clock.
“The Orb’s cue list also allows for fast timing changes to be applied by parameter, so no lengthy keystrokes or key combinations are needed to get it sharp!”
Richard also specified a Zero 88 FLX as a portable and practical backup console.
With the Orb XF, he was controlling the touring rig comprising 12 x GPL X1s and eight GLP X4Ss, five Chauvet Intimidator LED 350 Spots and a pair of Claypaky HPE 300s for the moving lights, plus two ChromaBank LED battens - all running over ArtNet.
These, together with the Orb XF, were supplied by west London based lighting rental company, Entec. At each venue, this ‘specials’ package was integrated with the house ‘top rigs’.
(Jim Evans)
