I need to begin this by saying that I know probably the minimal amount you need to know in order to operate and run a stage lighting system. I mostly taught myself, and I can program/record cues and run a show. Basics. Nothing fancy. You get the idea.
My question is this:
Our system at the school is pretty much on its last legs. As tends to be the way of building/contracting with school buildings, lowest bidder wins and the system that was put in was close to obsolete. This was...13 years ago.
We have a Leviton Colortran i96 system. http://www.manualslib.com/manual/360122/Colortran-I-96.html#manual
Over the past 5 or so years its been starting to get buggy. They've had people come in and look at it and "fix" it but it doesn't run smoothly, I'm pretty sure there are crossed circuits and mislabeled channels, and most recently the entire system will randomly freeze up and shut down. Multiple times during the last few performances of our musical I had to turn the entire console off and back on in order to boot up the show again. Thankfully I was able to "skillfully" work the shutdowns into blackout scenes.
The board is a Colortran Innovator 48/96 http://www.cantonmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Lighting-Control-Console-User-Guide.pdf
tl;dr... Does anyone know enough to give me some info on some systems that may be slightly better than this one that I could present to the principal and perhaps ultimately the school committee to get the wheels in motion on getting it replaced? I'm just not sure I know enough to be able to present to them option on what the next step might be.
Thanks for looking.
My question is this:
Our system at the school is pretty much on its last legs. As tends to be the way of building/contracting with school buildings, lowest bidder wins and the system that was put in was close to obsolete. This was...13 years ago.
We have a Leviton Colortran i96 system. http://www.manualslib.com/manual/360122/Colortran-I-96.html#manual
Over the past 5 or so years its been starting to get buggy. They've had people come in and look at it and "fix" it but it doesn't run smoothly, I'm pretty sure there are crossed circuits and mislabeled channels, and most recently the entire system will randomly freeze up and shut down. Multiple times during the last few performances of our musical I had to turn the entire console off and back on in order to boot up the show again. Thankfully I was able to "skillfully" work the shutdowns into blackout scenes.
The board is a Colortran Innovator 48/96 http://www.cantonmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Lighting-Control-Console-User-Guide.pdf
tl;dr... Does anyone know enough to give me some info on some systems that may be slightly better than this one that I could present to the principal and perhaps ultimately the school committee to get the wheels in motion on getting it replaced? I'm just not sure I know enough to be able to present to them option on what the next step might be.
Thanks for looking.
Solid advice from the other members, don't hesitate to seek out the advice of guys who are experts in the field, it will cost you less in the long run.