I am about to purchase an Element - it seems ideal for our needs - we are a small UK amateur dramatic society, with mainly conventional generics but needing to move into the DMX world.
I have still not made my mind up about 40-fader or 60-fader. The price difference is significant (which is important for us) but I am not sure what we lose in operability in the live environment.
I have read the User manual and watched the downloadable videos. These show using the rotary switch to change between the faders being one-per-channel to them being submasters. I would expect during a show that we would be in submaster mode.
A scenario I can see during a show is using a channel fader to grab and alter the level of a particular fixture. Let me assume that is Channel 22. When switching back to the submaster mode, the fader will probably be at a different level to where it was before. Will that suddenly alter the on-stage lighting levels of Submaster 22? Or would the fader need to be moved to grab the previous level?
Any thoughts or comments on this would be helpful - as well as any other thoughts on 40 versus 60.
Regards
Hello Andy -
Changing the fader function on Element won't change the current state of the lights. The channel faders behave in an LTP fashion, meaning you will have to move them to match the current output of a channel to regain control over that channel, but at that moment you can bring the level up or down. Submasters won't jump to a faders level when changing modes either. I would suggest contacting your dealer and arranging a demo so that you can try Element out for yourself to see which flavor of the console will suit you needs better.
I hope this helps -
Thanks -
Sarah
Sarah Clausen
Controls Product Manager
ETC, Inc.
Many thanks Sarah, that clarifies my question completely.