ETC Cobalt revs its engine at Car-Fest 2014

The annual Car-Fest event in Samara, Russia, draws enthusiasts from all over the country for three days of everything car-related, from modern and classic auto shows to fast-paced motorsport competitions. This year's event - August 15 ^th to 17 ^th - also featured high-octane open-air concerts by famous DJs, where ETC's Cobalt® 20 desk was in the driver's seat to control the lighting.

The Cobalt console was designed to make busking in live concert environments a breeze. For Car-Fest, head lighting designer Evgeniy Toma used the desk to control a rig of moving lights, LED par cans, strobes and striplights. Toma could program swiftly, thanks to Cobalt's full-color master-playback displays, which show the current state of the masters and allow the ability to quickly switch from page to page. 

One feature that Toma especially enjoyed is Cobalt's ability for customization. He assigned the desk's nine independent control buttons to get instant access to the functions he used the most during the Car-Fest shows. And Toma was able to change the tab-based workspace on the desk to fit the way he programs, making many functions accessible at the click of a button. He says: "The more I work with Cobalt, the more I realize how tremendous its potential is. Each task can be accomplished several different ways, which is great, because different lighting designers who are used to different consoles can choose the quickest, most familiar path."

Cobalt is so easy to use that several novice lighting designers were able to step in during Car-Fest and do on-the-fly lighting control. One of them was Irina Kuzmina, who had never worked on an ETC console before. Despite not being familiar with Cobalt, she was able to try out the desk and experiment with its capabilities without skipping a beat during the concert. 

"The Cobalt console is like a great sidekick," summarizes Toma. "From the beginning, it's interesting to work with. Then it becomes your best friend, your partner, which you can lean on during tough situations and twists and turns. When this intelligent desk is paired with a talented designer, you get an unstoppable creative symbiosis that can power through any task."