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Thread: Freestyler 512

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
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    chesterfield uk
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    466

    Default re

    very true. i wanna get a lighting board that will run midi but i am happy for the moment.
    cheers oli

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Brooklyn NYC
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    839

    Default

    i just picked up the sunlite ec (the cheap one) for a show that i did last night and i must say that it worked very well considering i got it the day before the show and have never used any dmx software before

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Cairns, Australia
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    1,896

    Default

    I find the DMX USB Pro is a good peice of hardware, everything goes very smooth. I do sometimes have a slight problem of the fog machine "knocking" it out (Stops working), but then all you have to do is restart the software. Its fine aprt from that, its only when your withint like 5M of a fog machine,and it might even just be mine.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    East Sussex, England
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    5,248

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    Freestyler is the best free program for controlling fixtures with a computer
    I would strongly disagree with you there and suggest that Chamsys MagicQ is the best free lighting desk software on the market, given that its actually the software from their multi-thousand pound desks, running on PC (or MAC or Linux) Granted, its not a 'Windows' app like you might expect it to behave, but thats because its a proper lighting desk in the same vein as Avo Pearls, Hogs, etc. It also has full media server control built in so is comparable with GrandMA type boards as well.

    It has support for the Enttec interfaces amongst others.

    http://www.chamsys.co.uk

    http://www.chamsys.net

    http://www.chamsys.be/forum

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    chesterfield uk
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    466

    Default re

    hi mate
    i have never heard of this so i will be giving it a go but as you have said in there yourself it doesnt behave as a normal windows program. freestyler is a program anyone can pick up and use in 5 minutes. its really simple to use and a really nicely written bit of kit. its the ease of use that i like and in my opinion is the best free software out there. i will be giving this other software a go though to see how it fairs up. very interested as i have never found this in my online searches i have done. maybe it will change my mind

    thanks alot mate

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    East Sussex, England
    Posts
    5,248

    Default

    its the ease of use that i like and in my opinion is the best free software out there
    If you equate ease of use to be 'best' then you may be correct in your opinion, however Freestyler is not a desk that many would trust to run a mission critical show, or a show of any size, whereas MagicQ is in use on many large installs and touring shows. They aren't really comparable products to be fair, other than they are both free to download and use. MagicQ is very much in the pro market whilst Freestyler is still a free internet application. Don't get me wrong, I used Freestyler for a while, but it was a bit flaky in places, certain things were hard to achieve and busking on the fly was virtually impossible, not something you want in a live/dance gig environment.

    If you approach MagicQ as a you would a besoke piece of hardware (that just happens to be running on a computer) then you'll get your head around it much quicker. It follows all of the standard lighting programming concepts of cues/scenes and cue stacks/sequences on playbacks and supports theatre style input syntax.

    There's a nice demo of one of their bigger desks running lights and media on youtube (native support for most common servers including Hippotiser, Arkaos, etc). The software is capable of all this as its the same software, just without the interface. Only downside is that it only supports Chamsys hardware (which is high quality but expensive - my PC wing cost £1500 new), but as a company they need to give people a reason to buy their product, in the same way as Avolites give a soft version to users of their hardware products.

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zhpg9kp2HHM

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    chesterfield uk
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    Default re

    i agree with you. it all comes down to what that user requires for that application. it isnt completly stable freestyler and on the fly is impossible so i totally agree with your comments. it works for me though and thats what matters. like i have said this is the first time i have heard of this software and will be giving it a go. i was comparing freestyler to other really lame pieces of software like chauvet show express and the likes. this sounds interesting though
    cheers oli

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    East Sussex, England
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    Absolutely, I wasn't trying to tell you that its bad for your application, just that it might not be the best out there... I also wasn't aware of MAgicQ until someone told me about it at a festival I was working on using Freestyler (and struggling with it....!)

    All i can say is download the manual and give it some time to 'click' with you.

    The first time i downloaded it it lasted 30mins before i said 'this is crap'. About 2 months later i sat down and read the manual cover to cover and gave it another go. After about 8 hours of playing i thought it was the mutts nuts! And invested some serious money into it.... even a touch screen completely transforms the way you use it, mine was £100 off ebay.

    Feel free to ask me any questions about it, or use their chamsys.be forum, its very good. Matt from Chamsys is also a regular over at blueroom forum and i've found their support to be excellent.

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    chesterfield uk
    Posts
    466

    Default cheers

    thanks for you help mate will do that. this may be the turning point in the way i control my show

    cheers.

    by the way hi in the other forum called lighting that your speaking to me on aswell lol

  10. #20
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Derbyshire, UK
    Posts
    22

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    Totally agree with Norty303 here, Chamsys is very powerful *if* you can get into it. It helps if you already understand other desks like Pearls, Wholehogs, etc., though I didn't so much reading of the manual was required.

    When I first found it and downloaded it I was initially disappointed as it didn't behave like any normal Windows application and looked messy. But I kept on trying stuff out on it and reading the manual, prompted by the price (free!) and claimed functionality.

    Since then I've used it quite a bit, and had it running in parallel with Pangolin LivePro for 6-9 hours a time with no problems, it seems to be rock solid.

    Thanks to Quazar I've now bought a PC wing to control the Chamsys, and it really does show it's quality.

    I have tried Freestyler a little bit, but gave up sometime last year when the latest version caused my PC to instantly blue-screen on running it...

    Regards,
    Neil


    Quote Originally Posted by norty303 View Post
    I would strongly disagree with you there and suggest that Chamsys MagicQ is the best free lighting desk software on the market, given that its actually the software from their multi-thousand pound desks, running on PC (or MAC or Linux) Granted, its not a 'Windows' app like you might expect it to behave, but thats because its a proper lighting desk in the same vein as Avo Pearls, Hogs, etc. It also has full media server control built in so is comparable with GrandMA type boards as well.

    It has support for the Enttec interfaces amongst others.

    http://www.chamsys.co.uk

    http://www.chamsys.net

    http://www.chamsys.be/forum

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