Paulina Rubio World Tour
LD Jeff Lava specifies a Vista T2 for Paulina Rubio’s 2007 tour.
The 2007 Love, Light and Sound tour to promote the top-selling Mexican pop artist’s latest album, Anarda, commenced in February with dates in Europe, followed by a March tour of Latin America. The show is currently playing 29 dates in North America and then returns to each region for more Summer and Fall dates.
Tour LD Jeff Lava was hired to take over programming and directing duties after the rig was designed by Barry Halpin in January. When it came to choosing a control console, Jeff decided to check out the Jands Vista after hearing good things about it from a colleague who’d recently used it on a tour.
One of the features that really stood out to Jeff during a demo was the Vista’s generic fixture model. On most other consoles, changing a fixture type involves substantial re-programming – a job that can take hours. In contrast, the Vista records the actual target look on stage so when the user changes a light, the console compares the abilities of the lights and works out how to achieve the same look on stage – even if the new light doesn’t have identical features.
Jeff knew that this feature would really help him out on the European and Latin American tour dates, where due to the logistics of transporting equipment, the only thing he was taking with him was a console, so he hired a Vista T2 for these dates from Steve Nance at US-based Integrity Productions.
He commented: “One of the main reasons that I got the Vista was because we were going to Central America with only a desk. In countries like El Salvador, Columbia and Spain we gave them my plot and I rarely got the specific light I was asking for at most of the venues – I knew that I would get what they had, which was difficult. Language was also a barrier and though sometimes we would fly the rig the day prior to the show, often we had to wait until the last hour to set up the show, due to transportation issues.
The cloning feature of the Vista was superb - I walked into a venue, got their patch list and within twenty minutes I’d have my show converted with their lights. It was a big relief to know I could always rely on the Vista’s generic fixture model and didn’t need to re-program the show’s 380-odd cues from the start everyday. The only thing I would do is touchups. It was an extra 30mins a day, but after the fixture swap the show was 90% there.”
Jeff also found this process of making show changes ‘on the fly’ each day was made even faster and easier by the Vista’s timeline editor, as he was able to review every aspect of the show’s programming visually on a timeline and then go straight to any point in the show where he wanted to make edits.
The main rig for the European and Latin American tour dates included 40 Martin MAC 2000K washes arranged upstage, downstage and on the floor, 30 MAC 2000 Performance fixtures arranged on 6 curved trusses hanging over the band, and 100 LED fixtures hanging on the upstage truss in blocks of 10.
The current North American leg of the tour uses a permanent rig and Vista console provided by Richard Willis from Bandit Lites Inc., and was programmed by Jeff in the visualisation suite at Bandit’s headquarters in Nashville, TN.
Other lighting equipment used for the North American rig includes XSpots, MAC 600s, Atomic Strobes, 4Light Moles and a Catalyst media server also controlled by the Vista console to run the 100 LED fixtures.
Having now experienced using the Vista under the very different production conditions of Latin and North America, Jeff realized how much easier the console was making the process of adapting his show around the daily challenges of touring.
He commented: “We are playing several Casinos on the US tour. There are going to be times when we can’t load in because a lot of the venues have house-lighting rigs hung. Also, sometimes there are more fixtures in the grid so I can clone them into my show. The Vista is a great way to expand your show without re-programming the show every day when you come into a situation like this.”
Another aspect of the Vista that Jeff was really impressed with was the level of support he received from Jands and A.C. Lighting.
He commented: “Tech support was amazing. When we were in Medellin, Colombia, the lights at the venue were replicas of moving lights that didn’t have profiles. After emailing A.C.’s Fred Mikeska and the Vista support crew, I had the profiles re-written and emailed to me, and the show was quickly up and running.”
Summarising his experience using the Vista, Jeff commented: “I’ve used most lighting desks and Jands have come up with a console that is very different to the others – they were thinking out of the box when they conceived it. The Vista is an easy and fast desk that helps out the lighting programmers and directors. The slogan when you start the desk up – think visually, work visually – is true. We are visual people and we think that way. It’s about time a company made a console that helps us lighting designers out. I will definitely be using the Vista in future.”
The Vista—a breath of fresh air
The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) is one of the most prestigious theatre schools in the country, and recently chose the Vista T2 as their console. Why? Because they see it as the future of lighting control. After using the T2 to stage a recent production, ‘Once On This Island’, two of the students kindly took the time to write to us about their experiences with the console.
Blake Garner, Lighting Designer and Deidre Math, Lighting Operator, are both third year students at WAAPA. Deidre had this to say about the T2: “My experience on this console I can honestly say has been fantastic in terms of the ease and efficiency it gave me when programming our show.”
Despite finding the T2’s interface very different from the consoles she was used to, Deidre soon found that by applying her knowledge of computers, the Vista “became extremely easy and much more straightforward than I could have imagined!”
Faced with producing a show in fourteen hours that contained about 250 cues and about a hundred conventional and moving fixtures, Blake had about three minutes to program each cue: “Without the Vista we would never have achieved this and I would have had to simplify many of the complex cues that I had in mind.”
As well as faster, Blake found the process far more intuitive with the T2: “I stopped bothering with channel numbers and just asked for things like ‘the lavender wash’ or ‘the back blue in those areas’. Deidre could select and manipulate what I wanted by just dragging selection boxes around the fixtures; I never had to refer to a cheat sheet or even ask for groups.”
Deidre was also impressed by the speed: “The Vista was amazing because we were able to achieve so much within our deadline. We found that the console’s programming style opened up a whole new avenue of creativity in looks and effects.” Deidre’s conclusion? “The Vista was the perfect console for us. Once we’d spent the time understanding the different way in which it worked, we were able to achieve all that we wanted within the time. It really was a pleasure to program on the Vista.”
Blake also found the T2 to be much easier to use than other consoles: “When we created a palette, or stored something we’d built, the T2 popped up a plethora of options to filter parameters or entire channels. On other desks, you have to remember to knock out what you don't want, or type in some long and complicated string. On the Vista, it's just intuitive and easy to do.”
Blake also noted that the T2 provided all the flexibility they needed: “There was no need to muck around with time-consuming part cues. When I needed precision, I could explicitly specify the times I wanted, and when I only needed approximate timing, I could just drag stuff around on the timeline. It was great being able to move things around to what ‘looks right’ rather than trying to express what I wanted in exact numbers.”
Blake’s conclusion? “After my experience with the Vista, I’m convinced that a graphical user interface is the way to go. As long as you’re willing to adjust your calling style it is much faster, and much easier to work with. Faders and encoder wheels will always be important, but keystrokes for every task are a thing of the past; the freedom of copying and pasting graphically is enough by itself to make the change worthwhile. The Vista really is a breath of fresh air. Regardless of the complexity of the show, it's a very fast desk to plot from and I would definitely use it in any show I could.”
About WAAPA
The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) has an impressive range of production, rehearsal, teaching and performance facilities available to support students in their pursuit of excellence.
WAAPA provides production and design students with the most performances and the greatest diversity of any arts training institute in Australia.
The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
AC Lighting announce Vista S3 competition winner
A.C. Lighting has announced that Jon Fredrik Weldingh, a freelance Lighting Technician from Norway, is the winner of the company’s Jands Vista S3 online competition.
Jon wins a 1024 channel Vista S3 lighting control system consisting of an S3 control surface and 1024 channel DMX dongle, the system provides full control of a lighting rig when connected to a laptop or desktop PC running the Vista software.
Jon had already used Jands' Event 408 console when he came across the Vista for the first time in late 2005 whilst visiting a concert for the Norwegian band TNT.
He commented: “I didn’t know much about the Vista at this point but it sure looked slick and very user-friendly. Having started out as a sound technician and drifted more and more into lighting in order to cover both production duties at events, the Vista’s very easy to use interface really appealed to me.”
Impressed by the console, Jon had already downloaded the Vista demo software onto his laptop from www.jandsvista.com and started playing with it when he came across the A.C. Lighting competition.
He commented: “My first experience with the Vista was wonderful. Where on other consoles I would have to use the manual to even get things patched, I would be in full control and get wonderful looks within minutes on the Vista. Other consoles have way too much button pushing to get anything done. The Vista is visual where others are hardly readable. The timeline and the presentation of fixtures in the clips/cues puts me in total control, and lets me keep the focus on creativity.”
After starting in the industry working for several production companies on events ranging from discos to small music concerts, Jon decided to go freelance in 2003. Since then he’s worked with many Norwegian bands, including working as a lighting rigger for best-selling Norwegian band D.D.E. on the massive 30-date Summer tour, Folkefesten, and 45-date Christmas national tour.
Jon is currently working in Trondheim, Norway, providing production services for local concerts and corporate lighting events, but wants to get on the road, outside Norway.
On learning he’d won the prize Jon commented: “I’m so happy, I’m bouncing off the walls. The visual base of the Vista will enable me to pre-plot a lot more without involving external programs like wysiwyg. Having this system will enable me to do my best on any job, not being held back by not knowing the console provided, or the provided console not being up for the task. I can’t wait to start using it!”
Visit the AC Lighting News page
Worship Facilities Expo awards for Vista S3
The winners of the 2006 WFX New Product Awards were announced on Thursday, November 9 at the Worship Facilities Conference & Expo (WFX).
The WFX New Product Awards, presented by Church Production Magazine and Worship Facilities magazine, were designed to recognize the newest and most innovative building, management and technology products marketing to churches within the past year.
Best Overall Lighting Product - Jands Vista S3 and Vista APP
Best Automated Lighting Controller - Jands Vista S3 and Vista APP
Live Design Magazine
Product of the Month: Vista S3 Control Surface
Writing in the August 2006 issue of Live Design magazine, Michael Eddy says “if you want to see a console that really rethinks how a user interfaces with it, then get a demonstration of the Jands Vista consoles and try them for yourself.”
Church Production Magazine reviews Vista T2
In his review Greg Persinger, principal consultant with Design 2020 Church Media Consultants, says “I can tell you that with the graphical interface, the timeline, the drag and drop features, and the common shortcut keys, the Vista has a very easy to use and powerful clip editor that allows you to create and customize your lighting looks quickly and easily. For me, what sets the Vista apart from any other moving light console is that editing is so fast and easy.”
Read the article »
Stage Light Design purchase Vista S3
Lighting Designer John Rinaldi of Stage Light Design is one of the first UK customers to take delivery of a Jands Vista S3 lighting console.
The company specialises in providing a full lighting design and production service for the exhibition and corporate events market, with major clients in the broadcast, telecommunications and electronics sectors.
Intrigued by the Vista's overall concept and philosophy, John had been following its progress with much interest, but was waiting for the launch of a more compact and affordable version which would be a better fit with his budget and regular pattern of work.
He commented: “The majority of our work is exhibitions, which usually means packing all the lighting control equipment into a tiny little cupboard space on client's stands. The S3 is ideal for this as I can use it with a laptop to program shows on the stand, and then when I'm happy with the show I can remove it and just play back from the laptop itself - solving any storage problems.”
The S3 control surface becomes a fully operational Vista console when connected to a PC running the Vista software and fitted with a separately purchased software unlock key for DMX output of up to 8,192 channels via Ethernet.
Before ordering his S3, John rented a T2 Vista on a large rig for the Intel stand at this year's CeBIT exhibition in Germany. The rig consisted of 80 generics, 114 LED battens, 18 Pulsar Chromastrips, various Mac moving heads and well over 1500 channels of DMX.
He commented: “I felt that both the nature of the show and the lighting design leant itself really well to Vista's way of working. As well as generics and moving heads for lighting the main stand itself, I had 114 LED battens top lighting the enormous ceiling. The brief was to change the ceiling colour, but I went one better and choreographed the colours with the content of the video walls, using SMPTE to lock the Vista onto the Video timecode.”
John split the 114 LED battens into four separate heads per unit to achieve some very bold, dynamic colour sweeps from side to side and front to back of the ceiling. He found controlling the fixtures very easy using the Vista's layout screen as it created almost a picture of the ceiling from separate icons representing all 456 lights.
The show was programmed by Mark Jones. Stand design and project management was by 2LK Design Ltd.
John used the Vista T2 on several other corporate events before taking delivery in May of an S3 control surface with separately purchased 1024 channel dongle software unlock key.
On the Road at the NBA playoffs
Lighting the team introductions for the NBA playoffs in a 442,000 square-foot arena provides some unique challenges. Kevin Stirling recently posted, on the Light Network, about his experiences with Vista and using VNC for remote control.
Reprinted with permission. Photo by Darryl Ross
“Just thought I'd take a moment to gush...
DaVinci-Fusion, Inc and I brought the Vista to Sacramento's ARCO Arena for player introductions at games 3, 4, and 6 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs. There would have been more shows, but when you lose you take your toys and go home.
The Vista, of course, performed flawlessly and poetically again this year, but that's not the point of this post. I wanted to make it clear how thrilled I was with the performance of the Vista under VNC control over a wireless router during programming, install, and rehearsal.
My console sits in the farthest upper reaches of the arena: Northwest corner, catwalk, 90' above the deck. While affording a bird's eye view, this position also creates issues with line of sight during programming (scoreboard obscures at least 15% of the house), so invariably some base foci are difficult to verify without multiple long walks around the catwalk. In the dark. At 3 am. Pinned on Rockstar Juic'd. You know how it is.
This issue is avoided with one ride down the freight elevator, and a stroll through well-lit hallways back into the darkened arena where I've set up my lappy running VNC at the scorer's table. There I get full access to Vista's desktop and, in one short session, fix all the spots I previously couldn't see. Update some presets. Fix some cues that don't look as cool from the floor as they did from the air. Run the show again from another perspective. Ah, freedom.
All that says nothing of the time I save on load-in. I used to set up the console once downstairs to verify the rig pre-fly, and then again upstairs with the rig at trim. Now there's only one set-up upstairs; control is verified from the deck pre-fly and at trim via PC.
Nor does it tell of the assured smiles and dulcet tones I receive from our client, the Kings' Director of Event Presentation, when I can sit next to him during his rehearsals and be present for all discussions of content not necessarily transmitted over comms. Additionally, if I'm on the floor, my sales manager can talk to me and still collude with the powers that be. That makes him feel better. That, in and of itself, makes my life easier.
In short, don't be afraid to VNC your Vista. I ran that sucker wireless at a good 500' range in a building filled with steel and other wireless systems running rampant. Lag was sometimes noticeable, but not prevalent. I didn't feel secure enough to run the show from the lappy due to the lag, but it may have worked. More experiments with same are forthcoming.
VNC your Vista. Make a love connection.”
Vista install at Christ’s Church of the Valley
Christ’s Church of the Valley in Arizona wanted to make their message even clearer to the congregation of 10,000 people, so they invested in a multi-million dollar lighting, video and audio system.
Director of Lighting, Brett McFarland, explains why he chose a Jands Vista console to control their state of the art lighting system:
“Part of our mandate is to always promote excellence. However, we are in the unique position that we often have inexperienced operators. With a modern console, you can imagine the headaches this can cause. Add the fact that we run four services a weekend and have events happening throughout the week, and providing excellence is a tall order. With the Vista we are able to train a volunteer operator to run and program the console in about 30 minutes versus several days, and the copy and paste functions combined with the timeline features have cut my programming time in half.”
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Vista on tour with BRIT-award winning band Keane
Lighting designer Paul Normandale and programmer Rob Sinclair (pictured) chose the Jands Vista for the recent international tour of BRIT-award winning band Keane. We asked them why they chose the Vista.
Rob Sinclair: “Adding and removing lights to suit each venue was a breeze: the copy, paste and extract features alone make it worth switching to the Vista. But quite apart from its unique features, the desk performed faultlessly throughout the tour and was a true pleasure to use”.
Paul Normandale: “As any programmer will tell you, the worst aspect of any tour is constantly re-programming the desk to suit every house rig. The Vista’s generic fixture model was very impressive – it just took our fixture data and adapted it to each rig. The amount of time we saved was significant”.
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L & S America - Rob Halliday reviews Vista
Writing in the February 2005 edition of Lighting and Sound America, Rob Halliday reviewed a beta version of Vista
“Once in a very rare while, a thoroughly remarkable product comes along, a product that changes not only the way you do your job, but your whole approach to that job.
The first thyristor dimmers must have been like that, and the first memory lighting controllers, as well as those early moving lights. The very finest of these products are so elegant that they manage to be revolutionary while appearing so obvious that you wonder why nobody thought of them before. Think of WYSIWYG. Or, beyond our industry, think of the first appearance of the Apple Lisa and Macintosh in the then-DOS-only world.
And now there is the Jands Vista lighting console”.
Download / read the article. (PDF - 475kb)
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The Royal Albert Hall
Few venues host such a diversity of acts as the Royal Albert Hall. With orchestral performances, rock and pop concerts, circuses, ballets, even tennis, the Hall is unquestionably one of the most demanding venues in the world.
As Technical Show Manager Mark Jones put it, “When we decided to upgrade our lighting console, we knew we needed a desk that could adapt to all kinds of productions. The Vista was the only console that met all our requirements.
With the Vista we can build our designs visually from start to finish, and we can program it so quickly we have much more time to try different things.
The Vista gives us the flexibility and control we need to deliver far more for our clients in the same amount of rehearsal time, and that's a winning formula.”
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Total Production US
In his column, The Visualist, Robert Mokry writes:
“It would seem like every approach to lighting control had to have been tried already. But then a new product comes out that makes you say “why didn’t someone think of that way sooner?”.
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2004 Mini Show
Visitors to the MINI Stand at the 2004 Birmingham Motor Show were treated to a truly unprecedented light show, courtesy of Essential Lighting and the revolutionary Jands Vista console.
EL’s Managing Director and Lighting Designer Martin Locket (right), together with Moving Light Programmer Martin Seymour (left), were looking to do something totally different with this show:
“The Jands Vista opened up lots of new possibilities. We were able to create all sorts of effects such as multiple offset wipes incredibly quickly. We had 300 cues in an eight-minute show, and some of those we would simply never have attempted on any other console.
If you want to create a truly innovative show without hours of number crunching, the Vista is the only console for you.”
Click on thumbnails for more images
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Lighting & Sound International
Lighting & Sound International reviews the Vista’s impressive performance at this year’s Mini Convertible launch.
Martin Locket, the show's Lighting Designer and MD of London based live events specialists Essential Lighting, decided to use the revolutionary new Jands Vista console after seeing a preview of the desk at PLASA 2003. Locket was keen to try the console as an LD and also investigate it as a potential new rental product. Working with Jands exclusive European and North American distributor A.C. Lighting, he chose the MINI show as the ideal event to debut the Vista.
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Viva La Vista!: Jands Vista Console
Lighting Dimensions reviews the Jands Vista console.
Wherever the Vista has been shown to end users, there have been enthusiastic comments regarding its ease of use and simplicity of operation. One world-renowned British lighting designer, consultant, and sometime console designer said, ‚Äú“That's the way it should be done. I don't understand why someone hasn't done it before now.”
