Rent at SUNY Geneseo. Photo ©Benjamin Gajewski

The State University of New York at Geneseo has purchased a Jands Vista T2 full size console for its School of the Arts faculty, which provides degree courses in stage lighting design, technical theatre and stagecraft.

Located in the historic village of Geneseo, the University is a premier public liberal arts college with a rich tradition of academic excellence. The campus facilities include a state-of-the-art theatre used for practical lessons and assessments, as well as an array of faculty-directed and student-directed productions, community-produced shows, dance concerts and musical theatre revues.

With a focus on teaching students to use the very latest industry technologies, Johnnie Ferrell, associate professor of theatre and technical director at the School of the Arts, decided it was time to upgrade their lighting console to something more modern, powerful and capable of handing the increasing number of intelligent fixtures.

Being active in the U.S. Institute of Theatre Technology, he decided to visit the USITT show to get hands-on experience of the latest lighting consoles available. After evaluating several popular industry consoles, Johnnie was impressed by the Jands Vista so arranged a demonstration for himself and his students at the University, provided by Jands exclusive North American distributor, A.C. Lighting Inc.

The Vista’s modern, graphic interface, pen-tablet control and ease of use made a big impression on Johnnie and the students, so he purchased a full size T2 console for the University’s theatre via local company, BMI Supply in Queensbury, New York.

Johnnie commented: “I have never had a lighting desk that is so easy to use. You can set cues faster and easier than anything I have ever used. The patch is always a snap as well.”

The console is primarily being used in the University’s 386-seater Alice Austin Theatre to control a lighting rig which includes various Altman, ETC, Elation and Vari-Lite intelligent and conventional fixtures. The Vista has also been used in the campus’s 950-seater Wadsworth Auditorium and 150-seater Robert Sinclair Black Box.

Student productions programmed on the Vista include The Clean House, Fool for Love, Rent, Pirates of Penzance, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, as well as dance concerts every semester.

In addition to using the console on-site, the students also frequently edit their shows away from the campus using the free PC and native Mac-based Vista offline editor software.

Summarizing his experience of the Vista, Johnnie commented: “As my mentor stated about the Vista: did I want a lighting console that students could learn to program, or did I want a console that the students could light with? The students love the Vista and it has quickly become their console of choice.”

tobyMac ©Jeff Culmer

Lighting and video designer Nick West specified a Jands Vista T2 console to provide lighting, IMAG and video control for the recent tobyMac annual Winter Wonder Slam tour. The American Grammy award-winning gospel rapper’s explosive show featured Diverse City, his 8-member touring band, and played a series of US Arena dates throughout November and December. The touring schedule re-commences in March to promote the launch of tobyMac’s latest studio album, Tonight.

Tour lighting was provided by Axxis Inc., with lighting design, direction and programming by Nick West. Video was provided by Big Picture.

When it came to specifying lighting control for the tour, the Jands Vista was Nick’s desk of choice. Nick is an experienced user of the Vista range, switching between a rented full size T2 console for tours and his own S1 control surface for fly dates or using as a wing, which he takes on every show.

He commented: “When I saw the Vista, the timeline and ability to swap fixtures were major selling points. Often I fly to a show that morning and I may only have 30 minutes with the rig before we play, which gives me just enough time to focus. With the Jands Vista’s Mac or PC based offline editor, one quick advance call to get the fixture types and addresses from the local company and I can have the console ready to go before I even show up on site.”

The tour rig centered around a Barco Slite LED video wall upstage for IMAG and a low resolution Barco MiStrips LED wall in front of a 40 foot wide by 5 foot high riser.

120 Par Cans arranged in a 30 by four configuration were also flown in and out during the show, providing a major set piece used to spell out words. Nick was originally going to pixel map the Par Cans, but after starting to pre-program them on the Vista he found the console’s graphical based approach to programming made it very easy.

He commented: “The show starts off with ‘TOBY MAC’ spelled out in the Par Cans. After a couple of shows, Toby asked if I could do something specific with them, such as having them come on as if someone was writing it. I was able to instantly grab the fixtures, work with them in the timeline and have the effect within 30 seconds of him asking for it.”

The rig also included 22 Martin Mac 700 profiles, ten 26 degree Source Four Lekos, three ETC Sensor racks and two Motion Labs 220V Distros. Video came from a Catalyst HD media server. The lighting, video and live camera feeds were all triggered from the Vista T2 console.

Summarizing his experience of the Vista, Nick commented: “I use the Vista for anything and everything I do. It’s great having on-board visualization of your fixtures and the flexibility to layout the console to your specific needs. The Vista is great for controlling lights, IMAG and video. Technical support for anything is very quick. Jands listen to their users and continually make requests and ideas happen.”

Other production staff on the tour included Tour Manager Ryan Lampa, Stage Manager Sam Shifley, Lighting Crew Chief / FOH Cam Anthony Morgan, Lighting 2nd John “2Tone” Sumitra, LED Tech / Robotic Cams Jeff Culmer, and Shoulder Cam / Video Tech Nick Bush.

Cliff Richard and the Shadows 2009-2010 tour

Lighting and video designer Derek Jones specified a Jands Vista S3 console to provide lighting, IMAG and video control for the 2009 / 2010 Cliff Richard & The Shadows international tour. The sold-out tour recently completed shows at major UK and European arenas, and re-commences in February for a series of dates in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

When Derek discussed the choice of control console with UK and European tour lighting supplier, Lite Alternative, they suggested the Jands Vista S3. Having jumped between using many other consoles, Derek thought it would be a good opportunity to experience for himself the Vista’s graphical based approach to programming. On the strength of trying the free Vista demo software and then using the S3 for a one-off corporate show, he purchased a console to use for the tour.

Derek commented: “I felt very comfortable using the console, particularly the timeline editing function, which appealed to me having used timeline based editing for video editing. I was a bit nervous about the idea of using an unfamiliar console on such a major tour for the first time, but after trying the desk with success on a corporate show and a few hours of the tour rehearsals, I felt completely at home with the Vista.”

Having worked separately for both Cliff Richard and The Shadows over the past ten years, Derek was keen to design a show which suited both acts’ visual style, so he incorporated a mixture of traditional and high-tech show elements.

Derek wanted a multi-functional scenic / IMAG backdrop to save on truck space and provide a dynamic above-stage show replay system which would give the audience a central view of the IMAG. He specified a 13.5m wide by 4.5m high PixLED screen, supplied by XL Video UK.

For the lighting, he opted for a goalpost truss surrounding the screen featuring MAC700 spots and MAC2000 washes, 19 ETC Source Four fixtures and additional floor-mounted MAC700 units. Video came from a Catalyst media server. The Lighting, video and live camera feeds were all triggered from the S3 console.

Summarising his experience of the Vista, Derek commented: “The Vista has served its purpose very well. I feel very much at home with it. Because Vista is very software based, I can use any of the hardware options that Jands have to offer and still feel that I’ve got a full console in front of me.rdquo;

A temporary nightclub installation in Kristiansand, Norway used a Jands Vista T4 lighting console to control a state of the art LED digital lighting, projection and video system featuring Robe DigitalSpot fixtures and a large Chroma-Q™ Color Web™ video effects wall.

Club Salamander was part of the five-day Quart music festival. Built partially over a pond in the middle of a forest, the 3,000 capacity venue was packed out every night to house and electronica performed by leading international DJs including Bob Sinclair, Guru Josh, DJ K-Mixx, Inkfish, Trulz og Robin, Kenny Shifter and Andy Carvell, to name a few.

Stage Concept A/S provided the main production, with additional system equipment sourced from Norway-based production suppliers including Konsertsystemer A/S, Baerum Lyd, Norsk Sceneteknikk A/S and UK-based HSL.

The club’s lighting design was a creative collaboration between Stage Concept A/S, Thor-André Sæther and Baerum Lyd. With little time available for programming the ambitious temporary LED installation, the Jands Vista T4 console was specified due to its stability, fast programming and user-friendly interface, which the team felt would be ideal for their collaboration.

The lighting rig was hung from an 11m by 13m ground support roof over the dancefloor area. Fixtures included Robe’s DigitalSpot 7000 combined digital moving light projector and LED-based wash light, ColorWash 2500E AT and ColorSpot 700E AT moving lights, high power strobes and strip light battens. Further Robe moving lights, Griven Colorado fixtures and LED Par Cans were scattered around the venue to uplight the surrounding trees and create reflections over the water alongside the club. The DJ booth featured a 7m wide by 8m high Chroma-Q Color Web LED video wall, pixel-mapped via a Madrix system and lit through by ColorWash 575AT Zoom fixtures. A Green Hippo HippoCritter media server also fed content to two 50” plasma TV screens in the DJ area.

The Jands Vista console used 12 universes to control the various conventional, moving light and digital lighting and video sources. In addition to using the desk’s four DMX outputs, eight universes were distributed via Art-Net output using the new Chroma-Q Magic Box™ EtherSwitch 7™, a robust, high quality network switch that supports seven simultaneous Gigabit Ethernet network connections.

Club Salamander lighting co-designer, Thor-André Sæther, commented:

“I was the first to take on the Vista in Norway and I have never looked back since. As one of the Club Salamander lighting co-designers and having responsibility for the system set-up, in my opinion there really was no other suitable option than using a Vista T4. We were pressed for time and wanted a console that could handle the 12 universes we needed, as well as having the physical playbacks to make a lot of pre-programmed stuff available without having to cycle through page after page to get to what we suddenly needed. The Vista amazed me again with its ease of setup. Everything connected and worked flawlessly on the first attempt. The speed of programming achievable was a huge factor; along with the encoders it gave total control.

As for the Color Web, I personally don’t know of any other product that could have done the same job.
It comes together easily and it’s lightweight. Two hours with two people was all it took to configure, assemble and hang it. It created a fantastic visual framing for the DJs and drew a lot of attention from the clubbers towards them during the nights, which was what we wanted.”

Lighting designer Dave Boser of Image Technologies Corporation specified a pair of Jands Vista I3 consoles to provide lighting control for the Silpada Designs 2009 National Convention in Missouri. Silpada is one of the nation’s largest sterling silver jewelry home party companies, with over 28,000 independent representatives. This year’s three-day annual conference at the Kansas City Convention Center attracted nearly 6,000 sales representatives and featured presentations, an awards night and an entertainment night.

The live event was produced by Doug Flory and production managed by Bob Casey, with technical direction by Mark Scanlon. Lighting design / direction / programming was by Dave Boser, and master electricians Nick Wisdom and Michelle Morin assisted with the rig install and strike. Image Technologies Corporation provided all lighting and rigging equipment for the event.
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Indiana based Grace Community Church has invested in a range of Vista lighting control solutions as part of a multi-million dollar expansion of its worship facilities. Models purchased include the full-size Vista T2, the portable Vista S1 and the playback-only Vista M1 consoles. This is to expand the church’s capacity to three weekend worship auditoriums, to accommodate as many as 6,000 churchgoers on a typical weekend.

The Church relies on a team of over 100 volunteers to assist the paid production staff during services, which can run simultaneously in up to three auditoriums. Senior Director of Production, Daryl Cripe, therefore felt it was essential to invest in a lighting console that the inexperienced volunteers could easily understand.
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Click on the image to see more preview screenshots from the current beta version.

Most of us have tried to connect two computers and make them talk to each other; and most of us have ended up calling our IT specialist in despair to get it to work.

No one can afford to waste hours getting basic technology working, which is why Byron features ‘zero-configuration networking’: connect a Byron to another console or PC running Vista 2.0 software and they will automatically find each other and connect.

Byron uses Apple’s proven Bonjour™ networking technology to do this, a ‘no IT guy’ solution that makes backup and more advanced networking operations easy. With Byron you’ll never have to enter an IP address or configure a DNS server again.

Bonjour is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

The thing that makes the Vista so special is its visual interface, but we understand that sometimes the traditional ways have their uses. This is why in Byron we’ve included a command-line interface.

The Byron command line is completely synchronized with the interface, showing the clip or step you’re editing at any time. When you type a command you see the equivalent action happen on the fixture icons and control palettes: all pen-driven commands are interpreted into plain language on the command line in real time. Of course, the command line supports all well-known numeric keypad syntax (for example, typing ‘1/26*55’ would set fixtures 1 to 26 at 55% intensity).

If you’re used to selecting lights and setting levels by numbers, you can use the command line in combination with the Vista’s visual interface to give yourself even greater control than before.

Jands will show a major software upgrade for their revolutionary Vista lighting console, at Plasa in September.

Originally released in 2004, the Vista introduced a whole new approach to constructing light shows, with ‘think visually, work visually’ as the core concept. The Byron release of the application takes this innovative approach to a new stage, introducing a true second generation of software, completely re-written from the ground up.

The Byron release reflects the attention Jands have paid to user feedback about the Vista, as well as the fresh vision Jands have brought to the whole concept of how a console works. The update provides easier and faster ways to do existing functions, and introduces a host of new features.

The Byron software will be free-of-charge to current users. Some of the key aspects of the new software include:

• genuine, zero-configuration, ‘no I.T. guy needed’, automatic networking
• tracking backup that synchronises a second console or PC to take over seamlessly in the case of a failure
• a second-generation timeline providing visual split fade times, a per-step timing structure that lets you instantly set fade and delay times for some or all the events in a step, and new filters that make it easier to see what’s going on with big rigs
• an extended generic fixture model that doesn’t limit the use of non-standard or overlapping features and adapts to all types of new and unusual fixtures
• a completely overhauled user interface reflecting user feedback, with search functions built in throughout
• a brand new visual method of controlling media servers
• new Matrix layouts and effects for use with LEDs and other fixtures
• a Command Line window that accepts keypad input for fixture selection, levels, timing, store and other frequently used commands

Faster and easier to use, the Byron release is a lot more than just an upgrade of the existing Vista. It provides an unrestricted, reliable software platform for building an ever more sophisticated and powerful console in the years to come.

Jands will preview Vista 2 ‘Byron’ on the AC Entertainment stand (1-E10) at the PLASA trade show in London, 13-16 September 2009.