Lighting control console

Strand Lighting 300 Series Control Console

A light board by Electronic Theatre Controls capable of controlling both normal lights and intelligent lighting.

Lighting control consoles (also called lighting boards or lighting desks) are electronic devices used in theatrical lighting design to control multiple lights at once. They are used throughout the entertainment industry and are normally placed at the FOH position or in a control booth.

All lighting control consoles can control dimmers which, in turn, control the brightness of the lights. Many modern consoles can also control automated lighting (lights that can move and change colors), fog machines and hazers, and other special effects devices.

Lighting consoles communicate with the dimmers and other devices in the lighting system via an electronic control protocol. The most common protocol used in the entertainment industry today is DMX-512, although other protocols (e.g. AMX, LMX, analog) may still be found in use.

Types of Control Consoles

Consoles vary in size and complexity, from small preset boards, to dedicated moving light consoles. The purpose of all lighting consoles, however is the same: to consolidate control of the lights into an organized, easy-to-use system, so that the lighting designer can concentrate on producing a good show. Most consoles accept MIDI Show Control signals and commands to allow show control systems to integrate their capabilities into more complex shows.

Preset Boards

Preset boards are the most basic lighting consoles - and also the most prevalent in smaller installations. They consist of two identical fader banks, called 'scenes.' The faders (control slides) on these scenes can be manually adjusted. Each scene has the same number of channels which control the same dimmers, but only one is live at a time, so the console operator can build a scene, then fade to it. These scenes are often referred to as A-scenes and B-scenes, and a cross-fader is used to fade between the A and B scene.

Generally, a preset board operator has a cue sheet for each scene, which is a diagram of the board with the faders in their positions as determined by the lighting designer. The operator sets the faders into their positions based on the cue sheets. Typically during a cue, the operator sets the next scene. Then, the operator makes the transition between the scenes using the cross-fader.

Preset boards are not as prevalent since the advent of digital consoles, which can store scenes digitally, and are generally much less cumbersome than preset boards. However, for small setups such as that of a DJ, they remain the board of choice for their simple to use interface and relative flexibility. Preset boards generally control only conventional lights; though some advanced consoles can be patched to operate intelligent lights in a round-about way.

Memory Consoles

Memory-based consoles have become very popular in almost all larger installations, particularly theatres. These new types of controls have completely replaced preset consoles as controllers of choice. Memory consoles are preferable in productions where scenes do not change from show to show, such as a theatre production, because scenes are designed and digitally recorded, so there is less room for human error, and less manpower is required to produce the same result.

Memory consoles have a bank of faders called 'submasters.' These submasters can be programmed to control a single channel (one light) or a group of channels. On some more advanced consoles, submasters can be used to control effects, chases (sequences of cues), and moving light effects (if the console can control moving lights).

Moving Light Controllers

Moving Light Controllers are another step up in sophistiaction from Memory Consoles. As well as being capable of controlling ordinary luminares via dimmers, they provide additional controls for intelligent fixtures. On midrange controllers, these are usually provided as a section separate from main Preset and Cue stack controls. These include and array of buttons allowing the operator to select the fixture or fixtures they want to control, and a number of wheels (as opposed to faders) to control the orientation, focus, colour, gobos etc. found in this type of light. As a wheel provides no visual feedback as the value of a particular control, an LCD is a vital for displaying this information. More advanced desks typically have multiple touchscreens, run an GUI and integrate all the aspects of the lighting.

As there is no standard way of controlling an intelligent light, a key function of this type of desk is to consolidate the various ways in which the hundreds of types of intelligent lights are controlled into a single interface for the user. For further discussionon this, see DMX (lighting).

A typical Midrange console is the Zero88 FatFrog. A very top-end console would be the GrandMA or Avolites Diamond 4

Software-Based Controllers

Software-based controllers are relatively new. The software runs on a standard personal computer, but has a similar feature set to a hardware-based console. Since dimmers, automated fixtures and other standard lighting devices do not generally have current standard computer interfaces, options such as DMX-512 ports and fader/submaster panels connected via USB are commonplace.

This system allows a "build-to-fit" approach: the end user initially provides a PC that fits their budget and any other needs with future options to improve the system, for example, by increasing the number of DMX outputs or additional console style panels.

Manufacturers of Light Boards

Lighting Board Discussion

Lighting Board Repairs / Technical Support

USA - Revolutionary Lighting