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ETC Expands Ion Offerings, Introduces Ion Xe Consoles

ETC has added two new control surfaces to their popular Ion lineup of lighting control products, the Ion Xe Consoles.  They feature a compact footprint that work with the entire line of Eos control products.  The Ion Xe is available in two output counts; 3K, (which is the base unit) and the 12k, (The expanded version). They feature support up to two external multi0touch screens, full main playback controls, fader control and  four parameter encoders.

More from the Press Release:

For nearly a decade, ETC’s Ion® consoles have brought powerful control to theatres, concert venues, studios and events around the world. Now, with the release of two Ion Xe consoles and two new fader wings, the small but mighty workhorse of the Eos® Family gets an upgrade.

Power in a small package

With compact footprints and full-featured Eos software, Ion Xe consoles bring high-level, award-winning programming power to smaller venues. Since the new consoles features the same backlit keyboard layout as their larger Eos family siblings, your workflow can transfer seamlessly from desk to desk. Ion Xe desks support up to external two multi-touch monitors, so you can take full hands-on advantage of color tools, Magic Sheets, Direct Selects and more.

Ion Xe consoles feature full main playback controls, fader controls, level and rate wheels, four rotary parameter encoders and support for up to five USB-connectable wings and devices. Ion Xe consoles are available in two output counts: 2K (base) and 12K (expanded), providing control for a wide variety of rigs. For extra security and flexibility, ETC has also released a new Ion Xe RPU (Remote Processing Unit), which can serve as a backup, remote programming station, or primary controller for your system.

“The Ion brand is much loved for its compact footprint and powerful feature set at a very attractive price,” explains Eos family Product Manager Anne Valentino. “We wanted to ensure its replacement maintained those attributes, while providing a more consistent hardware design with the larger products in the family. Ion Xe is a powerful addition to a product line-up that covers a broad cross-section of the market.”

Customize your faders

The new Eos Fader Wing accessories provide 20 or 40 non-motorized faders in handy, USB-connectable modules that match – and are compatible with – all the latest Eos family hardware. The wings share the profile of the Ion Xe and Eos Motorized Fader Wings, and they can be used with all Eos family products (with the exception of Element).

Fader wings make it easy to customize your Ion Xe to the specific needs of your show; you can connect up to three motorized or non-motorized fader wings to any Ion Xe desk. Want manual playbacks as a permanent feature of your work surface? The Ion Xe 20 model streamlines your control booth setup with a built-in bank of 20 page-able, non-motorized faders.

For more information, visit https://www.etcconnect.com/Products/Consoles/Eos-Family/Ion-Xe/Features.aspx

ETC Announces Eos Family Software Update – v1.9.5

This morning ETC announced the long anticipated, and until 2.0 comes out, most significant update to the Eos family of consoles: software version 1.9.5.

The biggest update included in v1.9.5 is the addition of the Virtual Media Server. The VMS allows the creation of grids of fixture, to which static and animated images can be applied. It includes a variety of manipulation tools. Similar to an external media server, the desk maps channels as layers which can then be defined with content. A secondary software download, the Eos Family Pixel Mapping Installer, is required to add media content.

The second major improvement is the Color Picker has been updated so that it will correctly (or more so) assign colors to non-standard LED fixtures such as RGBA and RGBW. This will hopefully mean there are more third-party LED profiles in the software as well.

Another important feature worth noting is the change that Cue Releases now send channels back to their last active source. IE, if you had moving lights 10 thru 16 going in cue 5/5 running in the background and had to run cue list 10 for a keynote speaker, any fixtures in cue 5/5 will resume what they were doing previously.

In addition to the features mentioned above, a variety of other long asked for features have been included: Flash On/Off, Flexi-Encoder State, Shielded Submasters, Grand Master exempt channels, Non-Dim indicator, etc. For a full list, please see the release notes available at www.etcconnect.com.

As always, if you are not comfortable using your desk’s shell system, please call ETC’s tech support line before attempting to update the desk by yourself.

ETC Announces More Ion Training Sessions

Are you looking to get more intimate with the ETC Ion console?  ETC just announced more training session around the country through March and April. The training sessions are broken down into two days.  The first dealing with Ion Fundamentals with an introduction to programming on the Ion. The second day is for intermediate users looking for more advanced programming skills.

Each session is limited to 16 participants. There will be 2 participants per one console for hands-on training. The cost of these sessions is $199.00 per day, which includes lunch and refreshments.

Training dates and Locations

Washington, DC – March 2-3 – Register Here

Houston, TX – March 16-17 – Register Here

Toronto, ON – April 13-14 – Register Here

ETC Releases Updates to Congo and Eos Family Consoles

Time for some update to almost all of ETC’s family of consoles. ETC recommends that you download and update your console with the current version of the console software as these two release’s mainly deal minor issues that have been fixed since the last version update.

More from ETC’s announcement:

Congo v6.0.3

ETC is happy to announce the release of Congo v6.0.3 software for the Congo and Congo jr lighting control consoles, Congo Light Server and Net3™ Remote Video Interface units. This version is mainly to resolve issues that many users have encountered in the field with previous v6 releases. It is highly recommended that end-users currently running v6.0.0-v6.0.2 software update to v6.0.3 as soon as possible. This version has been rigorously tested not only in our labs, but in over 30 beta sites worldwide in varying configurations of stand-alone, server-backup and server-client systems. We believe this version addresses issues of “hour-glassing” and system slowdowns, as well as the unhandled crashes that caused us to pull v6.0.2 from our Web site.

Congo v6.0.3 software and Release Notes can be found in the Downloads section of www.etcconnect.com . There is also a v6.0.3 installer for Congo Offline Editor for Macintosh available for free download, as well. All consoles, Light Servers and RVI/Client PCs in a system must be updated at the same time.

Eos v1.8.1

ETC is also announcing a new version of Eos-family software. Version 1.8.1 is a software patch that fixes a number of issues, including system slowdowns caused by mirror mode (this can be evidenced even when mirror mode is not deployed), and Universal Wing startup issues. It is recommended that all Eos-family products be updated at the earliest convenience.

You can access the Release Note and software from the Downloads pages of Eos, Ion®, Element™, Eos and Ion RPU and Net3 RVI. This release does not require a new Macintosh offline build (users will still use v1.8), nor does it require a new manual or hotkeys document. You can download the Eos v1.8.1 software update from the download section of ETC’s website, www.etcconnect.com.

UPDATE: ETC Releases Eos/Ion 1.8 Software… But Wait, There is MORE

etc_ion_artistic

Yeah yeah, we all heard it earlier, ETC released the Eos/Ion software version 1.8 with some pretty snazzy additions right.  Well, it looks like we didn’t get the whole story!

ETC just announced that the Ion is able to upgrade to a 2500k (5 universes) and a 3000k (6 Universes). Talk about some control.  All previous models of the Ion console will be able to be upgrade to the max universe count, 6 universes via a software upgrade code that you must purchase through your local dealer.

ETC also announced the release of the Ion 3K Remote Processor Unit, (RPU) which also supports six universes.

Have questions about the upgrade, contact your local dealer or visit ETC’s website at www.etcconnect.com.

Photo Credit: productionmusings.com

ETC Releases Eos/Ion Software Version 1.8

eos_ion-shot

We noticed on ETC website that they have released Software Version 1.8 for the Eos and Ion consoles.  Some of the major additions to the software is Mirror Mode.

Mirror Mode is used to mirror the displays of another device. When a device is in mirror mode, the only action allowed from that device is paging via the page keys and shut down/start up. When a device in mirror mode pages, it also pages the host.

Mirror mode is intended primarily to allow a designer or assistant to see the exact same displays as a programmer on the system. It can be used on any device on the network, including the primary processor. Any device being mirrored is referred to as the Host.

The other add-on to Version 1.8 is Fan for moving lights

Fan provides the ability to spread parameter and timing values in a range across a channel  selection set and have those values be evenly spaced. Fan is applied by channel selection or group order. By default, fan operation is from the start channel.

As with all software updates for the Eos and Ion lighting console, the update is a free download from ETC’s web site www.etcconnect.com.

FocusTrack 2.0 Software Announced at USITT

focus_track-20FocusTrack, the Production Lighting Documentation software is set to announce the release of version 2.0 of FocusTrack at USITT today. FocusTrack is a database system designed for keeping track of how lights are used within a show. It offer a complete lighting rig management system for recording every facet of both conventional and automated lighting fixtures, including set-up, dimmer set-up, gobo and color loads in addition to focus.

From your showfile, it can figure out how your show is made: which moving lights are used in which focuses, which scenes they’re used in, which bits of scenery those focuses are for. Which conventional lights, colors, gobos and more are actually used. No more trawling through the off-line editor manually making lists.

It can help you document your focus with digital photography, a precise record, not a written description; FocusTrack will bring up lights in the right positions for you as you photograph them, then import those pictures. No more perching a laptop on one knee while you call up channels on the radio to take their pictures.
In version 2.0, FocusTrack, functionality is extended to include ETC’s Eos, Ion consoles and the MA Lighting, GrandMA consoles.

If you are attending the USITT Stage Expo, make sure to visit the FocusTrack booth, 81.  FocusTrack will be ready for download the week of March 23, 2009.  A full licence of FocusTrack run UK£400 or $580.00.  Visit FocusTrack’s website at www.focustrack.co.uk for more information and screen shots.

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