Hi, I'm Sarah Clausen and I'm the Controls Product Manager for ETC
and I'm here to introduce the Element Console to you.
Element comes in two different forms: The Element 60, which we have here or the Element 40
which has two rows of faders instead of three
both consoles support 250 or 500 control channels
and can patch up to 1024 addresses or two universes.
Each console
is exactly the same size here, so one's not bigger than the other
and we're just going to walk through the basic functions of the desk
and give you an idea of who it's designed for.
So, basically, Element is designed for smaller venues
they had mainly conventional lighting rigs.
So, if you look at this face panel, you'll notice that we have
faders, we have a command keypad
we don't have any encoders or LCD displays
that would be used in a more moving light oriented console,
but we'll talk how you can control moving lights with Element later on.
Basically, what this is designed to do, is to come out of the box, plug in to the wall,
and get you turning on lights really quickly. And the way that we do that is when you start up your system
we start with what's called a one-to-one patch which means that every channel is patched
to a single dimmer, or single address in your system
and the first one hundred twenty channels can be controlled through the faders themselves
and very simply, you just bring a fader up
and that brings up the corresponding channel.
You see those levels here on screen,
you'll also see them on screen
in these fader bars at the bottom of screen two.
And voila! Dimmers are coming up.
You can also use your command keypad so I can just simply
type [1] [THRU] [1][0] [FULL] [ENTER]
and now I have the first ten channels at Full output
and those are also available to me now on my level wheel.
So, it's pretty fast when you get going and we designed it to be simple for those small venues
with mainly dimmers to control.
One of the things that those venues usually like to know is
how much help can I get in running the desk? or learning how to use this
command keypad here.
The way we do that is through number of features. One is
the command prompts above the command line.
Those will basically
follow your typing and give you a hint as to what the console expects you to do next.
So, if I clear the line,
it's going to say "select channel numbers"
So if I type [1]
it says channel 1 already right there on the command line
As soon as I hit [AT]
the next thing that the console expects me to do is to enter an intensity level and then press enter.
So if I say [7][5] [Enter]
I've just set Channel 1 to an output level of 75%.
That's one way we help you get comfortable with the system
The other thing is to have a help system in the desk
so basically all I have to do
is hit the [HELP] key
and press the [GO] button
and it tells me right on screen
what the [GO] button does
and in some cases how I might use that key.
The other thing we can do is
we invite you to join our on-line Community Forums at our web site: www.etcconnect.com
where you can ask questions
and get answers basically from users all around the world
using our Element, or Ion, and Eos consoles,
and they're a very helpful lot so I welcome you to join us on our Forums.
So, that's the very basic stuff.
Lights on easy, Command Keypad, Level Wheel, Help System.
Once you get those levels onto your stage,
you might want a record them somewhere so that you can play them back easily
the way we do that
is very simple again. If you just want to put that look on to a single fader
simply Record [REC]
Hit a bump button on a submaster fader
and then I can
go to a blackout here (like magic)
and bring that look back up
on a submaster fader.
so the Element 60 console
gives you twenty faders that are always submasters.
These top two rows can operate in the Channels Mode
which is what it is when you take it out of the box
and we have this four position switch
which allows you to page those forty faders from channels 1 through 40
to 41 through 80
to 81 through 120
and then ultimately down into Submaster Mode
where we get sixty submaster faders all at one time,
and then I can just flip back to Channel Mode just that easily.
If I have and Element 40 console, it's like having these two rows.
So, if I want to get to my submasters, I just flip the switch to Submaster Mode
then those forty faders become available to me as
submasters. And then if you flip back I have my channel control, so it's quite simple.
If I like this look but I prefer instead of bringing up faders to play them back I want
to play them back with crossfade timing
that would be writing cues, and that's what that [GO] button is for.
So, I already wrote some cues before so that we have something to look at,
but if I want to record this look that we have here into my cue list, it's very simple.
I already have seven cues. I'll say record eight enter [REC] [8] [ENTER]
and now this look
has been recorded into my cue list so I can play it back with a timed fade.
Very simply, go back to the top of my list [GO TO CUE] [1] [ENTER]
and that will fade me back to where
my show starts and then my go button can be used very simply
to start those fades happening
one after the other
using the timing that's been recorded on each of those cues.
So, Element is designed
to get your show going relatively fast. What we haven't talked about is what happens if you've added
conventional motorized accessories, LED fixtures, or a small number of moving lights to your rig.
Element does have tools onboard that you can use to control those things
And what we call them is the On-Demand Moving Light Controls.
So, I've already patched in some moving lights.
So I'll select one now, say Channel 201, so [2] [0] [1] [ENTER]
and you'll notice that my screen has changed
now I can see all the different things that Channel 201 can do. Channel 201 is one moving light.
Channel 202 is another moving light
so if you're familiar with our older consoles
a twenty channel fixture would actually take twenty control channels
an Element, as with Ion and Eos,
each individual channel can contain all of those different parameters
that a moving light has.
So, I just have one light selected
and when I push the [ML CONTROL] button
on my screen appears all the controls that I need to control that type of fixture in this case it's
a simple wash light.
So, what you see here is
a focus control for Pan and Tilt,
Color controls over here,
and actually off the side of the screen as indicated by this arrow on the side
they're more controls for Beam functions like,
you know, Beam Size or Frost, that sort of thing.
So if I want to be able to see those controls at the other end, I can either hit that arrow to just
scroll all the controls over, or I can shrink
Color, for instance,
and open up the other category and see what's there.
Basically with in this area of your screen you can get all the controls
for those moving lights right in front of you.
Every parameter of the light is on a vertical encoder,
and these are designed to be used with a touchscreen or a mouse
and it's very simple, you click and hold
and the encoder will move
and the farther away from the center line that you click
the faster the encoder is going to move.
The closer you are to the center line that you click, the slower it's going to move
so you can have some coarse and fine control that way.
For Pan and Tilt, if you notice the crosshair over here, that's showing us absolute
Pan and Tilt information.
So, my Tilt line is on the vertical axis and my Pan line here is on horizontal axis
and I can in fact just click and drag that fixture around the stage
using that crosshair.
Or I can adjust an Pan and Tilt individually.
Every single
category and parameter has a little home key it looks like a house
yes, I know, cute.
And so if I hit that key that will take my Pan and Tilt, for instance, back to
the fifty-fifty position.
We'll close at one up and talk about Color. Color is more fun.
So, Element has a Color Picker.
In this case the black line that you see is a representation of the color space of the fixture I have selected
so it kind of knows what kind of colors this fixture can make
and I can just pick a color by clicking within that space
and then the fixture itself is going to be set to those color values.
Or I have encoders, so I can manipulate those parameters individually if I want.
This fixture also has a Color Wheel and when you have a Color Wheel, or a Gel Scroller
what you'll see is little color tiles
and a text name for which color is in which frame of that wheel.
So if I
Home my color that way and I want to send it to the red filter as opposed to mixing a red
I can just click that button and it goes.
So, those are the basics of
the Moving Light Controls and yes it does require either a touchscreen or a mouse.
We have a touchscreen here, but it could just be a regular monitor with an attached USB mouse,
perfectly fine.
If you like to use a track ball to control
Pan and Tilt, for instance on things like IQs,
you can connect up a track ball and when you're in
Focus, there's a track ball button there and that will take control
off of the mouse and onto the track ball for Pan and Tilt
and then you can go back to pointer control later on
so, everything you need is pretty much in there.
Additionally, these buttons of the bottom can be used to record what are called Palettes.
You have four different types: Intensity, Focus, Color, and Beam,
and you can think of those as favorite positions. Once you get the lights set somewhere that
you like and you want to be able to recall that quickly you can record it to one of those buttons
so that instead of having to recreate it you just select the lights,
push the button, and the lights go right back to that spot.
And if you don't have moving lights, and you're never going get moving lights,
if you don't push that button, you'll never see those tools.
So, this is just a really quick overview of what Element is and what it does
and some of the tools that it offers for you.
Element ships with a user manual and it also ships with video tutorials that will walk you through the basics
of getting your show going, including how to patch, how to write your cues, how to write submasters, etcetera.
But if you'd like to see more, you can feel free to download the Element Offline Editor
or, I highly recommend you contact your ETC dealer
and schedule a demo.
And that's Element.