I have an entire folder of apps that I call my Lighting Handbook. These apps allow me to leave the three-ring binders full of product manuals, power consumption charts and dipswitch cheat sheets in the closet on the shelf. These are a few of my favorites:
- LX Handbook: This powerful app tells me the power consumption of most major fixtures. It also allows me to store unlimited product manuals, calculate power loads and keeps track of the attribute counts of my most used LED multi-part contraptions.
- DipSwitch: Long gone are the days of carrying around a dipswitch chart to address 300 Martin Atomic Strobes. Now all I need is my smartphone and the ability to add four to an odd number. I usually have to set my phone to airplane mode to use this app because I get too distracted with Facebook notifications about while trying to tell which direction is on and which is off.
- Patch Quick: When I am sitting at FOH and I need to give a series of addresses to my electrician I use Patch Quick. All I have to do is enter the first fixture number, the amount of attributes and the quantity of fixtures, and Patch Quick gives me all of the addresses I need. Then I can copy and paste that information into a text and send it off. No paper, no pen and no beer soaked napkins necessary (though that last one is always optional).
—Chris Lose, from “LD-at-Large,” PLSN, July 2016, page 60
