I have always been a big believer in finding the right product for the right situation — especially when it comes to control. You don’t want to be in a position where the console can’t adequately leverage all the functions and firepower of a big lighting rig. When that happens, instead of unleashing your creativity, your console is constraining it.
On the flip side, however, it doesn’t make sense to pay a hefty day rate for a big, expensive console for a simple 12-dimmer show. By the same token, you don’t need Frontgate’s $35K Talos Outdoor Cooking Suite grill if all you want to do is warm up a couple of hot dogs. You can find Nostalgia Electrics’ Pop-Up Hot Dog Toaster on Amazon.com for $18.89. It’ll warm up two hot dogs and toast a pair of buns at the same time.
However nifty, hot dog toasters don’t work very well for grilling hamburgers. It can almost be as daunting when you take that 12-dimmer show and add LED fixtures. It’s still a pretty easy-to-control rig, but with a few quirks. Jands, however, has introduced a new console that’s designed specifically for smaller rigs with LED fixtures and dimmers — the Jands Stage CL.
What It Is
The Jands Stage CL is one of the latest entries in a relatively new segment in the console market, what might be called the Ultra Portable Console segment — those new consoles that are portable, lightweight and easy to use. These consoles all give users access to quick looks, simple programming and playback. In the case of the Jands Stage CL, this extends to easy control over LED fixtures’ attributes, whether they’re RGB, RGBA, RGBAW or WW-CW — even seven-color LED fixtures.
The Jands Stage CL makes color selection for LED fixtures easy and straightforward. The console starts with 12 sliders for individual control over fixtures intensities, and a recent software update allows for two pages of fixtures, giving the user direct control over up to 24 individual fixtures and more — if you are creative with the placement and addressing for the fixtures in your rig.
Features
Along with the Stage CL’s sliders, for intensity control, the console offers two knobs above each slider. One controls Hue and the other Saturation.
One way to understand the Hue and Saturation controls is to think of the color spectrum as a cone. The Hue, or color, is the edge of the cone going around. When you start dialing in the Saturation, the color begins to move down the cone towards white, based on where you were on the edge or Hue color.
An even more intuitive way to understand the effects of the Hue and Saturation knobs is to turn them a bit and see what that does to the color of the LED on each channel. As you turn the dials, the LED displays a pretty good approximation of the color you are creating. These LEDs are located directly above the sliders, and just above those LEDs are push buttons that you can use to group several fixtures and operate them as a single unit.
Along with the Hue and Saturation controls, the Stage CL has a touch screen for RGB, color picker and gel picker controls. Ever try to build a color effect? The Stage CL takes the difficulty out by offering some standard color chases and effects that run at the press of a button. Tweaking the timing and duration is simple with the intuitive controls and menus in the touch screen.
Playback
After you have taken the time to build an amazing look on stage, the Stage CL makes it easy to record it for future use. Depending on how you want to play that look back, the console offers a traditional cue list or sequence, a snapshot or submaster and a chase playback. Then press one button, and you can store that look for later use. Of course, the default timing may need to be changed, but again, the touch screen easily walks you through the process.
Summing Up
The Jands Stage CL is a new type of console. At first, it seems limiting, but it has a specific purpose — quick and easy control of a smaller rig of LED fixtures. While it excels at LED control, the console also has the ability to control conventional dimmers. It’s just one DMX address device.
You might not find it as the sole control solution for the next Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Olympic Games, but the Stage CL seems as though it could work particularly well at smaller gigs — in churches, for weddings, or in a club or bar with a small dance floor and DJ.
Another plus for those types of applications is that it doesn’t require a seasoned lighting pro to operate. Within a few minutes, a volunteer could be taught how to play back looks or, with a little more instruction, start programming, recording and playing back their own lighting looks.
At a Glance
Portable Simplicity
Twelve sliders directly control 12 fixtures — or up to 24 with a recent software update that allows for two pages of fixtures. The two knobs above each slider are for Hue and Saturation control — and the CL also makes it easy for users to record their looks for small LED and conventional rigs. The Jands Stage CL might not be the go-to console for an Olympic opening ceremony, but for a wedding or small church outreach function, it’s simple, portable and ready to travel.
Jands Stage CL Console
Processor:
Atmel ARM9
DRAM:
128 MB
Flash Storage:
256 MB
Graphic Display:
480×272 TFT
Power Draw:
24W
Connections:
5-pin DMX, RJ45, 2 USB
Weight:
8 lbs.
Size:
20.5 x 10.25 x 3.15”
(520 x 260 x 80mm)
MSRP:
$1,995
More info:
www.jands.com/stage-cl, www.aclighting.com
