Zero 88 at Edinburgh Fringe

	Photo: Idil Sukan

Members of Cooper Control's entertainment lighting control team spent the month of August on site in Edinburgh, supporting one of the world's largest and most diverse performance festivals -- the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Over 150 venues selected Zero 88 control desks and dimming for their fringe appearance this year, with products being supplied from a large variety of Zero 88 dealers including Northern Light, Black Light, Hawthorn, HSL, Stage Electrics, and Stage Lighting Services. On-site backup was provided by members of the Zero 88 team throughout the month long festival, including a number of training and support consoles supplied directly to give venue staff members an opportunity to try out equipment even whilst theirs was in use.

Continuing its partnership with the festival, which began in 2003, the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe proved to be one of the busiest years for Zero 88 with up to 200 products in use throughout the month.

The usual eclectic mix of old and new products were in operation at the festival, from a bank of vintage ID1216 dimmers controlled by a Sirius 24 console right through a large number of current products such as 9 of the new ORB series consoles (ORB and ORB XF). The ORB consoles, featuring the new ZerOS 7 software proved popular, with particular favor paid to the enhancements since 2010. Returning operator Owen Evans commented, "Zero 88 listens to its customers -- an important factor in choosing a lighting control provider. The new software has improved on previous versions allowing for greater flexibility, faster programming and has helped our operators to get to grips with the consoles faster than last year."

A number of key features included in Zero 88 products have come from suggestions made by operators at the fringe, and each year it proves a great test-bed to sound out new ideas amongst operators of varied skill levels. Zero 88's product manager, Peter Kirkup, stated, "There's no other opportunity like this, where up to 1,000 shows a day can be using our equipment. No matter what, you can guarantee someone will come up with something we've not heard before."