ETC Nomad Helps Austrian Theater in Tight Programming Timeframe

	ETC Eos software on the new ETC Nomad controller helped Theater im Hof meet their deadlines.

Every summer, the Theater im Hof, located in Enns, Upper Austria, produces a classical production, such as Faust, Cyrano de Bergerac, and pieces by Shakespeare. This year, the company will present The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) by Long, Singer, and Winfield, which contains all 38 stage works and 154 sonnets all in one. The ambitious show was programmed with the help of ETC Eos software on the new ETC Nomad controller.

After years of using a large riding hall, this year's production will be staged in the basement of the Ennsegg Castle. With little space to spare for front-of-house control positions and a hectic production schedule, technical director and lighting designer Ueli Riegg found the new PC-based Nomad controller to be the perfect solution. Thanks to the new screen management in Eos v2.2 software, including a simple-to-use onscreen command keypad, Riegg was able to program the entire show using a PC with a monitor and an X-Keys-programmable keyboard. When running Eos software, the commands and operating philosophy of the Nomad are the same as on other Eos-family products, such as Eos Ti, Gio, and Ion desks. An ETC Gadget USB-to-DMX converter was used to get DMX from the PC to the lighting system.

Because of the tight production schedule -- just a single day to turn the basement into a theater and one night to cue the show -- Riegg depended on the Nomad running Eos software as an offline editor for preprogramming the show. "It was only possible to light this show by being able to set up and pre-cue offline as much as possible," said Riegg. "We used the Eos Magic Sheet feature to significantly speed up our programming of moving lights and LEDs." In the end, the show had approximately 140 lighting cues.

Nomad, which is compatible with both PCs and Macs and runs both Eos and Cobalt software, was designed to allow programmers the ability to do all their programming off site and then connect it directly to their lighting system, or to use it as backup or a client device. In addition to the tiny Nomad USB device, ETC also offers the Nomad Puck mini-computer, a small, standalone device that has the same functionality as Nomad with added security features.

See ETC at PLASA Focus: Orlando, February 17 - 18, 2015.