Equinox Dualize LED or Equinox Ultra Scan 25w?

[mrrawuk]

Which would be better for a small rig?

I have been offered the Equinox Ultras for £250 a pair inc padded bags, but the Dualizer LED is on offer at £79 each brand new.

Any advice guys?

[AndyMD]

I had a Dualize, not that impressed and not that bright.

You would get a better show with the Ultras, especially linked in master/slave

[mrrawuk]

I had a Dualize, not that impressed and not that bright.

You would get a better show with the Ultras, especially linked in master/slave

Cheers for the reply.My use is smaller gigs but i guess not worth it if they are not bright enough.

[Nakatomi]

If my memory serves the Dualize is a pair of LED Dotty things with moving mirrors. I considered it at one point then realised it was dotty so went for the ultras instead.

Now for the wisdom it's taken me a while to arrive at. Don't bother with scanners as effect lighting if you're only going to have two. Get a couple of space filling effects instead. If you work in venues where there's not enough room for the scanners to throw impressively they're pointless. Oh and without full DMX control the ultra scans are crazy, master slave or not they're always too manic.

[mrrawuk]

If my memory serves the Dualize is a pair of LED Dotty things with moving mirrors. I considered it at one point then realised it was dotty so went for the ultras instead.

Now for the wisdom it's taken me a while to arrive at. Don't bother with scanners as effect lighting if you're only going to have two. Get a couple of space filling effects instead. If you work in venues where there's not enough room for the scanners to throw impressively they're pointless. Oh and without full DMX control the ultra scans are crazy, master slave or not they're always too manic.

I don't like crazy lights. In all my years as a dj i hate manic, frantic lighting lol. I am not sure it would be worth going DMX for the gigs i am doing. I always felt dmx is for bigger gigs.

[Benny Smyth]

I am not sure it would be worth going DMX for the gigs i am doing. I always felt dmx is for bigger gigs.

You've mentioned quite a few times about doing gigs for 150-200 people - for weddings, that's a pretty big crowd.

Keep your mind open to the idea of DMX. If done right, it'll be worth more than the bum ache that comes with programming it.

[mrrawuk]

You've mentioned quite a few times about doing gigs for 150-200 people - for weddings, that's a pretty big crowd.

Keep your mind open to the idea of DMX. If done right, it'll be worth more than the bum ache that comes with programming it.

DMX is another topic in itself. I want to go wireless but for 2 or three lights i don't think it would be worthwhile.

[Nakatomi]

You've mentioned quite a few times about doing gigs for 150-200 people - for weddings, that's a pretty big crowd.

Keep your mind open to the idea of DMX. If done right, it'll be worth more than the bum ache that comes with programming it.

I do gigs of up to 120 people and have only a handful of lights. I couldn't go back to not having DMX now. The foot controller and ir remote for my gigabar is just too cumbersome. Want a crossfade program? Stomp, stomp, stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp....

Not all my lights are wireless but anything without wireless DMX can sit next to something which is wireless. For 5 fixtures I'm down from 15 cables to just 6.

[funkymook]

DMX is another topic in itself. I want to go wireless but for 2 or three lights i don't think it would be worthwhile.

You can make DMX as easy or as complicated as you want, don’t think you have to jump in at the deep end and create complicated scenes.

I just use a battery operated 6 channel DMX controller for two of my lights (Cheetahs) and adjust them on the fly, even when I had moving heads I only had one programmed scene for the first dance and then did the rest by moving the sliders in real time.

[Nakatomi]

You can make DMX as easy or as complicated as you want, don’t think you have to jump in at the deep end and create complicated scenes.

I just use a battery operated 6 channel DMX controller for two of my lights (Cheetahs) and adjust them on the fly, even when I had moving heads I only had one programmed scene for the first dance and then did the rest by moving the sliders in real time.

That's a brilliant point. There's a lot to be said for only using DMX to control.which program a fixture uses and at what speed it runs. Easy peasy simples. Some of my controls in qlc do this too. Why reinvent the wheel?

[mrrawuk]

That's a brilliant point. There's a lot to be said for only using DMX to control.which program a fixture uses and at what speed it runs. Easy peasy simples. Some of my controls in qlc do this too. Why reinvent the wheel?

The more i ask questions on this forum the more it seems to end up costing me lol. Off i go to make a help me dmx post....:muppet:

[AndyMD]

Couldn't be without DMX as it's not as complicated as you think it is. Took me no more than 2 hours to programme 16 scenes (with all Par cans set to same address, all pairs set to same address etc.). And by scenes I don't mean just static lights. Basically I have 6 colour scenes, 4 scenes of just pairs of lights, 4 scenes of different things going at different speeds and a couple of crazy all stuff on.

Usually just start the night rotation between colour scenes and then up the speed and colours throughout the night.

Andy

[DJColsie]

I had two dualise about 4 years ago.

Not overly impressed. In fact the time they were most useful I set them up stood upside down on the desk projecting on the ceiling. My daughters boyfriend had DMX'd them with an OBEY controller so I could control the letters they projected and could spell 4 letter words!

[funkymook]

That's a brilliant point. There's a lot to be said for only using DMX to control.which program a fixture uses and at what speed it runs. Easy peasy simples. Some of my controls in qlc do this too. Why reinvent the wheel?

And once you get used to the controls it’s actually a great way of matching your lights to the song, just think of it as mixing, strobing, fast, slow, colour and gobo changes, blackouts etc all in perfect time.....try programming that for every song!

[Nakatomi]

The more i ask questions on this forum the more it seems to end up costing me lol. Off i go to make a help me dmx post....:muppet:
You already said you hate lights going crazy. To tell the truth I've not seen a single disco lighting fixture made recently which can't be vastly improved by strapping a controller to it. The vast majority of lights today, including many a non-budget fixture have 2 settings - batcrap crazy & OFF. You can iron out some aspects of this by linking multiple units master/slave but without a way to control which programs run on which fixture and when... you can end up with a lovely first dance accented by strobing lights. I kid you not. I took to leaving my walk-in boss' lights switched off til the first dance was out of the way. Most lights will run through their set of programs automatically regardless of the music you're playing (unless you manually select them from the rear panel) - so you could be having a slowdown section in the middle of the night and wahey.. off the FX go on a strobe mission because that was the next program in the loop. Just awful.

You don't necessarily even have to use DMX. Just buy units which can take instructions from the manufacturer's remote controller. If you have 2 of the same, link em master/slave and plug the remote controller into the master. You might not get as much control as with DMX, but it's a darn sight better than nowt.