A.C. Special Projects Ltd. (AC-SP) have recently specified, supplied and installed premium performance lighting fixtures, complete with a truss ground-mounted structure, for John Lewis’s new content production studio in London.

This modern, purpose-built facility is used for photoshoots and filming, to generate content for the websites, mobile apps and magazines of what is one of the UK’s leading retailers.

Underwood Carpenter Ltd., who project managed the setup of the new facility, approached AC-SP, requesting an installed lighting rig to suit the wide variety of applications the space would need to cater for.

AC-SP proposed a full turnkey solution to meet the requirements for a flexible system, which would allow the operator to create high quality lighting scenes for numerous subject types, quickly and easily.

AC-SP Senior Project Manager, Andy Holmes commented, “During initial discussions with the John Lewis content production team, it became clear that they required a very flexible lighting system that would work for both still photography and moving images. The Chroma-Q Space Force softlight was ideal for this application, as its flat field of light helps illuminate the wide range of subjects with an ‘all-encompassing’ high quality light.”

He continued, “The high CRI of the Space Force ensures that colours are accurately reproduced on camera. The added flexibility of variable colour temperature control means that cooler colour temperatures can be used to capture imagery of products like white goods, whereas warmer tones can be used when photographing clothes and models. The Chroma-Q Space Force and Studio Force Phosphor fixtures also have the ability to change the refresh frequency of their LED sources, which means that the lights can be tuned to work with video cameras running at varying frame rates, including high speed ‘slow-mo’ videos.”

AC-SP installed the award-winning Chroma-Q LED softlight products – the majority of which were mounted on over 140m of Litec truss also provided as part of the installation. One of the innovative features of the Chroma-Q Space Force is its ability to be mounted on a floor stand, something that has previously not been possible with traditional space lights.

The lighting system is controlled by a Jands Vista M1 console, allowing users to change the lighting scenes from the ground – thereby reducing the requirement for staff to work at height. The intensity, colour temperature and other functions can be controlled from the M1 console.

LumenRadio transmitters and receivers were added to increase the flexibility of the M1 console, meaning the control system can be positioned anywhere within the space to suit requirements.

AC-SP provided on-site systems training for John Lewis’s Content Production team.

Lewis Rhodes, Studio Assistant, commented “AC-SP have been extremely helpful and thorough in their training, which was simple and easy to understand for a team possessing a wide range of different ability and skill levels. The team are excited to start using the lighting rig!”

Contact AC-SP now to see how they can help you to achieve your aspirations, on
+44 (0)1494 838392
info@acspecialprojects.com

A.C. Special Projects Ltd. (ACSP) has supplied and installed a bespoke entertainment technology system to Reach Academy Feltham – a pioneering, all-through free school for pupils aged four to 18 in Hounslow, west London.

The school approached ACSP with a brief for a fully flexible lighting, video and sound system for its main hall – which is used for a wide array of events, including plays, dance shows, presentations, social functions and workshops. The system had to be user-friendly and intuitive, so that teaching staff and pupils could work it with ease.

The school approached ACSP to tender for the project, due to the company’s extensive track record providing entertainment technology systems to the education, drama and performing arts sectors. Through the supply of detailed drawings of tailor-made specifications and practical demonstrations of key products, ACSP clearly outlined how its highly skilled team would meet all the brief’s particular requirements and challenges – thereby winning the contract.

In practice, ACSP managed the entire project. As well as devising a bespoke technical solution, the company supplied and installed it – subsequently providing training for school staff and ongoing technical support.

ACSP Director, Lance Bromhead felt that the high-performance ProLights lighting range would offer the best results within the school’s budget. For the main stage area, he installed four Diamond 7 LED washers, the smallest luminaire in the Diamond range. They feature the latest WBFX technology – offering unparalleled flexibility and creative possibilities thanks to three operating modes: high performance wash light, with advanced colour calibration; punchy beam light; and amazing FX graphic generation. These washers are complemented by two bigger, more powerful Diamond 19 LED washers.

The rig also includes six ProLights Crystal spot moving-heads and a highly efficient EVO190ETU LED profiler which is capable of replacing traditional profilers equipped with 750W HPL lamps.

This state-of-the-art lighting system is controlled by an ultra-portable Jands Vista S1 console. Vista’s award-winning intuitive, graphical user interface allows students and teachers to concentrate on the creativity and design of their show lighting, rather than deal with complicated lighting programming. The highly intuitive Vista software handles the technical details. Connection from the console to the ProLights lighting fixtures is made wirelessly via a LumenRadio CRMX Nova range DMX transmitter and receiver.

Other equipment supplied included a Christie DHD600 6,400 lumens projector with a choice of HDMI, VGA and video inputs – so media content can be projected during performances, presentations and other events. Sennheiser Evolution 100 Series handheld, lapel and head-band wireless radio mics mean speakers, singers or performers can benefit from flawless audio enhancement at all times.

Ed Vainker, Headmaster for Reach Academy, says that ACSP provided: “amazing service and communication from start to finish. Lance Bromhead was attentive and committed throughout, offering honest practical advice – which, on comparison, was extremely competitive. The installation process was thorough and professional with a very high-end finish. The equipment is high spec. and the after sales training, first class. I have recommended A.C. Special Projects to other schools and will definitely be using them again!”

Contact the company now to see how they can help you to achieve your aspirations:
+44 (0)1494 838392
info@acspecialprojects.com

A.C. Special Projects Ltd. (ACSP) have specified, supplied and installed cutting-edge performance lighting systems for two separate drama studios at Buckinghamshire New University’s High Wycombe Campus.

Having previously supplied lighting systems for several other performance areas on the Campus, the University approached ACSP to deliver solutions to meet their latest studio technical needs.

For the campus’s main Drama Studio 1, which is utilised by a variety of Performing Arts courses, the brief was to enhance the existing conventional tungsten lighting system with a range of the very latest LED solutions, as well as upgrading the existing lighting console to cope with the new rig.

The University were keen to invest in LED technology, to help improve the campus’s overall lighting and heating energy efficiency rating, and thus reduce their carbon footprint. In addition, they wanted to minimise the requirement for students or technical staff to work at height in order to change fixtures’ coloured gels or lamps.

Another consideration was to provide the students that would be operating the equipment, with the opportunity to get hands-on experience using brands whose products were widely adopted in the Performing Arts industry.

ACSP chose options from the ProLights lighting range, to deliver outstanding results from the available budget. These included ProLights StudioCob full colour LED Pars, offering an extremely bright, consistent and wide 60° beam; ProLights Evo 160F Fresnels and Evo 190E Profiles to deliver tungsten-style theatrical performance from an LED source, both featuring excellent optics and smooth dimming; and finally, ProLights Reflex moving washlights, for adding the flexibility of its extensive zoom and vibrant colour range.

In the Studio’s control room, the University needed a lighting console that was easy to use but still capable of controlling the latest lighting technologies, along with being flexible enough to suit the individual show performance needs of students.

ACSP specified the award-winning Jands Vista v2 control solution due to its intuitive, graphical user interface, and the versatility of programming and playback methods it offers. Vista allows students and teachers to concentrate on the creativity and design of their show lighting, rather than complicated lighting programming, by letting the Vista v2 software handle the technical details and simply deliver the target stage look they require.

With limited space to accommodate a large lighting console, ACSP recommended the compact Vista S1 wing. All Vista products run the exact same software and offer the full feature set as found in the range’s largest consoles, therefore the S1 connected to a Mac mini provided this small footprint solution without compromising on power, features or performance.

For the campus’s Drama Studio 2, which is utilised as a rehearsal space for dance performances and other drama-related applications, ACSP provided a whole new lighting system – also featuring ProLights StudioCob full colour Pars and Evo 160F Fresnels fitted with barndoors.

This second studio is also controlled by Jands Vista combined with an even smaller, ultra-portable M1 wing connected to a laptop. With both studios running the same control software, and taking advantage of Vista’s modular wings, this allows students and teachers to freely transition between the two spaces without having to learn differences between two products. Show files can also be seamlessly transferred from one studio to the other, and in addition, the S1 and M1 can be combined to offer a physically larger console for those one-off productions which may require more hands-on control.

In both studios, Jands Vista provides flexible lighting control to suit a variety of Drama productions, ranging from simple Plays to highly animated Dance Shows featuring lighting choreographed to musical numbers.

ACSP provided comprehensive Jands Vista training for the University’s technical staff at their office in High Wycombe.

Frazer Mackenzie, Head of School – Media Production & Performance at the University, commented:

“We are very pleased with the tailored solutions that ACSP delivered. The systems are state of the art and yet very simple to operate by both our Performing Arts staff and their students – some of whom may be considering a technical production role within the industry in future. As has been our experience working with ACSP, they again provided a high level of service, and no job was too big or small for them.”

More information:

www.acspecialprojects.com

Gallery

Video

This video by Spreading Flames Media shows how a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet can be used, with an M1 control surface, to provide an ultra compact Vista control solution.

Review

Writing in Church Production magazine, lighting designer and programmer Greg Persinger, tests a Vista / Surface 3 combo and says:

“…a solid lighting control system providing an excellent balance of cost, computer power, lighting control, compact size, and ease of use… definitely worth some serious consideration.”

• Read the full review on the Church Production website >
• Watch the video on Youtube >

© Chris Green

USA – Georgia’s Gwinnett Church has invested in four Jands Vista lighting & media consoles to provide powerful yet simple-to-use control for different zones in its recently opened house of worship site.

Gwinnett prides itself on inviting volunteers to assist in running the site operation, including technical production aspects such as lighting for its worship services.

Lighting and Scenic Director at Gwinnett, Josh Mobley, oversaw the Church’s investment in Jands’ flagship Vista L5 all-in-one console, as well as three smaller size Vista control consoles – an S3 and two M1s.

The powerful L5, which features a massive 21″ widescreen tablet for simple control of lighting and media on one screen, is installed in the Church’s main theater. The S3 is in the ‘middle school/high school’ room, and the M1s are in two smaller spaces.

As well as being very popular with houses of worship on account of Vista’s volunteer-friendly operation, all models in the hardware range run the same Vista v2 software, making it effortless for users to program, transfer and operate shows across different models being used at the same site.

“The process of using volunteers for cuelist playback on preprogrammed cues is the process that our organization has found to be successful,” says Josh. “After the volunteers watch the Jands training videos and spend some one-on-one time with me – hands-on with the various Vista desks – they catch on quickly!”

In the Church’s main auditorium, the L5 is controlling a performance rig including Mac Vipers, Mac Auras, Colorado Tri Tours, and Epix strips. The Vista is also being used to control 100 Chroma-Q® Inspire™ color-changing LED house lights, which can be synced via DMX to the stage lighting for a seamless look and truly immersive worship experience which transcends the usual barrier between stage and audience.

“I love the freedom of customization that Jands has, which is one of the main reasons we specified the Vista consoles throughout the Church,” Josh continues. “I have years of experience operating shows on the fly as well as programming and operating songs as a single cuelist. I typically program in the main room for reasons of consistency and detail, and freestyle in the student environments, and both styles are easy to setup with Vista. I also enjoy the freedom to access certain elements of the rig on the fly, while most of the content is pre-programmed.”

Gallery

The powerful L5 utilizes an Intel Quad-Core i7-2600 (3.4GHz) processor and 8GB of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). As well as its massive screen, the state-of-the-art desk also features a backlit keyboard, and Linux operating system. This combination is ideal for big shows where using lots of fixtures, LEDs and media servers can place significant demands on the console’s processor.

The S3 is controlling a rig which includes Mac 350s, Chauvet Legend 412z fixtures and Colorado Tri Tours. The two M1s are controlling a smaller rig of LED pars and Chauvet Intimidators.

Part of North Point Ministries, Gwinnett Church is the latest campus to adopt the Jands Vista lighting and media control solution for their operation. The Vista consoles for each North Point campus were supplied by SVL Productions in Rockford, IL, and are distributed exclusively in North America by A.C. Lighting Inc.

The Vista range includes a choice of portable, flexible control surfaces and self-contained consoles. Equally at home on tour or as a venue’s house console, Jands’ award-winning Vista lighting & media control system has been embraced by leading designers, companies and venues all over the world on a wide range of shows. Covering entertainment, education & drama, installations, corporate, events and worship, there’s a Vista system to suit all levels of user and almost any scale of show.

Other houses of worship to utilise lighting or media control by Vista include Elevation Church in North Carolina, Tomoka Christian Church and Celebration Church in Florida, Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, White’s Chapel in Dallas, Lifechurch.tv in Oklahoma, Westover Church in North Carolina, and Grace Community Church in Indiana.

International concert tours include Kylie Minogue, Queen + Adam Lambert, Chrissie Hynde, Bring Me The Horizon, Dierks Bentley and Thompson Square.

Get your demonstration of the Jands Vista range at an upcoming international tradeshows in May & June

Photo © Handerson-Yau

Lighting designer, Ben Inskip selected Jands’ flagship Vista L5 console to control his technically ambitious design for British metalcore band, Bring Me the Horizon, who recently played London’s iconic SSE Arena, Wembley.

Ben has had success for some time touring on Bring Me the Horizon’s (BMTH) shows with a portable Vista setup consisting of S1 & M1 wings, combined with a Macbook Air, but selected the Jands Vista L5 for this particular arena performance, which was the band’s biggest show to date.

In addition to having plenty of computing power to deal with the demands of today’s largest shows, the Vista L5’s sleek design is dominated by a stunning 21 inch High Definition Wacom tablet that provides a crisp, detailed image of the same Vista v2 software that is used across the entire Vista console family.

“Having used an L5 on some previous Australian shows, I really got to experience how quickly and comfortably you can program with it,” says Ben. “I chose it for Wembley because I knew the bigger screen and extra faders would be really useful when dealing with a show of this scale. Having the 21 inch screen meant I could fit my entire rig in a single layout and have absolutely everything I needed right in front of me.”

“Furthermore, I also really like being able to lean into the Wacom tablet and use the stylus without accidently selecting things, or my arms starting to ache.
I think it’s a much better solution for controlling lights than sensitive touch screens or other alternatives.”

In addition to this, Ben is impressed with Vista’s simple approach to lighting control whilst still enabling programming of complex shows, commenting: “BMTH’s music is very fast-paced most of the time, so I needed a way to make complex cuelists easier to program and trigger in a live show environment – Vista’s ‘learn timing’ feature was perfect for this.”

Learn timing enables a whole number of cues, or cuelists, to be triggered from a single button press after the sequence has been played through once by the programmer.

“Having the ability to build quick but complex looks, set precise timings in Vista’s timeline feature, and then fire them from a much simpler action opened up a new, faster way of programming for me. I found myself creating hundreds of events for even the smallest little inflections in songs, simply because Vista allowed me the time and creative freedom to do so. Vista has definitely made a difference to the final look of the show.”

In addition to playing the show back on the L5, Ben used his existing S1 and M1 combination to pre-program the show offline. “Hopping between Jands’ Vista consoles couldn’t be easier. The way you can organise your entire show and use ‘virtual consoles’ means that 90% of my programming was done in advance on a laptop, and everything was already set up for the L5’s fader layout exactly as I wanted it, when I eventually loaded the show into the L5,” says Ben. “All of this is made even better by the fact that the software runs on a Mac – having access to my show files literally anywhere at any time means I can be editing show files long before I set foot near a console.”

For this show, Ben ran the L5 as his master console, with an M1 wing connected for additional hands on control. Ben’s S1 and Macbook then provided a fully tracked backup system.
“All in all, the L5 is a really intuitive and enjoyable console to use,” Ben concludes. “I think the community around Vista is fantastic: reading the forums and noting how many suggested features actually get added into the software – and a steady stream of interesting new features being released – is really cool.”

Recent shows featuring lighting or media control by Vista include international concert tours by Queen + Adam Lambert, Kylie Minogue, Peter Gabriel, Dierks Bentley, Thompson Square, Fall Out Boy, Bloc Party, Deftones and Little Big Town.

Gallery

The Jands Vista system was used to control the lighting & visual media elements for Texas-based WaterTower Theatre’s spectacular production of Bonnie and Clyde.

Founded in 1996, the multi award-winning WaterTower Theatre is a not-for-profit professional theatre company in Addison, Texas. It produces six main stage shows each season in its flexible, state-of-the-art facility, which is part of the Addison Theatre Centre.

The Centre already owned two Jands Vista consoles – the ultra-compact M1, and the original Vista T2 model, but recently added the range’s flagship L5 console to their inventory.

Dan Schoedel of FullStageProductions.com, who was the lighting designer for Bonnie and Clyde, comments: “We actually upgraded from our existing Jands Vista T2 to the L5 during the show run. This is one thing that I love about the Vista line – the fact that the software is the same across the entire hardware range, making the transition from console to console totally seamless.”

Dan specified a fairly large rig for the show, which included Elation Design Spot and Power Wash fixtures, Chroma-Q Color Scrollers, and K-9 Pup and Bulldog fixtures.

“I rarely let the board ops program on the Vista system since it’s so much fun to design with!” Dan continues. “I find the ease of programming saves me time and effort, and as a result, it lets me refine my design. The Timeline Editor lets me quickly add depth to transitions and cues that I wouldn’t spend the time doing on other consoles. The Vista also helped me manage the variety of movers/color changing fixtures with ease.”

One of the major successes of this production was the inspired projections and visuals. These were created by set designer, Sarah Brown, working closely with in-house technical coordinator, Scott Guenther, who did the media design for the projection surfaces.

“The projections were handled by ArKaos MediaMaster Pro 4.0 software running on a Mac Pro, with two projectors. A Panasonic TP-DW830 8500 lumen projector was used for the center hanging cloth and a BenQ SH960 5500 lumen projector for the rigid side projection screen,” says Scott.

“ArKaos was used in Fixture mode on the Vista system. We were very happy with the level of control from the ArKaos Profile, while maintaining the ease and workflow of Vista. In fact, the integration with Vista was our favorite feature. Running the media from the lighting console allowed for great control of the images and great flexibility in connecting the media and lighting together, as well as being able to run / trigger these from just one device.”

Dan adds: “In addition, we set up the Vista to trigger all of the audio cues on a separate computer that was running QLab. This enabled us to fire off lighting cues and sound cues at the exact same moment. This was critical, especially when it came to gunshots.”

The Jands Vista consoles and the ArKaos MediaMaster Pro 4.0 software were demoed and sold to the Centre by North American distributor, A.C. Lighting Inc.

The Addison Theatre Centre is currently celebrating its 21st anniversary year of providing live theatre to the Dallas area, and has won numerous major awards in this time.

Jands’ award-winning Vista lighting & media control system has been embraced by leading designers, companies and venues all over the world on a wide range of shows. Covering entertainment, education & drama, installations, corporate, events and worship, there’s a Vista system to suit all levels of user and almost any scale of show.

The Jands Vista console range and ArKaos Pro media servers hardware and software line-up will be showcased at PLASA Focus, Orlando, in February on the booth of exclusive North American distributor, A.C. Lighting Inc. (booth 413).

Gallery – click to enlarge

Central Florida’s Tomoka Christian Church has upgraded to a Jands Vista I3 console, to provide a more powerful control solution for its larger performance lighting rig, following a move to a new worship venue.

The non-denominational, missions-oriented church, based in Ormond Beach near the famous Daytona Beach, offers contemporary praise and worship featuring live music, dance, and drama in a multimedia service.

The church is utilising the Jands Vista I3 console alongside its existing Vista M1 control surface, which had been in use for several years.

Tomoka Christian Church’s Technical Director, Shane Stanton worked closely with Florida lighting company Nateco, managed by Nate Mudge, to specify the I3.

“We had already invested in a Vista M1 and wanted to add more functionality,” says Shane. “Specifically, we were looking for an all in one solution. The I3, by giving us more controls, allows us to add elements that we need to be able to quickly access – for instance the additional buttons for bumping or flashing sets of lights, or quickly changing colors, and more flexibility during services or special events.”

The I3 features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and four DMX outputs offering plenty of connections to lights and dimmers.

Tomoka also invested in two Pathport Octo 8 and eight-port DMX-over-Ethernet nodes, connected to the I3 via Ethernet. The church‘s M1 is connected to the I3 via one of the seven USB ports.

“We try to create a dynamic and immersive, yet tasteful environment with our lighting,” continues Shane. “Worship styles can range from high paced praise music, where we can have a lot of fun with lights flashing and moving, to enveloping slow worship, where we can make slow color or intensity changes to move with the changes of the song.

“The transition from the Vista M1 to the I3 has been seamless, as has updating shows to our new lighting rig with more fixtures, which was a very easy process in the Vista’s v2 software.”

In addition to the I3, Nate worked with Shane to specify GLP X4 LED wash and LED Volkslicht Spots to the church’s rig. The GLP moving lights were specified following a hands-on demo by North American technology distributor, A.C. Lighting Inc’s Fred Mikeska.

“Fred knew we were designing a lighting system for the new facility,” says Nate. “After about a 45 minute demo we were sold. We scheduled an on site demo with the church’s Lighting Director, and GLP became the primary movers. We ended up using 6 Impression X4s and 8 Volkslicht Spots.”

Using the I3 to programme and control the new fixtures has been a simple task, as Shane concludes: “With Vista we are able to program the console to adapt for our volunteers’ varying skill levels. They generally learn how to master the console very quickly.”

The Vista range includes a choice of portable, flexible control surfaces and self contained consoles all running the same Vista v2 software.

Jands’ award-winning Vista lighting & media control system has been embraced by leading designers, companies and venues all over the world on
a wide range of shows. Covering entertainment, education & drama, installations, corporate, events and worship, there’s a Vista system to suit all levels of user and almost any scale of show.

Recent shows featuring lighting or media control by Vista include international concert tours by Fall Out Boy, Bloc Party, Deftones, Dierks Bentley and Little Big Town.

To arrange a Jands Vista demo or discuss your requirements contact your nearest distributor.

Or for more information and a list of international Vista users, visit jands.com/vista/users.

Florida’s fast-growing Celebration Church is utilising Jands’ flagship Vista L5 console to control state of the art lighting and video productions during worship services for its 12,000-strong congregation.

The services held at the Jacksonville-based Church’s newly constructed worship Arena are often broadcast internationally via web stream. They are renowned for being an energetic, immersive next generation praise and worship experience that infuses diverse genres and styles.

Celebration Church’s Lead Lighting Designer and AVL Technician, Trey Smith, specified the Jands Vista L5.

“The Jands Vista L5 is so user-friendly and easy to grasp that it’s a hit not only with us tech guys, but also with the church’s volunteers, who often operate the lighting and media during shows,” says Trey. “The L5’s Timeline feature was a key factor in us specifying it, making it easy to control media via timecode, and to make changes on the fly.”

“In the Arena alone, around 700 fixtures are controlled by the Vista L5. For the entire building, there are 2,200 fixtures, including 93 Chroma-Q® Inspire™ LED house lights. Only 140 of these 2,200 are not LED, and all the fixtures are controlled by the L5 via Pathway’s Pathport Connectivity system, which we use to link together the lighting throughout our building.”

“Currently, our L5 is connected via Ethernet and Fiber to our Pathport nodes onstage and in the catwalk – two nodes for onstage, and two for catwalk that run all of the house lighting and wall lights around the seating,” says Trey. “We also have Pathport throughout the rest of the building, to control lobby lighting, kids’ lighting, nursery hallways, and the Loft Cafe.”

“Everything is on one large network, but data is managed using VLANS so that lighting data doesn’t cross into the Arena. However, we have made it possible for the L5 to control the rest of the building if the situation calls for it.”

Trey and his team are currently using more than 30 universes for the entire building.

In addition to the L5, the Church uses 2x Jands Vista M1s in the Kids’ Ministry rooms, 1x Jands Vista S1 at its nearby Orange Park Campus, 1x Jands Vista I3 for tracking backup in the Main Arena, 2x M1s at the Midtown Location, and 2x M1s at its nearby St. Johns Campus.

In the Main Arena, the L5 is used to trigger media content as well as lighting, which is designed in-house and loaded onto a Coolux Pandora’s Box media server. The Vista range is also compatible with other media server solutions.

“The L5 is able to send Art-Net data to the Pandora’s Box Media Manager,” says Trey. “Pandora controls our stage 60’ x 20’ projection wall (15x 8,000 lumen Titan Projectors edge blended) as well as our 32x Sony LCD TVs that surround the projection wall.”

“We set up Jands to be able to control 6 video layers in Pandora through Art-Net. During regular Sunday services, Jands triggers almost all graphics and videos that go up on the projection wall and TVs. During special events and video elements, Pandora runs the visuals and sends LTC Timecode back to Jands Vista to trigger lighting cues.”

Trey adds that the Celebration Church had been using their Vista I3, M1 and S1 consoles for four years before upgrading to the L5 for the new Arena. “Vista has always worked well for us, and moving up to the L5 meant more power and features – but without a steep learning curve, as it uses exactly the same v2 software as our other Vista consoles.”

The L5 comes with the world-renowned Vista v2 software, a program that has been embraced by its growing number of users for being innovative, intuitive, powerful and easy to use, all at once.

The Church’s show planning is very precise. Songs are often planned a month in advance, with lighting and media programming happening weeks before the service.

“Using the L5 to control so many fixtures and demanding media, we are putting a lot of responsibilities on the console, but it works beautifully,” says Trey. “And due to the L5’s integration with Pathport, it’s a seamless operation.”

Featuring a massive 21-inch High-Definition TFT screen, the L5 offers a lot of space to add and re-arrange windows, making data easy to view and respond to.

The Jands Vista was supplied to the Celebration Church by design firm WAVE, which was contracted to design, supervise and install the new lighting and sound system.

Gallery – click to enlarge

The Vista range includes a choice of portable, flexible control surfaces and self contained consoles all running the same Vista v2 software.

Jands’ award-winning Vista lighting & media control system has been embraced by leading designers, companies and venues all over the world on
a wide range of shows. Covering entertainment, education & drama, installations, corporate, events and worship, there’s a Vista system to suit all levels of user and almost any scale of show.

Recent shows featuring lighting or media control by Vista include international concert tours by Fall Out Boy, Bloc Party, Deftones, Dierks Bentley and Little Big Town.

To arrange a Jands Vista demo or discuss your requirements contact your nearest distributor.

Or for more information and a list of international Vista users, visit jands.com/vista/users.

Renowned lighting designer, Rob Sinclair has used a Jands Vista L5 lighting and media control console to deliver an atmospheric visual feast for the latest Peter Gabriel ‘Back to Front’ world tour.

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of hit album ‘So’, the tour spans Peter‘s illustrious career, including a performance of the album in its entirety and features the original ‘So live’ 1987 band lineup. It is described by the innovative artist himself as a ‘three course show’.

In response, Rob’s inventive and dynamic lighting kicks off with the house lights up, then slowly slips into performance mode. Rob chose to use Jands’ Vista control platform for a number of reasons: “Firstly, it’s fast and instinctive to use. At The O2 arena, London I needed to modify every cue for filming and it only took me a couple of hours!” Rob says it feels like it’s actually an extension of his brain.

Secondly, the latest Vista v2 software release has Rob impressed: “Some of the time I need to do relatively simple programming and the console makes that easy and frictionless. However sometimes I need to set up more complex sequences. This is where the console really comes into its own, allowing me to burrow deep into the detail of a cue.”

“Thirdly, I use the cloning, copy and pasting features regularly. I can change an entire rig, and by adjusting a few presets I know my show will run as I expect.”

Rob has used the Jands Vista platform since 2005. “The console operates visually, so I don’t need to do any unnecessary math,” he explains. “The timeline shows me exactly what I’ve recorded and allows me to identify where something needs adjusting. The ability to copy and paste events between completely different types of fixtures in different songs is nothing short of miraculous!”

Rob comments. “I love that the show file is constantly evolving. Every small change, every slight move forward gets me closer to the never attainable dream of perfection.”

The premise of the design began with an idea to re-use and re-engineer the camera style boom arms from the original ‘So live’ tour. The design featured over 100 Martin Mac Auras, Mac 2k washes and Clay Paky QWO 800s.

For Rob, the Jands Vista platform is the only choice. “The Vista helps me by being powerful yet simple, enabling me to get the artist’s and my ideas from our heads and onto the stage. It’s quick to achieve the simple, yet I can also delve deeper and deliver complex programming quickly. The added bonus is the support. It’s comforting to know that there are always people on my side if ever I have a problem, regardless of where I am in the world.”

The European leg of the ‘Back to Front’ world tour commenced in September, culminating with a series of UK dates which were recorded for a future DVD release. Following the phenomenal response, Peter recently announced further shows in April/May 2014.