© Marcus Maschwitz

A Jands Vista console was at the heart of Fall Out Boy’s headline performances at the recent Reading and Leeds Festival main stages. The Chicago band have spent the past decade working their way up the festivals’ bill, and their strikingly visual performances on the consecutive nights, created by production designer Robb Jibson, garnered rave reviews in the media.

Robb, who also helms Chicago-based So Midwest Inc which provided the Vista control package, has been touring extensively with the band, and the Leeds and Reading shows were the culmination of the 18-month American Beauty/American Psycho album cycle. The custom setup, which has accompanied him throughout, consists of a Vista S3 control surface run on OSX via two Mac Minis with stacking dongles, providing an active/backup system with the footprint of just one desk and a total of 16 cores of i7 processing. Robb also used a pair of Jands D1 processors on the network, which helped distribute the load – a parameter count of just over 17,000.

© Marcus Maschwitz

The Vista was in total control of every single visual for the shows, handling all lighting and media output. “Controlling output masters from PRG’s Mbox media server, each output surface can be cued individually and overridden for output control,” explains Robb. “This then meshes SACN with the PRG Director app to supply timecode to the video clips.”

“I use Vista’s Matrix features extensively, having given a little forethought to the programming for the tour at the outset. I use these features for the majority of my movement, colour and intensity FX. Working this way, I can then simply rearrange the layout to suit the touring system to any festival show, even adding and subtracting fixtures that were never in the cues before, and keeping the elements of the cueing intact with regards to timing and size. This really speeds things along because you can add fresh fixtures and get them into the show. Combined with events and rates that actually respect real-world units, you can set events to songs once and lock them in.”

As well as delivering a range of hits on the consecutive nights, the Chicago band created a new show for the festivals, based around their ‘Bloom’ art project, which included a short film. 

“Working in conjunction with LA-based streetwear designer Bobby Kim of The Hundreds, we developed an all-encompassing design directive, unifying stage wardrobe, scenic elements and show merchandise,” explains Robb. “This was a unique expression for Reading and Leeds, as well as for shows in Belfast, Glasgow and Del Mar (CA), and required a reimagining of a few songs and a short intro to tie it all together.”

© Marcus Maschwitz

The Jands Vista morphed the FOB tour’s existing programming across a massive lighting system supplied by London’s Neg Earth for the festival dates, mutually agreed upon to suit both the headliners and the festivals. This comprised more than 250 fixtures of Clay Paky Sharpy, Martin MAC Aura XBs and Vipers, Vari*Lite 3500 WFX, SGM Q-7 and Moles. The lighting was tied in with the show’s media content, which included live camera feeds and striking visuals designed by Robb and his creative team of animators.

Also touring with the band was a custom-built scenic wall with one 12m x 2.6m side consisting of ROE Vanish 25mm LED panels, and the other of flower walls to match the Bloom project’s design. This extended the video raster down low behind the band, starting in a downstage position and flipping on cue to reveal the floral side, before moving upstage behind the band to mix with the show’s video canvas.

© Marcus Maschwitz

“The time line interface and unique cloning and morphing abilities of the Jands software allowed me to handle the detailed festival programming quicker than any other console type I have used,” concludes Robb. “This meant that during the limited programming slot, I could focus on getting things adjusted while others would still have been setting their broadcast outputs…”

Get your personal demonstration of the Jands Vista range at LDI 2016 on the booth of exclusive North American distributor, A.C. Lighting Inc. (#2252).

Alternatively, to arrange a demo or for details of the nearest Jands open house events, contact:
(North American Sales)
A.C. Lighting Inc.
Tel: +1 416 255 9494
northamerica@aclighting.com

(Europe, the Middle East and Africa)
A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd.
Tel: +44 (0)1494 446000
sales@ac-et.com

Gallery – click images to enlarge

All Photo © Marcus Maschwitz

Photo © Jack Edinger

A Jands Vista S3 console and two Jands D1 Playback Processors are being used by designer, Robb Jibson of So Midwest, Inc. to provide lighting and media control for American rockers, Fall Out Boy’s current 2015 / 2016 international tour.

The high-profile US rock band are touring in support of their 2015 album American Beauty / American Psycho, currently undertaking UK and European Arena shows throughout October, following a series of US dates over the Summer.

A long-time Jands Vista user, Robb is taking the S3 and D1 combination on the entire tour. The custom setup consists of the S3 control surface, which is connected to an Apple i7 Mac Mini running the award-winning Vista v2 software, and a Wacom Cintiq Multi Touch pen tablet surface built into a custom case. The system runs with an identical back up and two Vista D1 Playback Processors, which are rack-mounted in a road-case.

“There are a total of 15,496 parameters on the tour, ” says Robb. “The Vista controls all the lighting fixtures and elements of the mBox media server that are Art-Net merged within the Time Code Controller. The D1 processors are needed due to the parameter counts, and I have to say they are performing amazingly well. They simply sit on the network and work – that is the beauty of them! ”

Photo © Jack Edinger

In addition to the massive effects lighting rig, which includes dozens of Aryton Magic Panels, Magic Rings and Clay Paky B-Eye in full parameter count modes, the show set includes a large LED screen situated high above the front of the action, a huge LED wall at the back, and LED screen strips on the three staircases centre-stage. A variety of media content appears throughout the show, including live camera feeds and striking visuals designed by Robb in his capacity as production designer, in collaboration with a creative team of animators.

“The set is custom made and faced with 6mm magnetic video tiles,” says Robb. “Being able to control all the intensity levels of the mBox map surfaces in a matrix (using Vista’s pixel mapper) gives some really cool looks and functionality!”

The Jands Vista D1 expands the DMX processing capabilities of the entire Vista range and connects via Ethernet to any Vista system – providing an additional 8192 channels (16 DMX universes) per unit.

Inside the D1 there’s a high performance Intel processor, 16GB of RAM, a Solid State Drive and dual gigabit Ethernet connections to maximise playback performance and minimise latency. Fixtures can either be connected to the D1 over a network using Art-Net or sACN, or directly via the D1’s eight DMX outputs.

Photo © Jack Edinger

“The Jands Eco system allows me to control the show with the most respect to the timings of things,” Robb continues. “It allows me to quickly dial in timings that are accurate to the musical notations, and get them right. Constraining all the parameters into timing blocks and being able to adjust them without losing the timings is a joy! I also really love the fixture selection and sorting, being able to think less of fixture numbers and ordering, and more about the overall show goal!”

“Jands continues to innovate – the Vista system really is designed beautifully. ”

Following the October Fall Out Boy shows, which include dates in the UK, Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Russia, the band will return to North America for a series of dates through December, February and March.

Equally at home on tour or as a venue’s house console, Jands Vista is ideal for shows and special events, arena touring, lighting companies, AV companies, venues and rental, not to mention a fantastic investment for a designer.

Jands’ award-winning Vista lighting & media control system has been embraced by leading designers, production & rental 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 Florence + The Machine, Bring Me The Horizon, Kylie Minogue, Queen + Adam Lambert, and Dierks Bentley.

© 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

The powerful Jands Vista v2 lighting and media control system has helped lighting designer Derek Jones to utilise an ever-changing rig of fixtures for different venues on American singer Chrissie Hynde’s latest US tour.

Derek was challenged with using in-house or locally-hired fixtures at all of the venues on the tour, which visited cities from Boston and New York, to Dallas and LA.

“Thankfully, I’ve been a long-time Jands Vista user, so I knew that it wouldn’t be a problem with the platform’s fantastic generic fixture model,”says Derek, who has used Vista to provide the tour lighting for high-profile acts as diverse as Cliff Richard, the Scissor Sisters and Yusuf Islam.

The Vista‘s generic fixture model allows LDs and operators to treat all lights in the same way, providing quick, hassle-free and accurate fixture swapping to adapt their show to fit whatever type of lights they are faced with. This proves a perfect solution when the tour picks up local production, as opposed to using their own lighting rig – adapting automatically to newly rigged fixtures from venue to venue without the need for re-programming.

This simplicity to work fast, with the power to control the finest details, means that LDs can focus on creating a great looking show rather than on programming a desk.
Derek comments: “With the help of the generic fixture model it was easy to move between so many different fixtures in so many locations. The Vista was great at just plugging in and after only 30 mins of tweaks, the show was back up and running. ”

The Vista range includes a choice of portable, flexible control surfaces and self-contained consoles all running the same Vista v2 software. Derek invested in his S3 console four years ago and declared that he’d “fallen in love”with it after using it for the first time, adding, “there’s absolutely no going back now.”

Designed to be used with a desktop or laptop, the S3 is a Vista without the computer hardware components. Install the platform’s Vista v2 software to a computer, connect it to the S3 with a USB cable, and you’ve got a fully-operational Vista console.

“I’ve always liked the different sized surfaces of the Vista range that can be used with any suitable computer,”says Derek, who tours mainly with his S3 but also utilises an S1. “That, and of course the ease and speed in which you can get a show built.”

Derek’s design for Chrissie Hynde, who is probably best known as the lead singer of The Pretenders, was “simple and straightforward, without too many colours, as the artist didn’t want a flashy production. ”

The team played a 25-date theatre tour from October to December 2014 in support of Chrissie Hynde’s latest album, Stockholm.

Equally at home on tour or as a venue’s house console, the Vista is ideal for shows and special events, arena touring, lighting companies, AV companies, venues and rental, not to mention a fantastic investment for a designer.

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 Kylie Minogue, Queen + Adam Lambert, Peter Gabriel, Dierks Bentley, Fall Out Boy, Bloc Party, Deftones and Little Big Town.

Get your demonstration of the Jands Vista range at the following upcoming international tradeshows in March & April:

• CITT – Montreal, Canada, 26th – 27th March, Booth 140 (A.C. Lighting Inc.)
• NAB – Las Vegas, USA, 13th – 16th April, Booth C8439 (A.C. Lighting Inc.)
• Prolight & Sound – Frankfurt, Germany, 15th – 18th April, Booth 9.0-D47 (AC-ET)

Now in it’s fifth season the Kazakh version of the international X Factor series is broadcast on the Perviy Kanal Evraziya channel in Kazakhstan.Dmitriy Karabetskiy is the Lighting Designer and Director of Photography for the show and uses a Vista S3 console to control the elaborate lighting rig.

Asked about his experience with Vista Dimitry commented: “What I can say about Vista? Creative work, extraordinary speed of light programming, unlimited possibilities of effects and reliability for use in Live Production.”

For the LED screens used on the show Dimitry created a custom project in Touch Designer with control from Vista via Art-Net.

The lighting system for X Factor Kazakhstan includes:

• 16 Clay Paky Alpha Spot 800 QWO
• 16 Clay Paky Alpha Profile 800 ST
• 8 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700
• 8 Clay Paky A.leda K20
• 8 Clay Paky A.leda K10
• 39 Clay Paky Sharpy
• 8 High End Studio Color 575
• 3 Coef MP 700 Zoom
• 8 Coef MP Wash 575
• 16 Jarag 25 lamp blinder
• 14 2 lamp blinder
• 14 4 lamp blinder
• 10 Martin Atomic 3000

Gallery – click to enlarge

Video

Hi res version on YouTube

American rockers Fall Out Boy recently toured Australia to support their new album Pax Am Days which reached No. 2 on the ARIA Album Charts.

Lighting designer Robb Jibson toured a Vista L5, the latest addition to the revolutionary Jands Vista range of consoles and control surfaces, with a Mac Mini based S3 as a system back up.

Robb has been a Vista user for over eighteen months reporting that he was instantly blown away by the simplicity of the interface and the intricate timings that he could dial in.

“My favourite feature is probably the swing based FX,” he added. “Not having to create multiple macro-based cue lists and the ease in which you can lock sync with the band and those FX. Close second would be the way the console deals with multipart fixtures and matrix FXs.”

Robb further commented that he particularly likes how the software is designed and developed. “It’s not a hodgepodge of many programming styles, it stands on its own two feet. That said, it’s really powerful and super flexible, but does not try to dabble with concepts from here or there, and the networking abilities on the Vista L5 are amazing. ”

“Vista finally allows me to refine my work flow. I can be in After Effects, Photoshop, Vectorworks and all the keyboard commands system wide, that I’m used to, work. I can command tab between my apps and keep things flowing. It’s also a very musical software, being able to build FX and cues that relate to BPM and then divide and multiply, means that I can get dialed in quickly for any project I’m working on.”

With Fall Out Boy, Robb is sometimes touring a system and sometimes not, fortunately the Vista L5 platform allows him to quickly and effortlessly swap, merge, expand and contract all the programming that is being built very easily. “By using matrix FX and global based personalities, I can swap from our rig to spec one day and a hodgepodge of knock off equipment the next!” he said. “I’ve been told a few times by house staff and vendors that other shows have a hard time getting things going quickly or are waiting on fixture personalities to be built, whereas the Vista software has you up and going quickly! I live for the fixture editor we have, scared no more of the abyss of knock off fixtures in remote countries!”

Gallery – Click images to enlarge

A corporate event for 24,000 attendees, featuring several speakers and bands, shows off the Vista’s advanced control and networking capabilities. Regular Vista user Jeff Monuszko programmed the show.

Production Team

• Production Designer: Jeff Reeks
• Programmer: Jeff Monuszko
• ME: Jason Rosenstock
• Electricians: Greg Pfrommer and Mike Kennedy

Control

• 2 Jands Vista S3 with touch screen desktop and external touch monitor
• 1 Jands Vista S1 with touch screen laptop connected wirelessly for remote control
• 1 touch screen desktop used for tracking backup and configured to autosave
• 2 iPads running VNC for remote focus
• 4-way Pathport nodes with sACN for data transmission
• 12 universes of fixtures
• 7 universes of media servers

Fixtures

• 40 Mac Aura
• 35 Clay Paky Sharpy
• 24 Martin Viper Profile
• 30 Vari-Lite VLX
• 10 Vari-Lite 3500 Spots
• 8 Mac 2000 Wash
• 24 Mac 700 Wash
• 4 Mac 301
• 16 Color Kinetics ColorBlaze TRX
• 12 Color Kinetics ColorBlaze 48
• 
190 ETC Source 4 Leko

Digital Scenic

• 8 Green Hippo Grasshoppers
• 600 LED Tiles


Images – click to enlarge

Sir Cliff Richard OBE returned to Australia earlier this year with his hit-packed Still Reelin’ and A-Rockin’ tour and with him was his long-time lighting designer Derek Jones who was touring an impressive rig that held close to ninety moving lights.

Derek has been a champion of Jands Vista consoles for many years and so it was no surprise to see him travel here with his own Vista S3 and Vista M1, part of a larger family of Vista consoles that he owns.

One word comes to Derek’s mind when asked what it is about the Jands Vista consoles that he likes and that’s ‘easy’. “The Vista consoles are easy to operate and easy to programme,” he said. “I also like the support that you get from Jands as they will actually listen to your ideas and feedback, coming up with real solutions to help achieve what you need.”

Derek also favours the ‘mix and match’ ability offered by owning a few Vista consoles as well as their portability.

“The surface is flexible, small and highly portable,” he declared. “Depending on the size of the job, I can package a kit to suit. For example I have just finished a job for a TV station with just an S1 which I could pop in my bag along with a laptop. The S3 is larger but I’ve packaged it into a roadcase so it weighs less than 32 kilograms and I can check it in at an airport. Stick your laptop in your rucksack and off you go.”

Features of the Vista that impress Derek include snapshots which makes playing back a show simple and also the effects engine.

“I like the way that everything is assignable,” he added. “The Vista consoles are very reliable and haven’t let me down yet despite being taken all around the world.”

Derek is running the current release of Vista v2 software which he describes as brilliant.

The Jands Vista range once again proved its flexibility and power when lighting designer and programmer Steve Heywood chose to put Vista consoles, running the next generation Vista v2 software, in control at two recent UK music festivals.

For Meadowlands 2012, a diverse and vibrant event staged at Glynde Place in the picturesque village of Glynde in East Sussex, Steve and Dan Williams, the lighting designer for the event‘s main stage, shared operating duties on a Vista T2.

An eclectic line-up included acclaimed LTJ Bukem, who closed the festival with an entrancing four hour DJ set, as well as Lamb, Fink, Speech Debelle, Portico Quartet and many others.

With the usual limited programming available for a festival rig, which included moving lights, conventionals and the latest LED fixtures, Steve and Dan needed to be able to work extremely fast and �busk� accurately � one of the main reasons that Steve specified the T2.

To further maximise their limited time, he pre-programmed some elements using the Vista v2 software on his laptop to make the most of their programming time on stage and help give the refined show that he was looking for.

Steve put his own Jands Vista S3, also running the Vista v2 software, in control at Meadowlands‘ Soundharvest stage. The Vista family‘s consistent software interface made it seamless to swap between consoles.

A few weeks later, Steve once again used a Vista T2 as the house console for lighting the main stage at the Redfest event held at Robins Cook Farm near Redhill, Surrey.

Headliners included Modestep, Kids in Glass Houses and Foreign Beggars.

Steve loves the visual interface of the Vista v2 software, which makes it simple, quick and logical to programme, easy to busk, and most importantly, always lets him get precisely what he wants out of the rig. “It means that I can create exactly what I want when necessary�.rather than following what the console thinks I want� he explains.”

Dan Williams comments, “Having everything right there onscreen in front of you is great and makes real sense.�it‘s an extremely intuitive operating system.”

Steve concludes �The power and simplicity of using Vista v2 enables you to build a lightshow extremely quickly, but still lets you control the details. It‘s a great desk for improvisational and ’on-the-fly‘ operation, which is always an exciting way to work.�

Lighting equipment for both events was supplied by Oxford-based Robert Nisbet Event Production Services.

Click images to enlarge

Alabama based Lighting designer Taylor Price used a Jands Vista S3 console, running the next generation Vista v2 software, to control lighting for the recent US tour of Grammy Award winning rockers, Third Day.

Taylor made the switch to the Jands Vista platform while lighting another Grammy award winner, Switchfoot. Their punishing touring schedule meant Taylor was looking for a powerful yet portable control system that could easily travel on a plane. His solution was to join the growing international family of lighting designers who have bought their own Vista system. He‘s not looked back, and has been an enthusiastic Jands Vista user ever since.

Third Day play a wide variety of venues using a mix of their own touring rig and locally supplied production. On arena shows the Vista S3 was controlling the full touring rig of VARI*LITE 3000 profiles, VARI*LITE 3500 washes, Martin MAC 101‘s, Martin MAC 301‘s, Atomic strobes and conventionals, all supplied by Theatrical Media Services (TMS) from Omaha, Nebraska.

For some of the smaller shows, the rig was reduced and integrated with the house system. Taylor was able to simply change fixture types in the patch, giving him the flexibility to run his show on whatever fixture types he had to work with.

The final backdrop of Taylor‘s high energy, classic ‘rock and roll’ design was a light bulb wall containing 300 standard 60Watt incandescent household bulbs. Vista v2 gave Taylor the tools to effortlessly get the most from this dynamic scenic element with minimal programming time.

Click images to enlarge