Pulsar Get It Right
It was only a matter of time before someone
produced a program which would enable an
off-the-shelf microcomputer to become a
stage lighting control system.
As with many other exciting developments
stage lighting recently, this has come not
in
from the big-name boys-but
the industry's leading smaller high
technology companies-PULSAR.
In a sense of course their "Intelligent Inter·
face• is not the first. Many such programs ex·
ist in the U.S. for the Apple lle and our own
early biggies were all
computer hardware. However with all of
these some
required and the absence of this is where
Pulsar
The "Intelligent Interface" comprises a rack
mounting interface box and three-way
master fader unit. Currently the program is
will score.
kind of dedicated keyboard was
based on standard
based on the BBC micro but it will talk to
other systems once the software is available.
Since the BBC is a best seller this appears to
be a sound start; especially for the educational market.
So if you own a BBC then £495 plus vat
(retail) will buy you a 36 channel memory
desk. Beat that! And larger systems will
follo\v. If you don't own a BBC than the total
system purchase comes to £1150 retail
cluding VAT, but don't forget that part of
your system comprises a standard micro so
when it isn't controlling stage lighting it can
write the scripts and do the accounts.
And already Pulsar report that one disco
owner is doing just that.
0 .K. but does it work?
"Intelligent Interface" could have fallen flat
on its face if the gain of memory was only
acheivable through a cockpit drill second to
that on Concorde. But there are fewer but·
tons to press for each function than on many
dedicated systems and since the format is
standard QWERTY then we all know where
from one of
ex-
isn't a thousand miles from that in current
practice. This is a refreshing change by
parison with some other systems launched.
Of course the only way to test a control
system is to plot a show on one- something I
have not yet been able to arrange. However
the showroom demonstration satisified my
curiosity.
At first glance some functions appear
slower than on conventional desks-chan-
nels cannot be selected numerically by
ing in the number but by moving the cur·
sor- faster in fact than you think but obvious-
ly slower for 72 channels than for
cues can be inserted anywhere without
limitation because all subsequent memories
jump up one number to make room each
time although this could become a
drawback in straight theatre if the stage
manager's cue number happens also to be
the memory number. However there is a
facility to name each cue or memory so the
board doesn't need to be worked purely by
numbers. Circuits can also be named and
this is especially helpful on specials and
night·stands.
I liked the bar-graph display of the channel
levels- this moves as the cue movesbecause it provides the operator/designer
with an instant visual readout of the
balance-individual circuit levels are also
displayed on an 10096 scale.
My only criticism so far is that auto or tim-
ed fades should be started by push button
not by a slight movement of the adjacent
master fader (which then has to be reset
before another function can be selected) but
I have to say that Pulsar answered all my
other criticisms fairly and appeared ready to
listen to more so maybe this will be dealt
with too.
So the memory revolution continues and
the "Intelligent Interface" promises to go
where no memory has ever gone before.
Well done Pulsar.
com-
tapp-
36._ Extra
one-
they are. Furthermore the operational logic
Graham Walne
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