ETC is known to be one of the leaders in the lighting industry when it comes to creating innovative products. From its Source Four Leko (which has set the standard for ellipsoidal reflector spotlights), to its Eos lighting control desks, ETC always seems to come out with exciting new products. Although ETC's new Eos Titanium (Ti) lighting desk is not really such a groundbreaking product, it is a huge improvement to their top of the line Eos lighting control desk.
For those unfamiliar with the Eos family, this hybrid lighting control system was introduced several years ago to great reviews from the lighting profession. Gio's control software proved to be extremely powerful with a user-friendly interface. It was designed to easily program and control both conventional and automated lighting fixtures and devices. However, its high price and incredible power made the Eos unattainable for many houses of worship.
So in 2008, ETC came out with the Ion, a low-priced version of the Eos that took the industry by storm (see CPM review…). Needing a mid-level control desk, ETC introduced the Gio last year (see CPM review…). Although aimed at the mid market level of controllers, the Gio hosted many improvements in hardware and control interface. It could be argued that the Gio had more user-friendly hardware control features than its bigger and more expensive big brother, the Eos. So it made sense for ETC to incorporate many of these improvements into their top end control desk. Therefore, we now have the Ti. The Ti now replaces the Eos in this product line.
In addition to incorporating all the great programming features of the Eos, the Ti includes: integrated, articulating, multitouch displays; a large programming surface; backlit keys; larger multitouch encoder display; dedicated pan and tilt encoders; four pageable encoders; twenty user-definable buttons; a backlit keyboard; motorized faders; and multiple USB and video ports. All this is enclosed in a very attractive and sturdy anodized finished case.
The control software of the Eos family has garnered raves from top professional lighting designers worldwide. This software is easy to learn and extremely powerful, a great combination for worship designers, programmers and operators. ETC has announced that they have upgraded this control software for the entire Eos line of control desks. Eos version 2.0 introduces a new magic sheet function, which lets users set up customized, interactive live/blind displays. Programmers and designers can use the magic sheets to organize and work with channels in traditional tiled view, or through channel symbols. They can directly select channels, playback palettes, macros and many other control parameters. User-defined symbols, images and background graphics may also be imported and stored within the show file. These features offer a whole new level of customization, making the control desk even more user-friendly. This software will be included with the Ti.
It will be very excited to see how the worship market responds to the new Ti control desk. It nicely rounds out a very popular and evolving product line designed for almost any sized church. We expect to offer a complete hands-on review of the Ti in an upcoming issue of CPM.
