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I had the pleasure of getting to know MA Lighting's GrandMA 2 system last year, and was quite excited to hear about the dot2 model introduced at USITT this year. Pitched as a more cost-
effective and intuitive system, the dot2 could bring MA Lightings hardware down to a much more accessable level for more churches.
There are lots of questions to ask, and many will wait to be answered when I do the full review of the console later this year. But for now, here's what we know.
The new dot2 is intended to support smaller venues where the GrandMA2 would be overkill. It has four DMX outputs for four built-in universes of DMX, but also supports an additional four universes through Ethernet protocols or hardware add-ons. This will certainly meet the needs of most church venues.
The console is designed to walk you through the process of most functions, especially setup. It will prompt you for patching fixtures, and pretty much take the guesswork and learning curve out of setting up the system.
Did MA Lighting conquer the ease-of-use barrier needed for volunteers who don’t live and breathe professional lighting day-in and day-out?
When using the console, it makes intelligent guesses on the things you are most likely to want to do at any given time and display the most useful screen for that function. For example, if you change the position of some moving lights and then press the store button, it assumes you'll want to store a position palette entry and automatically display that screen for you.
There are several base models to choose from, each providing a different level of physical hardware controls. Additional fader and button wings can be added, as well as a dot2 Node4 providing four additional physical universe connections.
Want to get into the MA Lighting product line but can't afford the consoles? As with the GrandMA 2, there's a dot2 OnPC software-only version which when coupled with a dot2 Node4 DMX node, lets you enjoy all the functionality of the dot2 without the console hardware costs.
The dot2 line also has 3D visualizer support like its big brother, presumably with similar functionality.
Some questions I have on the new system is, just how user friendly is it? The GrandMA 2 system was pretty awesome to use, but it had a considerable learning curve. After spending a few days with it, I'm sure I only scratched the surface. It was a great system, but not very volunteer-friendly. Did MA Lighting conquer the ease-of-use barrier needed for volunteers who don't live and breathe professional lighting day-in and day-out? The brief webinar I watched from A.C.T. Lighting (US distributor for MA Lighting products) certainly gives the impression that this is the case.
Another question is, what's the pricing on this new system? Is it in a price range that churches can afford?
And for churches that are growing, how similar is the dot2 to the GrandMA line? If you learn in a smaller venue on the dot2, can you then step up easily into the GrandMA, or is it too different to help with the GrandMA learning curve?
And lastly, the GrandMA line of consoles had a “Please” button (replacing the Enter or Execute keys found in other consoles). Did they keep the “Please” button? I admit it—I love the Please button. It's so kind!
