Using the Wing, trainees can work first hand on the same control interface used in some of the live performance industry's most popular control desks. Connecting over USB and running on eChameleon software, PC Wing provides a dedicated Acrobat/Illusionist keyboard, three playbacks, a dead man's handle and an emergency stop button.
PC Wings have recently been supplied to Guildhall College of Music and Drama in London and Zoomvliet College in the Netherlands to provide in-lab automation training tools for their technical theatre students. The units run on eChameleon software and enable students to work first hand on a Stage Technologies control interface. A PC Wing has also gone out on loan to London's Central School of Speech and Drama and two students attending basic training session at Stage Technologies London office.
Experienced operators will also find PC Wing invaluable for offline plotting of new shows, or for revisiting previous repertory shows to recall technical or design details, says the company. PC Wing can help to streamline the automation team's time by functioning as an alternative programming desk for setting up presets or cues. It is also a useful addition to a theatre's technical department (especially those on tight first-show deadlines) as it enables staff to become fluent with desk operation and software functionality during the manufacturing and installation period before the completed automation system is live.
While PC Wing was designed primarily for offline applications it can also be used for data backup on a live system and has recently been hired as a backup programming desk for the Pink Funhouse Summer Carnival tour.
(Jim Evans)
