The first Scottish delivery was to the Dundee Rep Theatre, supplied by Blacklight, where deputy chief LX Alastair Phillips specified a Gio for their 450 seat performance space. "We were looking to upgrade our existing desk," he explains, "and decided we wanted more hands on control than an Ion offered out of the box. An Eos, on the other hand, was too big to bring out of the control room each time we wanted to program. So, when Gio was introduced, it seemed like the obvious choice."
Gio is one of four current lighting consoles in the Eos family - each with the same application software and operational syntax but with different packaging and physical controls. The largest and most powerful of the four is Eos, followed by Gio, Ion and Element.
Says Phillips: "Many of the touring shows we get coming to the theatre are already on ETC desks. And Scottish Dance Theatre, which is based in the same building as us, also use an Eos-family desk. With the type of shows that we plot, there are always a lot of intelligent fixtures, which are handled far better than by our previous desk; and having colour pickers via touchscreens really speeds the process of plotting and programming.
"I'd plotted on Ion before, so I know the software well. I'd definitely recommend the Gio - it is very similar to the Eos but with a smaller footprint and smaller output count. But that's not affected us at all. We use four universes-worth of DMX and upgraded our backup Ion to mirror that.
"We do eight shows a year of our own - anything from theatre, to small shows to musicals - and also have incoming shows, bands, and comedians. Lighting directors have all really liked the desk. Even if they've not seen a Gio before, they're usually familiar with its programming style."
The first Welsh user was the Wales Millennium Centre, while the first university user was the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. In Northern Ireland, the first Gio user was the Waterfront in Belfast, and the first English theatre to buy a Gio was Bristol Old Vic.
Several ETC dealers have also bought the consoles for their own hire stock, including White Light and Blacklight.
Eos product-line manager Anne Valentino says: "Gio fills a gap in the Eos line, between Eos and Ion, and the entire family's success in the British market has been phenomenal. It continues to grow, largely because of the influence of supportive designers and a number of dedicated programmers who provide a tight feedback loop on feature development."
(Jim Evans)
