So we’re gonna try to do a few new things here at LFW, and one things I’m going to try to do is bring you information on new products in the lighting world. And there’s really no better place to start than with one of the most highly-anticipated product launches of 2008 – the ETC Ion control console.

ETC’s Express line of consoles was perhaps the biggest selling line of light boards in history, and with good reason. The ease of operation coupled with expansive feature set, brief learning curve and exceptional brand loyalty on the part of ETC customers all came together to create a sensation in lighting control like nothing I’d ever seen before. So it was with some trepidation that I took a look at the Ion, the console that was going to eventually replace the Express. I hated to see the Express go, it’s like an old dependable buddy for a lighting designer and a lighting system designer. But the fact of the matter is, you can’t buy parts for a 10-year-old computer anymore, and that’s what the Express was – a 10-year-old computer.

So I took a look at the Ion at last year’s LDI, and was happily surprised at what I saw. My initial concerns that the board would be too high-tech for the everyday end user were obviously unfounded, as for the basic theatrical application, the Ion programs very similarly to the Express. The only real difference is that the Ion, as a command-line console, adds a couple of keystrokes to some standard applications, but the differences are small enough that it only took me a few minutes to adapt.

But it’s not in the similarities where the Ion shines. It would have been easy to make another Express with new hardware, but that would have ignored the changes in the lighting world that we’ve seen in the last few years. When the Express debuted, moving lights were still limited to rock tours and Broadway shows. But as the years have moved along, moving lights, LED lights and color changers have become the rule rather than the exception in lighting systems. The Express got a couple of software updates through the years, but the Ion takes the platform of the Express and builds on it to handle moving lights and LED fixtures simply.

With a base model of 1024 channels, the Ion is designed for the complex systems that we’re installing todays. The Ion is also a Net-resident console, so it doesn’t require an old-school DMX cable network to function. But it also has two DMX outputs to fit seamlessly into existing installations. The dual monitors on the Ion provide a level of feedback that the Express couldn’t match, and with the multiple configurations available for the submaster/playback wings the Ion can be set up to meet the needs of any type of installation.

One of my favorite things on the Ion is the color picker, which uses a color wheel and a mouse to create any color you can imagine from your LED fixtures or color changers. The mouse and dual screens also allow for better control and programming of moving lights. If it sounds like I’m a fan, it’s because I am. The Ion from ETC is a low-cost, high-octane solution for churches that are looking to control conventional fixtures in a flexible fashion, or moving lights and LED fixtures with ease.