Having purchased some moving-heads and wanting to program my own scenes, but being a relative beginner, I got great advice on what controller to buy, from Thomann support. Big thanks for that, it really helped!
As always, Thomann were speedy in handling my order, packing and sending my products. Sadly, UPS were a nuisance this time, since I hadn't opted for an express delivery, so they kept delaying and I ended up having to pick up the package myself in the middle of nowhere, with the help of a friend. So my first recommendation is to maybe get an express delivery, if you're in need of receiving your stuff soon, or if you just want to start using the controller together with your light units, as I was anxious to do.
I prefer to get products from the same brand/manufacturer, if possible, if I'm to use them together as a setup, for compatibility reasons. So as my moving-heads were from Eurolite as well, I though it a good idea to get a controller from the very same. So far, I'm definitely very pleasantly surprised.
Not having a lot of experience, I wanted something intuitive and not too difficult to handle, but that could also challenge me to learn a couple of new things. I think this controller really ticks those boxes for me.
I did Google for some tutorials, but unfortunately there are very few videos of this controller in particular. I found one in German, which I don't speak, but with subtitles and a pretty straightforward demonstration that helped me understand how to patch correctly.
The device is not heavy at all, it almost feels like a toy synthesizer and it's easy to connect it and get started. The manual that came with it is in German and English, so I understand it could be difficult for those who don't speak those languages, to use it. But to me, the instructions are pretty clear and if you follow them together with the DMX protocol of your lights, you will be able to set up the gear in just a short time.
It wasn't a lot of steps either, so generally easy to remember - including after a shitty week at work where your brain has become a vegetable ;)
I was afraid it was going to be more difficult to use, but it's really not that hard at all, even if you've never done it before. If you have any experience at all with knobs and faders, this will be familiar territory and pretty intuitive.
It's cool that you can use it with very basic settings, if you just want a non-moving color light, but you can also connect and control more advanced devices, pan them, tilt them, have a strobe party, mix colors, etc. So it's got a really neat range from simple to complex.
As long as you get the addressing and patching correct in the beginning, you're good to start creating scenes pretty soon.
The faders, buttons and wheels are easy to use, the menu is easy to navigate and I like that it's not a big device that I have to schlep around and hurt my back or anything. It literally fits under your arm, so very portable.
So far, I've only made a few simple scenes that I can manually switch between. I look forward to figuring out how to sync it with the music, how to create longer chases and how to incorporate some of the more advanced features so I really get the best out of my moving-heads setup.
Definitely a good buy for the price, I can recommend this controller!
