MagicQ Professional Event Lighting Control Console from Hills SVL

Nine Inch Nails & Janes Addiction Play with MagicQ

As part of their NIN:JA summer tour, Nine Inch Nails and Janes Addiction played headline shows this month in Manchester Arena and London's O2 Arena. Despite their long history, both bands proved that they still have what it takes to put on a really energetic live show, thrilling the crowd. There was even a guest appearance by rock legend Gary Numan - a NIN favourite - to perform Metal and Cars.

Lighting Designer Jason Bullock loves the ChamSys MagicQ consoles and specified a MagicQ MQ300 Pro for the tour. Nine Inch Nails is very much a live show and Jason finds the console ideal for live operation, bumps and flashes, mixing FX and modifying playback rates. The MagicQ MQ300 gives him the flexibility he requires - 58 different playback faders each with a select button so that he can change the speed of the chase or FX at the touch of a button. Jason said "I just love the way you can control everything live - no other console gives you this much power".

Jason uses contrasting lighting for the two bands. For Jane's Addiction he uses sweeping beams and intense colours whilst for Nine Inch Nails he reverts to old school par cans and intense whites. The Jane's Addiction rig consists of flown trusses with movers and IPIX BB7s whilst Nine Inch Nails consists of a matrix of around 150 white par cans flown low over the band to create an overall "club feel". Backed up by towers with more par cans, over 40 strobes and numerous lines of Thomas Pixeline there is certainly no shortage of strobing power.

As Nine Inch Nails launch into their first song the stage explodes into a fusion of white light and front man Trent Reznor jumps around the stage like a crazed ape. At Front of House, the situation is the same, Jason jumping around all over the console. There's no let up after the first song, in fact, both continue in this fashion from start to end.
Jason even has a custom made metal table for the console to sit on - after breaking four previous tables, the crew decided to make him one of his own! The console stands the test well and responds flawlessly from start to finish. At the end Jason can even pick the console up and put it back in the flight case by himself - gone are the days when lighting consoles weighed a ton and needed 4 crew to lift!

Nine Inch Nails have also been doing a lot of festival dates this summer, and Jason has found that MagicQ is perfect for quickly adapting his show to the available equipment. Other LDs have been amazed at quite how quickly he can adapt and repatch his show on the ChamSys MagicQ. "There are guys out there really struggling on these festivals. Despite having a punishing itinerary, MagicQ has saved me on many occasions."

The MagicQ MQ300 Pros were provided by Upstaging Lighting in Chicago with the main lighting rig being supplied locally by Neg Earth Lighting. The MagicQ Pro series is the second generation of MagicQ Consoles, featuring the familiar and flexible GUI lighting control, media server connectivity options and in-built media server for LED grid arrays found in the original MagicQ consoles.

MagicQ Pro utilises the same software and show formats as the original MagicQ consoles enabling compatibility between all products in the entire MagicQ range.

MagicQ Pro pushes the boundaries with a massive 18 universes all controlled and processed on-board without a need for external network processors. 9226 channels in a compact package, proven to run at full speed with all channels fully patched, there really is no similarly packaged console that can sustain this performance.

MagicQ supports ArtNet and Pathport protocols and is ACN ready.
In additional there are 4 fully patchable direct DMX outputs on the rear panel. MagicQ Pro features an in-built high speed Ethernet Switch, with 4 separate high durability metal Neutrik Ethercon locking connectors on the rear panel enabling easy and reliable networking. As with the rest of the MagicQ console, the Ethernet Switch is protected by the UPS, thus ensuring that both the console and the network switch maintain operation even during power loss. In addition, the networking connectivity supports a high speed optical fibre connection port option.

Full theatre cue stack control on 58 different playback faders makes easy work of complex shows. Individual channel timing, fully configurable FX, and on screen cue editing enables total artistic freedom. The on screen windows enable instant access to palettes, range information and FX for those moments when busking is required.