Lighting and production designer Chris Reade of KYVA Design, LLC discusses his console of choice: the Jands Vista. Reade has been doing lighting for 25+ years, and has worked with a multitude of artists including Dierks Bentley, Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, No Doubt, Powerman 5000, Static-X, and Perry Farrell's Porno for Pyros, among many others. Here’s his take on why the Jands Vista is his console of choice:
Chris Reade and the Jands Vista Console
I started out on Celco and Avolites consoles back in the late 80s, then moved to the High End Systems Hog 2, Hog 3, and MA Lighting grandMA. As time went by, I got my hands on the Jands Vista and the grandMA2. Each console is fantastic in its own way, but I fell in love with the Jands Vista. At the time I was introduced to the console, I was blown away by how easy it is to use, and it was looking towards the future. It seemed to me that this is how lighting consoles should be laid out. The main thing that struck me was the timeline way of programming. It mirrors video editing and programming. It's all right there in front of you.
The following are things I believe stand out about the Jands Vista:
Console Options
There are a handful of options when it comes to the Jands Vista range. There's the software, which runs on PC and Mac. Each size console has its own unique purpose. Small format consoles are for installations, extra faders for programming, medium-sized for fly consoles or tracking backup systems, full-sized for touring, and a distributed processing unit.
Visual
Most of the programming and operation of the console is visual instead of key punching, and remembering user numbers. I can customize views based on layers of the design, and see everything right in front of me. Selecting and saving difficult groupings is easy.
Timeline
The timeline is awesome. Programming a cue stack and coming back to edit intricate timings is a breeze, and I can't emphasize how fast it is to accomplish these intricate details. In the timeline, you can see everything that's happening right in front of you—every detail of every parameter of every light, right in front of you. Adjusting timing is literally dragging the parameter to the time you'd like. You can also use the keypad, but dragging a group of lights and staggering time is so easy, and it takes seconds.
Matrix
Putting a group of lights in a matrix and applying effects is basically a pixel map thought process. Very easy, very cool. Especially with LED fixtures that have a bunch of pixels.
Extracts
You can program multiple steps to do a complicated, high speed, follow situation, and apply it in other cuelists. Think of it as a cuelist with multiple cues running on its own, too fast for you to run manually, and applying that function to a single cue in a cuelist. Hopefully that makes sense!
Fixture Swaps
With the multitude of shows that occur, you will definitely run into situations where you need to swap instrument types. Vista handles them with ease, and matches parameters very well.
Training
Hands-on training on the Jands Vista console is available at LDI2017 (ldishow.com) in an Introductory course and an Advanced course.