NANTES, FRANCE - Late in the summer of 1887, Vincent Van Gogh wrote a letter from Paris to his younger sister Wilhelmina back in Holland, cautioning her against taking art too seriously. Being overly serious, the great master advised that his sibling can make art sterile. This was the sort of advice that Ultra Vomit would readily agree with.
Although the quartet from Nantes can grind intense metal music with the best of them (anybody who’s heard La Puissance du Pouvoir knows that!), their performances are marked by a freewheeling, witty, parodic, sometimes slapstick sense of humor. Nothing overly serious and certainly nothing “sterile” here.
Designer and programmer Gregory “Gru” Dutein from Chirac Design has been reflecting the band’s multi-faceted music and stage persona in light since 2017. He described the essence of their performances this way:
“An Ultra Vomit show should be seen as a true burlesque performance. Each song is essentially a tribute to a specific style or artist from the metal, hardcore, punk, or even mainstream scene. Visually, every track has a very distinct identity, reflecting the codes of the style being parodied. At the same time, the show remains very “alive,” with constant improvisation and audience interaction. That’s why I always keep live faders ready.
Although the band plays to a click with some pre-programmed sequences, Dutein runs the lighting manually without timecode. He explains that he does this to preserve an organic feel. Doing so requires that he maintain tight synchronization between lighting, video, and music.
To help him do this, he relies on his ChamSys MagicQ MQ70 Compact Console. “We actually started with a ChamSys MQ80, but we were immediately drawn to its compactness and efficiency,” he explained. That philosophy still holds true today — the MQ70 remains a powerful, reliable, and tour-friendly solution.”
There are many reasons why Dutein is so devoted to his console. For starters, given his busy touring schedule. First, there is the matter of time savings. He values the Fan Mode (no toggle) switch, which, when combined with the Subselect Pair, allows X-axis positioning. There is also the Offset Patch, which is essential for fast position programming, and the Expand Palette, which he “uses constantly.”
Dutein organizes his show files carefully to account for his client’s fast-paced shows. In his first layer, all groups and patterns are organized vertically with a clear hierarchy (for example, Spots, Spot Back, Spot Front), using color tags in the patch for clarity. Layer two is the programming layer, with extended group views and color/beam patterns. The third layer is divided into four sections:
- The top left is devoted to song pages for instant access.
- The bottom left covers the main cues stack.
- The top right is the Execute Page.
- The bottom right is the Full Group Master access.
Dutein also maintains a dedicated programming page to test rigs and rebuild presets quickly, again using Playback.
The time-saving features designed into his console are also invaluable to Dutein. These include Fan Mode (No Toggle), combined with Subselect for x-access positioning, as well as Offset Patch for fast position programming, and Expand Palette. Other feature that helps him adjust quickly to the various venues and house rigs he encounters include Group Cues, Morphing, Cloning, and Custom Macros.
“All of these features allow me to adapt very quickly to different rigs, whether in venues or festivals,” said Dutein. Given the popularity of his client’s humor-tinged shows, having such efficiency at his fingertips is no light matter.
About ChamSys
Based in the UK, ChamSys Ltd. was founded in 2003 by a group of designers and product developers seeking to create a lighting console that offered greater flexibility. The company’s MagicQ range has set an industry standard used in some of the most prominent concert, theatre, broadcast and club applications around the world. ChamSys was acquired in 2017 by Chauvet & Sons LLC, a leading global provider of professional luminaires, trusses, controllers and related equipment headquartered in the USA. For more information, visit www.chamsysusa.com