Elation Professional has expanded its highly popular series of Show Designer DMX controllers, with the introduction of its largest DMX console to date, the Show Designer 3. Based on the company’s successful Show Designer 1 & 2 light boards, the 1,536-channel Show Designer 3 is capable of controlling 3 DMX universes simultaneously and adds several powerful new features to provide lighting users with more DMX control than ever before.

“With the Show Designer 3, Elation now offers its largest, most full-featured member of the Show Designer family of DMX controllers, while still providing users with a simple programming process and a remarkably affordable price,” said Florian Frenk, product manager for Elation Professional in Europe. “It gives lighting users the power to control both conventional and automated lighting easily, with great ability for manual or pre-programmed control. The introduction of this bigger, feature-enhanced intelligent lighting controller is yet another example of Elation’s ongoing commitment to satisfying the needs of professional lighting users everywhere.”

The Show Designer 3 offers numerous advantages over other DMX controllers within the same price range. An advanced and highly flexible lighting board, it has the capacity to control three separate universes, giving users plenty of room to expand with it. And a Compact Flash drive makes backing up programs, adding fixture profiles and updating software a snap. A large library of the latest moving light fixture profiles for all major lighting manufacturers is available on Elation’s website, www.elationlighting.eu, where they can be downloaded quickly and easily. Software updates are also available on the website, insuring that the Show Designer 3 always remains on the cutting edge of DMX control.

Among the most exciting new features on the Show Designer 3 is a Scene Preview, which allows users to preview their scenes simply by pushing a “Go” Button. The Show Designer also offers some new features that give users more flexibility and ease in manipulating their scenes, including: the ability to combine scenes and record them as new scenes; a Solo Feature, which allows scenes to track through or play solo; and the ability to assign scenes, shows, chases and presets to the playbacks.

A whopping total of 1,536 DMX channels give the Show Designer 3 the power to control as many as 48 moving light fixtures, up to 32 channels each, as well as 128 conventional dimmers. It comes loaded with factory-installed colors and gobos, as well as fantastic presets for focus and effects. The board’s 80-character backlit front-panel display allows for extremely easy programming, complemented by 4 menu and control data wheels, 48 multi-function quick access buttons, 10mm faders, eight dedicated playback faders with 32 pages, eight flex faders with page selection, pan/tilt joystick with coarse/fine control, grand master fader and 2 USB LITE connectors for gooseneck lamps. The Show Designer 3’s front panel also includes go, stop and back buttons and blackout, audio and beat buttons to put instant DMX control right at the user’s fingertips.

The Show Designer 3 holds 4,752 programmable scenes, 1,152 chases, 1,152 shows and 1,152 presets. It can run 16 chases simultaneously. “The Show Designer 3 has an enormous capacity for DMX information,” Frenk said. “That means it’s capable of controlling every single moving fixture in your arsenal, no matter how big or small the application, with practically unlimited creative lightshow options.”

Rear panel connections on the Show Designer 3 include three 3-pin DMX outputs, three 5-pin DMX outputs, MIDI-In port, CF drive, PS2 keyboard input, RS-232 port for PC interface and RCA audio input for chases. Also on the back is a voltage switch for the board’s 110/220V AC power supply.

The Show Designer 3 carries a suggested retail price of 2999 EUR (w/o Tax) measures 71,2cm L x 58,5cm W x 17,8cm H, and weighs only 16,8kg.