The M1, Martin’s all-in-one lighting console that sets new standards in simplicity for a full featured desk, is taking Australia by storm. With the full power of a larger desk and the agility of a smaller one, it is undoubtedly the most affordable full-featured lighting desk on the market.
The M1 is the result of over a decade of console development at Martin and boy does it show! The M1 has been developed with one ultimate goal in mind; to build the most affordable lighting console with the most value on the market.
32 Hundred Lighting’s lighting designer Alex McCoy is delighted with their M1 console’s performance particularly its ease of use.
“I used to use a Hog1000 and I found the transition to the M1 relatively simple,” he said. “I like the execute button, faders and the lay out of the console; they encourage you to program things with more complexity than you would on a Hog1000 which results in a better looking show.”
Perth-based AV Partners has installed a M1 into the popular Esplanade Hotel Fremantle with great results.
“My guys have been very impressed by the Martin M1 console,” commented Kris Licari of AV Partners. “I was a bit concerned initially as a lot of our guys are only used to operating Hogs or a grandMA’s however I soon discovered that if you can operate those consoles, then the M1 is no problem. In fact it’s very easy to operate.”
“It’s a very intuitive console,” agrees Sean Keaveny, managing director of Arena AV who was one of the first to purchase a M1. “People can learn how to progam it quite fast even if they haven’t got a high degree of knowledge of lighting consoles. Whilst it offers straight-forward programming, at the same time it is a state of the art professional lighting console.”
“The M1 can definitely compete with other similar format consoles and everyone who sees it is impressed by its’ control power especially for such a small package,” commented Mike Bird, Operations Manager at Perth AV. “The M1 has all the great controls of the bigger consoles but without the heavy motorized faders.”
“The effects engines are great and easy to use,” remarked Arian Yeganeh of Sydney-based production company Showtime. “You can get a show up and running very quickly. There’s no messing around to get something decent out of it straightaway.”
While the M1 is proving immensely popular with small to medium sized production companies due to its amazing price tag and the fact that it is probably the simplest lighting console on the market to learn, it has also impressed our top lighting professionals such as designer Paul Collison who recently decided to tour a M1 which was initially chosen due to its size – to have all the capability of a full size console in a small one that you can check in as luggage and travel with is priceless. However Paul soon discovered many other priceless offerings!
“I was most impressed by a feature I hadn’t put much thought in to,” he revealed. “I knew I would be swapping fixtures in and out during the tour. LED wash lamps on one show, old Studio Colors on another. The cloning feature made life so, so easy for me. I was amazed when I turned up to the second show to find I was able to clone LED washes to arc wash lamps with just a tweak of a few colours here and there.
Paul discovered that when it came to changing profile fixtures the same thing occurred and all he needed to do was change gobo palettes and he was ready to go.
“It saved me hours and hours and hours of re-programming each day,” he said. “It gave me a chance to really refine the show each day. The M1 is a board with mature software. I was really impressed with how quickly I could adapt my workflow from other operating systems to the M1’s. I’ll be definitely using the M1 for more shows in the future.”
All Martin M1 components are industrial grade and made to endure the toughness of rental and touring. The Martin M1 is equipped with a fast dual-core processor, making operation snappy and fun. The dual core processor ensures that the user interface remains fast and responsive even if hundreds of playbacks and effects are activated simultaneously.
The Martin M1 is the easiest lighting desk you will ever learn. Why? Because the Martin M1 has been designed from the ground up with a single philosophy in mind – simplicity.
Show Technology will be running M1 Master Classes around the country – to register your interest go to www.showtech.com.au
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