MA Lighting has released its compact, all-in-one, approachably priced lighting console that not only makes sense for mega-churches running big rooms but also churches that have crossed the 200-person threshold and have the budget to make a long-term investment in their lighting system.
Church Production’s Marcel Patillo sat down with the production crew at Northwoods Community Church in Peoria, Illinois after they took some time with a test unit from MA Lighting.
The grandMA3 Command Wing XT has received the Church Production Road Test Certification. Learn more here.
Aaron Larson, the video and lighting engineer, was immediately impressed. “Going from our old console to the GrandMA command wing XT—brought a whole new group of modern tools. I mean something as simple as recording multiple songs into separate sequences, the selection tool layout views, the 3D visualizer, all that kind of stuff, the motorized faders. Just being able to put a group, a song, and an effect on a fader and have it always be exactly what you want it to be—all those like little things…it puts things where it makes sense,” Aaron said.
The command wing XT also offers plug-and-play immediacy. “So, if you have just the regular command wing, you’ll need a computer with it. With the command wing XT, that computer is built right in. So, it’s an all-in-one package. You set it on the table, hit the power button, and it’ll boot right into MA for you. It’s such a powerful console and such a small thing,” Aaron said.
Sam Bell, Northwoods’ technical arts associate, loved how the GrandMA command wing XT’s simple layout made training volunteers a breeze. “I actually trained two brand new ops on it when we had it. They all fell in love with it as fast as I did, especially my ops that had been coming off of the old console. They were amazed by how much easier it was to run, the versatility with it, the amount of control they had while they were running it.”
Aaron recommends it for anyone looking to step up their lighting control. “So a smaller venue, a mid-sized church, you know, those kinds of things --- I think it fit really well in, but it’s not too out of place in a larger room. I mean, it’s got the horsepower. It can do it.”
