grandMA3 compact touring with Randy Rogers Band

MA Lighting: Why did you choose a grandMA3 compact?
Ayrton Mcphail: I chose the grandMA3 compact due to its size, weight, and ability to control the same amount of parameters as the grandMA3 full-size with additional grandMA3 processing units. 

MA Lighting: What do you like about the hardware?
Ayrton Mcphail: The screen placement allows for the open “slot” we can call it to put the remote ipad screen 2 or paper copy of setlist or even an external screen 2. I haven’t had a single issue with the hardware of the grandMA3 compact and it has seen a-lot of dirt/ dust and elements of mother nature for the 3 years I’ve had it.

MA Lighting: In which applications do you use the products?
Ayrton Mcphail: The majority of the time the grandMA3 compact stays out on the road touring with Texas Country Band (Randy Rogers Band) and starting in October we will have another grandMA3 compact doing the same with TY Myers. But during the downtime the grandMA3 compact comes back and does local shows and all kinds of events like sporting, theater, corporate, and video shoots for our local clients. We also use the grandMA3 compact for the visualizer room when building a new show in session with laptops.

MA Lighting: Which grandMA3 features are the most beneficial in your daily work?
Ayrton Mcphail: My favorite features for grandMA3 hardware is the ability to be versatile and adapt to so many different lighting systems thanks to the three network ports that can be set to any network. My favorite features about grandMA3 software is the new way of cloning, the selection grid helps with making sweeps in the X axis. Separating the “Layers” into now stages for grandMA3 was a game changer, instead of just one long list now we can see just what we want to see by selecting the stage we want. 

MA Lighting: Are there external systems you trigger with your console?
Ayrton Mcphail: Unfortunately at this moment we do not trigger other elements with the console. But we do use the midi in for mapping midi notes for extra executers/ faders, or we use the DMX in for analog notes to map to faders. A lot of MA users forget they can do either of those and get turned away from the cost of the two bigger consoles. Everyone I show and tell this to get a glare of hope in their eyes when I only have 10 faders then I show them the midi/ analog notes for added executor mapping control. So dont let the small number of executor’s keep you from buying the grandMA3 compact or compact XT. 

MA Lighting: How do you set up your show on smaller hardware?
Ayrton Mcphail: So I built a file in Mode 2 about four years ago and converted it over to Mode 3 and it has a mixture of cued out songs, macros, and busking bumps to help create the show. I have successfully been running that same file for these three years with no failures now in Mode 3. We take advantage of the cue stacks along with custom made macros just for this file. Note its not an extravagant file, the goal was to build a great base file to build off of each day and flexible to build other shows with. Thanks to both Mode 2 & 3 - We have been successful at building 5 five different tours off this 1 file on a grandMA3 system.

MA Lighting: What is your resume about the grandMA3 compact?
Ayrton Mcphail: The grandMA3 compact is my goto/ favorite console for many reasons, its size allows for easy setup/ tear down and the need for only one LD to “flip” the desk. Think about it, I am packed, console in case and out of front of house in less then five minutes rolling to the trailer. No other money spent on labor to do the one job. Its size also allows for the grandMA3 compact to fit in a bay of the bus, into a hotel room, and in the lounge of the bus for previz/ programming updates on days off. I have had many days on the bus with my grandMA3 compact on the table working. It is a solid compact lighting console with flexible/ power to run the same as the grandMA3 light and grandMA3 full-size. I know that the biggest turn off’s for most is not having the second screen, that is where the grandMA3 compact XT comes in or the use of the external (screen 2) port on the grandMA3 compact. Hands down the best budget friendly most powerful lighting console on the market is the grandMA3 compact!