
1. Welcome to the Pearl - Page 5
Pearl 2008 Manual - 16th July 2007
1.5 The Pearl simulator
You can download a free Pearl simulator from the Avolites website,
which runs on a PC. This allows you to work on the Pearl even when
you haven’t got the real console with you. You can patch the desk, and
program shows using the Avolites Visualiser, then save the show to disk
and load it into the real console. The simulator operates almost exactly
like the real Pearl.
1.6 What you’ll need for the tutorial
The rest of the first part of this manual is a hands-on tutorial. If you
have never used an Avolites console before, by working through the
rest of the tutorial section you should be able to get the Pearl up and
running, and be well on the way to programming and running a show
with it.
The tutorial is organised in
the order you’ll need to do
things to get the console set
up and working, so try to
work through it in sequence.
To make the most of it, you
will need a few lights set up to
play with; a couple of moving
lights and a few dimmers
would be best. If you can’t lay
your hands on any real lights,
you can use Avolites
Visualiser to simulate some
lights.
When you are preparing to start programming a new show, it’s handy
to have the following things.
• A lighting plan of your rig which you can scribble on
• A USB memory stick (or blank floppy disk) to save your work
• Some white or clear tape and a fine black marker pen to mark up
the console so you know what’s where
• Paper & pen to make notes (or a laptop, depending on how
technological you are)
• Manuals or DMX tables for the fixtures you’re using
• A supply of beverages of your choice
If you are new to intelligent lighting, or even new to lighting altogether,
read chapter
12, “Introduction to intelligent lighting”. This explains the
concepts behind digital control of lighting and will help you to
understand what we are going on about in the rest of the manual.
There is also a Glossary at the end of the Reference Manual which
explains some of the obscure lighting words we have used in the
manual.
If you are used to older Pearl software, read chapter
14, “Changes in
the latest Pearl software”, which gives you a quick rundown on the
differences between the two consoles.
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