Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre Chooses Zero 88 FLX posted: 18/05/2020
The Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre (TMAC) is a lively and unique multipurpose performance space located in Taunton, Somerset, UK, and dedicated to staging an array of shows, events and activities for the whole community embracing music, dance, drama, comedy, spoken word and other genres. Just before the coronavirus pandemic temporarily halted the entire entertainment industry, TMAC took delivery of a brand new Zero 88 FLX lighting control console, complete with two wings, which was specified by technical manager Kevin Stratton
The new console replaces their previous generation Zero 88 consoles which have been there since the venue opened in 2000.
Kevin has worked there since 2016, and before then was a busy freelancer, touring theatre technician and production LX who has also worked as a Level 3 instructor in Production Arts at a leading Somerset further education college.
He decided on the FLX after extensive research. A new console isn't an item purchased every year, so we wanted to ensure that it was right for us and fit for purpose and trialled / demo'd a number of options before choosing the FLX.
Familiarity was a major factor he explained, together with the price to features ratio - as a non-funded venue, best value was a major consideration. FLX is a complex, competitively priced desk that will grow with our venue.
The FLX is controlling over 200 generic and LED lighting fixtures in the house over 96 channels of dimming including the house lights, and there are additional moving light and other intelligent luminaire rentals for the three or four larger shows they produce each year.
The venue is also part of a 1200-pupil secondary school and college campus. During a standard year, they will produce between 120 and 150 of their own shows and host some 60 professional touring shows that have included Bristol Old Vic, La Navet Bete, Jasmin Vardomen Dance, Bill Bailey, BBC Question Time and more, together with numerous bands and live music acts plus an annual professional pantomime during festive season.
Kevin's house team all received training from Zero 88 on the FLX before the console arrived on site and have subsequently had follow up training both there in-person and online.
They have taken positive steps during the UK's current Covid-19 lockdown to test the console using Capture visualiser software, and also utilised Zero 88's comprehensive Zoom training webinars that have been available online. Zero's 88's tech support team are always happy to help, comments Kevin!
The first show lit with the new console was comedian Bill Bailey in the middle of a preview tour at the time. In this instance, Kevin and the house crew lit the show impressing Bill Bailey's touring company.
All TMAC's in-house lighting shows are lit by Kevin and his colleagues in collaboration with their on-site creative team of directors and choreographers.
Visiting LDs will also use the console for rigging, plotting, and focusing, and everyone so far loves the remote functionality and its integration with the Apple Watch in particular which never fails to impress!
Another popular and useful feature is that FLX can load ASCII showfiles which is a generic file format shared between a range of consoles from different manufactures, and RDM functionality for hired fixtures saves valuable time during pre-rigs and plotting. From now on, they will rent in only RDM-enabled lights, confirms Kevin.
Having worked with Zero 88 for some years, he thinks the brand and its products are intuitive, well-built and robust, due to those working in product design, development as well as on sales and technical clearly understanding how shows and events are run.
Anyone considering an FLX purchase should Speak to the team and engage in the training to get a good feel for the products and the outstanding Zero 88 backup and support.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Agentic AI is getting physical.
At COMPUTEX on Tuesday, NVIDIA announced NVIDIA JetPack 7.2 and NVIDIA NemoClaw support on NVIDIA Jetson.
JetPack 7.2 brings a...
01/06/2026
Financial institutions have spent years building AI: fraud models, credit models...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre Chooses Zero 88 FLX posted: 18/05/2020 
