How do you provide redundancy for your Vista?
September 1, 2025 - Reading time: 8 minutes
"It's all gone black... Aghhh!"
My current lighting desk is a Vista by ChromaQ. I have two surfaces, the MV and an EX. With all the other bits like a good screen and all the cables, etc, to make it work, it goes into a Peli case that weighs 26kgs, Ideal for flights. Indeed, this set-up has been all over the world on all kinds of gigs and it has never, but I mean, never let me down..!
Despite the reliability of my system, it's always in the back of my mind that I don't have any kind of backup. I have the potential for surface failure or laptop failure, or worse, both! This is no different, of course, from any all-in-one lighting desk; in fact, an all-in-one system is very vulnerable in the event of failure. But let's be honest, the reliability of all these systems, whether it's all in one box or separate computer or surface, is very good today, and no, I don't want to get into a desk-bashing forum here...!
Sure, I can have another laptop on the same network as the spare console and the rig silently tracking, and just move the dongle between the two laptops, but I'm so scared that I will lose the dongle, which the Vista system uses, and to replace my 4098 channel dongle would be too much of a hard, and embarresing pill to swallow. Believe me, I know, I've lost one before, many years ago!!! Doh!
So what options are there for some kind of backup?
Options. What are they?
1. Buy another surface and a second dongle. Obvs!
Lots of expensive kit to cart about. But this might work for you in your case, or in a fixed rig environment.
Pros: The best and most reliable way of having a tracking backup. The "real" way to do it. Cons: Expensive. Needs another Peli case and more space. So now I'm dragging two desks around!
2. Buy just another dongle.
Not as expensive as the first option. Two laptops in the same network, each with a dongle, but those dongles are still pricy!
Pros: Gives a reliable and stable tracking backup. Cons: No surface, so if your show is complicated and requires a lot of button and fader work, then it might be fiddly playing back on a laptop, plus if you have a two-screen layout, you will find that the backup laptop will gather all of the Vista windows into one screen, unless you have a backup screen as well, so will require a bit shuffling about to get to where you want be.
3. Use a KVM switch or just a USB A B switch.
This keeps your system in place, a surface, a screen and two laptops, a main and a backup laptop again in the same network.
Pros: Cheap... Requires just a tiny investment in a USB A B switch. It works! Cons: Don't buy a cheap switch; buy the best you can get. How your system is built may require a bit of replugging. It means that the dongle is out and about. There might be a bit of delay while the hardware detects the licence and completes the handshake with the dongle, etc, and you could hit a Vista "no dongle inserted" thing!
4. Install a lighting cue recorder.
This is a small box that listens to Ethernet/DMX on the network and triggers a cue or sequence when there is no Ethernet from the desk.
Pros: Gets the lights up on stage with no replugging anywhere. Space footprint is small. You can play a single static cue or a full sequence that you grab from your desk. Cheaper than a second dongle. Keeps the dongle in the hardware. Nice and safe, for me anyway! Cons: There is NO tracking, there is no second laptop, so choose your triggered cue or sequence carefully!
Believe me, I have looked and tried all of the above options.
If I'm on a tour, or a biggish gig in my home territory. I'll get production to provide a full backup, surface, dongle, laptop and screen. A full mirrored setup. The issue I have is that any size of show overseas is that not everyone has or can get a Vista system; I'm on my own. Small gigs/lighting providers don't have Ethernet; they are still on copper, yes, they do still exist! My system is just right as it is for what I do, so I need to find a simple, reliable, no-fuss way of getting lights up! As I've said, I don't like having the dongle out of the surface, especially on load-ins and outs, "shit, where's the dongle...?" I never want to have to say that.
Option 1. I really can't afford it! The money, the space and the weight. I'm just a sole trader who does lights and has my own desk. But where I can, I get production to replicate mine
Option 2. The dongle price for existing users, etc, is still too expensive, which I get. Maybe a different licensing system is now required? I use Capture, and the licensing system there is quite nice.
Option 3. I will lose the dongle, whether it's a switch or just hot-swapping the dongle between computers.
Option 4. This is my current chosen way of "...shit! Quick get some lights up..." solution. There are a couple of DMX recorders, but I favoured the Enttec S Play Lite. It is a tiny box, so easy to store and move around. It will store single static cues, which is good enough, but it will also store full sequences. 16 universes of ArtNET or streaming with 2 physical DMX outputs.
The tiny Enttec S-Play Lite
However... Do we really need a backup nowadays?
If you go to, or do gigs these days, you will not see kit 'backed up'. I've never seen a spare FOH sound desk, monitor desk or VT mixer. Sure, they may have a UPS's etc, but that's to protect against a power outage; but if the amps go off or the lights lose power, all the UPS is doing is keeping the control end active until the amps, etc, come back on, the lights have reset, and the LED screens have powered up. However, I have been to gigs and seen spare lighting desks. Why's that? We have all seen it and done it, 2 GMAs, a pair of Hogs, etc. Curious.