Is Procontrol "DEAD"

[Hostage]

I know its an obvious**question, And yes I know the quick answer, but please think about this, I am finding with every software upgrade and every advancement in chip technology, Digidesign trying to push the envelope.

I need your feedback, were I work we have five large procontrol rooms and I am trying desperately**to convince them that its time to move foward to ICON and yes they have blinders on and think that as long as the procontrol turns on and we have the latest greatest software that there is know reson to move.

Gentlemen, I am dealing with a large corporation driven by money, so please think before you reply, I am really looking for advantages of ICON and what I am looseing being on a procontrol.

I am on 6.7cs5 Thanks for your input its a great help.

[Chris Lambrechts]

What you need is a proper demonstration of what the D control can do. And I do mean proper demonstration .... not just someone who shows you vegas mode and how to bring an eq to the center section ..... someone who knows the ins and outs of it. Should be pretty straight foreward from there on imho. As much as I like the Procontrol (used one since day 1 untill recently) it has little or nothing in common with what a D control can do. Almost like comparing an apple with a piece of belgian chocolate.

A proper demo / complete overview takes about 3 hours imho.

[bigbadhenchman]

Gentlemen, I am dealing with a large corporation driven by money, so please think before you reply, I am really looking for advantages of ICON and what I am looseing being on a procontrol.

I think that's your main problem. Trying to convince a large corporation to spend upwards of $300k to outfit 5 rooms with something that, in their opinion, won't make them anymore money than they do currently, is a prettyhard battle.

No matter how many demo's you get. Unless they can see a huge improvement in workflow and time saving, chances are they won't change untill pro-controls become un-supported by the software.

And I really can't blame them. Can you rfeally honestly say that getting Icons will cut the time in half?
I know it's another cool gadget, but for multi room facilities $300k - $500k is STILL alot of money.

[froyo]

Hello. Well first off, you didn't say why you need to change the Pro Control's. You mentioned you 'desperately' want to convince them but you didn't say why. To give you an extreme analogy, if you were working with tape and you had to physically edit it, you could easily show them how much faster you could work. Obviously that's an extreme example, but it seems to me if you could show them the problems you are having with the Pro Control that are slowing you down or causing the problems, then you should be half the way there. So show them how and why the Pro Control's are being a problem and then show them how the ICON would solve those problems and thus make you faster, more efficient and ultimately more profitable.

Money people understand bottom line issues. Show it to them.

[K.I.]

My Studio introduced D-Con of 48ch recently. It introduced it by the up-grade program from ProCon32Ch. It was a doubt whether it was an appropriate price when it was seen from the cost side. However, it was not possible to resell it by making the studio name public from the auction. I think it is good if the cost can be reduced even a little by such a method though the balance of the trade-in is a doubt a little. The state of machine parts might be unrelated and : ? Because it is the same even if there are some marks of the cigarette or it doesn't exist ?

[uno1234]

If they bill by the hour, why would they want to improve their speed?

If clients are asking for it, and if those clients have figured out that they can save time and money at an Icon equipped studio, then you might have a case.

[bigbadhenchman]

If they bill by the hour, why would they want to improve their speed?

If clients are asking for it, and if those clients have figured out that they can save time and money at an Icon equipped studio, then you might have a case.

Ok, I am assuming it's for post-production. If so, then with alot of projects it's a project deal. Not an hourly. Especially if it's episodic or Documentaries.

So, unless the Icon can cut the amount of time drastically, then it isn't helping the bottom line.

[RobMacki]

I'd like to offer a strategy.
I have spent years dealing with board of directors and have learned a few things before offering a presentation or proposal.

You need to gain expert knowledge of product benefits and be able to counter the flames from those who either hold the purse strings or want money going into their dept.

You need to know who your allies are. You need to sway those who are on the fence. You need to get subtlety political. As you may already know this can backfire if you are not careful.

Foresee the opposition. Have your facts and your answers down before they are fired at you.

I would say as little as possible about what you want to propose until you are ready to present.

I would contact a Digi ICON rep for assistance. I'm sure they would be more than willing to assist in any way possible.

When you present:

Present from the position that this is a good company move not just a benefit for your dept.

Present from both image building and bottom line profit company benefit.

Present with as many visual and multimedia aids as possible, not just about D-Control but charts of anything pertinent to that type of investment. Get quotes or videos clips from studio's with D-control and how it has benefited them.

Present as a team player.

This is based on my experience YMMV.

[Hostage]

WOW, Thanks for the input. I have one major question is Digidesign running a upgrade program fro Procontrol to ICON can some one give me a link, I think any incentive program would make a huge diffrence with my bosses.

It also seems to me that until Digi makes some huge upgrades in software that are obviously ment only for ICON that most companys will not replace there procontrols. Its a catch 22 it seems . Some where down the line Digi is going to have to piss off alot of people. But they need to stay in business.

[Rezman]

There is an upgrade program from the Pro Control/Edit Pack/fader Packs. You will need to check with your local ICON Rep for details.

Cheers
Rene