My ETCnomad Setup (2025)

by rsmck

A few people have asked about my ETCnomad setup, so I thought i'd put a little list here (together with, shamelessly, links that may earn me a tiny amount in referrals if you buy anything you see here!)

Firstly, I do still really prefer a console (ideally an ETC Gio @5 or Eos Ti!) and will hire one if the budget permits, but I don't always have that luxury available to me and my nomad setup is finally about as close as I can get without one and still lets me control 12 universes which is (usually) more than I need unless i'm getting carried away with pixels.

Computer

The main computer is now an Asus ZenBook Duo, I'm still not 100% sold on this solution compared to my Intel Nuc, but the OLED displays are nice and, for smaller shows, I use just that and the fader wing and it all fits comfortably in a laptop bag. However, of concern it briefly froze a couple of times in plotting the last show, something my Nuc has never done, so I will be paying close attention to this.

The external display is a HANNspree HT225HPB (now discontinued, the HT220CUA seems to be the closest now) - this is one of two monitors I used to use with my Nuc-based setup. Seeing it next to the ZenBook Duo's OLED really makes me want to replace this, the contrast is petty poor by comparison.

lxkey|eos

Now, the fun bits... the keyboard (not the Apple one at the front, I was labelling cues with that!) is the original keyboard for Nomad - lxkey|eos. I designed this over 10 years ago, and it's still going strong. In the US there's a similar product which I view as a bit of a rip-off of our own (the distributor previously sold lxkey, before working with my suppliers to make their own competing product!) but ultimately it's a reliable 128 key programmable keyboard with nice Cherry MX keys.

Faders

The fader wing is a Novation LaunchControl XL3, I've written up how I use this with Eos here but ultimately it provides rotary encoders of most of the attributes of the movers I use, along with eight faders (sadly non-motorised) and corresponding buttons.

Encoders (well, encoder)

The single rotary encoder you can see is a Contour Shuttle Pro, which replaced my ShuttleXpress this year, again I've written up how I use this with Eos here but ultimately it serves as a very good encoder for one attribute at a time, with the buttons offering quick selection of different attributes and the 'jog dial' shuttle function allowing quick flicking between fixtures

Highlight + Prev/Next, Watch the available attributes change on the fader wing

MIDI

Not visible in the photo, but another magic box that lives in this setup is a DOREMIDI LTC-MIDI MTC-20. This versatile little box of tricks converts LTC timecode to MIDI (and also displays the current timecode) as well as providing a MIDI interface for MTC or MSC if required.

If you work with MIDI or timcode, get one.

Stream Deck?

Those who've worked with me or seen previous posts may wonder where the Stream Decks are, after all they're the defacto standard 'buttons' in this world...

I used to use both a Stream Deck XL and a Stream Deck Plus with encoders, neither of which tend to make it into my current rig.

The Stream Deck Plus was my previous solution for encoders, the LaunchControl has replaced that entirely, and I don't miss it at all (even if it did, in theory, provide more control because every attribute was available)

The Stream Deck XL is a trickier one. I previously used it for my Direct Selects and Macros but they had to be configured manually in Companion and it was time consuming, the horizontal touch screen on the ZenBook and an iPad running iRFR both handle it better so although I miss the physical clicky buttons, it didn't actually improve my workflow at all. I still use one for QLab a lot.

So, although I like the Stream Deck, it doesn't live in the case any more.

Still not quite a console

In summary, it's still not a console. And I've got my eye open for a reasonably price Gio @5 which I'd snap up in a heartbeat.

What it is however is the most powerful lighting control that can fit in a laptop bag and for that I am very grateful to ETC. When they introduced ETCnomad it completely changed my theatrical life, and has brought professional tools to some of the smallest performance spaces across the world.

My Nomad setup evolves year on year, it's almost unrecognisable from what I was using in 2021, so I'll revisit this every now and then I think!

It's not a console, but it's close enough most of the time.