Pangolin Beyond Info Thread

[White-Light]

QuickShow was an entirely new product but FB3 users got it for free.

Yep FB3 owners got a good deal. Doesn't mean that everything they produce can be given away free. A company that does that is called a charity and they only survive through donations. As much as I'm sure you'd like to see Bill on a street corner with a collecting box Gary, I don't think its any way to run a company.

Existing Pangolin owners should be glad of the FB3 freebie rather than berating Pangolin for not bankrupting themselves by giving their new flagship product away for free, especially when they've been offered a very generous 50% discount. When was the last time any other major laser software manufacturer offered 50% off for existing customers? They haven't to my knowledge.

Beyond and QuickShow appear to be basically sets of the same product.

The interface is similar as they're both designed along the lines of being much simpler to use however, Beyond is a far more powerful product and will continue to evolve into something far more powerful than it is now according to the Beyond website so I don't think we've seen everything yet.

because they give away the software with the hardware and upgrades are always free.

To my knowledge its always been said updates were free not upgrades. Beyond is not an update to LD2000, its a completely new product. LD2000 owners still get free updates such as the soon to be released version 5.5.

The way it was worded didn't mean bug fixes and new features but whatever software they decided to develop for their hardware. I don't own any Pangolin gear so I don't really care, but am throwing the BS flag on this. Bean counting won out over customer relations on this one.

So far as I'm aware they've always said free software updates not upgrades.

[JohnYayas]

I agree with you. You can't run a software company by giving away software for free. Also, in a past thread I disagreed with andycon when I told him that you don't get the software for free, you pay for the software and get the hardware for free. Anyway, I was just basing my post on past posts like the following:

http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...-from-Pangolin

Updates/upgrades... what's the difference? Upgrade typically means a step up to a higher level. Update typically means a move to a more recent version of something. If Beyond is the most recent version of software for the QM2000 then I would consider it an update and not necessarily and upgrade. I know, semantics, but I can spin it both ways. Bottom line is I don't really care because I am not in competition with Pangolin. And I certainly don't want to see Bill on a street corner. I don't wish that on anyone. Besides, I sort of like Bill's style.

Mainly, I just don't want to hear the argument anymore that Pangolin is better than the rest because you get all the newest software for free. That bugged me.

[flecom]

you know what it is, it isn't that beyond is too expensive, its that QS was too cheap lol

I made a few shows in QS2 for SELEM, then went back to make a show in LD2000 today and I wanted to stab my eyes out... after using QS2's "QuickTimeline" editor ShowTime makes me want to kill kittens... it reminds me of using an old Avid system vs using a new Final Cut system... QS2 is just so much more intuitive, and easy to create the effects you want without having to decipher what the hell is happening in ShowTime lol

so I will say this, if Beyond really *is* $750/$1000 better than QS, then it will be worth every penny... problem is QS2 is already a really, really great program... so besides the 3D stuff, they are going to have a hard time coming up with an extra $750-$1000 worth of stuff... and with the FB3.NET you lose the whole "QM.NET is the only network interface"

[flecom]

well, I have to say after the demo I saw this weekend, you would be crazy to not upgrade your LD2k/FB3 system to beyond... why they didn't feature the stuff we saw on the beyond site is beyond me (pardon the pun) but I am excited again...

I was sold the second they showed the new abstract stuff and its ability to be controlled LIVE from a MIDI interface

[masterpj]

Great to hear you like it.
Bill did a great job on the presentation there.

[flecom]

honestly I was considering dropping $4000 for DigiSynth because I wanted live control of Lissajous patterns... being able to do that in Beyond makes it a no-brainer at least for me

[gabrielefx]

honestly I was considering dropping $4000 for DigiSynth because I wanted live control of Lissajous patterns... being able to do that in Beyond makes it a no-brainer at least for me

test LSX, it goes beyond because you can add mathematical formulas to drive Lissajous curves.

[masterpj]

hey hey no advertising on a beyond thread ;P

[planters]

During the graphics presentation at SELEM there was a semi-realistic ie. drawn vs traced show set to Rhythm is a Dancer that really impressed me. I can't remember who mentioned it, but I got the impression that this was just one of a series of similar shows that was available thru Pangolin Showspace and would therefore soon be available when bridged to Beyond. I can't find it and wonder if anyone has this show or others like it.

[masterpj]

I played that one 2 times. Someone shouted: "Rhythm is a dancer"
So yeah.
It is available on the pangolin showspace for the LD2000 yes, I have it.
There are many other good shows available for LD2000