Justin Lang Welcomes the New Year with grandMA3 Running the NYE Pops Gala at MGM National HarborThe MGM National Harbor casino resort in Oxon Hill, Maryland ushered in the new year with a fun and festive evening in The Theater, the capital region's premier entertainment destination. Lighting designer and programmer Justin Lang, owner of Justin Lang Design in Washington, D.C., utilized a grandMA3 full-size console running the latest grandMA3 software to control the lighting for the New Year's Eve Pops Gala. The grandMA3 represents a radical re-think of what's possible from a lighting control platform. The elegant new system architecture incorporates new fixture, feature, and effects handling with a huge multi-touchscreen surface area. ACT Lighting, Inc. is the exclusive distributor of MA Lighting products in North America. A long-time grandMA user, Lang invested in a new grandMA3 console last year. The gala December 31 show in the Theater at MGM National Harbor represented the first time he used the console's grandMA3 software mode in production. "The grandMA3 feels very familiar, but creating dynamic effects is a lot quicker and easier with its phasers and step creator," says Lang. The ability to get effects and different looks onstage rapidly was key for the performance where songs required a variety of visual interpretations. "We had a very limited time frame to work in," he notes. "I began programming on the day of the show, and there was a lot of busking and manipulation on the fly with the console operating in a similar way to the grandMA2 I'm used to." Lang gives kudos to the grandMA3's ability to import grandMA2 fixture patches with The Theater's rep plot information, which he could use as a foundation for creating new groups. "It was a lot easier than starting from scratch," he reports. "Working in grandMA3 felt natural as it has the same core that I know and love from grandMA2." Lang also likes the new feel of the control surface with its 30 faders, 60 encoder knobs and 120 separate playbacks on a single page. "There's even more flexibility of control on the surface," he says. "Everything went great with the grandMA3," Lang concludes. "Everyone enjoyed the show and welcomed in the new year in a fun and festive way." 
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