The lighting desk is the one piece of kit every show needs and most hire lists leave until last. This page covers two, because they solve different problems. The Zero 88 FLX S24 is the desk we send to schools, dance shows and village halls: 24 faders, a touchscreen, and software that finds your lights for you. The Orb is a full theatre console for bigger plots and experienced operators. The FLX S24 hires from £48 a day, the Orb at £100.
The FLX S24 runs Zero 88's ZerOS software, and its whole design assumes the person behind it is not a professional programmer. Plug the rig in and RigSync finds and patches any fixture that supports RDM on its own; for everything else there is a library of over 25,000 fixture profiles, so your LED pars and moving heads come up with their colours and gobos named rather than as anonymous channel numbers. Colour is picked by touching it on the 7 inch screen, cues are recorded to any of the 24 faders or stacked behind the master GO button, and the programming method stays at what you want, how you want it, where you want it. It is fanless and silent, weighs 4 kg, and sits happily on a table at the back of the hall.
Capacity is not the constraint it looks. A free software update took the FLX S24 to 96 fixtures across 2,048 DMX channels, which is four full universes and more than most school and community rigs will ever fill. The back panel carries both a 5-pin and a 3-pin DMX output, so it drives either cable standard without adaptors, plus Ethernet for sACN and Art-Net rigs. The free iOS and Android apps turn a phone into a rigger's remote: one person up a ladder can select the lantern they are focusing and bring it up from where they stand.
The Orb is a different proposition. It is a full-size ZerOS theatre console with command-line syntax, 2,048 channels over four isolated 5-pin DMX outputs, and playback structured for a proper plot: ten playbacks paged a hundred deep, up to sixty submasters a page and ten user-definable keys. It works across two external monitors with a built-in trackball, and carries MIDI and SMPTE for shows that run to timecode. At 20 kg and a metre wide it wants a proper operating position, not a corner of the props table. If your operator has driven a theatre console before, the syntax will feel familiar within minutes.
Choosing is mostly about the operator, not the rig. A teacher, a parent volunteer or a sixth former will get a show out of the FLX S24 after an afternoon with it; the Orb rewards someone who already thinks in cue lists. Rig size settles the rest: under four universes and no timecode, the FLX S24 does everything most shows need for less than half the rate. Hire is by the day, dry or with a technician to patch the rig, program the show and mix the night.
The Fat Frog is the Zero 88 memory desk that school halls and community theatres across the country installed through the 2000s, and a great many still run one. It puts 48 generic channels on real faders in a two-preset layout, adds control for 12 moving lights, and records up to 999 scenes and chases, played back from a Go button or from 108 submasters, with an SVGA monitor output so the operator can see the whole state of the desk at a glance. The reason to hire one now is familiarity. If your hall already has a Fat Frog, a hired one means your operator sits down and works, with nothing new to learn in show week; if your own desk has failed, this is a straight swap that reads exactly the same way. And if the person running your lights learned on a Frog, this desk puts every channel back under their fingers rather than behind menus. It hires at £40 per day, dry hire or with a technician.
What you get
The desk and its mains lead — the FLX S24 with its external power supply, the Orb with a standard lead; both run from an ordinary 13A socket
A DMX line to your first dimmer or fixture — tell us the cable run and we will make up the length
3-pin to 5-pin adaptors where your rig mixes the two standards — say what you are plugging in and we will sort the right ends
The Orb works from external monitors rather than a built-in screen — tell us if you need one or two screens on the van
Not included: dimmers, lanterns, LED fixtures and stands — they are on their own pages and hire alongside
Delivery, setup and an operator can all be added — say what your team can cover and we will fill the gaps
Good for
School and academy productions where a student or teacher will operate the show themselves
Dance school showcases with dozens of short numbers, each needing its own colour state on a fader
Am-dram and youth theatre weeks: build the plot at the dress, then run the season on the GO button
Village hall pantos and concerts, where a fanless desk on a trestle table stays silent through the quiet scenes
Bigger musicals and visiting productions with moving lights across several universes, where the Orb earns its rate
Colleges and sixth forms teaching technical theatre on a real theatre console
What you need to know
What it does
The desk is the control end of the rig: every dimmer, LED and moving light is patched to it, and the show plays back cue by cue on a GO button.
Which desk
The FLX S24 for most shows: it patches itself where it can and a student can run it. The Orb when the plot is big, the operator is experienced, or the show runs to timecode.
Power
Both run from an ordinary 13A socket. The FLX S24 uses a small external supply; the Orb has its own built in.
Control
DMX from the back panel — one 5-pin and one 3-pin output on the FLX S24, four isolated 5-pin universes on the Orb — plus Ethernet on both.
Who runs it
Your operator or ours. The FLX S24 suits a first-timer with an afternoon to practise; the Orb suits someone who has driven a theatre desk before.
Hire rates
Item
Rate
Zero88 FLX S24 Lighting Control Console
£48 / day
Zero88 Orb Lighting Desk
£100 / day
Zero88 Fat Frog Lighting Desk
£40 / day
Rates are per day and exclude VAT. Ask us about multi-day and show-week rates, delivery, and hiring with a technician.
Check availability
See whether this is free for your dates. This is an indication from our current bookings, not a reservation.
Full technical specification (28)
FLX S24 — desk type
Compact ZerOS lighting console with 24 multifunction faders
FLX S24 — capacity
96 fixtures across 2,048 DMX channels (four universes) under the free ZerOS 8.0 update
FLX S24 — playbacks and cues
49 playbacks, each a full cue stack or submaster, and 10,000 cues; playback, group and palette counts doubled under ZerOS 8.0
FLX S24 — screen and encoders
7-inch multi-touch screen and four encoder wheels
FLX S24 — DMX outputs
One 5-pin XLR and one 3-pin XLR, both DMX with RDM
FLX S24 — network and apps
Ethernet (RJ45) for sACN, Art-Net and CITP; free remote apps for iOS and Android
FLX S24 — fixture library
Over 25,000 fixture profiles, plus RigSync automatic patching of RDM fixtures
FLX S24 — power
External power supply, 100–240V AC, 50–60Hz, 2A maximum
FLX S24 — size and weight
461 x 284 x 68 mm (W x D x H), 4.0 kg; 19-inch rackmountable, fanless
Orb — desk type
Full-size ZerOS theatre console with command-line syntax
Orb — capacity
2,048 control channels; four isolated 5-pin XLR DMX outputs plus a DMX input, RDM ready
Orb — playbacks
10 playbacks over 100 pages; up to 60 submasters a page over 20 pages; 10 user-definable keys a page
Orb — displays
Two XGA monitor outputs, with touchscreens supported, and a built-in trackball
Orb — other connections
Ethernet (Art-Net), MIDI in and thru, SMPTE timecode in and out, remote switch input, four USB ports
Orb — power
Internal supply, 90–264V AC, 47–63Hz, 200VA
Orb — size and weight
201 x 1000 x 462 mm (H x W x D), 20 kg
Fat Frog — Manufacturer and model
Zero 88 Fat Frog
Fat Frog — Desk type
Two-preset memory lighting desk with moving light control
Fat Frog — Generic channels
48 HTP, on 24 faders in two presets or 48 in wide mode, with two preset master faders and a grand master
Fat Frog — Moving lights
12 fixtures on true LTP control, up to 288 LTP channels, with rotary encoders and a built-in fixture library
Fat Frog — Submasters
108, as 12 faders across 9 pages
Fat Frog — Memories
Up to 999 scenes and chases, with fade times, an effects generator and 24 palettes each for colour, beam, position and group
Fat Frog — DMX output
512 channels with softpatch, 5-pin XLR, to USITT DMX-512 1990
Fat Frog — Monitor
SVGA output on a standard 15-pin connector; the monitor is optional but worth having
Fat Frog — Show storage
3.5 inch floppy disk drive for show backup
Fat Frog — Power
External power supply, 200 to 260V AC at 50 Hz, from a standard UK 13A socket
Fat Frog — Dimensions
765 x 570 x 110 mm (W x D x H)
Fat Frog — Weight
12.5 kg
Common questions
Start from the operator, not the rig. If the show will be run by a teacher, parent or student, book the FLX S24: it patches most rigs largely by itself and the touchscreen walks you through the rest. Book the Orb when there is a lighting designer or experienced operator involved, the plot spreads moving lights across several universes, or the show needs timecode. If you are not sure, describe the show when you enquire and we will say plainly which one fits. More often than not it is the S24.
Almost certainly. Both desks speak DMX, the standard nearly every dimmer, LED fixture and moving head has used for decades. The FLX S24 carries a library of over 25,000 fixture profiles, and its RigSync feature finds and patches RDM-capable fixtures automatically. Send us a list of what is in your rig and we will confirm every profile before the desk leaves us.
An afternoon gets most people to a running show. Patching is largely automatic, colours are picked by touching them, and recording a cue is a couple of button presses. We hand the desk over working, with your rig patched if you have sent us the details, and you can phone us mid-plot if you get stuck. The Orb is a different matter: it is a professional console with command-line syntax, and we would not put it in front of a first-timer on show week.
A 13A socket and a DMX route to your lights. The FLX S24 is self-contained, with its own touchscreen; the Orb needs at least one external monitor, which we can supply. Long cable runs, splitters for a rig wired in branches and a terminator for the end of the line can all be added. Describe the venue and we will put the right box of cables on the van.
