Reply to "How to decide on lighting controller"

I can understand that you want something on the hardware front. A lot of churches that I have worked in need the ability for basically anyone to be able to walk in and throw up a couple of faders to get some light on. I also work in a lot of schools that need this as well.

Thinking down that same line of thought, I am MUCH faster programing wise on a hardware console then a software based one. I have been getting spoiled lately and been given GrandMA 2 Light's to work with . Physical interfaces setup to do lighting control and only lighting control can be much more ergonomically friendly.

So with the above in mind, have you looked at the Show Designer 2? It is expandable up to 48 fixtures, so you have room to grow. It is a hardware controller, so you can assign the faders to be scenes and bring up groups of lights as needed for people. You also don't have to worry about someone having to turn on a computer, launching the right program, hoping everything is connected correctly, and then having them hit the right thing to try and turn on just a basic stage wash. Lastly, you can save your settings and/or different settings to compact flash cards so you don't have to worry about someone blowing out the board. Different settings would be great for when you simply need lights up and down and don't want anyone trying to mess with the moving lights (just leave them unpatched in that show). Cost wise, it is also half as much as an SD3 (MSRP price wise).

Personally, I think that is your best bet for the situation you are in.