If you've spent any time behind a lighting desk at a festival or a mid-sized venue, you've almost certainly run into an avolites tiger touch 2 at some point. It's one of those consoles that just seems to be everywhere, and for good reason. Even with newer, flashier hardware hitting the market every year, the Tiger Touch 2 remains a bit of a "sweet spot" for many of us in the industry. It's that perfect middle ground where you get enough power to handle a complex moving light rig, but you aren't lugging around a desk the size of a dining table.
I remember the first time I moved from a basic fader wing to an actual Titan-based console. It felt like stepping out of a dark room into a neon-lit playground. There's something about the way Avolites designs their interface that feels less like programming a computer and more like playing an instrument. If you're a "busker"—someone who likes to run shows live and react to the music on the fly—this console is probably your best friend.
The Physicality of the Desk
Let's talk about the hardware first, because that's the thing you're going to be touching for ten hours a day. The avolites tiger touch 2 is built like a tank. It's got that heavy-duty, industrial feel that gives you confidence it won't just die because someone breathed on it too hard in a humid club.
The screen is the centerpiece, obviously. It's a 15.6-inch touchscreen that's tilted at just the right angle. When you're standing over it, you don't feel like you're hunching, which is a lifesaver for your back. Around that screen, you've got 10 playback faders and another 10 static playbacks. For a lot of my corporate gigs or smaller festival stages, 20 playbacks on the top surface is plenty. If you need more, you can always jump through pages, but having those physical faders right there makes all the difference when the drop hits and you need to slam those blinders.
One feature I've always appreciated—and it's a small thing, really—is the built-in UPS. There is nothing more terrifying than a power spike or a tripped breaker at a festival. Knowing the avolites tiger touch 2 has an internal battery that will keep it alive long enough for you to save your show or wait for the generator to kick back in is worth its weight in gold.
The Titan Experience
The software is where the magic happens. Avolites runs on the Titan platform, and if you haven't used it in a while, it's come a long way. The beauty of Titan is its visual nature. Everything is based on "Workspaces." You can customize your screen so your groups, positions, colors, and gobos are exactly where your fingers expect them to be.
One of the coolest things about the avolites tiger touch 2 is how it handles "Key Frame Shapes." If you've ever tried to program a complex offset wave or a weird flickering pattern on a different desk, you know it can be a headache of math and timing. On the Tiger Touch 2, you just tell the console what the start and end points are, and it does the heavy lifting. It's incredibly intuitive.
And let's not forget the "Capture" integration. Having a built-in visualizer right there in the software is a game-changer. Even if you don't have the luxury of a full pre-viz suite at home, you can patch your lights, pull up the Capture window, and see roughly what your movements and colors are doing before you even turn on the rig.
Why It's the King of Busking
In the lighting world, there are "programmers" and there are "buskers." Programmers like to sit down, spend three days time-coding every single beat of a song, and then just hit "Go" when the show starts. Buskers, on the other hand, like to live on the edge. We want to be able to change the color of the whole stage on a whim because the DJ decided to play a remix nobody expected.
The avolites tiger touch 2 was practically built for this. The "Palette" system is so fast. If you've got your positions and colors laid out on the touchscreen, you can update an entire look in about half a second. The "Quicksketch" feature is also a favorite of mine. Instead of typing "Blue Wash" or "Center Stage" on a tiny keyboard, you can just draw a little doodle or scribble the name with your finger. It sounds silly, but when you're in a dark booth and things are moving fast, seeing a handwritten "STROBE" icon is way faster for the brain to process than a generic font.
Portability and Setup
If you're a touring LD, you know the struggle of weight limits and van space. The avolites tiger touch 2 is surprisingly portable for what it can do. It's small enough to fit into a standard flight case that one person can carry (though two people make it much easier).
Setting it up is a breeze, too. You've got four physical DMX outputs on the back, which is usually enough for most standard rigs. But if you're doing something massive with thousands of pixels, you can run up to 16 universes over Art-Net or sACN directly from the console. If you really want to go crazy, you can expand that up to 64 universes by adding a TitanNet Processor. It's one of those consoles that grows with you. You might start using it for a small club tour, but that same desk can eventually run a massive stage if you just add a bit of networking gear.
The Learning Curve
I often get asked if the avolites tiger touch 2 is hard to learn. Honestly? No. Compared to some of the other "big boy" consoles out there that require you to basically learn a new programming language, Avolites is very approachable.
If you understand the basics of lighting—what a group is, what a palette is, and how a cue works—you can probably get a basic show running on a Tiger Touch 2 in an afternoon. The manual is actually readable, and the community is huge. If you get stuck, there's usually a Facebook group or a YouTube tutorial that explains exactly how to fix your specific problem.
That's not to say it's "simple." It has a huge amount of depth. But it doesn't gatekeep that depth behind a frustrating interface. It invites you to play around and see what happens.
Is It Still Relevant Today?
With the release of newer consoles like the Diamond series, some people wonder if the avolites tiger touch 2 is becoming a relic. In my opinion, absolutely not. It's like a classic guitar or a reliable work truck. It does exactly what it's supposed to do, and it does it with a level of reliability that's hard to beat.
Many rental houses still keep these as their primary "mid-tier" consoles because they're such workhorses. They're easy to maintain, the parts are available, and almost every freelance lighting tech knows how to use one. When you hire an LD and tell them there's a Tiger Touch 2 at front of house, you usually get a sigh of relief rather than a bunch of questions.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, a lighting console is just a tool to help you tell a story with light. Some tools get in the way and make you think about the technology instead of the art. The avolites tiger touch 2 stays out of your way. It gives you a tactile, responsive, and visual way to control your environment.
Whether you're just starting out and looking for your first "pro" desk, or you're a veteran who needs a reliable touring partner, it's hard to go wrong here. It's got the faders you need, the screen real estate you want, and a software engine that's been refined over decades. It might not be the newest kid on the block anymore, but it's still one of the most capable and fun consoles you'll ever have the pleasure of using. So, if you get the chance to sit behind one at your next gig, take it. You'll see exactly what I mean once you start pushing those faders.