In this industry, it takes something unique to get designers excited about a lighting fixture. In fact, it’s usually only once every couple of years that something inventive and different enough comes along that elicits that collective “Cool!” from designers. Well, it seems it has happened again. This time, it’s not a typical lighting fixture with more output, more gobos, better color mixing, etc., that is causing the stir; it’s the MagicPanel 602 from Ayrton. What is it that makes this product unique you ask? Let’s take a look.
Hardware Specs
The MagicPanel 602 is an LED lighting/video fixture. It features a flat panel of LEDs on a moving yoke. It’s head shape is square, and it measures approximately 12 by 12 inches. The face of the panel features 36 15W RGBW LEDs configured in a tight six-by-six matrix. As a lighting fixture, that means it can unleash 540 watts of output with a nice medium sized 7.5° beam. Capable of full RGBW color mixing, the fixture also has onboard color chase and pattern chase macros built in for some added eye candy. Thus, as a lighting fixture, it’s a nice, small, and adequately bright LED wash unit.
Now, if that was all it could do, you’d probably stop reading at this point. But where things get exciting is that the MagicPanel 602 is also pixel mapping friendly. Yes, that’s right, each LED on the panel’s face can be controlled either as a group (in 20 channel Standard mode) or individually (in 160 channel Extended mode). I probably don’t need to explain how exciting that is to most of you, but let me attempt to anyway. Having a lighting fixture that allows you to feed it an image (I’ll cover the how’s in bit) means you can do way more with this fixture than just rainbow chases and twinkle patterns.
But wait, it gets even better.
The MagicPanel 602 doesn’t just stop at color and pattern chase macros. It also has something we haven’t seen in a long time — continuous Pan and Tilt motion! That means you can spin this little beauty around in virtually any direction for as long as you wish, and at a variety of speeds. Separate Pan and Tilt motion control macros can be called up individually or combined to create very dynamic movement. Ayrton’s booth at Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt this year featured a vertical wall of 25 units that were programmed in unique combinations of patterns and movement, things we’ve not really seen in professional lighting rigs in a long time. When you see the video of their demo, I think you will understand why this fixture is very, very unique — you can check it out at www.plsn.me/1a2aHFf.
Onboard Features
The MagicPanel 602 has an onboard LCD display menu that features some advancements in LED control and communication. For instance, it has ports for DMX in and out as well as two Ethernet ports for network control protocols like Art-Net and KlingNet. And it also has a built in wireless DMX receiver.
Pixel Mapping Simplicity
I spent some time experimenting with the KlingNet control using ArKaos’ LED Mapper and found it to be simple and fast. I created my pixel map in LEDMapper, then connected an Ethernet cable to the fixture, changed the LED control setting in the onboard menu to KlingNet, and right away the unit began responding to the video clip being played. No other devices were required (i.e. DMX mergers, converters, etc.).
I also noticed something that I think is a real bonus for programmers who want to use 20 channel mode but also want pixel mapping control: the LEDs still respond individually when using KlingNet! This means that I can use the Standard profile on the lighting console and do all my pixel mapping with my ArKaos, without compromising on the pixel mapping control. What I would lose, however, would be the ability to dim up a single LED or a section or row of LEDs when using Standard mode, so that would be a decision I’d need to make, based on the needs of the show.
Another great thing about the MagicPanel 602 that I happen to like a lot is its size. It’s not too big, and it’s not too small. Weighing 41 pounds and standing about 2 feet tall, it is perfect for use with a 12-inch box truss rig packed with other LED lights, and maybe some special effects, strobes, and Sharpys… but I’m getting ahead of myself.
I would also like to mention that the fixture can be controlled directly via Art-Net without needing to convert back to DMX. For that, simply throw in a switch and connect all MagicPanel 602’s directly to the switch using a star topology, assign an Art-Net universe and address directly on the fixture, and start programming. Don’t want to use a switch? It is also possible to connect Art-Net directly to the fixture and then daisy-chain the units using the DMX ports as well, making connecting a rig of units very flexible.
At a Glance:
A Lighting/Video Hybrid
The MagicPanel 602 truly bridges the gap between lighting and video. It can be used strictly as an LED wash, for low-res video applications and, if you wish, it can twist, tilt and rotate to your heart’s content. LDs designing for TV, touring and corporate industrials have already started using it. My prediction that it will only be a matter of time before it’s popular with reality TV shows and talent competitions.
MagicPanel 602
Pros
• Continuous pan and tilt motion
• Pan and tilt macros can be combined
• Color and Pattern macros are built-in
• KlingNet compatibility
• Built-in Wireless DMX
• Direct Art-Net control
• Size (not too big, not too small)
Cons
• Pre-viz users may face some obstacles
• Color and pattern macros override one another; they can’t currently be combined.
Price (MSRP): $6,806
More Info: Ayrton is distributed in the U.S. by Morpheus Lights; www.morpheuslights.com.
