In late February, I wrote of the dilemma choosing between the big Prolight + Sound show in Frankfurt and the smaller USITT show in Houston, both scheduled on and around April Fool’s Day this year (see Editor’s Note, March 2020). Little did I know that in a matter of weeks, the plane tickets and hotel rooms purchased for either event would suddenly be worth less than toilet paper. The best-laid plans of so many were tossed aside along with the “Official Unveiling” plans for many products. Rather than mope about the current situation, it gave PLSN the time to reach out to so many friends. In doing so, we gathered a brief summary of info on products that you would have seen, had the shows opened as planned, and will see when the shows reboot for another go in the future.
To download a PDF of PLSN’s 2020 Virtual Show Report, CLICK HERE.
ADJ: Element ST HEX — ADJ is releasing its most compact wireless LED uplighter this year, the Element ST HEX. Featuring four 6-Watt HEX (Red, Green, Blue, Amber, White + UV) LEDs, the fixture offers smooth color mixing with an almost limitless palette. The inclusion of both amber and (cool) white LED elements means that it can be used to create white light with a wide variety of color temperatures. www.adj.com
Altman Lighting: PHX3 LED ellipsoidals offer new and innovative options. Utilizing a 340-watt RGBL LED engine, PHX3 luminaires output just over 10,000 lumens for a true workhorse profile. Available in 5°, 10°, 19°, 26°, 36° and 50° fixed focus Profile Spot models, as well as 15-35° and 30-55° Zoom Spot models. Fully locking shutters and 360° rotating barrel helps you keep the PHX3 fixture focus intact with virtually no light leak. www.altmanlighting.com
Genesis Lighting Control Console — Combining the ease-of-use of a fader-based controller with the power of an intuitive touch screen interface, the new Genesis lighting console from Altman Lighting provides the programmer with a unique familiarity for the creative control of today’s complex automated and LED luminaires. The Genesis console also provides advanced programming with features such as Shape FX, Chases, Fan, and Individual Cue Timing. Genesis control consoles can control up to 24 fixtures, each with a physical intensity fader and bump button, and each console is capable of controlling up to one (1) DMX 512 Universe. www.altmanlighting.com
Antari: M-11 fog machine — This stage fog machine features a dual output nozzle and dual pump system that can be controlled either independently or simultaneously, allowing for a wider range of volume adjustment and output flexibility. Automatic sequential pump operation can produce endless volumes of fog in continuous mode. Control options include built-in electronic timer, DMX with RDM, stand-alone operation, and optional wireless remote. www.antari.com
Applied Truss and Electronics: Video Wall Truss — designed specifically to provide a stable center of gravity for video wall applications, with a separate built-in “hanging chord” running down the center of each section to provide a consistent attachment point right in the center of the truss. Simplifying the rigging process by obviating the need for complex sling wrapping to counter-balance the trusses, the Applied video truss comes in 12” and 16” versions. The 12” version of the video wall truss is also available in curved sections for custom designs. Custom lengths and corner blocks are available. www.appliednn.com
Astera: NYX Bulb is the latest innovation from leading wireless LED lighting manufacturer Astera and is the first color-tunable LED bulb for professional film, stage and event productions with wireless DMX, and features precise colors and authentic white tones with an ultra-high CRI and TLCI of ≥96-98 (3200-6500K). An inbuilt CRMX receiver plus RF and Bluetooth modules ensure it can be run via the Astera App on a smartphone or tablet. The brightness is comparable to the output of a 60W conventional bulb. The RGBMA sources are all digitally calibrated giving total color accuracy when specific color temperatures or gel numbers are dialed in. www.astera-led.com
Avolites: Q Series Media Servers — Avolites announces their full range of Q Series Media Servers, along with Ai v12.1 with Pioneer PRO DJ LINK Bridge integration software. The full lineup includes the Q3, Q3pro, Q4 and Qgen servers. The Q3 Pro is perfect as a portable media server with two 4K outputs and one HD along with EDID managed HDMI outputs. The Q4 offers four 4K outputs and flexible input modules so you can design and customize the server to fit a variety of use case scenarios. The Qgen is designed to deliver stunning graphics with three 4K outputs and a graphics card that can deliver approximately 30,000 Notch marks plus a two-year Notch license. www.avolites.com
Ayrton: Karif-LT — Ayrton’s Karif-LT is an ultra-compact 300W LED beam-spot. It has an impressive 15:1 zoom ratio with a range from 3° to 45° and infinite pan capability. In addition to the CMY color-mixing system, the Karif-LT includes an additional 13 fixed colors plus open. The Karif-LT is also rich in patterns, with a wheel containing nine HD glass gobos plus open, and another “multi-position” fixed gobo wheel with an impressive 39 patterns plus open. It also features a glass monochrome multi-position effects wheel, and a prism effect system comprising four combinable rotating prisms. www.ayrton.eu
Ayrton Domino — A 1,000-watt LED hard-edged fixture, Domino combines the output of Huracan with the feature set of Khamsin in an IP65-rated body. Featuring a 178mm front lens, the optical system produces a 10:1 zoom ratio of 6° to 60°. The fixture features a CMY color mixing system plus variable CTO, and a fixed color wheel. A framing shutter system further enhances the beam-shaping capabilities, with the ability for each frame to fully cover the field. Domino also includes 14 interchangeable glass HD gobos on two wheels plus two dynamic effects wheels, a CMY wheel for color effects, a 15-blade iris, two frost filters and two rotating prisms. www.ayrton.eu
Blizzard Lighting: Enigma M4 is Blizzard’s very own lighting control system that offers total show control with its 4 DMX universes (2048 channels) via Art-Net, or 2 DMX universes (1024 channels) when using its optically isolated DMX outputs. It also features a 7-inch TFT-LCD touch screen and a fully-loaded keypad command section for instant and continuous operation of 400 (each) of groups, presets, macros, and user-defined shape effects. LDs can work with 20 playback keys x 20 pages and 15 playback faders x 40 pages, plus a color picker and effects generator. Enigma M4 also contains a built-in library supporting more than 8,000 fixtures. www.blizzardpro.com
Chauvet Professional: Maverick Silens 2 Profile is said to be the quietest LED moving head ever released for theatre and studio applications. This 500W moving head is fanless and designed to operate in total silence without compromises in color-consistency and output. The unit features a 10,000+ lumen output, customized optics with variable CMY + CTO color mixing for superior colors and a +/- green adjustment to ensure perfectly rendered skin tones. Maverick Silens is also capable of superb animation effects via 1 rotating, 1 static gobo wheel, 1 prism, fully variable frost and an emulated red shift. The fixture can be controlled via DMX, sACN, Art-Net, or CRMX. www.chauvetprofessional.com
Chroma-Q, distributed by AC Lighting: Vista 3 — Vista 3’s intuitive yet powerful approach to lighting and media control has been embraced by major rental companies, production houses and international lighting designers. As part of Chroma-Q’s ongoing commitment to increased functionality and enhanced capability, Vista 3 R3 highlights include a new user-configurable main application workspace that lets users customize their playback and programming operational style to suit user preference, further smoothing workflow and benefit from additional flexibility. Chroma-Q has also added a new effects engine feature that allows for the number of effects cycles to be defined, which can help users quickly creating complex “accents” or “bumps.” www.chroma-q.com
Space Force twobyfour — The Space Force twobyfour LED soft light panel is a scaled-up version of the onebytwo. It joins the award-winning Space Force family of bright, high quality, modern replacements for conventional sources used in film and TV studios, live broadcast, vlog, and photographic applications. It can be tuned from 2800K to 6000K with a smooth intensity gradation, but in addition, up to eight of its distinct cells can be controlled individually to create various shades or effects. www.chroma-q.com
Claypaky: Sharpy Plus Aqua — Designed in the spirit of the award-winning Sharpy Plus platform, this luminaire is an IP65-rated moving head fixture. This new fixture maintains the same performance features of its predecessor, the Sharpy Plus luminaire, in a new weather-resistant package. The cooling system was redesigned and optimized specifically for the Osram Sirius HRI 330W X8 lamp. The fixture offers two distinct operating modes — beam or spot. With a 3° to 36° zoom, the Sharpy Plus Aqua also offers the same complement of prisms, rotating and fixed gobos, color wheels, CMY color mixing, and more. www.claypaky.com
ReflectXion — Not all the lighting equipment on stage must be a lighting fixture. Claypaky introduces a new tool for lighting designers to expand on their creativity called ReflectXion, a next-generation moving mirror. This moving mirror has a highly reflective 390 by 280mm mirror, featuring up to 99% reflectance without chromatic aberrations. ReflectXion can redirect beams of light from any stage light with the same intensity as it receives them. The unit offers 540° pan and unique, continuous tilt movement at adjustable speeds. Furthermore, the ReflectXion’s mirror is the same on both sides, giving users two highly reflective surfaces, each of which can direct light beams. www.claypaky.com
Cosmic Truss: DNA Truss — Cosmic has developed a unique twisted truss design they call “DNA truss”. The DNA truss is designed to highlight and bring truss to the forefront of scenic designs, creating a unique visual and impressive contrast to standard box truss. Making a complete revolution as the chords twist around, the pieces turn truss into its own visually compelling architectural and set element, taking light as well as providing structural support. It’s available in F34 sizing, matching any F34 pieces that are already in use on the market. Adapter pieces are available to match F34 truss to existing F34 box truss. www.germanlightproducts.com
Elation: Proteus Lucius — Elation Professional has introduced the Proteus Lucius, an LED profile with an IP65 rating for use in all types of inclement weather situations. The Lucius comes with a wide range of features, including framing shutters, 20 gobos on three wheels, an animation wheel and CMY color mixing plus CTO, along with other features. Featuring a 580W hotspot LED engine, the Lucius outputs more than 30,000 lumens to help cut through nearly any video wall or other lighting, while remaining completely weatherproof for use in a variety of scenarios. www.elationlighting.com
Obsidian Onyx with DYLOS — Obsidian control systems is now shipping their Onyx console software with the DYLOS advanced pixel mapping and media engine. Far more than just a pixel mapper, DYLOS gives designers and programmers using Obsidian Onyx a powerful suite of effects tools at the fingertips. Integrated fully into the workflow of Onyx, the pixel composition tools encourage experimentation over a technical approach prioritizing values and numbers. DYLOS allows creatives to build organic color and dimmer compositions, and it ships complete with a curated content library with more than 1,100 media files across many categories that are already optimized for replay and access from the console. www.elationlighting.com
ER Productions: Atolla — The Atolla range of RGB diode lasers, named after the “luminescent jellyfish,” includes the AT-10, AT-20 and AT-30. All AT series lasers have FB4 built-in as well as gigabit network switches for linking of systems. Network and DMX allow the user to add a Kinekt, Strike-ER or Beam-ER easily and efficiently. All AT bodies have the Kinekt bracket on the top and bottom so you can add fixtures quickly and easily. Able to complement the Kinekt series with higher-powered scanning options, the lasers also feature excellent functionality in programming. Combined, the Kinekt and Atolla series is the most advanced modular laser system in the world. www.er-productions.com
ETC: fos/4 light panel — ETC introduces the fos/4 Panel, light panels specifically designed for the television, film, and video industries, with extremely nuanced color control and rendition. Very bright for their size, these light panels use the Lustr X8 color system, featuring eight colors: deep red, red, amber, lime, green, cyan, blue, and indigo. The fos/4 panels have a color temperature range from 1,900K to 10,450K, as well as every color in between. Operable on both wall and battery power for maximum portability, the fos/4 range also features built-in wireless control through City Theatrical multiverse, near-field communication from your phone, or DMX input via standard 5-pin ins and pass-thrus. www.etcconnect.com
GLP: JDC Line — GLP’s JDC Line is the new fixed batten unit that combines a powerful strobe line with a full-color LED batten fixture. The JDC Line offers an impressively bright RGB pixel-mapping effect by a special 500mm lens tube, which provides a fresh new look and a wide array of design options. The pixel pitch of the strobe segments is 25mm, and the pixels are seamless next to each other. Each pixel segment can be split into upper and lower part, giving designers additional creative options. The JDC Strobe LEDs are behind the same lens tube as the RGB Pixel Mapping LED. Constructed to allow nearly gapless installation of adjacent units. JDC Line comes in two versions, a 507mm version and a longer 1007mm one. www.germanlightproducts.com
Creative Light CL1 — The GLP CreativeLight CL1 is a wireless, battery powered visual effect fixture. Each device houses 24 individual controllable RGB pixels. Two different optical front screens are included, as well as a charging unit. The CL1 creates impressive light effects by using the integrated double layer FX engine. This is well suited for creating visual highlights, illuminating walls, or set integration in dark areas, while being budget-friendly. The CL1 comes in two versions. The CL1 can be controlled by IF Remote Control and mobile device via GLP iQ.Mesh using the GLP LICHT!App. This version offers features main color control, color patterns, sound to light, and more. The GLP CreativeLight 1 Plus (CL1+) has an integrated LumenRadio CRMX Module and can be controlled by DMX. Battery power for either fixture lasts 12 hours. www.germanlightproducts.com
High End Systems: SolaPix — HES has announced the launch of the SolaPix 7 and SolaPix 19 wash luminaires. The SolaPix family takes the traditional concept of a pixel wash and pushes it to its maximum potential. With a wide variety of looks to help set the mood and steal the show, SolaPix features an additive LED, RGBW color mixing system for extremely powerful saturated colors and tunable white control, a versatile 4.5°-60° zoom range, FleX effects engine and pixel mapping on all models. SolaPix also features HaloGraphic Pixel definition, the newest patent-pending innovation from High End Systems. www.highend.com
Lightronics: FXLE3030W — This ellipsoidal proves to be all one needs from a conventional profile, without any costly bells and whistles. The 300-watt LED fixture comes with the lens tube in your choice of common beam spreads: 19°, 26°, 36°, or 50°. The color temperature emitted is 3000K and the output provides more lumens then a 750-watt incandescent. The T-handle side locking mechanism is remarkable. www.lightronics.com
Madrix: Madrix Radar — This is the complete toolbox to manage, configure, and monitor all of your RDM lighting fixtures in a single software application. Including the ability to configure important settings remotely, Radar also lets you use automatic fixture patching. Also supported is automatic around-the-clock device monitoring with e-mail notifications. Users can build a database of past sensor data and see trends of device parameters, such as temperature and operating hours, and can quickly see the results in graphical overviews. www.madrix.com
Madrix Aura — The Madrix Aura provides impressive capabilities for dynamic lighting. It is the central standalone controller for simple recording and large-scale lighting control. Users can run the most sophisticated light shows and effects independently from this energy-efficient unit with fully customizable schedules. Designed for continuous operation, it was built to meet the different needs of today’s illumination projects in any area of application. Made in Germany, it is the powerful yet compact playback unit for creative LED lighting. www.madrix.com
Martin from Harman: MAC Aura PXL — This fixture adds to their line of wash lights with multi-lens and Aura backlight technology. The PXL features significantly higher intensity and a tighter beam than the Aura, as well as a smaller face and less busy lens look compared to the MAC Quantum Wash. The MAC Aura PXL’s bigger “bubbles” provide a more appealing look and beautiful wide wash fields. It is also the first wash light in the market to feature individual pixel control for main beam pixels and Aura back light with full control via DMX, Art-Net and sACN, as well as with Martin’s very own P3 protocol. www.martin.com
Mega Systems Inc: MEGA-Lite Enlighten 2 — The Enlighten 2 builds on more than a decade of console success. Featuring four built-in DMX universes, with the ability to expand up to 24 with Art-Net nodes, the Enlighten 2 offers unlimited cues and sequences. For playback, the console features 16 assignable playback buttons and eight assignable faders with associated bump buttons, with unlimited playback pages. A powerful effects generator allows the programmer to build both live and preset effects, while the Virtual Matrix lets users include any RGB fixture as part of a pixel map. That feature also supports multi-part/multi-cell fixtures. There is also a programming wing option without a touchscreen. www.megasystemsinc.com
Milos (Area Four Industries): M390 LED alloy truss — Wherever the venue, whatever the event, balance is all-important when hanging LED screens. Even the largest and most prestigious concert or sporting event counts for nothing if the screen is invisible to sections of the audience. The Milos M390 LED alloy truss features a central chord, allowing the use of clamps to centrally secure any QTL-LED screen. Available in standard lengths from 0.5 meters up to 5 meters, mounting with the included connector set assembly is lightning fast, safe, and secure. As usual, the payloads are specified in a load table for different load figures. www.milossystems.com
Pangolin: Beam Brush — New in laser technology is the Pangolin Beam Brush, a technology developed by Pangolin that allows users to increase and decrease the convergence the divergence of a laser beam in real time. Beam Brush provides users with instant wash and zoom effects, and they can be further enhanced with console effects to create waves, size pulses, zoom bumps other eye-catching effects. The Beam Brush device can be fitted onto a Kvant laser projector. It can be controlled with Beyond software and via DMX by controlling the Beyond media server. www.pangolin.com
Prolights, distributed by AC Lighting: Pixie WashXB — Prolights’ Pixie WashXB reinvents the concept of the moving LED wash light, bringing together the classic styling of a traditional wash luminaire and applying the very latest innovations in the field of LED technology. The large frontal plano-convex lens delivers an impressive level of brightness and an exceptional zoom range with a 1:8 ratio. The fixture includes a proprietary 280W RGB and warm white LED module that promises a high-quality white reproduction with high CRI and TLCI parameters as well an extremely precise color tuning. www.aclighting.com
Jet Spot4Z — Prolights’ Jet Spot4Z is a 180 W 6.800 K LED spotlight designed to replace 700W discharge fixtures in theaters, concert halls and other venues. The compact size makes this luminaire a good fit in venues with low ceilings without resorting to zoom. Its custom optical system delivers a consistent output with a flat field and crisp gobo projection right through the 8° to 40° zoom range. This fixture also features a full CMY color mixing system combined with a color wheel, rotating and static gobo wheels, plus prism, iris and linear frost. www.aclighting.com
Robe: Tetra — Robe’s new Tetra1 and Tetra2 bars generate an ultra-bright, tight 4° beam from each of their nine or 18 pixels per fixture. With Robe MCFE — Multi-Colored-Flower-Effects — these luminaires set themselves apart. Completely homogenized color ensures there are no multi-colored shadows, while the 11:1 zoom from 4° to 45° allows designers to use the Tetra family as a wall wash, a footlight, or to create dramatic in-air effects utilizing the powerful tilt motors. The fixture features 18 bits intensity and color control for smooth fades. www.robe.cz
Esprite Fresnel and Esprite PC LED Luminaires — The Fresnel and PC LED variants join the Esprite line of LED fixtures with a user-replaceable and swappable bright white 650W LED. Along with the Esprite transferrable LED engine, both come with a comprehensive set of features including a flat field, CMY color mixing, variable CTO, two fast color wheels and selectable CRI plus medium and light frost filters. For further lighting and spill control, each fixture also includes a graduated scrim filter with ±180° of rotation, edge color correction, and an internal barndoor system with four individually controllable blades with ±90° of module rotation. www.robe.cz
Strand: Leko Profile and Cantata Fresnel — The Strand Leko Profile is now available along with an updated Cantata Fresnel fixture. www.strandlighting.com
The two new fixtures are available in full color RGBALC as well as tunable warm and cold white versions. The color versions of the new Leko and Cantata feature an RGBALC (red, green, blue, amber, lime and cyan) color mixing system as well as the SmartColor Control system. Both fixtures are also available in two white output versions — a warm tunable white (2700K to 4500K) and cold tunable white (4000K to 7000K) variety, and both offer a CRI exceeding 94 across all color temperatures, as well as high TM30 and TLCI values. www.strandlighting.com
Swisson: Web Interface for XND Nodes — Swisson announced that they have come out with a web interface for their line of XND-Ethernet Nodes. Their web interface allows the user to have the ability to make changes remotely to the XND with the same ease and intuitive user interface as the onboard settings of the XND. As of firmware version1.00 for the XND-8 and firmware version1.03 for the XND-4, once installed, you have access to a feature-rich, intuitive, modern web interface that is hosted by the device. Through this interface, node status may be observed, settings can be adjusted, and firmware updates can be carried out. www.swisson.com
The Light Source: The Mega-Coupler Grounder is designed to provide a ground connection for additional electrical safety for any mechanical structure fabricated from truss, pipe or round tubing ranging from 1 5/8” OD to 2” OD. The Mega-Coupler Grounder can be used with either copper or aluminum grounding conductors ranging from 14 gauge to 1/0. www.thelightsource.com
The Light Source: The Gym Light Cage is an easy-to-assemble protective cage for performance lights. The smooth, rounded structure has openings of less than 5 inches. 30” square end sections are formed from 2” schedule 40 pipe (2.375” OD). The ends are connected by four 1.5” schedule 80 pipe sections and by 20 pre-terminated 1/8” aircraft cables. Each cable connects pairs of internally threaded posts. www.thelightsource.com
Ultratec Special Effects: Eclipse low fog effects generator — This unit spills fog on to the floor through a 10-inch industrial dryer type hose. It’s a small chilling box that was devised to work in conjunction with their G-3000 smoke machine. CO2 is fed directly into the unit with a standard Dual Quick Detachable Valve. The CO2 line can be switched open via a single DMX channel. Inside there’s a variable fan for pushing the fog out at different speeds. The second DMX channel to the Eclipse activates the fan. One cart is available to connect the Eclipse and G-3000 together for quick travel and movement around the stage. www.ultratecfx.com
Vari-Lite: VL5LED Wash — The Vari-Lite VL5LED Wash is a true modern update to the legendary VL5. The Dichro*fusion blades, first seen in the VL6500 Wash, supply smooth, variable diffusion while the RGBALC color system provides a wide range of rich color options. For further visual options, a separate ring of LEDs can imbue the Dichro*fusion blades with a different color than the light coming from source engine. The blade lights, along with an onboard motorized zoom, offer a range of new visual options and bring more flexibility to this classic fixture. www.vari-lite.com
VL800 EventProfile — This compact LED Profile has the DNA of Vari-Lite built in. This high output framing profile luminaire offers full CYM+CTO color mixing and the signature “Vari-Lite smooth” movement that designers expect. The VL800 EventProfile includes professional-grade features in a small, tour-ready form factor, supplying a fixed color wheel; static and rotating gobo wheels; and prism, frost, and iris. Includes camera-ready frequency adjustment options and multi-mode fan control. www.vari-lite.com
Whirlwind: PLMC-SKB Series — The PLMC-SKB Series from Whirlwind consists of one of its Power Link PLMC Motor Controller series mounted in a waterproof SKB series rolling case, which offers the ultimate in portability and weatherproof protection. Now you can have your Whirlwind PLMC motor controller in an easy to transport, waterproof case. There are a variety of configurations and choices of remote controllers. With the PLMC-SKB Series, you get all the features of Whirlwind’s traditional PLMC motor controllers in a small, portable, weatherproof solution. www.whirlwindusa.com
