LAS VEGAS — The 30th annual LDI exhibition ran from Oct. 19-21 (with sound system demos Oct. 19-20 and a conference program from Oct. 15-20), filling the Las Vegas Convention Center’s North Hall. And the 2018 show offered LDs and others plenty to see. PLSN editor Nook Schoenfeld is now working on his show report for the Nov. 2018 issue. Here’s an early glimpse of what he saw.*
More details from Nook Schoenfeld:
What’s really happening in Vegas doesn’t stay there. It finds its way to my stage. I found new gear that impressed me at over 70 booths this year, but some just blew me away. Off the top of my head here’s a few items that stood out for me.
Lighting-wise I loved the color system in the Elation Artiste Monet. It can mix the sexiest L195 (Zenith Blue) mix, as well as a Congo blue and a true red.
Speaking of cool color systems, High End Systems showed the world the prototype for the TurboRay — an LED light with color flags in the appearance of the antique jet engine-looking VL5 wash light, but on steroids.
For Best Effects Light, Mega-Lite’s Circa Scoop LED may have taken the nod this year. Multiple light sources in one fixture make this light a lot of fun. I can only imagine having a wall of these on a show.
Chauvet showed off their waterproof Maverick Storm wash fixture and the COLORado Solo Batten, with its unique lens system. Getting into their booth to see the new products was challenging due to the masses of people inhabiting it.
I’m proclaiming this to be the year of the Laser. It’s looking like new technology is allowing lighting designers to now program lasers directly from their lighting desks, with no intermediate technology needed.
Video-wise, there were more new LED products shown. All the companies rolled out their touring models (and more) to display at LDI. Others showed us new processors and control racks designed to get the most out of the cabinets. Media server giant disguise has a new top shelf model that replaces the older d3 4×4, and others have come up with some new models as well.
Truss-wise, I marveled at the Area Four Industries booth. EXE Technologies has been engineering products to safely move and position stage equipment, scenery, video walls and other related structures before, during and after your performance. Their new beefed-up DST (Dynamic Stack Tracks) consists of an open-faced truss with a tracking system mounted inside that enables it to carry huge sections of video in a line left to right, as well as separate video walls into sections that can go left-right, up-down, as well as rotate on an index.
Honorable mention for truss goes to Cosmic Truss for the Twisty truss — definitely unique and different from anything ever made. But then again, these folks are partners with GLP who had that nifty KNV retina-burning light fixture, so we expect cool stuff from them. They delivered.
Pyro-wise, I loved the new four-headed wireless, battery operated device that LeMaitre was showing. It has four different cylinders that users can pack with whatever containers they want to shoot flames or streamers, etc., into the air. Perfect for strapping on a moving truss and forgetting about it until showtime.
This is just a hint at what we are reporting on next month, so stay tuned for the huge show report featuring all the news you have been waiting for — coming in our November issue.
*An earlier version of this posting, which stated that the 2018 LDI exhibition “had a smaller footprint than in years past,” appears to have been incorrect. An LDI spokesperson contacted us via email, stating that “You have incorrect information for the size of the show floor…You stated that the footprint was smaller this year. With nearly 15,000 people registered, our contracted exhibit square footage was larger this year than last year – with less than 1000 square feet available as of show opening, and we had a waiting list for manufacturer demo rooms. It was our largest October in history.”
