FRANKFURT, Germany — The live entertainment industry spotlight turned to Frankfurt from March 21-24 for this year’s Prolight + Sound and Musikmesse trade events. Along with the latest technology, the industry’s proclivity to mix business with pleasure at industry confabs was on full display. Here are a few highlights.
5 Star Cases displayed a VJ console and standard cases including the new Drawered Rack.
Analog Way (Hall 9, D04) featured Eikos (Ref.EKS500), a multi-award winning Mixer, Matrix Scaler and MultiViewer equipped with 4 Scalers; Smart MatriX (Ref.SMX200), a high-end Scaled Native Matrix; and Axion2 (Ref.ARC200), a powerful Event Controller for live events and multi-screen venues.
ArKaos (Hall 11, B60) featured the new ArKaos Hub network monitoring software for media servers running MediaMaster Pro in Fixture Mode. It can also switch automatically between a master and a backup server without any need for human intervention if the master server fails. ArKaos also offers new video mapping software that lets users deform and project individual layers on the shapes of a mapped stage.
Avolites previewed the Titan V6 operating system and Titan Net, and Avolites Media provided the first preview of the Ai Infinity Server and Sapphire Media control surface.
CAST Software (Hall 9, C76) issued its BlackTrax challenge to 21st-century John Henrys. In this case, it’s man vs. man vs. machine, with a slot-car racetrack controlled by a 22-inch touchscreen mounted on a podium. Visitors competed with each other to try to best the realtime speed of BlackTrax’s positional data. The racetrack itself was projected from above and coordinated with lighting, spatial audio, projections and automated scenery — all responding to visitor input. The Pandoras Box Matrix Patcher also has a new Map-View to let users re-locate individual pixels when working with conventional LED processors.
Clay Paky featured its new “A.LEDA” LED moving head range, with three models featuring wide and fast pan and tilt movements and 100W, 300W and 600W power options. The 100W model has a fixed 6° aperture; the two more powerful models have a 8°-40° (over 60° at 10%) electronic zoom. Clay Paky also added to its Alpha range the Alpha Spot QWO 800, with self-focusing zoom and a 7° to 55° range; the animation-and-programming-friendly Dyna-Cue Creator; the GlowUp, a portable, battery-powered, accent uplight; and the Igloo, an outdoor enclosure that allows sub-700W moving lights to operate in severe weather conditions. Igloo comes with onboard wireless DMX receiver, and a new system that automatically maintains internal temperature above 0°C and below 35°C.
Coolux (Hall 9, B45) featured new media encryption technology that protects content from being copied using AES 256bit encryption algorithms. Pandoras Box users can now also store and recall any amount of timeline keys as presets and update their data to all instances. The Aeon FX Engine now supports multiple lights as well as real-time shadow projection onto 3D object layers.
DTS highlighted compact, energy-efficient gear including its Jack, Nick NRG 1201 LED unit, FOS 100 Power LED bar, FreeLine LED bar.
Elation Professional (Hall 11, D68) featured its Platinum Beam 5R and Platinum Beam 15R Extreme ACL beam moving heads along with its Platinum Wash ZFX Pro, EVCMH LED fixtures and EPV10 indoor/outdoor video panels. Sister company American DJ (Hall 11, D67), meanwhile, displayed its FREQ 5 and FREQ 16 zone LED strobes, InnoColor Beam LED and Flat Par QA5 LED wash fixtures, My DMX 2.0 PC/Mac controllers and WiFlex DMX transmitter/receiver package.
Furman exhibited the first power management solution for the EMEA market to be compatible with the company’s BlueBOLT hosted remote power and energy management platform — the CN-3600S E SmartSequencer. For Pro AV integrators, the CN-3600S E is equipped with an RS-232 port and command set for integration with control systems. An optional RS-232-to-Ethernet adaptor — the BB-RS232, sold separately — allows the unit to be controlled, programmed, and monitored from a smartphone, tablet, PC, or any Web-enabled device via Telnet, direct HTTP connection, or the BlueBOLT platform.
High End Systems and Arcus demonstrated the new DLV Digital Light, TechnoArc automated luminaire, trackspot Bolt, Technospot, intellaspot, Cyberlight 2.0, Showgun 2.5, DL.3 Digital Light and FQ-100 fog machine, along with the full range of Wholehog consoles including the Road Hog Full Boar, Road Hog and Hog 3PC. A key draw to the stand this year was the new “Battle of the Hogs” competition between Wholehog programmers and operators.
i-Pix added two new i-Line products: a 600mm/2-foot six cell unit and a 1200mm/4-foot 12 cell unit. They were on display at German distributor Focon Showtechnik’s stand (Hall 9, D51A) and also White Light (Hall 9, A61).
Interal T.C. (Hall 9, F96) launched its P100 Protruss and featuring its full range of Protruss and Intertruss products.
Jands, at A.C. Entertainment Technologies’ stand (Hall 9, E63), featured its new Vista L5 media and lighting control console.
MA Lighting introduced the MA onPC command wing and featured free MA onPC command wing workshops, which were fully booked during the show.
Madrix (Hall 11, A08) featured the latest version of its LED control software, MADRIX 2.14, with a new stock effect, SCE Graph – Showtime among other new features.
Martin Professional (Hall 9, A93) featured the first members of the new MAC Viper family, new MAC III moving heads (AirFX and Wash), new LED video solutions (VC-Dot 1, VC-Dot 4, VC-Dot 9 and VC-Grid 25, all supported by the new P3 PowerPort 1500, an integrated power and data processor), new portable lighting controllers in the M-Series (M2GO and M2PC) and the Jem Compact Hazer Pro. The company is also celebrating its 25th Anniversary year with daily get-togethers at 4 p.m., along with a special party March 22 at 6:30 pm at the Agora Stage.
Milos featured its x.Truss (connectors and mounting devices that interface with the company’s QuickTruss systems); the MT05 tower system; OV50 ramps; crowd barriers; staging and roofing systems; the T12 modular connection system; and a water tank.
Movecat (Hall 9, D84) presented Version 2 of its I-Motion software. It now comes with the I-Motion controllers Expert-T II, Basic and Basic-S, and an upgrade is available for existing I-Motion controllers. The company also highlighted new features for its D8 Plus hoists and MPC series products.
Philips Selecon launched its PLCyc LED, which uses a mixing chamber to homogenize the RGBW colors, and Studio Panel, a 60W LED soft light with variable color temperature from 2700K up to 6000K using amber and white LEDs. They join the company’s existing PL1 LED spot and PL3 LED wash lights, which are designed particularly for the TV and theatre markets.
Pixled (Hall 9, E17) showed the Pixled F-10 i/o multi-purpose product, a 10.4mm pitch screen surface populated with 3-in-1 SMD chips. The 50-by-50cm tiles weigh in at 7 Kg each. Also featured: the high-resolution Pixled F-4, F-6 and F-9 tiles, with standard or Mitsubishi processing, and the bendable Pixled Linx (by Radiant) mesh screens.
PR Lighting featured its PR-5000 range (comprising Spot, Wash and Beam), with 1500W discharge lamps. New LED products — the XLED336, ARC LED 3216M and LED 200W Theatre — also joined the returning XPar 390M on the stand of the company’s German distributors, Focon Showtechnic. Other recently released products on display included the LED Spot 400, LED Beam 400, LED Spot 200 and LED Beam 200.
Prolyte (Hall 9, D91) had portions of its booth devoted to products for theatre, live events and meetings. New products included the company’s H40R truss, H20LB truss and PreRigTruss, along with a sneak preview of the LiteConsole XPRS. Visitors could also check out the LineUpGate and learn about the company’s Prolyte Campus initiative. The company’s annual booth party is set for March 22.
Robe (Hall 11, B65) added to its Robin range of fixtures with the following RGBW LED fixtures: Robin DLX (the first RGBW LED Spot moving head), Robin DLF (a Fresnel wash fixture with a beam shaping module and 5.5-75 degree zoom), Robin LEDBeam 100 (weighing in at just 4.4 Kg), Robin LEDWash 800 (with beam-shaping) and Robin Actor 6 (a version of the LEDWash 600 for theatres), among other featured products. Robe also returned with its rock ‘n’ roll nightrider tour bus, parked just outside the show.
Robert Juliat put the spotlight once again on LED gear with previews for two new LED profiles, TIBO and ZEP, due for release later this year. Both are designed in-house for improved CRI and higher light output. The 150W ZEP, in the same size and form factor as the 600SX range, will be available in Warm White 3200K and Cool White 6000K. Its three zoom ranges are compatible with the current zoom ranges of the popular 600SX Series tungsten profiles: 28°-54°, 16°-35° and 11°-26°. Intensity can be controlled either locally or via DMX, and its flicker-free PSU is cooled silently by convection. The compact, lightweight 75W offers a choice of multiple light sources. Its LED source offers comparable output as the 630 LED model but in a smaller, stylish unit. TIBO will be available in 3 color temperatures: Warm White 3000K, Neutral White 4000K and Cool White (Daylight) 6500K. It features zoom ranges from 15° to 45°.
SGM: Under the new ownership of Danish entrepreneur Peter Johansen, who acquired the brand (which he had been managing) from RCF Group in Italy, SGM made its first big splash as a Danish-based company at PL+S 2012. SGM launched a total of 19 LED-based products within their minimalist White Room, as back-to-back distributor meetings were conducted to redraw the brand’s new global distribution structure. The company is aiming its new gear at a variety of market segments including clubbing/DJ, retail, rental/TV, architectural and theatre, plans to have a 100-percent LED product line within two years. Product highlights included SGM’s strobes — the X-5 white strobe and XC-5 colour — which are now in production, along with the P-5 wash light, LED balls and TLD-612 pixel driver. Also featured was the SGM Six Pack, a new pixel array is based on the popular blinder. By replacing the traditional halogen with RGBA LED source and combining six outputs of 50W color mixing with built-in electronics, and also individual DMX control over each lamp, it lets LDs paint light canvasses displaying animated text or programmed patterns. The housing itself is trapezoidal-shaped so that multiples can be hung in vertical or horizontal matrixes or clustered into an array.
Steinigke (Hall 11, A11 + A05) presented the Futurelight PLS-5R and PLB-5R, compact fixtures designed to offer users a combination of brightness and speed. The company also discussed the advantages of COB, or Chip On Board, LED technology. In all, more than 50 products, including PAR and ML spots, audience blinders and theater spots, were on display.
tarm Showlaser posted a video of its laser shows, water screens and special effects at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuLgAPq1OKE&feature=youtu.be.
Wireless Solution Sweden (Hall 11, D80) previewed its W-DMX G4S software platform, in development since Oct. 2011, which promises an improved adaptive frequency hopping algorithm, Invisi-Wire MK2 with support for wireless software updates, improved Data-Safe MK2 and RDM MK2, with support for up to 128 RDM Responders. The new platform is available as a software update on all existing Micro F-1, BlackBox, WhiteBox and ProBox units already shipped via the USB Dongle. Other featured products included W-DMX Slot In, BlackBox MK2 and ProBox F-2500. The company also added Robert Juliat, Studio Due, and Ape Labs as OEM partners and appointed Acoustic & Lighting system as distributor for Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
White Light (Hall 9, A61) displayed products from i-Pix (including the new Satellite Mk. II), Core Lighting (including the Point 20 and Point 30 weatherproof battery LED wireless uplighters), Prism Projection (with new HD lenses for the RevEAL Profile), Interactive Technologies (CueServer Pro, Mini and Express), Galaxia (595S and 600R Galaxia Light Action LED Softlights) and CITC FX (Super Shotmax Confetti Cannon).
XLNT CyberMotion (Hall 9, F61) featured a fully-integrated mobile motion control system with inter-compatible products including variable speed chain hoists, winches, trolley beams and other (custom) motion control mechanics. CyberMotion products included CyberHoist II variable speed chain hoists, C-Hoists, C-Winch compact, high-speed winches (125 kg or 250 kg), XLNT C-Track and XLNT C-Trolley and the XLNT MotionCue3D Performance Console for control and XLNT C-Power and XLNT DataMotion for power and data distribution control.
For more details, please visit www.prolight-sound.com.
