Lighting

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>The Spica series is a range of automated lighting from 5 Star Systems in 250W and 400W discharge versions. Fast pan and tilt, comprehensive colour and gobo wheels, plus the ever-popular prism all shine through a motorized focusing system (two step 16°-20° and 20°-25°). Also on display was the VisualDMX Windows application for programming and controlling any DMX512 device. Aimed specifically at club light jockeys, the key feature of this software is its intuitive interface, which masks much of the specifics of technical lighting control, leaving easy grab functions visible; you might not know which lamp type you've grabbed, but the software will turn it red for you anyway.

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>The new VL3000 Spot from Vari-Lite adds to the rental inventory of service-company VLPS. The new lamp features a 1200W source, extremely smooth movement, two gobo wheels with full indexable rotation (and morphing between them) plus effects wheel, 6:1 zoom optics and full CMY colour mixing. The VL3000 weighs 35kg and has the same upper enclosure footprint as the 2000 series. Quiet and bright.

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>ELC Lighting showed its new dmXLAN range of Ethernet nodes, based on the ArtNet protocol. It allows the user to convert from DMX to Ethernet and back and enables complete system management via a PC or Pocket PC software. It can be wall- or truss-mounted as needed. The software is WYSIWYG compatible and the company is officially licensed by to be a Registered WYSIWYG Developer.

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>Italian company Luci Della Ribalta (LDR) is one of Europe's leading lighting manufacturers for both the architectural and entertainment markets. New products on show this year included LDR's Soffio CDM-T luminaires, Canto followspots and Gobo Wizard.

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>Building on the success of the LPX24, the new LPX48 lighting console from Leprecon Pro Lighting was given an unofficial launch at PLASA, a preliminary to its official debut at LDI in November. Sales manager Ed Cheeseman explained that the desk was aimed at clients looking for well-priced, cross-functional control for both theatrical and moving head fixtures. The company currently has no UK distributor and would like to heighten its European exposure.

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>5 Star Cases showed the revised Eurotrucker, the popular general road trunk in the Tour Grade specification. New features include a revised divider system and paint finish on the internal trays, new foam inserts for moving head luminaires. The company also now offers CNC engraving of clients' logos into the trays and divider sets for added corporate identity.

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>Pride of place on the Stagetec Distribution stand went to the production version of Compulite's Vector lighting desk, but there was also much interest in the latest edition of Compulite's Rave - a compact lighting control desk aimed specifically at the club/DJ market. Also on stand, from Australia's LSC Lighting Systems was the Maxim lighting console and its smaller sibling, the Minim. LSC's new range of ePAK and ePRO dimmers was on display, as was Acutek Control Solutions' 72-way dimmer rack - launched at PLASA last year and featuring LSC e-1220 modules at its heart.

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>Dimtek-Dynalite gave a tantalizing glimpse of future home life through its new range of automated products for controlling lighting, home entertainment and climate - all at the touch of a single button. The company's main business is in the commercial arena with the provision of elegant, state-of-the-art control systems for a variety of situations.

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>Compulite's new Vector lighting desk, designed to be at home in a range of environments, was attracting a lot of attention on the stand it shared with UK distributor Stagetec. You can read more about this desk in our review of it first use on the Australian Logies in our September issue. The latest version of Compulite's Rave was also enjoying hands-on attention.

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>Giving a high profile to two new products was ADB Lighting Technologies. With ring control of its beam-shaping functions, including the 360° rotation of shutters and a 15°-30° zoom, the Warp theatrical luminaire is now in full production. A retro-fittable motorized version will be available next year. Also on show was the Mentor control desk, a mid-priced, lightweight unit featuring up to 360 instruments and 8192 DMX addresses. Extendable up to 120 faders via extension wings, it features a series of user profiles to enable operators to quickly adapt the desk to their needs.

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>Steve Lerman, director of sales and marketing for Lycian Stage Lighting, was extremely positive about being at PLASA this year. He explained that Lycian is so pleased with the American and Canadian markets that they can now take the time to concentrate on the European and UK markets. On display were several models from the Lycian range with all eyes on the SuperArc 1294 4kW followspot.

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>The prototype of the Power-Tiny fogger was on display for Look Solutions (on the White Light stand), with production due for October. It's a battery-operated fog generator for mobile use and heats up within one second, allowing adjustable fog output. The battery supplies energy only when necessary which greatly increases the stand-by time. Kirsten Eicher told us that the company was having a great show, attracting interested customers who were serious about buying.

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>Lamp specialist Mico Lighting, who have now been in the business for over 30 years, was once again promoting its wide range of lamps and accessories at PLASA.

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>Lee Filters has included its dichroic series in the main brochure for the first time. Also updated was the comparative chart which allows for gel comparisons between manufacturers. Expect to see additions to the 700 colour series in 2004, created by leading LDs invited to Lee's factory to produce new colours.

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>Enjoying its new stand position was White Light, having a busy show and a busy year, with shows of the ilk of Jerry Springer, The Opera, for which the Moving Light Company is helping to realize Rick Fisher's design in its latest incarnation at London's Cambridge Theatre. Other recent musicals utilizing White Light equipment and expertise include Mamma Mia! in The Netherlands and Anything Goes in the West End. The company has also gone nautical with White Light Sales supplying lighting equipment for new cruise ship, the Thomson Spirit.

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>The Silver Line from Studio Due is a complete range of colour-changing fixtures for the architectural install market. Filling every power niche in the floodlight world up to 700W HMP, the range includes a new MiniCity100 (a 70W CDM-T) and CityColor 300 (2 x 150W CDM-T). The XS1200 is a new 1200W HMI automated light offering colour mixing, gobos, dimmer, shutter and strobe. Studio Due's CS1 - a moving head Par 64-size lamp, with a choice of four bulbs (150W discharge up to 575W halogen) will be available in the New Year. The company has wisely chosen to keep this unit simple: with a choice of four changeable lenses and a secure gel frame in front, this is exactly what it says - a moving Par. CS-2 and CS-4 are Par 64 ACLs(2 and 4 respectively) mounted into pan and tilt frames for a new effect.

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>Artistic Licence, enjoying its most successful PLASA Show to date, launched the Colour-Tramp, described as the company's "latest and greatest" product. An evolution of the original Lamp-Tramp control system, it is a control centre for two- and three-dimensional colour-changing arrays. The PC-based package combines the concept of lighting control with a graphic 'paint' package - and a free offline version is available which is usable with a USB dongle. Visitors to the stand were also expressing interest in the company's Art-Net, the only public domain Ethernet standard available in the market place.

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>Marcus Komertzky, from Austrian lighting technology company LDDE, commented that the company was having an unbelievable show with huge amounts of interest shown in its innovative products. The snazzy Romulas desk light switches from white to blue light output and is suitable for use in a variety of applications. The compact X-Pen Advanced is the next generation of the X-Pen - a torch and DMX tester all in one. The updated version has a USB input and DMX512 interface and comes in a handy case.

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>Another LED-based colour changing tile was the Tile 600 from Tryka LED. It's only 8mm thick but can be used to provide light output front and back. Tryka's many other products are based around identical multiple modules of LEDs - 3- and 6-LED clusters, which controls costs, and allows for a range of custom collimated or lens diffusers to be fitted to any fixture. Flexible tools.

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>Barbizon Lighting UK, formed just a year ago, was at the show for the first time, represented by the familiar faces of Garry Nelsson and Phil Bullock. Recently appointed as distributor, the company was promoting Matthews' Studio Equipment range of products, which complements Barbizon's already extensive range of fixtures and expendables for the entertainment lighting industry.

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>First-time exhibitor Bould Lighting Technology launched both itself and its product this year. Interest in both came early on the opening day, with three serious enquiries before lunchtime about the BatPak, the company's6-channel, radio-controlled dimming system. The system is data cable free and the Bluetooth licence-free radio signal can be received from the transceiver at the control desk up to 100m away. Managing director Greg Bould said plans were underway to develop 12- and 18-way versions.

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>The well established show controller Artist, from ShowCAD, was for this year's PLASA augmented by two not-so-glamorous - but nevertheless essential - new pieces of kit. The EDMX is an Ethernet-to-DMX controller which allows DMX distribution by Cat5. The host computer is a 19" rack-mount unit specifically designed for Artist applications, in a 1U package. ShowCAD Artist also controlled the range of LED products on the Tryka stand, as well as running two product demos for Coemar. Artist's ability to operate remote and automatic pre-programmed performances is underlined by its use in the Chicago Rock Café and Wetherspoons Lloyds Number One venues which use the system's Real Time Clock function to run scenes and cues to change to suit the time of day, but with the option to override the systems via touch screens, digital input panels and MIDI interfaces.

Sharing the ShowCAD stand w

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>A celebratory mood abounded at DiGiCo, the company having signed a deal to supply an undisclosed number of D5 sound consoles to hire company Britannia Row. DiGiCo was also showing off its D5 Live FMX front-of-house/ monitors control package, which provides a work surface for monitors, a work surface for front-of-house and features the proprietary Gain Tracking system, which offers independent gain control for both FOH and monitor operators. It can also be split into two D5 live 56 EX packages for rental flexibility.

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>Robe Show Lighting's second year at the PLASA show saw the launch of two new moving head fixtures. The ColorSpot 575 AT has two separate gobo wheels and two separate colour wheels and features motorized multi-step zoom, iris and prism with a separate and variable frost effect and remote focus. The ColorSpot 250 AT is a new streamlined design with updated features including a new rotating seven position diachronic glass gobo wheel plus open, and a 10 position colour wheel plus open. Both these and the three facet-rotating prism are now replaceable. Entirely new software enables very smooth rotations of both gobos and prisms, and also offers the choice between 8 or 16-bit resolution for gobo indexing, prism indexing and dimmer, while an improved cooling system improves operating conditions for the lamp and reduces noise.

The ColorSpot 250 AT is aimed at TV studios, small to medium-size

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