USA / UK - Minnesota-based Light N Trax Inc, specialists in lighting, sound and video products and services, has been appointed as the exclusive distributor of the Light*Wand performance product range for the USA. The Light*Wand range of quality task lighting is LED-based, and the light is spread by passing through the Bead*light diffusion system (patents pending) developed for the aerospace industry. Lights include console lighting, rack lighting and music stand lighting.

Until now, Telectra, the manufacturers of the Light*Wand has fulfilled USA orders from its facility near Oxford in the UK. Demand for the product, however, was running at such high levels that finding a distributor became a priority. Light N Trax made contact with Telectra after one of its customers showed them the Light*Wand products he had purchased.

Eddy Hoyer, president of Light N Trax commented: "W

UK - MA Lighting will show its full grandMA range of compatible lighting control desks at PLASA. The range is characterized by its flexibility, intuitive user interface, comprehensive functions and reliability - even when working in a multi-user network with up to eight stations and 16,384 parameters at full speed, say the company. All grandMA consoles use the same software, the main differences being in the hardware options.

Highlights of the PLASA stand this year will include the grandMA Video Software, which enables the operator to animate videos, graphics and 3D objects in real-time via a grandMA lighting desk. In contrast to other media servers, grandMA Video offers the possibility to choose any kind of animated 3D projection objects. Videos, graphics and the 3D objects can be selected, scaled, positioned, tiled, coloured and intuitively manipulated in a number of ways, si

UK - A.C. Lighting has announced the appointment of Lee House as technical sales and support specialist for the company's Lighting division, with particular focus on supporting the new Jands Vista console, the MA Lighting grandMA range and WYSIWYG control software.

House was particularly drawn to the role by the prospect of working on the launch of the revolutionary Vista console with A.C. Jands development team contributors Neil Vann and Glyn O'Donoghue. The Vista officially launches in September at PLASA and represents a radical departure from the traditional method of lighting console programming and design. Having previously played a key role at Flying Pig Systems for four years, House is no newcomer to the console market and brings a wealth of experience to the role. During this time he helped set up the European Technical Support department and provided support for all Hog

UK - The introduction of the VL3500 Spot and VL3500Q Spot luminaires by automated lighting pioneer Vari-Lite provides new opportunities for lighting designers requiring 1200W fixtures with automated shutter capabilities, say the company. The VL3500 Spot luminaries, which can be seen at the PLASA Show, match with the VL3000 Spot fixtures to provide a complete 1200W spot package.

The VL3500 Spot fixtures share the same performance standards set by the original Vari*Lite Series 3000 Spot luminaires. The shutter system consists of four shutters on two planes, which allows the blades to be operated independently or in unison on the two planes. This, combined with the opposing chamfers, allows designers a clear, crisp focus on all four blades at once.

"Designers will be pleased with this product," said Vari-Lite product manager George Masek. "No other competitor can

Germany - MA Lighting has announced that in the four months since the first grandMA micro lighting console was delivered in April this year, more than 100 consoles have been sold. The console with serial number 100 is in use in Italy, purchased by Gmep-Molpass. MA Lighting director Michael Adenau says: "At the moment the grandMA micro is the most compact console on the market. It relies on the software platform of the award-winning grandMA range, which means that it is compatible with the show files of the other grandMA consoles."

The grandMA micro can control 1024 parameters for dimmer channels and moving lights as well as LEDs, effects and video. The configurable colour TFT touchscreen and the digital encoders are only a few of the convincing features of the console. The operating philosophy of all grandMA lighting desks is the same, so that the orientation for the

UK - Julie Harper joins White Light from DHA Lighting where she spent over 11 years in various sales, PR and marketing roles. Julie began her career on a West End followspot and after nine years decided it was time to get a proper job so she went to bag gobos for two days a week at DHA.

This proved to be less painful than anticipated so she joined the sales office and was soon writing press releases, which ultimately lead to her overseeing DHA's PR and marketing operations. Latterly, after expressing a conflicting desire to travel and a pathological fear of flying, she was given the role of sales manager for Asia-Pacific establishing and maintaining DHA's overseas dealer network.

Julie subsequently overcame her fear of flying and brings all her experience to White Light, where she is looking forward to in her new role as EPL sales manager, promoting the product ranges - Robert

UK - Entec, Avolites and James Thomas's Pixel range team joined forces to make Air's recent show at the Eden Project in Cornwall a memorable one. It was the first time that the attraction's famous Biomes had been illuminated with Pixel fixtures. Integrated into the live performance, they formed a beguiling multi-coloured backdrop to the stage. Entec supplied both lighting and sound production for the UK and European legs of Air's extensive 2004 tour, working with the FOH team of LD Dave Byars and sound engineer Paul Ramsay.

The 'specials' element of the lighting rig - which toured everywhere including all the festivals - consisted of 14 Studio Spots, eight James Thomas Pixelline LED battens and four Manfrotto stands on risers. It was designed with festival practicality in mind - quick and simple to rig and wheel onstage - whilst also providing Air with their own unique set of v

UK - On of the UK's leading entertainment lighting suppliers, White Light, will be at the PLASA Show once again this year, showing new products and introducing new members of staff on stand G29. New products on show will include the Digital Festoon System, a radical rethink of conventional festoon lighting that allows each lamp along a festoon to be individually dimmed, giving the possibility of creating stunning lighting displays from apparently simple strings of lights.

The Digital Festoon System (DFS) can be programmed using a laptop or can be controlled from a DMX lighting console for integration with a lighting rig. The system carries both 48V lamp power and DMX using a patented data system; up to 200 lamps can be individually controlled on a single cable from each DFS power unit. Offering exciting opportunities to lighting designers, the DFS has been nominated for the PLAS

UK - ShowCAD will again be exhibiting at PLASA, demonstrating new features of its Artist show control system. Artist is now linked with Cast Lighting as a Registered WYSIWYG Developer, enabling users to program/visualize lighting plots virtually using their WYSIWYG software. ShowCAD has also linked up with Pathway Connectivity to utilize the Pathport Ethernet DMX distribution system. This powerful system is also ACN-ready, and gives Artist up to 32,000 DMX channel capability.

Automaton is a new product - ShowCAD's long awaited low-cost stand-alone show controller which can be programmed from a computer on or off-site using a web browser, and will then replay the programmed shows without the need of a host computer. ShowCAD will also be demonstrating how to integrate Artist with IP commands, as well as the standard MIDI, RS232, and digital connections. Also, the company reports,

USA - Utah's Salt Lake City Olympic Legacy Theatre uses a pair of Jem Glaciator heavy foggers to create a special cloud effect during the opening and closing scenes of a feature movie that is presented several times each day.

Supplied by Las Vegas-based atmospheric and effects specialists Water FX, the Glaciators are used to create a three-dimensional cloud at the beginning of the film, a curved 37ft (11.3m) fog barrier that covers the projection screen. The fog creates a curtain onto which three projectors cast images of blue clouds. The fog curtain is controlled via fans and manifolds, and at one point a hole is blown through the cloud to create for the audience the effect of flying through the clouds.

At the end of the movie, viewers journey back through the clouds. Some 150ft (45.7m) of ducting, plus 120ft (36.6m) of manifold and 100ft (30.5m) of tubing with a large diver

UK - A high-profile vodka bar in Bedford has become a showcase for the latest fashions in LED lighting. Purchased recently by Mark Walker for his girlfriend Deborah, Bar Soviet is equipped with the latest Mood panel and high-power Solar MR16 RGB downlighter technology - supplied by Ian Kirby's Lighting Effects Distribution.

Having finally taken over the premises which he had tried for four years to acquire, the new owner - who also runs the company Laser Light International - wasted no time. First he applied for a PEL (which he hopes will give him a 3am license) and then he contacted his friend, Glasgow-based Nadar Shahzad of Blue Audio. Shahzad reports, "Mark wanted the venue to constantly change colour. Although he hadn't seen the Mood panels, we had been sent a demo unit last year - and I knew this would be the perfect solution for him."

Offering a split screen di

UK - The Product Excellence Awards at the PLASA Show has been a popular feature of the event for many years, highlighting the significance of the show as a focus for new developments for the industry. To reinforce this role, the PLASA Awards have undergone an important change for the 2004 event (12-15 September), in order to focus on genuine innovation.

For the re-branded PLASA Awards for Innovation, the judges will be looking for products which advance the industry, demonstrate a new style of thinking, represent a key step forward in safety terms, or improve technical practices. There will be eight Awards for Innovation at the judges' disposal and currently over 60 nominations have been received, with just three weeks before the deadline of Friday 3 September. Exhibitors who still wish to nominate a product are urged to submit their applications as soon as possible. Nominees w

USA - Color Kinetics and Spectrum Manufacturing Inc, a subsidiary of UK-based A.C. Lighting, have announced a patent licensing agreement through which Spectrum will expand the Chroma-Q line of products with a new LED-based offering. The first new product, called Color Block, will be unveiled by A.C. Lighting at the PLASA show in London (12-15 September).

"Color Kinetics works proactively to help OEM and Licensing customers enter and find success in the intelligent solid-state lighting space, and we're very pleased to extend the advantages of our intellectual property to Spectrum, whose Chroma-Q line will now feature the proven benefits of LED technology," said Bill Sims, President and COO, Color Kinetics. "This agreement represents the latest achievement in maximizing the value of our technology know-how and supporting industry-wide adoption of intelligent solid-

UK - Following the news from Color Kinetics on its new licensing agreement with Spectrum Manufacturing, A.C. Lighting has given full details of the first in the new Chroma-Q line of high output LED products manufactured under the agreement. The Chroma-Q Color Block DB4, which was previewed in prototype form earlier this year, is a block of four DMX-controlled colour mixing LED lights which, due to its modular design and comprehensive range of fixing options, allows users to create a complete LED system using stock of just one generic fixture type.

The Color Block can be used individually or in a number of configurations. By changing a few quick-release clips or brackets, the units can be easily stacked together to make blinders or locked together in rows to make battens. Fixing options include wall, floor or truss-mounting using a yoke attachment, or by utilizing the built-in M

UK / USA - Artistic Licence has announced the re-launch of its LED based digital lighting range in the United States. The ET-LDI show in Las Vegas will provide the venue from 22 to 24 October. Artistic Licence offers a wide range of LED based colour-mixing products. The range includes 'off-the-shelf' products along with a projects department focussed on bespoke design. Artistic Licence has recently completed two major projects in London, totaling over 100,000 LEDs. The Projects department continues to expand with 'in-progress' sites in Melbourne, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.Artistic's managing director, Wayne Howell comments: "We are very excited about the US re-launch of our LED range. We have a diverse product range and a committed projects team that has a lot to offer the US market. Many of our competitors take an 'if it's not in the catalogue, we don't do it' a

USA - Elation Professional has been appointed the exclusive North American distributor for Antari products. Based in Taiwan, Antari has been designing and manufacturing fog machines for 20 years, as well as other atmospheric effects such as snow and bubble machines.

"We are extremely proud to represent such a world-renowned supplier as Antari," said John Lopez, national sales manager for Elation Professional. "Not only do they make some of the highest quality fog machines, but for the past two decades they've been a leader in research and development and have introduced countless innovations to the category."

Elation Professional will exhibit the Antari line at the 2004 LDI Show (Booth #2000) in Las Vegas, October 22-24, and a range of the Taiwanese manufacturer's newest foggers and other atmospheric effects will be on display. "We are very excited t

UK - Robe Show Lighting will launch a number of new products on a brand new, eye-catching stand at PLASA 2004. New products include the ColorWash 575 AT - the latest addition to the Robe Wash range, aimed primarily at theatres, TV studios, medium-sized stage applications. Features include full CMY colour-mixing, variable CTO, colour-wheel with five replaceable colours plus open, combined dimmer/shutter and rotatable beam shaper and indexable 360° with continuous rotation. The ColorWash 575 AT also boasts a 12° - 60° zoom range.

Robe's ColorWash 1200E AT is a powerful moving head washlight, featuring CMY colour mixing, variable CTO, two colour wheels (each with six easily replaceable slots for colours and effects), a combined dimmer/shutter and many more features, including a zoom range of 10° - 87°, depending on the lens type used.

The electronic ballast enables features

USA - Color Kinetics Inc has been issued with a US patent relating to a miniaturized, integrated, intelligent solid-state string light, in which individual LED nodes in a string configuration can be independently controlled. US patent number 6,777,891 relates in part to technology that is implemented in Chromasic, the company's proprietary integrated circuit that allows a reduction in the cost, size, weight, and complexity of systems requiring many small light sources. One commercial application of this technology is the iColor Flex SL product, introduced by Color Kinetics in September 2003 - a flexible, multi-purpose, intelligent solid-state string light comprised of individually controllable tri-color LED nodes. By refining control down to the singular LED level, this technology enables complex and intricately designed effects that may span many thousands of nodes - making previ

UK - ETS Sales & Hire is based just outside Norwich, where it provides a comprehensive repair service to the sound and light industry as well undertaking full electro/mechanical installations.

Run by partners Les Bell and Paul Saunders and ably assisted by Jenny Wright, over the past six years, the company has developed a simple, methodical approach to acquiring clients and building business relationships. Naturally included are many of the holiday and leisure groups who operate along the East coast from Lincolnshire via Norfolk to Hampshire in the South.

ETS has just completed its first audio system installation for its new clients Haven, part of the Bourne Leisure Group a portfolio that includes Butlins, British Holidays and Warners holidays.

Bell explains: "We had provided repair facilities for a number of the Haven sites, but had never had the opportunity to present

UK - The PRG Europe sales team (formerly VLPS Lighting Services) has announced it is to sell the new product Bak Pak from Entertainment Technology, a Division of the Genlyte Thomas Company.

The new groundbreaking Bak Pak IGBT dimming module is the ideal complementary device for conventional fixtures that require more advanced control. The Bak Pak is an individual dimmer that mounts wherever a need exists for a "single" dimmer, thus eliminating the need for additional rack space. Entertainment Technology introduced the Bak Pak at LDI 2003.

The Bak Pak dimmer is a powerful, silent, compact, affordable, IGBT DMX controlled lightweight dimmer that lives right where its needed. Complex technology - simple solutions.

The module, available in 750W, 1200W or 2400W versions, operates using standard USITT DMX512 protocol. It is also completely functional using on board contr

UK - Corporate and event lighting specialist Colourhouse is enjoying a summer of close collaboration with designers Bluey Design, working with them on projects for General Motors at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and for British Telecom's Exact Ball in Suffolk. At Goodwood, Bluey Design was continuing an association with General Motors stretching back to 2002, working for Jack Morton in Detroit. The General Motors Orangery is a space used by the executive officers of General Motors worldwide to relax and entertain their guests away from the bustle of the motor-racing outside. By day, the space contains a set creating an elegant and contemporary space; by night, the venue is transformed into a gala dining space.

Bluey Design was responsible for lighting both the exterior and the interior of the Orangery. The interior day set was enhanced with custom-made low-voltage stick lights

UK - In recent years the groundwork has been laid for dramatic changes to the way the UK will have to manage the several million tonnes of special or hazardous waste it generates each year.

The implications of the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) regulations - which are currently being finalized and come into effect in August next year - are only just beginning to be understood, though it's too early to say exactly how the government will implement this directive. So too, the RoHS (Restriction of use of Certain Hazardous Substances) directives which follow 11 months later in July 2006.

These two heavyweights come in on the back of other existing legislation, all of which has been designed to ensure that EU countries meet some fairly ambitious targets for the recycling of electrical and electronic equipment.

In anticipation of the new legislation, specialist

Europe - Fresh from the Athens Olympic Games' Telmaco production team, Vangelis Ziakas has joined lighting manufacturer High End Systems Inc. as the new southern European sales manager.

Ziakas has eight years of involvement in the light and sound industry. For the last three of those years, he was product manager of High End Systems equipment for Telmaco S.A. in Greece. "I am really interested in High End Systems' digital lighting technology," says Ziakas, "as I believe that is a big 'revolution' for the lighting industry. I will do my best to promote it, and I am certain that my previous experience as well as my knowledge will help."

Based in Athens, Ziakas' territory includes Greece, Turkey, Italy, Serbia, Monaco and more. High End Systems' Tony Magana is handing over this territory to Ziakas. Magana will work out of the HES Europe office in London until

Germany / UK - Element Lab's Versa Tube has made its entertainment debut on the German touring production of Saturday Night Fever, currently playing Circus Krone in Munich. The project is the result of a highly successful collaboration between Element Labs Europe, based in Germany and headed by Claas Ernst, and UK partner Projected Image Digital. Element Labs Europe supplied 120m of the units to the production's main lighting equipment contractor, Showconcept. Control was through a PixelMAD media server control system specified by UK-based lighting designer Andy Voller.

The Versa Tube - already popular for architectural applications - is integrated into Saturday Night Fever's eye-catching set, designed by Walter Schwab. The units are used as powerful, dynamic and - at times - subtle effects, particularly prominently during the show's hi-energy 'disco' sequences. <

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