There was a very relaxed feel to the show with practically everyone stopping for a long lunch at around 1pm (how civilized!). This year the show was divided into two distinct areas with entertainment lighting and sound exhibitors on the upper floor and the rather livelier and more colourful nightlife and events show on the ground.
Siel was attended by many of the usual suspects along with a few interesting new faces showcasing some fascinating and innovative products. LED technology at last seems to be establishing its own identity in the entertainment lighting industry and is now being integrated into new products in considerably more imaginative ways than previously. Output colours have taken on more attractive and subtle hues, applications are becoming increasingly creative and costs are slowly starting to come down.
New products launched at Siel included the Rosco effects projector with DMX capabilities. By utilizing a combination of two (out of a choice of 20) Rosco image glasses to generate effects such as rain, fire and running water, this fixture is a very economical alternative to a full-spec moving light.
Robert Juliat introduced its new DMX analyser, which acts as a DMX reformer, locating faults and reforming the signal. The unit also features a USB connector enabling feedback to a computer or lighting console and easy downloading of information directly into the analyser.
In the final hour Artistic Licence managed to launch its newest LED product - Pixi-Led - a self-contained LED luminaire aimed primarily at the architectural lighting market, along with Pixi-Power - a stand-alone power supply designed specifically for the Pixi-Led products. The concept behind Pixi-Led is the ability to create a fusion of lighting and video allowing designers to achieve a vast combination of effects. The fixtures use new "point-source" RGB colour mixing, creating both an exceptionally bright white light output and consistent colour mixing ability. To ensure future compatibility, Pixi-Led is both DMX512-A and RDM compatible. It has both temperature and voltage sensors that report the status of each unit back to the controller to facilitate accurate monitoring of the units.
Wayne Howell told me: "We quite literally finished the design a few days ago. The idea of mounting the light modules on the cable was that you could then create any shape you want."
The colours generated are fantastically subtle and comparable with the hues that Element Labs' Versa Tile display demonstrated at PLASA 2003 - creating ochre, oranges, mustards and browns as well as the primary and brighter colours. Artistic exhibited on the stand of distributor esl, which in addition distributes Jands, Flying Pig Systems, Wysiwyg, Chroma-Q, Selecon and Doughty, amongst others. On the same stand also represented by esl was A.C. Lighting's Glyn O'Donoghue demonstrating the company's new modular LED product - the Chroma-Q Colour block - easily configured in stacks or rows to make battens, blinders or any combination. Also new on the stand was A.C.'s new SpectraLite Case, injection-moulded using custom-blended thermoplastic resin.
Another particularly exciting LED-related product was the Optiled range. The company's Jean-Pierre Miras explained: "We develop and distribute technologically advanced LED lighting products. Optiled has developed a high precision optical system that can focus the beam in very distinct way with 10 diffuser patterns from 2-80° spread featuring elliptical patterns." These lamps are exceptionally flexible and energy efficient with superior l
