LXFX IS BORN... CREATIVE LED MADE EASY THE SCEPTRON WAY
By Bruce Schwartz - Electrosonic Director & Lighting Manager
LED LED LED. It’s everywhere in our lives, even more so in the Entertainment industry. Live events are full of it, the light fixtures the Video Screens and even the control desks have tons of little LEDs. But each one of these little miracles need to be controlled and when you start approaching hundreds of thousands of them you can only imagine what’s going on behind the scenes.
The trend over the last few years was to use LED based fixtures in a more creative way, even to the point of having LED Screens under the floor and having a dynamic “carpet“. LED linear strips are not new to the market but due to the nature of these they can be used in far more creative ways than just simple screen. Used as more “eyecandy” than a simple 2D screen these strips can be controlled via the DMX 512 protocol but you very quickly start to need thousands of DMX channels which require a costly data network infrastructure. And to configure them you’ll need a good dose of time and patience.
Led by the ever charismatic Guillaume Ducray, not a new player in the event and rental scene in south Africa and backed with many years of experience, the hunt was on to find a technology to fulfil this niche of providing quality LED Effect solutions with the ease of use and a multitude of accessories.
Guillaume did his usual thorough researched and narrowed it down to a few products. Initially the Martin Professional Range of Sceptron Products was not considered due to costs. But generally where there are costs there are significant advantages. I believed in the Sceptron Product after having seen and played with it at last year’s Frankfurt Pro Sound and Light Show. The challenge was on, convince Guillaume that THIS was the way go even though it was going to cost more. A Small demo Kit was procured from Martin Professional and a meeting was arranged in a little bush pub not far from Hartebeesport Dam (Guillaume was on holiday). Mike Walker and Peter Dahlin from Martin Professional were roped in to my plan of having a beer under the African Sun and then for all to apply the “Sales Pitch”.
The Demo Kit showed the vast range of Diffusers, the huge brightness, the IP Rating, the rugged connectors and finally the build quality of the Martin Sceptron System. The P3 Control system was then explained and that THIS makes the big difference in setting up and controlling all these thousands of pixels at literally a click of few mouse clicks after cabling up.
Guillaume was sold instantly, and settled on the 10mm Version of the Sceptron Range called the Sceptron 10. A minimum of 100 were going to be needed. A few days later with the money matters out of the way the trigger was pulled and LXFX was born.
The excitement built, the Sceptrons arrived and were literally set up in Cape Town within the first 2 days. Within the first 3 Weeks they had already been around the country and on 3 Shows.
The brightness, Range of accessories, Compact Size, IP 65 Rating, the P3 Processor to map video onto the strips in any configuration, the calibrated LED’s, and the ability to run data and power down the same cable for up to 50m from each Powerport 1500 make the Martin Sceptron 10 the professional choice when it comes to getting the job done with Creative Video.
With delivery of the Sceptron, never before have I seen a product being used so much in so little time, with Guillaume sending me weekly pics of them being used in different ways.