MARTIN AND ELECTROSONIC - A 20 YEAR PARTNERSHIP

Article by Bruce Genricks

Electrosonic SA was established in 1991 with a vision to create a company focused on the audio-visual and the entertainment lighting industries in South Africa. The idea was to sign distribution agreements with leading manufacturers, and to import, distribute, install, and support these products.

Contracts were initially signed with a luminaire company (CCT lighting); a dimming and control manufacturer (Zero 88); and, a smoke machine manufacturer (Jem Smoke).

Within a year Jem rescinded the agreement and signed up with another distributor. Electrosonic SA needed to find an alternative, and approached Martin Professional to enquire about their smoke machines and whether they would be interested in distributing in South Africa. This was the start of a long and fruitful partnership that continues to this day.

 The Early years

At the time Electrosonic SA had no inkling as to the massive potential of this new partnership.

Soon disco lights were being imported, with names like Moonflower! These were crude, yet innovative, fittings consisting of a parabolic disc studded with dichroic mirrors driven by a servo motor; and a sound to light a circuit board. Bruce Genricks, Managing Member of Electrosonic SA, remembers "an early version of the Moonflower with hand painted mirrors!" This range of well-priced fittings, which were aimed at the night club market, formed part of Martin's DJ range.

Martin also had a range which they called Roboscan which consisted of a small range of moving mirror luminaires. This was their entrance into the intelligent lighting market.

Soon Martin was producing good quality fittings that started finding their way into the serious events industry. The 1995 Rand Easter Show was one of the first gigs where the Martin fittings were used. Otto Weinburger, from Art of Light, used Pro 518s, Pro400s and the Pal 1200. Although the Pals were very heavy and unwieldy, Otto was impressed by the brightness, wide beam angle, and effects.

 The rise of an icon

The introduction of the Martin Mac range of moving heads in 1997 was a game changer for Martin Professional, and pretty soon they were on all the riders of the biggest bands on tour.

The launch of the Mac 2000 (in the year 2000) was an even bigger success! This propelled Martin to the status of leading manufacturer of intelligent lights for the entertainment industry.

Their success in this country was even more impressive and Martin Macs were essential kit for almost every staging company in South Africa. They were even finding their way into theatres, shopping malls, and other entertainment venues – in short they dominated the intelligent lighting industry in South Africa.

Robustness, reliability, and outstanding performance turned these products into industry icons – and there are still a huge number of them in daily use; despite the fact that they're 15 years old. The MAC 500s, MAC 600s, and MAC 2000s were installed at Canal Walk shopping Centre in 2001: 30,000 hours later and they're still going strong!

The Controllers

With the advent of intelligent lighting in the 1990s Martin started out with simple control consoles such as the 3032 which offered 32 channels of DMX control. This soon evolved into a pc version, which later evolved into the Lightjockey which is still used today. Martin's Lightjockey has become an industry standard in small computer-based lighting consoles.

As far as the bigger consoles are concerned, Martin started with the Case controller before moving on to the Maxxyz; which was followed by M1, M2GO, and M2PC. The M series is proving to be very popular.

 The present

Martin's position in the industry in not quite as dominant as it was a few years back; however, with the launch of the Mac101, and more recently the Mac Aura, Martin has proved to be as innovative as ever. These products have been very well received in the industry and Martin has enjoyed a huge surge in sales.

Martin Professional celebrates their 25th anniversary this year and Christian Engsted, President and CEO of Martin Professional had the following to say on their website about their two and a half decades in the industry: "2012 marks our 25th anniversary year, yet it is also remarkable in the fact that it marks the year in which our LED-based products total more than 50% of our sales, emphasizing our technological leadership in the entertainment lighting industry,"

This is indeed success that needs to be savoured and Martin Professional will be celebrating this milestone with a number of special events all over the world.

Engsted continues: "Our relentless focus on developing and launching new break-through products to the market - like the already released MAC Aura™ as well as our MAC Viper™, set for launch this spring – has set new standards for moving heads in the mid-segment and will continue to preserve Martin as the leading brand in the industry."

It certainly has been a fantastic 25 year journey of innovation and Electrosonic SA is proud to celebrate a 20 year partnership with Martin Professional!

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