Live From Frankfurt: Pro Light + Sound Preview

Another year, another trip to Frankfurt. While the show doesn't start until Wednesday, I'm lucky enough to be here early so I can be whisked away by our friends at MA Lighting to see the headquarters (more on that tomorrow).

For now, I just thought I would share a few products picks—ones I'm looking forward to checking out on the show floor Wednesday. There will be lots of gear shown for the first time, so here are a few I'm anxious to see (again, more as the week wares on):

Martin is unleashing its MAC 2000 Wash XBâ„¢, an extra-bright 1,500W Fresnel with CMY color mixing. Its 1,500W Osram lamp outputs over 60,000 lumens.

Enttec is showing its recently released Open DMX Ethernet Node, the single universe DMX-to-10/100 Ethernet conversion node that translatea between standard DMX protocol and Art-Net. It also supports the Enttec Show Protocol (ESP) for Ethernet.

Coolux is launching its long awaited version 4.0 for Pandora's Box here in Frankfurt. According to the manufacturer, the upgrade features a load of user requests and some features include new software features as well as three new hardware configurations, with variations in video and graphic layer options and RAID space storage.

Gefen will show two new recently launched products, as well: a 1:5 Splitter for HDMI v1.3 and a 1:10 HDMI v1.3 Distribution Amplifier. The splitter accepts one audio/video input and transmits the same signal to five displays. The distribution amp transmits one HDMI source to ten displays.

ETC is showing its new version of Congo (v5.0, to be exact), promising over 100 new features, although the manufacturere has been keeping the details under wraps for the moment. We'll hear more this week.

Coemar's Cyc LED is rolling out in several versions in its strongest official showing since its preview at LDI. The cyc has 96 LEDs, and a single-cell version has 48 (dubbed the CycLite LED SC, “single-cell,” no doubt). Both white and RGB LEDs provides color mixing or full white. An outdoor IP65 version is also available.

www.icd-usa.com in the US or www.coemar.com worldwide.

Turbosound has announced a several European debuts this week. Of particular note is Flex Array, what the manfacturer is calling a “one-box-fits-all loudspeaker product suitable for a huge variety of venue types.” It takes elements of Turbosound's point-source system and allows one enclosure type to be used in either line-array or point-source configurations. The company is also showing a sound-contracting loudspeaker addition to the TCS Series.

Soundcraft's Vi Seriesâ„¢ digital live sound consoles now support multiple stageboxes, a new feature being launched at Pro Light + Sound. The Vi Offline Editor is also a new addition, and it can now be downloaded free at www.soundcraftdigital.com.