ORLANDO – ChamSys had a lot to be happy about at WFX. In addition to drawing large crowds to the four training sessions it held at the show, the company went home with a prestigious New Products Award for its new user-friendly console, the ChamSys QuickQ 20.

A panel of judges drawn from leading church TDs and the Worship Tech Director website selected the ChamSys QuickQ 20 for the honor. Key to their decision are the many features in the affordable, plug-and-play console that  make lighting control readily accessible to virtually any end user.

“The worship market was clearly on our mind when we developed the QuickQ 20,” said Philip Watson, ChamSys USA Director. “The console was designed to make it simple and straightforward for students, volunteers and part-time technicians at a house of worship to have hands-on control of dimmers, LED color mixing functions and moving lights.”

With its intuitive smartphone-like 9.7” touchscreen interface, the ChamSys QuickQ 20 offers an easy path to setup, programming and playback. It’s also rich in features that help create an immersive mood at worship services by colorizing a room. For example, its dedicated “Color Control Area” includes hue and saturation encoders.  The console also allows users to select colors from in-built palettes and gel libraries using the touchscreen.

“We’re very happy and honored to receive this award,” said Watson. “Our team paid careful attention to the needs of churches when designing the QuickQ 20, so this recognition is especially gratifying.”  

NEW YORK –  In 2009, a friend introduced Jason Bullock to an early model of the ChamSys MQ100. It was pretty close to a case of love at first sight. After playing with the console, Bullock took it out on the Summer ’09 NINJA tour he did for Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction. “After the tour, I was convinced the ChamSys was THE console for my style of show,” recalled the New York-based designer.

That style, with all of its big looks, bold statements and roaring intensity was on full display this summer in Bullock’s work on the 27-city Wiz Khalifa and Rae Sremmurd Dazed and Blazed tour. Running the boards for both artists, Bullock took audiences on a breathtaking visual ride. Only now, instead of his original MQ100, he ran his 25-universe (not counting video) 250-fixture show with a ChamSys MagicQ MQ300 Pro supplied by Upstaging, Inc. out of Chicago.

“Justin Collie and the team at Nimbilist were responsible for the overall design of this tour,” he said. “Their design combined a brand-new set and video system that exemplified the direction of Wiz’s new album, Rolling Papers 2.  My long experience with Wiz as director allowed us as a team to get this tour together in a very short timeline, even with the new systems.”

There were multiple features on Bullock’s ChamSys console that made this process go very smoothly. “Being able to import cue lists from prior tours — button settings, titles, timings etcetera – saved us hours during the programming phase,” he said. “Direct access to palettes for programming (group 1, position 3, color 4, beam 6, enter) gave us an unprecedented level of speed. Not having to go search through touchscreens was far more efficient when it came to raw speed. Last but not least are the faders. By having extra buttons when FX get added or things change on the fly, you always have a place to record when trying to operate and edit at the same time.”

Efficiency was extremely important to Bullock when preparing for the Dazed and Blazed tour. “When this tour was programmed, we had only three days to get the whole project show ready,” he said.  “Video director Kevin Williams and I have worked together on previous Wiz tours. To maximize the possible applications of our system we developed an active system. Content to different layers and location is controlled via Catalyst. Kevin then takes that content and applies FX and mixes it all together with multiple cameras and robo-cams as a composite.

“The whole process in general was very smooth, which is amazing given the volume of work we did,” continued Bullock. “Working with Justin and his team was a great experience. We met 15-20 years ago. It was awesome to work with him and get this show together very quickly. Without the ChamSys, I would not have been able to pull it off.”

So today, almost a decade after Bullock first encountered ChamSys, his love affair with the company’s console is still going strong. 

Photo Credit: Todd Kaplan

ChamSys consoles were specified by Lighting Designer Matthew Button for the recent Lexus #NXONTRACK promo video. 

Button choose the small but power MQ70 compact console to use to control the lighting rig of over 370 lights.  The whole show was synced around a trio of Lexus NX’s driven around the track to hit laser ‘targets’ triggering lighting and lasers keeping the whole show in sync with the audio. 

A total of 3 Compact consoles (2 x MQ60 and 1 x MQ70) where located in control networked together providing a seamless Master/Slave backup solution throughout the show while also allowing multiple operators. 

MagicQ consoles were again used on many New Year Eve shows around the world.  Highlights including lighting up the London Eye Mellenium Wheel for the midnight show and a 5 hour live TV show in China for an estimated 500 million viewers.

In Nanjing Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium, China, two MagicQ MQ100s controlled 100 universes of lighting with around 2000 moving lights on this spectacular show for Jiangsu TV.  Lighting designed and programmed by ARF&YES.

Jiangsu TV Show Video

At Pro Light & Sound 2016 ChamSys idemonstrated the latest MagicQ Stadium software features including major new features for programming larger lighting rigs, major new Theatre and time code support, and much enhanced MagicVis including improved rendering, shadows and reports.  See us in Hall 3 stand D27.

ChamSys Software Director Chris Kennedy explains « Our customers continue to use MagicQ at the highest level with large numbers of moving lights and LED up to and beyond 100 universes.  Our new group and palette FX allow spectacular results in the minimum of time. Our new reduced size show format ensures the show data remains manageable and our new conflict detection helps to quickly troubleshoot network problems. »

ChamSys is continuing to develop its MagicVis visualiser which is fully integrated the MagicQ software.  Chris comments « We believe that by having full control of the development of MagicVis we can provide our customers with the best package of lighting control and visualisation all integrated into a single show file.  No one else can provide a completely free Visualiser with support for 100 universes, 15000 personalities, media feeds, moving trusses, camera control, blind preview and full plots and reports. »

With Group based FX, programmers know that if they add a head to that group it will automatically be included in any Cues using those FX, avoiding the need to check and update each Cue in turn.

New programming features include

• Group FX on one or more groups with Spread/Parts/Segments control within the group(s)
• Group FX using Palettes
• Copying of heads within Cues
• Copying of Cue Stacks to different heads
• Expanding Cues to use additional attributes from Palettes
• Pixel Mapping on Groups

ChamSys continues to add new features to make playback more exciting

• Release executes last step function
• New shortcuts for palette timing
• Flash/Toggle option for Extra Wings
• Flash button support on Android/iOs remote app

MagicQ has some major new features for Theatre and time code shows including the ability to record up to 10 tracks of playback activity associated with the playback of a Cue Stack.

• Multi Cue, Track sheet editing
• Crossfade using advanced times
• Standardised Theatre colour scheme
• Time code simulator within Cue Stack
• Cue Stack multiple time code Tracks
• Printing of any Window to printer/pdf

MagicQ has over 15000 personalities, and is continuing to expand the library.  As new and more complicated fixtures appear, MagicQ continues to add support to ensure programmers can make the use of all the features of the fixtures:

• Personality search facility – using number of channels or key channel info
• DMXcheck personality checker application for iOS/Android/Windows/OSX
• Positioning and rotation of multi element personalities in Output, Grid view
• Virtual dimmers on personalities with duplicated elements

MagicQ continues to extend the number of universes that can be output direct from MagicQ consoles – no need for external processsing nodes.  ChamSys doesn’t try to sell expensive network processing nodes.  The console is complete, fully functional, outputs all universes – one item, one price. 

We test our consoles with every channel patched and executing cues to prove that the consoles are more than capable of meeting their specified performance.

• 127 Universes option (direct from console)
• Reduced size show format
• User Management including restricted editing/outputting
• Network/ArtNet/sACN conflict indication
• Net sessions Master console clash resolution
• Net sessions new Playback sync modes

MagicVis has been enhanced with many new features:

• Improved rendering including shadows
• Circular truss support
• Plot View within MagicVis
• Split Blind / Playback preview (with auto option)
• Positioning of fixtures within room in Plot View
• Multi console visualisation

Music festival Reverze is an international music event, that takes place every year in Sportpaleis – Antwerp – Belgium. The represented music styles are Hardstyle, Raw and Hardcore.

This year they showed the processing power of the ChamSys MQ100 Pro 2014 lighting console with 64 universes fully patched.

Production: Bass Events
Light design & operating: Kristof Van Mensel – TCF 
Set design: Patrick Bellens – TCF 
Technical production: Kristof Devriese 
Video content: Dirty Monitor 
Audio Management: NoizBoys 
Lasers: Laser Image 
Special FX: Dewico 
Motion & Automation: WIcreations 
Technical Supplier: Phlippo

Light: 
1x ChamSys MQ100 Pro 2014, 2x Execute Wing & 1x Playback wing

1x backup: ChamSys MQ100 Pro 2014 + playback wing 
180 x Robe Pointe (TV Colour wheel) 
36x Robe Ledwash 1200 
20x Robe Ledwash 600 
80x URC speedbeam 105 
36x Martin Viper Performance 
66x URC goldpix 
88x URC goldstrip 
90x DWE singel cell blinder 
50x Ayrton Magicpanel R 
80x Martin Atomic 3000 LED 
720 Showtec Octostrip 
64x Chauvet Geyser RGB 
72x Showtec M800 
20x Showtec Active sunstrip

FX:
1x ChamSys MQ60
10x CO2 jets 
12x stage flames 
6x explo wave flames

In total 1602 fixtures controlled by a MQ 100 Pro 2014 & 2x Execute wing + 1x Playback wing. 1x MQ100 Pro 2014 + playback wing in slave mode (backup). So all processing power was coming from just 1 desk and with 64 universes fully patched!

OMAHA, NE, USA – As competition heats up for this summer’s Olympics it’s not only the athletes drawing attention. Swimming trials are becoming a popular spectator event with cities competing fiercely to win the rights to host them. Omaha, Nebraska and the Century Link Center presented this seasons Olympic swimming trials on June 26 to July 3rd for the 3rd time since 2008. ChamSys lighting consoles provided control, programmed and operated by Andrew Smith.

Lighting, water fountains, pyro and flame effects combined to wow audiences using the arena’s pool surface and subsurface in the design. Lighting Director Bill Brennan utilized Luminsys 50K SoftSuns together with Robe BML’s and Points to add a maze of surface patterns patterns and still achieve required camera levels.

The show included two performances from “O” by Cirque du Soleil and special appearances by synchronized swimmers Bill May and Christina Jones, who also are artists with Cirque du Soleil. Over 200,000 people attended the events, many hoping to see Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, prior to his appearances at this summer’s 2016 Rio Games.

Lighting equipment was provided by TMS and Pulse Lighting. Lighting control was done on a Chamsys MQ100 with and Extra Wing Compact.

The pool isn’t permanent. Upwards of 200 crew built the pool inside the arena in around 2 weeks. You can find a time lapse of last year’s build here

ChamSys control consoles were once again in demand over Glastonbury festival this summer.
As with previous years ChamSys had their onsite support team in attendance throughout the festival, providing technical support, service and catching up with ChamSys users across the site.

Glastonbury again proved to be a busy year for ChamSys with numerous house consoles on stages over the site, with various companies including; Coloursound Experiment, GLS Lighting, South West Ground, Enlightened and Rockin Horse, these stages included:

ThePark Stage

BBC Introducing Stage

Bloc 9 Genosys

Bloc 9 NYC Downlow

Avalon Stage

Left Field Stage

 Along with multiple house consoles across the site, ChamSys were ever popular with touring lighting designers seeing a particular increase in the use of the ChamSys Compact consoles. 

Haydn Cruickshank MD of Coloursound Experiment UK called upon one of Coloursounds new 24 universe MQ80 Compact consoles for Friday headliners Underworld on the West Holts Stage.

ChamSys continued setting an Example across the festival site over the weekend with LD ‘Grum’ bringing his MQ100 Pro2014 console and Playback wing for Example over on the John Peel stage.

As the festival drew to a close on Sunday ChamSys saw more main stage appearances with Catfish and the Bottlemen over on The Other Stage with LD Scotty Galloway with a MQ100 Pro2014 and Playback wing. 

Closing the festival Lighting designer Martin Dudley for Newton Faulkner brought an end to the music on the Avalon stage. Lighting consoles and fixtures supplied by GLS Lighting. 

ChamSys control consoles were again chosen by High Wycombe based lighting rental company Siyan, who supplied ChamSys consoles across three music stages at Latitude festival. 

The lighting operator for the main stage was Matt West of Siyan. He specified the MagicQ MQ80 console for the main stage so that he could utilise the latest MagicQ software features, including the new ‘Focus on the line’ feature in the Plot window.

Matt comments: ‘The Focus Line feature made it easy to create band washes, centre vocal focuses and interesting ACL style looks quickly and the Visualiser proved invaluable for quickly checking programming in daylight.  I also made heavy use of the recent FX by groups feature for programming intensity shapes. The MQ80’s high res screen and powerful processor made it the ideal tool for the job.’

The Focus on the line feature builds on the existing ‘target focus’ tool available in the plot window where fixtures can quickly be focused to a point in the plot window. 
The Focus on the line option now allows selected fixtures to be spread across the line, of which line position, size and angle can easily be manipulated using the plot window.

Elsewhere on site Siyan supplied an MQ100 Pro2014 console for the BBC 6 Music stage operated by Luke Avery and another MQ80 console for Jo Zilm to operate on the Sunrise stage.

Steve Finch of Siyan who manages and designs their three stages on site comments: ‘We’ve been supplying ChamSys consoles now to Latitude festival for a number of years and have found them to be very versatile and robust, dealing with incoming LD’s wishes, the ease of layout , build quality and most of all the great back up and support from Chamsys, who have always been there for Siyan’.

Photo credits: Latitude/Festival Republic

ChamSys caught up with Lighting and Visual designer Jvan Morandi and Lighting programmer and operator Hunter Frith during the current Placebo Retrospective arena tour. 

Jvan and Hunter specified a control system of ChamSys Pro2014 consoles supplied by Coloursound Experiment for the tour. Along the tour ChamSys latest console the MagicQ MQ500 Stadium console capable of 200 universes of control direct from the console was used for its first Arena shows during the tour.

Operator Hunter comments on using the MQ500 Stadium console: ‘The extra screen for the extra real estate adds so much for workflow. It has a better feel in build quality. It still retains the MagicQ interface so there are no backwards surprises. Having the MagicQ visualiser built in is excellent. The extra features of laying your truss and fixtures out for easy selection is very quick and useful.’

Alongside ChamSys consoles, ChamSys SnakSys networking nodes comprimising of 3x R8’s provided DMX control on stage.

The full lighting and visuals kit package for the tour was supplied by West London’s Coloursound Experiment.  

Lighting designers Manuel Rodrigues & Lorenzo Fattori with the MagicQ MQ500 Stadium console for the Noisia ‘Outer Edges’ Tour @ Rampage 2017 – Antwerp (BE)

Photography by Michel van Rossum.

The Noisia ‘Outer Edges’ tour lighting design is by Manuel Rodrigues of deepred.tv

Rampage is one of the biggest Drum and Bass parties in the world and has a capacity of 18000 people. The lighting rig consisted of more than 260 Moving lights, 110 Martin Atomic Led strobes, 60 Chauvet Geyser smoke machines, a bunch of conventionals,various CO2 and pyrotechnic flame devices. About 30 DMX universes in total were used. The lighting rig was designed by Leon Driesen whose help in preparing for this show was invaluable. Manuel a long time ChamSys user usually tours with the MQ80 Compact console. For this show a larger console was required, so naturally Manuel called on ChamSys latest console the MagicQ MQ500 Stadium console. The MQ500 console was provided by Swing located in Belgium and the backup MQ100 was provided by LG licht en geluid located in Holland.

“We chose ChamSys because of its great lighting control and flexibility. Thanks to the Clone and Morph capabilities of ChamSys we are able to adapt the show from a small club to a stadium in a few hours” comments Lorenzo Fattori. One of the more unique and killer features of the ChamSys platform is the ability to copy pallets through artnet. Particularly when you haveo 260+ movers to program positions for. Manuel Rodrigues has a series of 6 generic positions on his Noisia rider which he first captures and then adapts / combines using the linked palettes feature thus making the custom Noisia, Outer Edges positions.

Thanks to the ability of copying palettes via network, Manuel and Lorenzo were able to prepare this stadium show on location in just four hours, grabbing palettes from the house console. 

« This must be a record! » comments Lorenzo who also commented “It’s our first time with MQ500 Stadium, the desk looks really robust and we loved the stadium layout, a lot of space for windows and a lot of buttons ».

Manuel Rodrigues has also been a pioneer in bridging the gap between Ableton Live and ChamSys. This research has resulted in M2Q, acronym of Music-to-Cue which acts as abridge between Ableton live and ChamSys. M2Q is a hardware solution designed together with Lorenzo Fattori an Italian lighting designer and engineer. M2Q listens to midi messages sent from Ableton Live and converts them to Chamsys Remote Control messages, providing cue triggering and playback intensity control. Noisia ‘Outer Edges’ is a completely synchronized show and M2Q was the right tool for the job. A reliable, easy and fast lighting sync solution.

Chauvet & Sons LLC has announced it completed the acquisition of ChamSys Ltd., the Southampton, UK-based designer and manufacturer of lighting controllers. ChamSys provides Chauvet a strong presence in the controller market that complements its CHAUVET Professional lighting fixtures and LED video panels.

“We are very excited about the opportunity to join forces with ChamSys,” said Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet & Sons LLC. “ChamSys has a well-deserved reputation for innovation, quality and value, the same principles that are at the heart of our own Chauvet brands. Together ChamSys and Chauvet are now in a position to better cover and serve worldwide markets.”

ChamSys will continue to operate as an independent business unit from its facility in Southampton, UK.  ChamSys founders Chris Kennedy and George McDuff will remain as Managing Directors of the company and, together with Sales Director Tony Cameron, will continue to lead its current staff of software and hardware engineers, operations, sales and support teams.

The ChamSys industry standard MagicQ series of lighting control products will continue to be sold by the company’s current network of distributors, except in the USA, where Chauvet will sell and support ChamSys products from its Sunrise, Florida headquarters.  The CHAUVET Professional sales team will assume responsibility for ChamSys sales in the USA.  They will have the full-time support of Phil Watson, former CEO of ChamSys, Inc. who has been named ChamSys USA Director.

“We’re committed to maintaining the ChamSys brand and its reputation for excellence by supporting the vision and culture of its management team,” added Albert Chauvet. “At the same time, we’re also looking forward to building ChamSys in the USA and making this outstanding line of controllers available to an even larger market.”  

ChamSys Managing Director Chris Kennedy echoed this enthusiasm. « Chauvet and ChamSys share similar cultures, a strong sense of respect for our customers, an appreciation of our staff and a powerful drive to be the best in our markets,” he said. “This partnership is clearly a logical step for both companies.  We deeply appreciate that Chauvet is committed to building on our 14-year heritage so that ChamSys becomes even stronger in the future. » 

About Chauvet

Chauvet & Sons LLC, headquartered in the USA with offices in the UK, Belgium and Mexico, is a leading global provider of professional luminaires, trusses, controllers and related equipment. The company has a diverse portfolio of brands and award winning products that meet the needs of customers across all sectors of the lighting market ranging from concert touring to festivals, theater, broadcast, corporate and architectural applications.  All brands under the Chauvet umbrella share a commitment to value, innovation and performance.  

For more information, visit www.chauvetlighting.com 

About ChamSys

Based in the UK, ChamSys Ltd. was founded in 2003 by a group of designers and product developers seeking to create a lighting console that offered greater flexibility.  The company’s MagicQ range has set an industry standard used in some of the most prominent concert, theatre, broadcast and club applications around the world.  ChamSys has recently launched its new top of the range MagicQ MQ500 Stadium console and will be showing further additions to the Stadium range at PLS Frankfurt.

FRANKFURT, GERMANY – ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium received the Prolight + Sound International Press Award (PIPA) for “Best Product of the Year” in the lighting control category.   Based on voting by over 100 journalists from specialised publications, the award was presented on April 6th at the Prolight + Sound show.

“This award is a tribute to the ChamSys design ethos,” said ChamSys Managing Director Chris Kennedy. “ChamSys has been built on giving the end-user as much freedom and flexibility as possible, because we respect the creativity that’s inherent in the design process.”

Featuring a built-in MagicVis 3D Visualiser with high quality renderings, dual multi-touch displays in full HD with adjustable viewing angles, an intensity wheel, 100mm split crossfaders for theatre control, 42 fader and executor playbacks for live busking, the 200 universe MagicQ MQ500 Stadium provides programmers with the highest level of show control while remaining intuitive and user-friendly.

“We’re very honoured that some of the best journalists in our industry have seen fit to vote for the MagicQ MQ500 Stadium,” said Chris Kennedy. “As a group, these journalists are very well informed. Not only do they devote a great deal of time to covering this industry, but in many cases, they’re also programmers and designers themselves — so they’re familiar with the issues and opportunities that surround lighting control.”

ChamSys had a successful exhibition at Prolight and Sound Frankfurt not only winning the PIPA award, but also launching and showing our new MagicQ Stadium Wing for the first time at the show.

WILLIAMSBURG, MA – S. Jeremy Peters loves piloting small FPV drones. There is, he says, “no rush quite like it.” He and his wife Alison Peters wanted to share their passion for drone flying with a wider audience. As owners of SJP Productions, a lighting and projection company experienced working festivals, they were in an excellent position to do so. Hooking up with a local brewery, they created one of the first spectator-oriented drone racing events, complete with festival-like lighting, atmospherics and live video feeds all controlled with a three universe set up built around ChamSys Software.

“Typically drone races are geared toward the racers themselves without a lot of spectators,” said Peters. “Generally, they don’t have much production. Alison and I wanted to draw on our production experience at festivals like Lockn, Peach, Bisco, Mountain Jam, Taste of Country and Gathering of the Vibes to create an event that engaged spectators, so we could draw newcomers to drone racing. When we approached Brewmasters Brewing Services, they were all over the idea. So four weeks later, we held our drone race/festival at a working brewery. It was a blast!”

Brewmasters Drone Night kicked off at 6:00pm on March 25th.  It was quickly apparent that this would be no ordinary drone race. Peters got things going in high gear with 150 lights and cryo jets at the start gate. Live video feeds from the racers’ goggles and eight camera live switchers trackside put spectators in the middle of the action. ChamSys MagicQ PC software controlled lighting and video using a PC Wing and multiple Playback Wings. Video was triggered via ArtNet using MagicQ.

A collection of moving fixtures, including CHAUVET Professional Rogue R2 Beams and R2 Spots along with live music enhanced the festival atmosphere. Pixel mapped LED bars were used to line the building’s stairwell, creating a magical aura. Human “LED hula hoopers” served as obstacles during the race. IP65 rated par-style fixtures were located throughout the course to add color.

The IP65 rating was critical, according to Peters, given the amount of liquid floating around the brewery. “There is a great deal of liquid at the venue due to the brewing and cleaning process,” he said. “Its floor slopes to a long drain, and the tanks are constantly letting off small amounts of liquid and gas. Ingredients are also being mixed which end up on the floor, and the floor has to be very regularly hosed off — especially before having visitors for the event. During the setup, the brewery also pressure washed all their tanks so they were looking spiffy for our guests, which dumped a lot of water on the ground, and on the par fixtures.”

Programming the various visuals of this multi-faceted event was relatively simple, thanks to MagicQ’s user-friendly features. “In general, programming on MagicQ is a breeze,” said Peters.  “Once you know how to program, you can do anything. Pixel mapping on MagicQ is very straightforward, and we use this feature a lot. On this particular show, the LED bars are 36 channels each. We were able to create the pixel mapping effects for them in under a minute.”

“Also, ChamSys pairs very easily with video, which was obviously very important in this project,” continued Peters. “ChamSys works with our video software by treating MagicQ as an intelligent DMX MIDI-style controller, patching faders to opacity control on video layers for camera feeds, so they could easily be controlled from a single interface.”

MagicQ allowed Peters to achieve tight control over his lighting rig. This was especially important given the nature of this event. “Balancing the crazy lighting we had with the racers’ ability to see in FPV, which is very sensitive to light changes, was a big challenge,” said Peters. “The cameras for FPV flying don’t white balance very well, so it’s difficult for them to respond quickly to bright to dark transitions. This can make it hard at least momentarily for the racers to navigate. We minimized this as much as possible in programming scenes to help the racers overcome this challenge.”

In addition to the experienced racers who navigated this course with its varied lighting, Brewmasters Drone Night offered novices the chance to experience drone piloting for the first time. “Newcomers loved the experience,” said Peters. “I’m sure we introduced a lot of people to the hobby. We plan to put on more events like this, and are currently working out the details for us to do smaller drone events with the Boys and Girls Club as well as a local school, focusing on technology and skill training. Who knows, maybe one day drone racing will be the next NASCAR!”

ATLANTA, GA – Fans of Mastodon weren’t surprised when three of the band’s members appeared in an episode of Game of Thrones. Like the HBO hit, the music of  this iconic group reveals itself in lavishly detailed layers of fantasy that fire the imagination and leave easy categorizations smoldering by the wayside. The complex Mastodon experience is on full display in the quartet’s 30-city North American “Emperor of Sand” tour, not just in the epochal music, but also in the highly evocative light and video show that Michael Howe created and controls with the new ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium and Magic HD media server.

The Emperor of Sand album takes listeners on a cosmic odyssey through time as it follows a man sentenced to death in a majestic but cruel desert. Howe’s design evokes rich imagery that reflects this musical narrative with seven 2’ wide by 14’ tall video tower monoliths, a collection of moving fixtures and pixel mapped battens. Adding to the visual impact of the show are custom content created expressly for the tour by the monomial artist Skinner, and animation/effects from the firm Hey Beautiful Jerk.

“My main goal is to have big looks build during the show along with the band’s set list,” said Howe. “I want the audience to have a visual experience that complements the audio experience of a live Mastodon show. The main challenge on this tour is finding the balance between lighting and video and putting it all together so the band can be seen. It’s easy to have interesting video in every song, but then I believe the video content loses its value.”

A number of features in the new ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium helped Howe, who is running the boards on the tour, achieve this delicate balance. “Having the MagicVis 3D visualizer built into this console definitely made it easier for me to start designing, programming and cueing the show,” he said. “The new plot view has also helped by allowing me to select lights visually rather than numerically. This has not only saved time, it has also greatly aided me in making more interesting looking effects. Also, I have to say that the console’s two touchscreens have helped speed up the cueing and cue editing process for me. Early in the tour, it became apparent to me that I was really going to love this console, because it frees me from a lot of concerns so I can focus on the creative process.”

The centerpiece of the “Emperor of Sand” light/video show that Howe is controlling with his ChamSys products is the mass of video towers. He arranges these seven monoliths in a semi-circle around the band and their backline.  The towers are lined with 18 moving beams. An additional six truss-mounted collimated beam fixtures side light the band. Providing an array of changing and captivating visual elements are 12 LED batten fixtures positioned on the upstage deck that are pixel mapped with ChamSys software. All lighting and video gear on the tour was supplied by Performance Lighting Inc. and Windy City Music, both out of Chicago.

“Everything about this tour, including my rental houses, has been great for me,” said Howe, who’s been designing for Mastodon since 2009. “The band and I fit together very well, and I really love the creative challenge of working on something as complex as the ‘Emperor of Sand’ tour. The ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium is making it easy for me to run the show and focus on those creative elements.”

Lighting designer Thomas ‘Church’ Christmann once again called on the reliability and power of ChamSys lighting consoles for KoRn’s 2017 world tour. The tour also includes their festival shows over the summer. Church comments « I was first introduced to ChamSys by long time ChamSys operator Gunnar Loose. I now do a lot shows for his artists and have quickly become a big fan of the ChamSys way of doing things. »

Church specified the MQ100 Pro2014 series consoles for the tour along with Playback and Extra wings, particularly utilising the onboard pixel mapping capabilities of the MagicQ system.

The standard floor package on the tour consists of no less than 20 of Ayrton’s Magic Panel R fixtures, which when all run in the full pixel would take up 64 universes alone. Church comments on the pixel mapper « I’m using all the options I can imagine – from big white light looks to ting dots moving around and movement effects ». 

When asked about the MagicQ system to use Church commented « I like the easy & user friendly handling of the desk &  the community around chamsys. Price & performance balance are the best »

Credits: 

Lighting Design and Operator: Thomas ‘Church’ Christmann

US Lights: Morpheus Lights

UK Lights: Neg Earth

EU: Black Box Germany

INDIO, CA – Empire of the Sun catapulted to international stardom in 2008 with their multi-platinum hit “Walking on a Dream.” It was a very fitting title, for the song and the band. Blending an ethereal sound with stage visuals that resemble something out of a fantasy game, the Australian duo make it easy for audiences to take a temporary leave from reality and enter an uplifting world of imagination.

This transcendental quality was on full display April 14, when Empire of the Sun appeared on the Coachella Festival’s Sahara Stage. Dressed in flowing, futuristic silky black outfits and backed by robot dancers, the duo performed on a stage adorned with glowing pyramids and a six-pronged silver statue cradling a primordial white orb. Illuminating the fantastical scene with brilliant white light and vivid colors was a lightshow that Dave Taylor programmed and controlled with the ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium.

Taylor used over 1,200 different light fixtures and 3,000 channels of LED tape in his 86-active-universe show. In addition to his ChamSys console, he relied on a SnakeSys R8 eight-universe Ethernet to DMX converter, a SnakeSys R4 multi-purpose network distribution node, and two SnakeSys B4 four-universe DMX to Ethernet converters to run his massive rig.

“There was no shortage of lighting on this one,” said Taylor. “Empire of the Sun is always pushing the boundaries, not just musically but visually. They’re constantly searching for images that move people in new ways. Our show continues to build and, as a designer, I’m constantly evolving with it. This is the first time I used the MagicQ MQ500 Stadium, since it’s new. This is really the next step in controllers for me, kind of a natural progression. It enabled me to create the ideal workspace for myself to program and control the show.”

The speed and flexibility of the ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium made it easier for Taylor to preprogram the intricately detailed show. “Doing your homework is 90 percent of the gig when you have a show like this,” he said. “The ChamSys platform makes this task simpler with the excellent speed that it has when patching and manipulating fixtures. When you pair the console’s internal morphing and cloning capabilities with features like multi-patch, quick offset options and powerful pixel mappers, you find it quick and easy to build a solid foundation that can be adapted to different venues.”

This preprogramming notwithstanding, there were also quite a few last-minute adjustments that had to be made to the Empire of the Sun show for Coachella, because of the band’s ceaseless quest to incorporate new ideas. “We all constantly push the envelope, so there were a number of new elements added in the lead up to this show,” said Taylor. “In fact, we were still building LED systems into the set pieces in the days just before Coachella. As is often the case, time is in short supply when the show approaches, so bringing it all to life at the eleventh hour was a challenge.”

The user-friendly features of the ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium made it easier for Taylor to meet this challenge. “This is a very efficient console,” he said. “I’m extremely impressed with the advanced power of the onboard processing. We were able to output a large number of universes directly from the console without the need for any external processing nodes.”

Video played a key role in Taylor’s design. He ran video content out of his rig on stage. “This method of running video content is a great way to approach our setup for Empire of the Sun, because the time available to us out the front is often very limited and changeovers can be very tight,” he said.

Although the video content for the show was all time coded, Taylor ran his ChamSys console live during Coachella. “I have a great deal of fun punting,” he said. “Empire of the Sun is constantly making changes to visual elements leading up to the show, so there are still a number of live modifications throughout the performance that must be made to account for these new twists. This is great, though, because as a lighting designer you want to be part of the live performance.”

AIKEN, SC – It’s 2,762 miles from Portland, Oregon to the gently rolling hills of western South Carolina’s Piedmont region. This distance was no obstacle for a few hardy fans of the popular band Fruition. They made the long journey from the Pacific Northwest to watch their local favorites perform at the Aiken Bluegrass Festival this May. Such is the passion that one of America’s oldest forms of music inspires.

This fervor, along with some rapid-fire fiddle playing and banjo picking, was on full display at the two day festival, as was a lively and engaging light show that featured Rogue moving lights from CHAUVET Professional.

John Berret, who co-owns Quest Sound Productions with partner Rob Boggs, designed the Aikens Bluegrass rig and ran it with a ChamSys MagicQ PC Wing. Anchoring his rig were eight Rogue R1 Beams and eight Rogue R2 Spots. Also included were 14 COLORado 1-Tri Tour washes, four COLORado 3p IP blinders and six ellipsoidals. Using this collection of lights, he severed up a nonstop variety of intensely colored looks for a lineup of artists that included the chart-topping Infamous String Dusters, Billy Strings and The Herman Clan in addition to Fruition and a host of other stars.

“The festival is a big deal for people in this area and bluegrass fans in general,” said Berret who worked the event with his assistant Ben Macdonald. “People come here for a good time and we want the lighting to support that feeling with a lot of brightness, movement, colors and aerial effects. We have a very realistic budget though, so I look for fixtures that can give us a lot of different looks and boldness. I need to do more without a gigantic rig.”

Among the things that allowed Berret to achieve these outsized looks are the five and eight facet independently controlled prisms in the Rogue R1 Beams. He relied on this feature to create split beam effects throughout the festival. “The R1 prisms really do it for me,” he said. “They’re the bee’s knees. They make it seem like a whole lot is going on and it’s all from one light. They punch through haze with no problem. I selected the COLORados for a similar reason: they give me versatility as stage washes, color effects and strobe effects. I can do a lot of mood changes with them.”

Berret flew his R2 Spots on upstage truss, spacing them evenly at a 20 foot trim height across the span of the stage roof. The R1 Beams were ground stacked at different heights on six foot truss and on side stage cases. Both moving fixtures were linked on single feeds of DMX that came from an opti-splitter.

The Rogue R2 Spots were relied on to reinforce the strong connection between the bluegrass artists and their loyal fans. “I really like flying these spots because I can go out into the audience with them without hurting eyes,” he said. “I just dim them down and use soft colors, so I get the connection without overwhelming the crowd or taking away from the artists’ performance.”

Berret also used his moving spots to create added texture on stage. “The rich colors and rotating gobos are a great combination,” he said. “At different times I hit band members with some intricate gobo patterns, which really made them look like they were connected to the lightshow. I got some really cool looks when I had the tribal gobo and the spot/splotches from the second gobo wheel going on at the same time. I did this while doing a focus chase effect. It made the stage seem like it was bending.”

Aerial lighting was a big part of the immersive mood Berret created.  He used the spots to paint the air just above the stage with color, then went above this display with powerful beams. “The light from the R1 Beams is shockingly bright and it seems to go on forever up in the night air,” he said. “I like to blend the colors of the spots coming down on the band with those of the beams shooting up through the spots. The prisms on the R1 Beams gave me a lot of light movement, and they covered a huge amount of air with color.”

Berret deployed his COLORado fixtures for mood-setting stage washing and audience lighting. He divided his 14 COLORado 1-Tri Tours evenly between downstage and upstage truss and linked them via a single DMX line off the splitter and a single power line ran to the units.

Of course, in the end the Aiken Bluegrass Festival was all about the music. All of the looks from Berret’s lightshow were done with the intent of supporting, not distracting, from the artists on stage. “The challenging and most rewarding part of what you do as a designer is achieving a balance between creating something powerful and not drawing attention away from the performers,” he said. “Christian Schaumann, the founder of this festival brings in some great artists. I tried to match their amazing music, and keep my looks as tight as I could without colors resembling a circus tent and light beams going in weird places.”

At one point during the festival though, things did wind up in “weird places” as a severe storm blew away the protective covering over the fixtures, forcing Berret to reduce the number of Rogue R2 Spots in his rig to six. Still, the lights and the bluegrass artists continued to perform without flinching. Like the Fruition fans who drove across the country to attend this popular festival, they were not to be deterred.

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – On Sunday October 29, 1994, Pink Floyd performed the final show of their “Division Bell Tour” at Earl’s Court in London. It was the last time they would tour together. Some of the band’s members have since passed away. Earl’s Court was demolished. But, this legendary band’s groundbreaking stage shows continue to shine in all their splendor every time Australian Pink Floyd performs. 

Described by The Times of London as “the gold standard” in tribute bands, Australian Pink Floyd has appeared before over four million fans in 35 countries. Going beyond their spot-on renditions of classics like “Another Brick in the Wall” and “Money,” the band captivates fans by recreating Pink Floyd’s description-defying stage shows. This immersive multi-sensory experience is very much on display in Australian Pink Floyd’s current USA tour, thanks in no small part to a nine universe lightshow that Tom Mumby designed and controls with the ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium console.

Mumby, owner of Vivid Lighting Design, is using over 150 fixtures in the 2-hour-and-30-minute (with a 20-minute intermission) show. A 5 meter circle that holds 26 moving washes and frames a video wall serves as the centerpiece of his design. His main rig is also made up of six vertical ladders, hung at staggered heights from a 50’ truss.  Complementing the lights on the ladder trussing is a collection of 26 washes, strobes and blinders that runs along the downstage edge. An additional eight washes are used as sidelights.  

Rounding out the design is a 40’ front truss with spot fixtures that are used for key lighting and washes that are used to light signature Pink Floyd inflatables. (The band uses a Teacher inflatable for “Another Brick in the Wall Part 2,” Skippy the Kangaroo for “One Of These Days,” and The Pig for “Run Like Hell.”)

“The show aims to be a true likeness to Pink Floyd, not just in terms of the music, but also in production value,” said Mumby. “A lot of time and thought is put into how best to portray the show in a unique way, while trying to stay true to what it was in days gone by.”

Mumby credits his ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium with helping him realize this creative goal. Aside from saving him time when setting up his show and making changes to it, the new console has opened more creative options for him, thanks to its flexibility.

‘Taking the MQ500 out on this tour has been great for a number of reasons,” he said. “The higher resolution screens mean I can keep all of my group, position, beam and color palettes on one screen instead of having to change view for every attribute. Having fewer buttons to push is always a plus. Combine this with the 4×3 execute buttons and the extra 5 playback faders, and you have a really quick and efficient console to use. I find myself recording macros such as SHIFT-Record or SHIFT-Include to the execute buttons, along with the usual strobe and mole bumps.”

The flexibility of the ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium has made it easier for Mumby to customize his looks for the Australian Pink Floyd tour. “I think what is so great about the whole system is how it really lets you do things your way,” he said. “Everything is changeable to suit your own style. I also like being able to create any effect from any palette and use it at a later date.”

Mumby has found his console’s Patch offset feature invaluable on the Australian Pink Floyd tour, as it saves him time updating positions each day. “I simply point all my spots or washes at the downstage edge, hit update and everything is done with minimal tweaking,” he explained. “This feature has been especially valuable at our festival gigs, when time is nearly always tight.”

Looking ahead, Mumby is eager to try the split/fan timing feature in his new ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium. “This is something I have started to play with and sneak into the show,” he said. “With very little effort, I can create some nice one shot scrolling fades or color changes across the whole rig.  Working for a band that celebrates Pink Floyd, this kind of free-flowing creativity is important to me.”