Martin Professional had, as usual, plenty of products to show. The Maxedia digital media composer is the company's entry in the imaging sweepstakes. The units's integrated DMX control provides full control of both lighting and video elements. Also on the control side, the Maxxyz Playback Wing made its US debut. Among the company's new networking products, the Ether2DMX allows users to increase the number of Maxxyz DMX universes and/or easily place DMX universes remotely on any TCP/IP Ethernet network, while the Ethernet Switch expands the networking and operable distance parameters of the Maxxyz console. In addition, Martin's ShowDesigner previsualization program now comes in Gold and Silver versions: the former is the full program while the latter is a streamlined edition. A number of club units were on show, including the Wizard Extreme and Ego X4 effects units and the SCX500 scanner. There were four new entries in the Mania line of club units: the Mania EF2 moonflower effect, the EF3 mid-air effect, the DC3 deco effect, and the PR1 promotional projector. Also on hand was the Magnum 1500 fogger and the MCSwitch, a plug-and-play unit that lets you power up and down six fixtures such as lights, fog machines or mirrorballs, with the option of daisy-chaining up to 24 units through four power boxes.

Joe Zamore, application and integration specialist for Martin Architectural, demonstrated the fabulous Lightpipe, a wonderfully simple concept which combines holographic film and a polycarbonate tube to create a light carrier that can go to considerable lengths before light output really starts to tail off. Any light source can be used, from fibre optic to LED and the pipe seems to pick up the light and carry it to the top, whilst maintaining incredible brightness.


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