Page 14 - Zone Magazine Issue 015

So, it´s April again and once more the gates of the international Music fair and Pro Light + Sound in Frankfurt open it's gates. Once again, like last year, the Pro Light & Sound starts on April 4th, followed one day later by Musikmesse. Together they form the biggest trade fair in entertainment busines all over Europe.
I don´t know what I expected at the beginning, but after the first day and getting a little overview, I was kind of disappointed a little bit. A lot of the major companies were not present this time though the fair seemed to be the same size as last year or even a little bit bigger. Nothing really new was presented and the one real highlight was also missing. Well, the wheel can only be invented once...
So on the first day we went to get a little overview. Some of the guys I met last year were there again, doing just the same as last year with nearly the same products. Some of the companies just brought out existing products in a different color and called it a new one. I was wondering what I should take as focus this time and I have to admit that I had no idea this time what to write about, because of the lack of innovations. DJ equipment was only set up on a few tables, placed at the booth of BvD (Berufsverband Disc Jockey) and as part of the few major companies that were randomly distributed all over the fair grounds and halls. So the walking was way more than last year if you wanted to get an overview about the actual equipment for DJ's. Luckily some of the hotspots were still the same so I've had some fixed points to visit. Laserworld had a cocktail bar like last year, BvD had the DJ Con again and even the wardrobe woman and the girls at press center were still there. Just as I thought that I was sitting in a time machine that transported me to the last year I noticed something
really new. “Lights and Multimedia”, it said on a sign on hall 4.0. Seemed to be a little interesting even though I had no idea what to find there.
Entering the hall the first thing I saw was a huge screen with an ultra realistic projection on it. And when I say huge I really mean huge. It was about 15m wide and 8m high by ROE. The picture looked amazingly real, no visible dots, bright colors. A small sign in the corner stated the resolution of 8k and I wondered that in this size even 8k had to have visible dots. So, I decided to talk to the guys at this booth about it. They told me that the 8k was for every single module of the screen. He just pointed to the back side of it and I saw that the whole device was made of many, many single modules, every single one with the size of a small suitcase. I learned that with this modular system nearly every size you can imagine can be created with nearly no limit. I caught myself thinking, that this would be a nice TV set for home, but that would leave the problem, that you have to place it first and then build the house around it. Or maybe build the house of those modules completely. I had no idea what I was about to see at the other booths in that hall.
Creativity has no borders and some of the companies started to get creative with Multimedia LED Screens, putting them into different shapes and constructions I never thought were possible. From flat to curved into every direction, every shape from square to triangle and even round make them an outstanding tool for creative minds. If you can afford it, you can build the whole interior of a club with it. Walls, floor, ceiling and even the bar and furniture can be made of those modules. That opens completely new dimensions of visual arts. Though there are a lot of companies, they have found a way to be compatible. Nearly all of them support Artnet or Madrix as standards.
So, if you can handle Madrix, you can handle all of those screen systems, no matter how big or small they are.
Just when I thought it could not get any better I noticed one of the smaller booths, where they built a dancefloor with LED Screen Modules. But those were different. Though the resolution was not as high as 8k this one was very interesting because the modules were combined with sensors that reacted to touch signals that made it a complete floor interactive. In this case every touch on the floor created some kind of wave optics like raindrops in a pond. I think if you put such a floor into a club this will motivate the people to dance for sure.
As I already said, creativity has no borders. All those screens are suitable for indoor and outdoor use and can be used as single or in combination with others. That makes it interesting for all kind of events from smaller parties to stadium concerts. Every shape of object could be build with it so, you can create a center stage effect, a table, a bar or anything you can imagine. Even movable fixtures are no problem. Kinetic Lights and some other companies have shown such a movable devices in stage samples.
Our next stop was in hall 3.0 where they gathered a lot of companies of stage building supplies. To be honest, I did'nt expect anything really new there and this was exactly what I got. Truss in every shape imaginable sometimes with different connectors but all in all the same as always. The other companies there, most of them from stage lightning sector, all had nearly the same things presented as before. LED Moving heads, Matrix effects and control units. Some build a little bit more light weight, some with a little bit more light output but all not really different as known products and again, no real highlights this time.
14 ZONE-MAGAZINE.COM
Musikmesse and PRO Light + Sound [frankfurt - germany]
" Creativity has no borders, and some of the companies started to get creative with Multimedia LED Screens, putting them into different shapes and constructions I never thought were possible. "