sburke1 wrote:I just went to guitar center and was recomended to get 1 color pallete and 2 technostrobes, I could be confused about the names , but I think they were DJ scan 250, and LEDXscan, i forget which was which. . Any thoughts? Thanks alot.
Well, the Colorpalette and Technostrobe are very similar fixed lights, and the DJ Scan 250 and LED X-Scan are moving lights. Before talking to sales staff about specific lights, have a really good think about what TYPE of lighting you want. The basic categories available are:
1) Static lighting, such as
LED parcans and
panels fire out a variety of colours, but they don't move. When controlled from DMX, you can create multi coloured chases, static colour scenes, and strobe effects that are beatmatched to your music.
2) Movers, such as
scanners and
moving heads. These fire a single beam with a specific shaper (gobo) and colour, and they move about. One mover looks daft, you generally need 2 or 4 to create a show. They work out more expensive than static lighting, but when programmed from DMX, can create impressive dynamic looks. I suspect these are outside of your $1000 budget.
3) Special FX, such as
moonflowers. These "spin & puke" lights are popular for club installs & mobile DJs, not used so much for band lighting. Although a slowly rotating moonflower (like the centre light in
this video) fired upwards from the floor through some haze does look very cool, if used sparingly.
I've used Chauvet products as examples here, other popular manufacturers you might consider are American DJ & Irradiant. As I'm not based in the US, I can't give you specific advice on models available to you. I highly recommend you head over to the Harmony Central forum, and ask those guys for advice on specific lights - they are a friendly bunch, and will be happy to help you design a rig that meets your needs.
Steven's guide (link in my previous post) has a more in-depth description of the types of lights available. I know there's a LOT of information to digest here, and it's always tempting to just go to your local store and buy whatever the salesperson recommends. But you might end up wasting your money on something that really doesn't suit your needs.
(Obviously, there are also DMX lasers, but I can't offer any advice there as lasers are a specialist topic, and from what I understand are a legal and health & safety minefield, especially in the US)
Another couple of important questions to answer before you buy anything. Will you need a smoke/haze machine? Without haze, you won't see beams in the air, and most scanners, moving head & fx lights really need haze to look good.
Finally, do you want to go with LED technology? Most bands & DJs are buying exclusively LED equipment these days. Traditional halogen lights are hot, need lots of power to run, and need lamps replacing regularly. LED lights are far more convenient to own & run. The downside is that dollar for dollar, LED lights (at this point in time) are not as bright as traditional lamped lights.
Dave.
