With the X-Y head on, the units function as scanners which make broad, sweeping movements across the dance floor. With the head off, the motion stops and the unit creates colour-changing beams. As a colour changer, each effect can be used with one of 14 gobo patterns or with the 'spot' gobo to produce 11 different colored spotlights (plus white) with no pattern.
With their unique ability to transform from a scanner into a colour changer, the highly affordable Roller Tron and Scan Tron fill a huge need in today's lighting effects market, say Amercian DJ. "Many clubs now have both live entertainment nights and regular house dance nights with a DJ," observed Scott Davies, general manager of the American DJ Group of Cos.
"During the dance nights, they want wilder effects, so a scanner would be the proper choice. But for a live band, where they don't want the lighting effects to detract from the performers, a color changer would be subtler and therefore more appropriate. Either way, DJs and club owners can rest assured that the Roller Tron and Scan Tron will get the job done. The versatility of these effects also gives them incredible value."
The main difference between the Roller Tron and the Scan Tron lies in the number of beams each is capable of creating. The Roller Tron is a barrel mirror scanner with a head that produces multiple beams that move and scan. The Scan Tron head, on the other hand, produces a single scanning beam.
The Roller Tron and Scan Tron are intelligent effects that can be used with a DMX controller. Both also offer the option of being run in sound-activation mode, with a convenient sensitivity knob that controls the degree to which each effect responds to the music. Best of all is their capacity for expansion into entire lighting systems, as multiple effects can be linked master-slave via XLR cable to run in sync.
(Lee Baldock)
