Austrian Truss Constructions (ATC) presented what looks to be an excellent modular outdoor stage roof system. Based on a regular 3D truss frame, the roof forms a grid using ladder trusses between with four-way steel node connectors. Although ATC doesn’t have official rating figures, it is confident the system can support 1000kg per node. The nice touch of this system is utility: the main components can be reconfigured with the addition of screw jack feet on the nodes and decking sections above to form a staging system.
AVW Controls has been enjoying great success with its motion control system, Impressario, which won the Product of the Year award in the engineering category at this year’s ABTT Show. Building on this success, the company launched the Impressario Advance! at PLASA, which adds to the functionality of the original. It will feature for the first time on the new Madness musical - Our House.
On show on the stand of Bytecraft Automation was the latest member of the Bytecraft Bytesize family of dimmers, the "pioneering" Bytesize VST (Variable Sinewave Technology) dimmers. The company has produced a highly informative paper which introduces the key concepts behind sine wave dimming and makes for very interesting reading.
New from ChainMaster is the Multi-BUS control board which caters for seven Bus systems, including DMX. Amongst other critical features it offers an onboard gateway function from Bus to Bus. Two years in development, the prototype was at PLASA with the finished product due in January. Managing director Frank-Rainer Hartung described it "as an important new product for the company."
Columbus McKinnon’s director of sales and marketing, Wally Blount, reported very positive interest in the company’s new ProCommander, a computer-controlled variable speed motor hoist controller. The ProCommander features the same high quality features that the company’s customers have come to depend upon.
On show from Doughty Engineering were two new products - the Six Track Curtain Track and Lighting Hoist. The Six Track is a modular system supplied in 1, 2 and 3 metre standard sections. Launched in March, the company has sold half a million pounds worth of Six Track to date. The range of new Lighting Hoists provides a versatile and economical suspension system for a variety of applications.
Gala provides understage lift systems and overstage prop handling machinery to theatres, auditoriums, concert halls and venues worldwide. Hubert Dubeau, the internal sales co-ordinator for the Canadian company, sees PLASA as an opportunity to "meet with both new customers and established clients." The company’s lifting products were understandably attracting quite a bit of interest.
James Thomas has made a dramatic diversion from its traditional trussing products with the launch of its new Pixel Range. Thomas has always manufactured lamp housings for Pars, 8 Lites and the like, so the move to fitting these housings with colour-mixing RGB LED technology is a natural progression. The Pixel Par 660 has an 80W power consumption, but with a claimed light output equivalent of a comparable 650W incandescent source. With higher brightness LEDs appearing regularly, Thomas is offering retro-fit upgrades to all its LED fixtures. Also shown, a Pixelpar 87 (a Par 36 lantern) and Pixeline 1044 batten (a ‘Howie Batten’) the numerals on these product names indica
