Reke 500 and Crowd Scanning

Solutech said:

None of my shows uses dedicated strobes and any strobe effect on other lighting is kept to a slow speed . I use a hazer rather than a traditional fogger although the venues that let you use either are getting fewer .

I'm surprised you say its a 10k scanner as its sold as a 20k unit . Might have to check the galvos just to be sure .

Click to expand...

All the info I've heard about the REKE said they were 10K, or 12K, can't remember, but definitely not 20. Then again, there might be a few models, I haven't looked into them much.

I bought it used from another dj and he bought it direct from Reke who sell it as 20k . I bought it mainly to have a play with Ilda as previous dmx attempts with lasers have been far from stunning . Its also a pretty cool effect but I am a sucker for pretty lights . The guy I got it from has an ishow control which after I had a play with it was pretty apparent to me is a cheap bit of junk . I'm leaning towards the arduino based control as a starter purely because its hard to justify the price of a pangolin or similar for what could be a tinker toy .

Lasers fascinate me always have done so anything I can do to make it better cant be a bad thing .

Building my own would be a lot of fun but I fear the wife would disown me .

I'd probably look at something more of a pre-made DAC than a DIY Arduino one, as you'll find writing the software by far the most complex and time consuming part of such a project.

Luckily you do have a few options on the cheap-ish side, such as the RIYA DAC's, etherdream etc.

If your budget will stretch, I would highly recommend the FB3 and QuickShow combo for what you're doing. I believe the etherdream and LSX might come in a little cheaper, but QuickShow is really designed to be well, quick and easy, heck it can control itself if you want, whereas LSX is a bit more advanced.

The good thing abut DAC's is they do not depreciate in price very much at all, as at least 85% of their price is actually in the software, and it's a very niche market. So even if you bought a FB3 and decided a year later your lasers are crap/aren't your thing, you should still be able to get almost retail price for it again.

Building yourself is very satisfying, but indeed it chews through money very quickly to do it right. I'm in around $3.5K to my projector, and it's only 1.5W or so if the green behaves.

Its the Open Laser Show system I'm looking at and will probably hook it upto ********* .

And ouch 3.5k the wife would kill me then disown me lol

Sp@ghetti is good, but it's more of a timeline based show program, instead of more of a live cue type program, which would probably suit you better. There is a daughter program named "Wet Noodles", but last I looked it was pretty undeveloped.

What I'm planning on doing is providing a personalised greeting at events and maybe a show set to a favorite track . This would all be arranged and done pre event as when Im running a show I have enough to do with the music without the need to be monkeying around with other things . I'm pretty happy with the built in show for the rest of the time . Of course once I start fiddling all bets are off lol .

QS FB3-- Like many at first thought that due to its cost I would not want it. But as Dan points out a FB3 gets snagged quick when someone sells a 'used' one-and they normally want ~90% of what they paid.. while w/ Y db25 splitters you can run as many as 6 PJ from a single PC/FB3 they all need to be pretty much the same--ie ttl or analog modulation and lasers(single/two color or RGB/RGV) IIRC same for the scanners.
Thus once a operator starts to add more to his show the need for another FB3 or more happens.
Using Quick Text you can type anything your want, choice of colors and fonts- it takes about the same time to do this as typing a post on this forum or faster. You can save that text, do more and go back to use it over and over.

While you may think $600 for QS FB3 is overpriced-know this- similiar soft USED to cost much more and did less-Pangolin improves the SW and its always free to use.
They also give you credit for what Pangolin you own when you want to go with thier more expensive SW. Pangolin support is awesome. They have a forum and chat-tons of info on-line plus FAQ and more... My I-Show friend owner said after seeing the free complete lasersongs at the Pangolin Show portal--' just having accesss to all that made QS worth the price'

BTW go to the Pangolin site to view the video lessons and check out all they offer.
One very cool SW for clubs allows patrons the ability to post laser messages in the club from their cell phones...instantly.

hak

Hmm some of the places I work letting a customer text stuff to a laser wouldnt end well lol . Friend of mine tried a text to screen program a while back to throw up messages on a venues tv's . Had to unplug it as it got used to post suggestive remarks about one of the barmaids . She really wasnt happy lol .

As for an fb3 like I say at the moment its still in the realm of tinker toy territory . As the plan is to use it as a value added extra the thing has to pay for itself so like any bit of kit I buy it needs a thorough evaluation first .

Like a lot of folks I have this terrible thing called a wife and although its my business anything kit related goes though her . Last time I went out and bought an expensive new light my life was made hell for weeks lol . She went a bit mental when she found out Id bought the Reke lol

Another option is to make a soundcard DAC and use that. They actually work pretty decent and there is software support from LFI, Sp@ghetti, and LSX.

For that you'll need a 5.1 or 7.1 sound card to reproduce each chanel for color and X /Y (like for home theater)