Chauvet DJ Has Revolutionized Uplighting
Thanks to the continued development of the CHAUVET DJ Freedom Series, DJs like me can enjoy all of the good things about uplighting without being burdened by cabling issues. CHAUVET DJ introduced the Freedom Series about two years ago; and since then the fixtures in this line have kept getting more feature rich, more powerful and simply more awesome. As if that weren't enough; now with the introduction of the new FlareCON Air, we can control our Freedom Series fixtures (or any D-Fi fixture) directly from our smartphone or tablet using the FlareCON app. Talk about freedom!
As a mobile entertainer, I've always loved the way selling uplighting boosts my bottom line, but on the other side of the coin I've never been thrilled about adding cables for 15 or 20 lights to my load out every gig. Not only did I not like lugging around the extra weight, I always had to worry about an impatient (or downright nasty) venue manager waiting to go home at the end of the night staring daggers at me while I desperately hurried to wrap all that cable during load out. So while uplighting was great, cabling took some of the fun out of it-until now!
Before I get into the details of FlareCON Air, let me back up, and tell you about three of the new Freedom Series fixtures that I really like.
- Freedom Par Quad 4 -- a 20 watt RGBA LED color mixing fixture. Take a look at this fixture in action, and you'll know why I'm so impressed with the way the addition of amber brings extra richness and variety to its colors.
- Freedom Par Hex 4 -- a power-packed 24-watt RGBAW+UV color mixing fixture. I love the extra vibrancy that the addition of UV brings to the colors produced by this fixture and am sure you will too.
- Freedom Par Tri-6 - a powerful and bright fixture with 18 watts of RGB color mixing. If you're looking for a quick, easy and affordable way to transform any event with uplighting, this fixture is it!
These new lights are smaller in size than the previous incarnation of Freedoms but they don't skimp on power. Turn them on and you will have instant impact. Meanwhile, their smaller size allows them to fit perfectly in box trussing, making truss warming a breeze, something that was always a hassle with larger fixtures. Of course, like their predecessors, these new products also have built in D-Fi technology offering a 100% wireless lighting solution. Navigating the menu on these new Freedoms has been streamlined too so programming is easy.
The ultimate kicker though is that you can now operate these fixtures and any other D-Fi fixtures from your smartphone or tablet thanks to the new FlareCON Air system. CHAUVET DJ introduced the FlareCON Air and a companion FlareCON app to put total control of your lights in the palm of your hand. FlareCON Air is a hardware interface whose built-in Wi-Fi transmitter connects with cell phones and tablets running the FREE FlareCON app, which is available for both Android and iOS in both phone and tablet versions. This allows you to control connected lighting fixtures. The FlareCON Air can also connect directly to a DMX controller to send wireless signals out to an unlimited number of D-Fi lights or receivers. As noted, this miracle works with all CHAUVET DJ Freedom series fixtures as well as all D-Fi products for versatile control over any rig.
The new Freedom and FlareCON technology from CHAUVET DJ has also changed the way I sell uplighting. I ask my clients to bring swatches or samples of their bridal party colors with them to our meetings. Matching them is so easy with a single Freedom fixture and the FlareCON Air. I can color mix on the fly right there in the meeting to match their colors and show them what that color would like on the walls of their event. Best of all, though, now I can be packed up and out the door after an event before any toe-tapping from an annoyed catering manager even starts.
