LED DJ Lighting: what's wrong with it and who's shakings things up?

LED DJ lighting has a ton of perks; extremely long life, low power consumption, no cool-down time, low heat, and they can be left on for hours and hours with no rest! As great as all of these perks are these lights lack one important factor THEY DON'T LOOK NEARLY AS GOOD AS HALOGEN LIGHTING! ... until now.

It's mid-June and the 2008 International DJ Expo is fast approaching, scheduled for August 11th-14th. Last year I discussed some new products that I was impressed by and a few products that let me down at the 2007 expo. Among those products were Chauvet's and American DJ's attempt at creating appealing DJ lighting with LEDs as a light source. The new LED products Chauvet and American DJ were introducing left me feeling happy that they were experimenting with the new technology, but also left me wanting more. More research, more development, and an overall better product.

This year will be different. Chauvet hasn't done much since the expo in 2007, releasing nothing new since the Vue LED series pictured to the right. The Vue series features some of the worst DJ lighting fixtures I've ever experienced. They are bulky, awkward, and produce a dim and unimpressive light show. American DJ, while their products weren't much better than Chauvet's in 07, is introducing something completely new and revolutionary in July 2008.

American DJ's X-Move. The X-Move's LED Hi-Tech Moving Head features a 20-Watt white LED source for a hard edge beam that will project gobos and solid colors. There is nothing else like it on the market and no company is using 20-watt LEDs for this application. Take a look at the video below to see the X-Move in action.



The biggest problem I previously had with LED lighting fixtures was the lack of tight, rich beams of color which until now could only be produced by a halogen bulb. The X-Move is changing all of that. The output of this unit is the closest LED technology has come to reproducing the beloved halogen lighting effect with a fraction of the power draw (44W) and without the hassle of replacing light bulbs. The X-Move LED is light weight and small in size making it extremely mobile and can be applied to nearly any size DJ setup.

As Scott Davies, General Manager of world renowned American DJ in Los Angeles, California said during an interview in September 2007:

Just like computer chips -they will get brighter, smaller and more affordable as volumes increase and more solutions become available on how to use LED's. Already there is talk about OLED (Organic LED) and other high efficiency luminance products...the future is bright and we are working with all the right partners to bring this technology to the market!

I look forward to seeing this new unit at the 2008 International DJ Expo, as well as what Chauvet and Martin plan on competing with. Check back here at the end of August to see what we thought of this year's Expo including video clips of the Hurricane Productions staff interacting with new products as well as interviews from professionals.

Magnified LED Lighting, unimpressive

So I've highlighted what blew me away at this year's DJ expo, the following was one of the letdowns:

One thing I was seriously unimpressed with was the new line of L.E.D. DJ lighting specifically from Chauvet. I haven't been too crazy about L.E.D. DJ lighting since the beginning but I was excited to hear that lighting companies were experimenting and trying new things with L.E.D. to make their fixtures more appealing. I really wish they held off until 2008 and put some more time into refining the new line of L.E.D. lighting. The simple fact is that L.E.D. technology, in the DJ lighting industry, is just not ready to do the things they are trying to do. I'm happy that they're trying new things, I just think they unnecessarily rushed production.

Vue III	Vue II	Vue I

The light-output and coverage is very lacking, even with haze/fog you don't get much "beamage". The smaller Vue 1 is a little better when it comes to beaming but you get these blurry magnified circles on the ground that in my opinion aren't very attractive. DJ Lighting should be fluid and crisp, not blurry and . . . awkward.

American DJ Also came out with a similar line. They look better than the Chauvet Vue series but I'm still unimpressed and would never buy them for my own light show. The only positive I see about these lights is that, like all LEDs, the bulbs will last nearly forever. But when it comes to the aesthetics of my light show, I don't mind replacing a bulb every 8000 hours if it means my light will look incredible.

Here is a piece from the American DJ LED FX Seiries:

From a distance I could hear the excitement coming from the American DJ booth. A sales rep was on the mic building up to some "AMAZING light show using LED like never before!" Naturally I rushed over thinking that they had accomplished something that Chauvet failed to accomplish. Again, I was not impressed. The showcased lights were more impressive than Chauvet's new LEDs but still nothing to get excited over.

From the above picture, the effect looks pretty interesting but in person I don't find anything attractive about this effect. I don't see any of these products doing very well in the mobile or club DJ market. I wouldn't have minded seeing these lights so much in the ADJ booth if American DJ had brought some OTHER lights! All they showcased were the new L.E.D. line! What a let-down.

All in all, I'm happy companies are trying new things wit LED, I just think it needs some more time before the technology becomes widely appealing.

-Shadow