HARMAN’s Martin Professional Releases MAC Viper Firmware 2.0

AARHUS, Denmark — HARMAN’s Martin Professional today announced the release of MAC Viper firmware 2.0. The update contains fixes for all known issues and improvements on existing functionality including low noise cooling for the entire MAC Viper Family.
“Since its launch two years ago, the MAC Viper family quickly became a new industry standard being used in all sorts of entertainment environments,” stated Markus Klüsener, Product Manager for Stage Lighting, Martin Professional. “Be it corporate events, theater or concerts, the whole MAC Viper family can cover it!”

Low noise cooling, which at first was only implemented in the Performance version, is now standard throughout the entire family. Aligned dimmer-curves and smoother effect speeds are also valued additions to the new firmware.

“We have been in close dialogue with lighting designers, rental companies and technicians from all fields of the entertainment industry to gather feedback and suggestions to make their favorite choice of moving-head even better,” said Klüsener.

Major improvements for the Viper Family

· Extended RDM enabled

· Gobo x-fading enabled. (slower gobo scroll speed)

· Colour wheel speeds and acceleration aligned with other MAC Viper variants

· Effects rotation made smoother

· More robust DMX hot-plugging

· Control of fans improved resulting in lower noise

· Random Strobe startup randomized across fixtures

· Auto blackout deployment synchronized across fixtures

· Temperature warning and cut-off levels adjusted

· Lamp strike command in Shortcuts menu now activated by first button press

· Dimmer blackout implemented during lamp strikes

· Smoother pan/tilt movement at startup and reset

· Improved movement during fast pan/tilt snaps

The firmware update is available as a free download via Martin’s support page: http://www.martin.com/service/service.asp

As a world leader in the creation of dynamic lighting solutions for the entertainment, architectural, and commercial sectors, Martin lighting and video systems are renowned the world over. Martin also offers a range of advanced lighting controllers and media servers, as well as a complete line of smoke machines as a complement to intelligent lighting. Martin operates the industry’s most complete and capable distributor network with local partners in nearly 100 countries. Founded in 1987 and based in Aarhus, Denmark, Martin is the lighting division of global infotainment and audio company HARMAN International Industries. For more information please visit: http://www.martin.com.

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of infotainment and audio solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson® and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of 15,200 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $5.1 billion for the last twelve months ended March 31, 2014.

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Euroshow Deploys HARMAN’s Martin Professional To Bring A Fairy Tale To Life At Moscow’s Olympisky Arena

AARHUS, Denmark — In conjunction with the beginning of Russia’s longest school holiday, Moscow’s famous Olympisky Arena hosted a 2-week children’s project, Circus of Ded Moroz – 2 (Father Frost’s Circus), at the end of December 2013. In order to showcase a stunning, mystical fairy tale light show, Euroshow and lighting designer Alexey Zhuravlev deployed a world-class lighting system featuring HARMAN’s Martin fixtures.

Euroshow supplied lighting fixtures for the event surrounding a large Christmas tree which included: 36 MAC Viper Profile, 20 MAC 2000 Wash XB, 12 MAC III Air FX, 48 MAC Aura, 96 MAC 101, five Atomic 3000 DMX, 30 RUSH MH3 Beam and three Jem Ready 365 Hazer fixtures.

The New Year’s project for children at Olympisky has gained a traditional status already, but for Zhuravlev, it was his debut. Producers of the event knew about Zhuravlev due to his successful work with numerous clubs and concerts, so they invited him to implement the basic idea of creating a dynamic event that children would love and remember.

The main story of the Circus of Ded Moroz - 2 was influenced by an enormous event – the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Fairy tale characters from different stories and different countries met each other on the arena space to compete for the highest sports prizes. This story needed a bright and colorful setting, something totally different from traditional theatrical drama.

Zhuravlev analyzed the individual elements of the script together with the director of the show, highlighting the key moments and offering an individual decoration for each. “I had a few ideas for this show,” explained Zhuravlev. “For example, I put the MAC 101’s around the arena at the bottom and made a ‘mirrored’ installation at the top, so that each fixture was above another fixture. This scheme allowed us to create a lot of different, interesting lighting pictures for numerous events.”

Because some events in the program featured aerialists in the space below the roof, it was necessary to change the lighting concept and make accents on the flights in midair. Zhuravlev chose the powerful MAC III AirFX fixtures based on a 1500W lamp and the new Jem Ready 365 fog generators in order to work with the challenges.

“It is my first work experience with MAC III AirFX”, Zhuravlev explained. “I had seen these fixtures before and I have known what I could get from them. Of course, I was attracted by their functionality to create midair and beam effects. MAC III AirFX is a perfect fixture to make magnificent decor for aerialists’ routines. Besides, these fixtures are very bright, so in other words, they were the perfect solution for this project.”

For the circus arena area, Zhuravlev deployed the MAC 2000 Wash XB, MAC Aura and MAC 101, along with the MAC Viper Profile with the gobo #1, which served as the main lighting tool.

“In the stage design we rarely use this gobo, but in this project it was very useful for me,” Zhuravlev said. “The action takes place in a circular arena, and it is very difficult to make smooth wash effects and stay within the borders, and I had to think about how not to confuse the audience. With gobo #1 of MAC Viper Profile, I could wash the necessary parts of the arena without compromising the main texture aspect.”

The MAC Viper also played a familiar role for Zhuravlev, creating bright and powerful projections that draw beautiful pictures on the surface.

“This fixture is very bright with excellent projection quality,” he continued. “Of course, I used this instrument at 100%. For example, when I needed to ‘move’ artists on the pavement in Sweden, I used gobo-imitating pavement, creating a very realistic effect. Another example is a traditional Russian theme, followed with the appearance of Samovar with cups. By the way, MAC Viper Profile has a very suitable gobo for this scene, as if designed especially for Russia.”

As a world leader in the creation of dynamic lighting solutions for the entertainment, architectural, and commercial sectors, Martin lighting and video systems are renowned the world over. Martin also offers a range of advanced lighting controllers and media servers, as well as a complete line of smoke machines as a complement to intelligent lighting. Martin operates the industry’s most complete and capable distributor network with local partners in nearly 100 countries. Founded in 1987 and based in Aarhus, Denmark, Martin is the lighting division of global infotainment and audio company HARMAN International Industries. For more information please visit: http://www.martin.com.

HARMAN designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of infotainment and audio solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson® and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of 14,800 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.7 billion for the last twelve months ended December 31, 2013.

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HARMAN’s Martin Professional Deployed at 2014 Paralympic Games For Creative Lighting & Midair Effects

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — To celebrate the historic 2014 Paralympic Games, rental company Euroshow provided HARMAN’s Martin lighting systems for a special program featuring an ice show at Russia’s Yubileny Sport Palace in St. Petersburg. The program was held before the final stage of the Torch Relay. Lighting designer, Alexey Yevstifeyev, who deployed Martin fixtures based on their functionality and brightness, proposed the lighting concept of the show to feature creative lighting and midair effects, consisting of 20 MAC Viper Profiles, 12 Atomic 3000 DMX, 20 RUSH MH3 Beams, 48 MAC 101s and 20 MAC 2000 Wash XB’s.

The ice show took place at the Yubileny Sport Palace’s hockey rink with the main challenge being the limited time for installation. Taking this factor into consideration, Yevstifeyev used a combined truss mounting and floor mounting system.

By placing the MAC 101 fixtures on the floor around the rink, he was able to create a beautiful display with compact and extremely fast LED wash lights, emphasizing the artist’s movements through the reflection effects.

According to Yevstifeyev, ice shows are unique in that the ice surface, together with light projections, becomes an individual element of performance design. Yevstifeyev chose to deploy the MAC Viper to get the maximum out of the space he was given.

“I’ve been acquainted with Martin’s MAC Viper for a very long time already,” Yevstifeyev explained. “They have a brilliant reputation for functionality and light intensity. They have already become a workhorse in the industry. That’s why lighting designers constantly choose them for their projects. Besides, MAC Viper has a very good collection of creative and beautiful gobos. Using them, one can create really interesting pictures. They were really useful for me on this project!”

Additionally, the RUSH MH 3 Beam added a great dynamic to the show and put the accents into the figure skaters’ performance with different styles and themes.

“Although the MH3 Beam belongs to the entry-level line, it is very effective,” said Yevstifeyev. “It proves to be very strong when compared to alternative fixtures when you need to create bright beam effects in midair, so it is no surprise we at Euroshow use these fixtures quite regularly.”

Equipment supplier: Euroshow

Lighting Designer: Alexey Yevstifeyev

Lighting Operator: Dmitriy Shmel’kov

As a world leader in the creation of dynamic lighting solutions for the entertainment, architectural, and commercial sectors, Martin lighting and video systems are renowned the world over. Martin also offers a range of advanced lighting controllers and media servers, as well as a complete line of smoke machines as a complement to intelligent lighting. Martin operates the industry’s most complete and capable distributor network with local partners in nearly 100 countries. Founded in 1987 and based in Aarhus, Denmark, Martin is the lighting division of global infotainment and audio company HARMAN International Industries. For more information please visit: http://www.martin.com.

HARMAN designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of infotainment and audio solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson® and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of 14,800 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.7 billion for the last twelve months ended December 31, 2013.

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John Fogerty Plays The Classics On US Tour Backed By Bright and Engaging HARMAN’s Martin Professional Rig

AARHUS, Denmark — Ranked on Rolling Stone Magazine’s lists of 100 Greatest Guitarists (#40) and 100 Greatest Singers (#72), and with the number 41 and 53 spots on the publication’s list of Greatest Pop Songs, John Fogerty has entertained crowds for decades as a member of the Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a solo artist. Recently the classic rock legend wrapped up an 8-week US tour which featured a stunning light show staring HARMAN’s Martin Professional fixtures, designed to entertain fans with a completely new visual experience along with Fogerty’s classic rock sound.

Production Designer Alex Skowron designed and built the lighting rig to include 21 Martin Atomic Colors, 17 MAC 2000 washes, 14 MAC Viper profiles, 14 Viper washes, 10 MAC 2000 profiles, eight MAC III’s and eight MAC 401 RGB fixtures. Two Martin M1 lighting consoles ran lighting and video content during the show, which projected onto 12x21 high-resolution screens and seven other surfaces surrounding the stage.

Upstaging supplied all of the Martin fixtures for the tour.

“I’m loyal to Martin because Martin is loyal to me,” Skowron states. “The MAC 2k’s are workhorses. You can beat them to death and they still run. The quality of light you get out of the smaller Vipers is still great, and the color filters we customized for the Atomic Strobes changed the boring white light into something amazing!”

Skowron developed a show that would redefine the classic rock soloist genre of touring musicians. This wasn’t just your average musician-on-a-chair-type show. With Martin, fans were welcomed with a full concert experience, with an up-to-date vibe on the songs they’ve known and loved for decades. Multiple color schemes and background video highlighted Fogerty’s music during each set.

“I’ve been using Martin for ages, and even own numerous Martin lighting consoles, myself,” continued Skowron, “The support Martin provides throughout the entire process from sale to integration and beyond is something no other manufacturers choose to provide. I am only 100 percent confident in the success of a rig if it includes Martin.”

Skowron plans to take his Martin rig on a European tour with Fogerty in mid 2014.

As a world leader in the creation of dynamic lighting solutions for the entertainment, architectural, and commercial sectors, Martin lighting and video systems are renowned the world over. Martin also offers a range of advanced lighting controllers and media servers, as well as a complete line of smoke machines as a complement to intelligent lighting. Martin operates the industry’s most complete and capable distributor network with local partners in nearly 100 countries. Founded in 1987 and based in Aarhus, Denmark, Martin is the lighting division of global infotainment and audio company HARMAN International Industries.

For more information please visit: http://www.martin.com.

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of 14,600 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.5 billion for the last twelve months ended September 30, 2013.

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HARMAN’s Martin MAC Viper Quadray™ - Four Times the Excitement

AARHUS, Denmark — As HARMAN’s Martin continues to provide the brightest and most reliable professional lighting equipment to the industry, today, it’s new MAC Viper Quadray is officially launched, adding to Martin’s award-winning MAC Viper Family of moving heads. This unique, multi-beam luminaire has been deployed on international tours, including the Sarah Brightman tour with lighting design by Andi Watson, and Pitbull with lighting design by Justin Geiger.

The MAC Viper Quadray allows for the projection of four individually controllable rays of light – a new effect providing a unique aspect to any show.

An efficient effects engine provides designers and programmers the ability to create a whole new variety of looks that would otherwise be difficult or even impossible to program via a lighting console.

The MAC Viper Quadray houses a narrow-range zoom and includes the same high-quality feature set as the MAC Viper AirFX, including a vibrant color mixing system and stunning aerial designs. Additionally, it features the same compact form, impressive speed and superior light quality from the MAC Viper Family’s 1000-watt lamp.

The MAC Viper Quadray is available as an easy-to-install front lens replacement kit for any standard MAC Viper AirFX. The lens kit installs (and uninstalls) quickly, providing flexibility of use and greater value from a single luminaire.

“The ability to individually maneuver and manipulate up to four beams from a single luminaire provides designers new possibilities in static or dynamic mid-air effects,” stated Brian Friborg, President, Martin US. “For the end user, Quadray provides another great lighting tool, as well as increasing the rental house benefits from added flexibility and enhanced value for their MAC Viper AirFX portfolio.”

For more information on The MAC Viper Quarday, please visit http://bitly.com/MACViperQuadrayOnYouYube

As a world leader in the creation of dynamic lighting solutions for the entertainment, architectural, and commercial sectors, Martin lighting and video systems are renowned the world over. Martin also offers a range of advanced lighting controllers and media servers, as well as a complete line of smoke machines as a complement to intelligent lighting. Martin operates the industry’s most complete and capable distributor network with local partners in nearly 100 countries. Founded in 1987 and based in Aarhus, Denmark, Martin is the lighting division of global infotainment and audio company HARMAN International Industries. For more information please visit: http://www.martin.com.

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of infotainment and audio solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson® and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 14,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.3 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2013.

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Pitbull’s Club Experience Tour “Global Warming” Is Hot With HARMAN’s Martin MAC Viper

AARHUS, Denmark — Production and Lighting Designer Justin Geiger of Impulse Creative Group has been handling the visual look on Pitbull’s live shows for nearly two years. For the rapper’s current “Global Warming” tour, Geiger has turned to HARMAN’s Martin MAC Viper family of moving heads to impress fans across the world.

Geiger is one of the first LDs in the U.S. to use the MAC Viper Quadray, Viper AirFX and Viper Profiles on the same stage. “The time it took from when we received the fixtures until they were up in the rig was literally only a few minutes,” Geiger says. “The Vipers look fantastic and work really well on this high-energy club show. I use other lights on tour and it's such a relief to have Vipers because of the amazing gobos and optics. They’re some of the best I’ve seen.”

Geiger became familiar with the new family of luminaires through production house Complete Production Resources (CPR) of Orlando, who acquired the MAC Viper fixtures just prior to the tour.

CPR owner Kelly Greene explains why they went with Martin. “The Martin name was a big part of the decision-making process for the purchase. We wanted an industry-standard lighting product for our inventory. We have had great success with Martin in the past and are looking forward to the same with our new Viper products.”

Geiger was also the first in the U.S. to use the new MAC Viper Quadray – Martin’s new multi-beam moving head that allows for projection of up to four individually controllable rays of light. It’s available as an easy-to-install front lens replacement kit for any standard MAC Viper AirFX.

“Whenever we need something over the top, we turn to the Quadray’s unique multiple beams and fantastic gobos,” says Geiger. “It also doubles as a great wash when not using the Quadray effect.”

Geiger uses the Quadrays to “open up the stage” and likes the luminaire’s fat white beam and preprogrammed effects, which he uses at variable speeds. He has them placed on the floor, risers, wing trusses and on the main upstage truss.

“For its size and output these fixtures cannot be beat,” Director of Lighting Production Lucas Peterson said. “While on tour, we experienced very little maintenance over a 6-week run. It was a bit intimidating being the first company out with the Viper AirFX and Quadrays, but our fear quickly diminished after multiple shows with no issues. Jim Fuller and the Martin Professional team are outstanding!”

Video Director for the tour is Nate Selvidio of Impulse Creative Group.

For more information on Impulse Creative Group, please visit http://www.impulsecreativegroup.com.

Martin Equipment:

· 48 x MAC Viper Profile™

· 16 x MAC Viper Quadray™

· 12 x MAC Viper AirFX™

· 24 x Atomic 3000™

· 24 x Atomic Colors™

· Jem ZR44 Hi-Mass™

As a world leader in the creation of dynamic lighting solutions for the entertainment, architectural, and commercial sectors, Martin lighting and video systems are renowned the world over. Martin also offers a range of advanced lighting controllers and media servers, as well as a complete line of smoke machines as a complement to intelligent lighting. Martin operates the industry’s most complete and capable distributor network with local partners in nearly 100 countries. Founded in 1987 and based in Aarhus, Denmark, Martin is the lighting division of global infotainment and audio company HARMAN International Industries. For more information please visit: http://www.martin.com.

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of infotainment and audio solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson® and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 14,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.3 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2013.

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OCESA PRG Mexico Backs Soundgarden With HARMAN’s Martin Lighting Solutions

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – Playing to a crowd of more than 20,000, Seattle-based grunge band Soundgarden recently performed at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City during its international tour, running through summer 2013. The band’s 26-song set list was highlighted with the band’s extensive catalog and was brought to life by a HARMAN Martin lighting system, deployed by OCESA PRG Mexico.

Throughout the stage, 34 Martin MAC Viper Profiles, 13 MAC 2000 WASH beams, 20 MAC Aura LED’s, 12 Atomic Strobe 3000’s and 12 Scroller 3000 lighting units were deployed, strategically designed to provide a spectacular visual landscape for the show.

Soundgarden’s live production team ordered the Martin lighting solution specifically for the Palicio de los Deportes performance.

“We’ve been using Martin lighting for years and our inventory has been trustworthy and bright from the beginning,” stated Sandro Arellano, OCESA PRG Mexico. “Even with such a complex production, the visual aspect posed no challenges for the Martin equipment. The band and fans were quite pleased throughout the entire show!”

Martin Professional distributor Audio Acustica provided the lighting equipment to OCESA PRG Mexico.

For more information about OCESA PRG Mexico, please visit http://www.ocesa.com.mx.

As a world leader in the creation of dynamic lighting solutions for the entertainment, architectural, and commercial sectors, Martin lighting and video systems are renowned the world over. Martin also offers a range of advanced lighting controllers and media servers, as well as a complete line of smoke machines as a complement to intelligent lighting. Martin operates the industry’s most complete and capable distributor network with local partners in nearly 100 countries. Founded in 1987 and based in Aarhus, Denmark, Martin is the lighting division of global infotainment and audio company HARMAN International Industries. For more information please visit: http://www.martin.com.

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of audio, lighting and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson®, and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with Harman audio and infotainment systems. Harman has a workforce of about 14,300 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

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