ADVATEK LIGHTING

Australian Manufacturer has LED Pixels Under Control

Back in late January, I was in Barcelona for the ISE tradeshow. Having breakfast at the restaurant in my hotel, I heard the unmistakeable sound of Australian accents from across the room. I looked up, expecting to see someone I knew. Instead, there was a whole table of Aussies that I didn’t recognise, all wearing the same branded shirts.

I sauntered over and introduced myself, and met the team from Advatek Lighting, who I found out were not just attending ISE, they were exhibiting. I also found out I had come to the other side of the world to meet a company that were from my hometown of Melbourne, whom I had, embarrassingly, never heard of.

So, who are Advatek Lighting, and what do they do? Advatek were founded 12 years ago by Luke Taylor, then just 20 years old, and Luke De Vincentis. The two Lukes were frustrated by the lack of decent LED pixel controllers on the market and decided to make their own.

Having grown through four premises, Advatek have now moved into a manufacturing facility in Mulgrave, Victoria, where they are making their own PCBAs and producing world-leading products. Their gear is distributed in Europe and the USA, and features in global theme parks (that we’re not allowed to name), and major projects around the world.

The controllers Advatek produce fall into the same sphere as other international manufacturers like Madrix, Pharos, and DiGidot. They currently have six models in the latest of their PixLite series. The E16-S Mk3 is the biggest product in the range, outputting an incredible 96 universes of Art-Net or sACN over 16 non-powered pixel outputs. Over 70+ pixel protocols are supported, and it has an auxiliary port for DMX512 In/Out. A MicroSD card slot enables users to run Advatek’s SHOWTime software to record and playback pixel content, making the E16-S a standalone controller.

Other controllers in the range include the A4-S Mk3 (24 Universes), E4-S Mk3 (24 Universes), and the T8-S Mk3, a 96 Universe long-range transmitter which pairs with the R4D-S and R2F-S receivers. Apart from the E series models, all the PixLite Mk3 controllers have dual Gigabit Ethernet ports.

In April, I finally travelled out to Mulgrave to meet up with Sales Manager Justin Stewart and General Manager Greg Lowe. Justin gave me the boardroom rundown of the company history and product range, including several impressive videos of their products in action. Both Justin and Greg then gave me the full tour of the immaculate facility, which includes a high-end and completely electrostatic discharge-proof manufacturing floor.

“You know when you’re electrocuted by a static discharge from a doorknob?” asks Greg. Yes I do, as does everyone. “Well, that discharge can contain up to 30,000 volts, but at low amps.

That’s just a minor annoyance to us humans, but in electronics, that damages components. What we found in our previous manufacturing set-ups, including when our founder started out in his garage, is that static shocks in assembly aren’t really noticeable, and the damage doesn’t turn up immediately, but you’ll find the component will fail months down the line, during use, which is unacceptable considering our products are running shows.”

Having years of manufacturing experience behind them, the Mulgrave factory is the equal to any I have ever toured. Employees have to wear special shoes and coats and test themselves before entering the manufacturing floor. The facility is set up in a horseshoe configuration, with the latest SMT manufacturing machines from Yamaha (yet another thing they make), and an automatic soldering machine. Everything is tested on the same floor before it goes through a door into their warehouse, which is sending out product globally every day.

“People think we don’t or can’t make things competitively in Australia anymore,” observes Greg. “But it’s not the case. We’re producing world-class, reliable product that’s more cost effective than our international competitors. It’s not about competing on price or quantity; it’s more what you make and how you make it. Australian manufacturing can produce high-quality innovative products that are the equal of anywhere else in the world, and be profitable doing so.”

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Advatek Controllers in The Wild

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Light Cycles – Illuminate, Adelaide, 2021

Light Cycles, presented as part of Illuminate Adelaide, was an outdoor experience at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens incorporating intricate light, music, and video art installations.

Inspired by the Garden’s sprawling canvas, it was essential that Light Cycles installations were developed to unobtrusively immerse visitors in the experience which would encompass nearly two kilometres.

Local tech partner Novatech Creative Event Technology faced the challenge of finding a robust pixel control solution that would withstand rain, dirt and unpredictable weather conditions, while supporting multimedia studio Moment Factory’s vision and design.

Two lighting installations at Light Cycles, ‘Crystal Grove’ and ‘Reflection Lake’ required exceptionally robust pixel control due to the number of individual pixels required for the installations and the environment in which the controllers would be installed.

The Crystal Grove installation had 2,000 individual pixels while Reflection Lake featured another 10,000 pixels of LED strips submerged under water.

Novatech turned to Advatek’s PixLite 4 Rugged Mk2 LED controllers for their weatherproof design, matching field- installable connectors and their suitability to be used outdoors in muddy terrain.

Novatech was also pleased with Advatek’s customer service and the product’s compatibility with virtually every type of pixel LED on the market, as well as the controller’s competitive pricing.

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Meow Wolf

Meow Wolf works with artists in the community to create immersive and interactive experiences that transport audiences of all ages into fantastic realms of story and exploration. Meow Wolf began in 2008 as an informal collective of Santa Fe artists. These collaborative roots lay the foundation for Meow Wolf’s distinctive style of immersive, maximalist environments that encourage audience participation.

In addition to numerous pop-up installations and exhibitions, today Meow Wolf has permanent immersive art locations in Santa Fe, Las Vegas, and Denver with new sites announced for Dallas and Houston.

Meow Wolf’s complex installations require reliable and powerful pixel control.

Advatek’s PixLite Mk3 controllers offer the additional performance features that provide the artists at Meow Wolf with the flexibility to bring their creative ideas to life.

Meow Wolf used Advatek’s PixLite A4-S Mk3 controllers in their latest lighting installations for their robust performance and built-in protections. The reliability of the A4-S Mk3 controller allows Meow Wolf to be confident that the device will perform consistently in all their immersive lighting projects.

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Go Live Production’s Edgelight

Edgelight is a turn-key modular linear LED rental solution for stage productions designed by Go Live Productions.

Edgelight’s patented housing systems and modular lengths allow Go Live to easily design and install highly affordable rental packages which have been extremely popular with lighting designers.

Go Live recently secured patents for their fixture designs and established suppliers for all components to make a custom pixel version of their very successful 24v CV RGB LED Neon rental system. They spent most of 2022 building out new inventory of LED units and the integrated power/data systems to drive them.

Go Live had plans to build out modular pixel LED power supply and driver systems using a control system from another pixel control vendor before the pandemic, but when the entertainment and events industry started to emerge from lockdown, the vendor was unable to obtain the quantities required.

This led to Go Live discovering Advatek Lighting’s powerful A4-S Mk3 controller, which provided better features and flexibility for their application, while also providing reliable stock availability during supply chain difficulties.

Go Live used Advatek’s PixLite A4-S Mk3 controllers in their Edgelight systems for their robust performance and built-in protections. The A4-S Mk3 controller allows Go Live to be confident in sending their integrated solutions out on tour and basing their flagship rental program on the controller’s proven reliability.