Through the eyes of a user...

The world of LED strips until now I associate with those worn-out bars. You know - pixels, ruddy plastic and such various bits and pieces that are not written about in color brochures. Some time ago it was noticeable that lighting manufacturers are trying to disenchant this trend a bit.

Such a "disenchantment" was the Pixel Line IP, which was followed by a wave of more or less successful products from various manufacturers, or in another segment Tambora Batten. Today I would like to introduce you to a device from the "batten" segment, which I had the pleasure of testing some time ago.

Pretty general information

GLP Wildbar 16 is nothing more than "another" moving LED strip. A 100cm long and 34cm high strip weighing 23kg. Made with IP65 technology so they are not afraid of water. In addition, equipped with side pins such for positioning the device in a straight line with respect to each other. We can retract or pull them out. When the devices are connected to each other, the gap between the last lens and the first lens creates a uniform uninterrupted line, and this is also important for the construction.  

The strip is equipped with 16 meshes of 40W each and RGBL color mixing mode. The device's tilt movement capability is 200°, and the motorized zoom has a range from 4° to 44°. And that would be about all the wonders of technology. Therefore, we will move on to a lengthy discussion of the use of the device itself and its effects.

Controlling and setting up the device

I received the device from AV Light in a quantity of nine pieces to test during Ostróda Reggae Festival. For me, it was perfect timing, because in addition to being completely unfamiliar with the GLP ecosystem, I was implementing the whole thing on an MA3 - the first time I'd ever...

Let's start with the configuration. Our Wildbar, whose name may also derive from the scale, this one is "wild" for a single person, gives us the ability to control using standards that are DMX, RDM, Art.-net and sACN. We also have the option of using the GLP iQ.Mesh system - it's something like Companion from Martin, only for GLP devices.

Configuration, addressing and mode.

After connecting the device, it is clear, like expert lighting technicians, Kamil and I proceeded to address the device. Cycle address, cycle mode (two to choose from, 28/79ch) and drive to the board, what could go wrong. Fortunately, we went the day before to get it up and running.

Devices we wanted to fire in 79ch mode - with the ability to control each pixel separately. Well, because it's known - I was doing it on the 3ka, so how to find it, to conjure up effects for the layout in a straight line....

After an hour or so, I started to write out to Janek from AV Light and we looked for the reason why, despite setting the device in theory as it should be set further, the first subfixture is responsible for the dimmer for all 16 meshes.

I won't elaborate on my frustration where along the way we managed to update the devices because there was a suspected bad GDTF against the soft version - By the way, we used the GLP iQ.Mesh system for this and here I can confirm that it works very well and intuitively, although we had to use a dongle from GLP because NFC wouldn't catch on my iPhone. (But my phone makes all sorts of weird eggs already so dropping it on the dongle would be inappropriate).

After a 3-hour battle, we finally managed to click through the various functions of layer priorities, individual controls and other weird options and were able to control our bars. I mean not ours, but you know....

GLP ecosystem

You certainly know the feeling that after a few-something events as you approach any lamp you know what to click on to configure it your way. Well, here analogously as in Tambora Batten goes dumb. And don't splash me that Batten is so easy because from behind the scenes I know many cases of first encounters with CP on art, where the greatest fools how to turn it on. By the way, giving two addresses to one device... seriously?

With the system from GLP I have the impression that it is similar. Although you do not need to give two separate addresses, do not try to learn it an hour before the play because, after all, you know so many devices. Personally, I recommend clicking through it at home. AV Light will certainly be happy to send you something GLP for a week or two to test. - Trust me...you will thank me.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing, to be clear. It's just that the number of functions with matrix devices in GLP is slightly overwhelming. With just two modes in the control we have with 50 different modes of operation. Layer priorities, effects, signal response options and much, much more. It's definitely something to learn the hard way.

Swieconko

Okay, no more pouring out regrets because it will come out that I did not like it, and nothing could be further from the truth. The device itself has tremendous light output, the narrow beam makes a super sheaf effect, and the wide beam works elegantly as a wash.

At the bottom of the whole plot I had nine of them, and if I'm honest they were killing with power all the 800s and K10s I had on top, and they were the only ones breaking through in the smoke during the day to make what effect.

The night is a different tale. Not only in my opinion, the scene was simply full. The bars gave the possibility to do background, ambient, but also an impressive strobe. Rather not an everyday device, which is a shame - because it makes a WOW effect.

As for the colors, there is nothing to produce too much. GLP does it well, the saturation of the primary colors is really "vivid". Here I will point out that we can mix them in two modes. Standard RGB and RGBL - of which, with the RGBL mode, we do not have the ability to control the lime ourselves - the device does it for us with tonal transitions, unless you lime to the glass then you have to do it yourself - a joke to keep the attention....

Let me also add a comment that I got from Marcin Jagodzinski, the realizer of Spięty, who was with the team at the event. He was also quite impressed with the equipment, capabilities and variety of applications.

Summary

I'll frankly admit that this is the kind of "ficsture" I'd like to encounter more often. Delving into the possibilities of use, there are really quite a few. Build quality top, shine top, a little clumsy to operate but learnable.

I've always been puzzled by the zoom on this type of device, but it really adds to the appeal. Below I throw you a table with the most important parameters as a supplement to the text.

In the meantime, I bow low to AV Light for providing the demo set free of charge, and I encourage you to check out GLP-branded solutions.