Meet the Clay Paky Volero Wave

As the manufacturer says of itself, "Claypaky has always been known for its research and innovation skills, through which it has often launched luminaires and solutions that have revolutionized the world of entertainment lighting." - Translated by translator from English.

One can agree with this in part. The manufacturer has this knack of releasing devices with innovative features that are enthusiastically received between "the next device". That's how after the iconic Sharpy we got the K10, and after the K10 we got the Tambora, the wheel is turning.

This time, however, I would like to introduce you to an interesting device from the segment of moving LED bar. Quite a fashionable topic lately among manufacturers, so it will come to a trickle in productions in about 2 years.

Optics and power

But okay, to the point, I present to you Claypaky Volero Wave. That is, the aforementioned LED Bar equipped with 8 independent 40W RGBW meshes. The optics are stated at 2.9°, so we can qualify this more as a "BEAM" Bar. So many differentiated devices on the market, I don't know what to call it anymore. It is worth noting the "cap" at each lens so that the beam is "light" and "clean". It sounded a bit like a "wide stage" in sound.

It must be admitted that the luminaire itself stands out already from the visual point of view. This is due to the fact that each mesh is a separate fixture with the possibility of movement in tilt whose range is 220°. Thanks to its design, the device can be combined into an infinite line of pixels, but these days this is probably already standard with new devices "of this type". In addition, Volero is compatible with Claypaky Panify, a movable base that adds to fixed devices the possibility of infinite rotation in the panorama.  

Control

For control we get all the protocols we know, namely DMX, Art.-Net, RDM, sACN while the device itself has several DMX modes. In the new version, from January 2023, we get 3 basic modes such as standard, shape and advanced. These give different options for controlling effects on layers, macros and other wonders of the garland. In addition, the device has something like Pixel Engine. If it is left turned off then the color channels work simultaneously according to the basic modes. If, on the other hand, we want to play with the pixel map, then we additionally get the possibility to run this engine in RGB or RGBW mode - such a device in the device a bit. It took me a while to figure it out after the protocol. Here I leave you a link to take a peek at what it looks like from the channel side.

As for the physical aspects, the device is a meter long and too light it is not, as the weight oscillates around 21kg. Volero has 5-pin XLR IN/Thru and RJ45 IN/OU connectors, power is supplied via PowerCon Tru1 IP65 although the device itself has been given an IP20 waterproof rating (we write about waterproof ratings here).

I think worth mentioning at the end is also the possibility to apply accessories such as Frost filters that change the beam angle, available in 3 sizes - 1°/2°/3.5°. And for more details, of course, I invite you to visit the manufacturer's or distributor' s website .

PS Chauvet has a device in the same segment, but we will look at it next time.