More Info Manufacturer: ProLight Product: Matrix Website: ProLight Price: £150 Score:

Discharge lighting is finally affordable, but is it really as good as it claims to be? The Matrix is what many people are calling ‘latest technology', but is this product designed to wow or is it just another ‘fashion accessory'.

After seeing this product in action I was desperate to get my hands on one both to review and to add to my rig. The fact that it wasn't DMX did put me off slightly I must admit, my entire rig is DMX and I love the ease of use. The spec. sheet did however say that it came with a controller so I figured what the heck and bought one of these supposedly stunning lights.

The pictures of the light in action looked stunning on their website, but as many of you will know, most pictures on websites are made to look stunning. In reality the product is seldom as good.

Well after unpacking my light and rigging onto my overhead rig, I turned the light on, and nothing. It seemed to be dead, there was a little bit of light coming from inside the light but nothing that made me go "Wow". I thought great, I was one of the first people to receive one of these lights and already I had managed to break it. Not a great start. I left the light in the rig and figured what the heck it might as well stay up there.

As per usual I went back to the car and grabbed all of my sound gear in order to try and get that set up. I walked back into the room and was almost blinded by the brightness of the fixture. It was mind blowing; apart from the fact I couldn't see I was very excited. This is the sort of fixture DJs need, scanners might look cool but half the time the effects are rubbish. Having read through the manual I now understand why the lamp did not come on at full brightness straight away. Cue the physics lessons, since the Matrix uses a discharge lamp it takes a while to heat up and hence to get to full brightness. I'm sure this is a fact that had many DJs worried when they first plugged their effect in.

The controller is relatively simple having a blackout button and a button to open and close the shutters. This is so that you can at certain times have only half the effect in use or only one quarter of the effect in use. This is a great feature as it allows me to have a crazy light show that's in people's eyes for dance music and the effect only shining on the roof for slower dances.

The effect is very simple it basically products vibrant colours that flash and move up and down. Whilst this may sound simple and almost boring to those of you used to moving head ECT. It's actually a stunning effect which put some of my more expensive effects to shame.

At £150 you can't really go wrong with this light, it is stunning, and it may not have its uses in weddings but for club like environments its mind blowing.

The only thing that I would recommend to use with this light is smoke, the effect really does come into its own when it's used with smoke. The beams are crisp and sharp, it really does amaze.

One recommendation as with all lights is to let it cool properly before taking it down from the rig, discharge lamps are very fragile when hot. They are very easy to blow if you are a bit rough with them. I haven't had to replace my bulb yet but I have been informed that they are not cheap so please be careful!!