Martin Acrobat...hot damn!!!

I just got mine, and damn are they ever cool.

I have NO clue way Martin stopped making them. I bought two from e-bay and they were both described as "working perfectly". They weren't!

I opened them both up and started to tinker. One had the barrel bracket bent so that the wheel hit the case during rotation. I took it all apart and bent the brackets straight... and works beautiful.

The second one had been worked on in the past and was put back together wrong. The color and gobo wheel was stuck on the housing and wouldn't rotate, and several of the glass colors had come loose were clinking on the bottom of the case. I had to disassemble part of the fixture to straighten everything out, and re-glue the glass. It now works great too.

So, there is a mirror wheel inside that reflects the lamp back wards through the lens... very cool set up (the lamp is aimed toward the rear of the fixture). The nice thing is the slow precise movements you can get out of the stepper motors. If anyone has one they want to get rid of...I'm your "go to guy"!

Wow, you have a sickness..........

Congrats on some more kick ass lights to add to the garage full of cool stuff you already own!!!!:spshocked:

I own a pair and love them dearly. I'm not sure what Martin was thinking when they dicontinued such a versatile, compact fixture. They could of chucked in a new gobo / color wheel to update it and called it a MK II or something...

Congrats Tyrone Im anxious to see them In DMX mode as I will be going that route ASAP.

What Steve said!!

I own a set of Acrabats myself. I love them. I bought one new on closeout from ebay and a very clean used one from Pat double c dj. When I expand my lighting, I plan to add 2 moving heads to go with them.

I have one and use it with the MC-1 controler. Most of the time it's the only light I use. Until I get my new ADJ Revo III's.

Ron please dont swear umm Revo cough cough III cough Patoowey. Yuck sacrilege dont kill the bat with a Revo oops I thought you said Vue. Phew thank God ........Never mind...........

Hey now, there's nothing wrong with the Vue III's..... I love mine dangit:spcheesy:

oh okay well its not needed with the full coverage of a Bat thats my story and Im sticking to it. LOL Seriously it would clash.

I imagine it would.... lol I was just givin ya some sheet:splaugh:

Hey Jon, what can I say. I get bored watching just the Bat running all night. And since I just got a silly deal on 2 Revo's I had to go with them.

Hey Jon, what can I say. I get bored watching just the Bat running all night. And since I just got a silly deal on 2 Revo's I had to go with them.

Yeah,

I heard it was the 'They fell off of a truck' special!! :sptongue:

Ronnie listened to me & got the Revo III vs the Vue 3.....JK

I heard he secretly wants to mount them to the roof of his car to get people to pull over on the way to a gig!

Are you running it in sound active mode, or DMX mode? Even limiting it to 6 channel operation, there are LOTS of displays it's capable of.

I especially like the "mirror ball" effect with the disc in slow motion. This thing is very versatile!

You can even remove the jumper and use it in 7 channel mode to control how fast the gobo / color wheel changes positions. When I had it under DMX control and was running slow chases, I didn't like the way the gobo wheel would slowly change but I never did remove the jumper. Perhaps one day... It does do a great mirror ball effect!

Us guys with nothing better to do figured how to trick the MC-1 to create that mirror ball scene.

Ok, who's going to give theirs up? I want one now!!

you need to keep your ewye out on Ebay or perhaps see if Ben ever gets any on trade. OR he might know where to get some. However I believe they would only be used as they were discontinued and I bought a few of the remaining batch of them From Mitch a couple yrs ago.

No kidding I want one too. If anyone out there knows where we can get our hands on some please let us know! Never seen one in action but I'm already sold.

Tyrone already asked me to sell him my other two lights. Tyrone I would trade them for


















naw never mind.

OK, who's going to give theirs up? I want one now!!You can have it when you pry it from my cold dead hands!:spshocked:

Joe,
They didn't fall off the back of a truck. They were off loaded gently and placed in the back of a van surrounded by padding and foam.:spwink:

Ok, if Acrobats are no longer in production is there a light out there that is similar to it?

Sort of.I will let someone else answer this one. I dont own anything else but the Bat.

You can have it when you pry if from my cold dead hands!:spshocked:

Joe,
They didn't fall off the back of a truck. They were off loaded gently and placed in the back of a van surrounded by padding and foam.:spwink:

Be careful, I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows this fella.......

Ok, if Acrobats are no longer in production is there a light out there that is similar to it?


The efx 600 is similar; much bigger and heavier.....The bat is a barrel scanner:

250W halogen lamp
11 colors + 3 split colors + white
18 gobos
Black out
Strobe effect
Revolving mirror drum, pan & tilt feature
50 ever-changing moving color and gobo beams
Digital dimmer (0-100%)
DMX or stand-alone mode

I have 2 Chauvet Insignia's:

5-channel DMX-512 scanner
Pan: 180° / tilt: 360°
Variable strobe/shutter
Color wheel:
- 11 colors + white
- 1 quad color, 1 tri color
- Rainbow color spin effect
Gobo wheel:
- 14 gobos + open
- 12 metal, 2 glass installed
- Gobo wheel spin effect
- Gobo BounceTM
Light Source : ELC3 24V 250W 3400°K 300hrs

Similar features....1/2 the price...and still available

Tyrone, King of lights.

I saw a great addition to your lighting arsenal if you don't own one. On Ebay today at a unreal price.

There is a Martin Wizard for $500.

Everytime I wanted to buy one I couldn't touch it for under $900.
If I had the $$ I would pick it up in a second. I'm currently purchasing other gear.

Cam thanks for sharing.

I noticed that one too. You know, based on my experience, older fixtures seem to have issues. If I hadn't been handy with a wrench and screwdriver, these Bats would have been sent back.

I'm nervous spending that much money, then to find out the fixtures is trash. I'm guessing that's why this guy was selling them... they didn't work for him, and he lied about their condition. Lucky I could fix them.

I'd consider spending the cash on a Wizard if I knew for certain it worked. With e-bay, you never know for sure.

Us guys with nothing better to do figured how to trick the MC-1 to create that mirror ball scene.
I bought an Acrobat and a lowly MC-1 a couple of years ago. I have used it only once. When I tried to have it create a mirror ball effect, it looked pretty lame to me. How do you do this trick?

I bought an Acrobat and a lowly MC-1 a couple of years ago. I have used it only once. When I tried to have it create a mirror ball effect, it looked pretty lame to me. How do you do this trick?

It probably can't be done...it is a really lame light..............




I'll take that lame, hard to program light off your hands :)

I wasn't suggesting that the light itself is lame, I meant that the MC-1's implementation of a mirror ball effect was lame! It very well may be that the light needs to be adjusted and/or calibrated.

Agreed.....it's much to difficult of a trick to learn. You should immediatly sell it to me, so that you don't stress out about this. :)

Since I'm the lighting guy, I'll take it and see if I can fix the problem... let me know how much you want for me to take it off your hands, and don't worry about Randy.

Bryan, under DMX control, the effect is spectacular, waaaaay better than a mirror ball. Under MC-1 control, the effect is hit or miss. I've never calibrated my Acro's so I'm not sure what could be wrong... I do wish the Acro had a slightly higher resolution so I could slow it down even more and have the movement remain smooooooth. It does a good job as is, I'm just saying...

And NO, I won't sell you mine!

Since I'm the lighting guy, I'll take it and see if I can fix the problem... let me know how much you want for me to take it off your hands, and don't worry about Randy.

I don't like to get my toes stepped on, I don't play nicely! LOL :)

HEY HEY HEY!!

Now hold on! I'm not saying that I want to get rid of the light. It's just that...that...I didn't buy a DMX controller with it, so as soon as I buy one I'll delve into the secret ancient art of DMX programming. I mean, can it be as hard as assembly programming (http://www.answers.com/assembly+language?cat=technology)??

With the MC-1 it's a spin & puke. Been there, done that. One of these days I'll get a REAL controller so I can see what this baby can REALLY do!

Houston, we have a problem.....Bryan has figured out we have tried to pull one over on him! :)

The Acrobat? Yeah, it's ok I guess.

(I've been using one for the last 3 years, with both an MC-1 and a Chauvet DMX-50 controller. The Acrobat is worth its weight in gold).

After reading this thread a few minutes ago, I thought... "hell, I'll search e-bay for an acrobat". I came across one in Canada brand new in the box for $300. It's not on e-bay any more.

I didnt sell any nor did Maestro. What region of Canada Tyrone? Funny that the person didnt open and get the acrobat experience. Likely it would have not made it for sale.

It is a DJ sound and equipment store. They are called ESC Electronics (not Bill). They said they were cleaning out a warehouse and came across it sitting on a shelf. It had only been listed for a few minutes when I got it... but I got it. One more needed to fill out my show.

Nice find! So quick question do you park any of your vehicles in your garage LOL?

ESC is the best place to buy DJ gear in Canada, period!
My buddy Enzo buys all his Denon and Martin stuff there and the prices cannot be touched out West. I believe the guy's name is Frank but don't quote me on that! You just tell them you're a friend of Enzo's from BC and you'll get great pricing.