# Chauvet Buys Chamsys



## MikeJ (Mar 20, 2017)

https://www.chauvetprofessional.com/news/chauvet-acquires-chamsys/

I was just thinking the other day, that Chauvet needed a real moving light desk to fill out their line.
Elation did this by distributing HOG products. 

The price point of the small desks it right for a lot of Chauvet customers, and similar to the tiny Hog consoles from Elation.

I wonder if ETC will continue to Licence/distribute desks through Elation; I think not. Interesting seeing these formerly lesser quality lighting companies putting on their big boy pants, and all these companies changing hands. Who is next? Vari*lite?


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## Judge (Mar 21, 2017)

Vari*lite has already been bought and sold a couple of times. ChamSys needed a hand in the marketplace and I hope they do well out of this deal. Excellent desks and products. Not enough clout or marketing nous.


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## gafftaper (Mar 21, 2017)

Vari*lite was absorbed by the monster Philips about 4 or 5 years ago. It's part of a family of leading edge lighting technology along with Strand, Selecon, and Color Kinetics. Hey Color Kinetics, remember them? They were one of the big leaders in the early days of LED's and we all got mad when they got the patent on color mixing because we thought no one would ever be able to compete. Selecon, they had these amazing innovative products with super high quality optics practically hand made in New Zealand. Oh and Strand, remember the days where they were always grabbing at ETC's coat tails? What happened to them? 

@MikeJ I really like your comment about "former lesser quality lighting companies". I think someone at Chauvet looked at the market and said, there's an endless supply of crap out there coming from "China Inc". We don't want to be seen as a competitor with those as they are disposable and there's no customer service. On the other end there's Martin, Clay Packy, Robe, etc... There's a HUGE gap in between that nobody is filling. We can significantly increase our quality and become the level in between. Make a quality product, with good service and sell it at less than half of a Martin. VERY smart. At the same time both Chauvet and Elation have their DJ product line which they both keep very competitive as the best of the low end DJ world. Smart people at both companies doing good work.


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## Pie4Weebl (Mar 21, 2017)

I think this makes a lot of sense for Chauvet. A lot of the small LDs who decide to buy their own first desk/wing buy chamsys. I also see them in a lot of venues.

Plus, Chamsys is under represented in the US, so this purchase should help Chamsys expand in the US.


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## Footer (Mar 21, 2017)

MikeJ said:


> Who is next? Vari*lite?



Martin. https://news.samsung.com/global/sam...owth-in-automotive-and-connected-technologies

Ain't no way Samsung is going to hold onto any of the companies Harman owns who are not a household name. Martin, BSS, Soundcraft, AKG, Lexicon, Crown, DBX, and Studer I believe will all end up on the auction block.


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## SteveB (Mar 21, 2017)

gafftaper said:


> Vari*lite was absorbed by the monster Philips about 4 or 5 years ago. It's part of a family of leading edge lighting technology along with Strand, Selecon, and Color Kinetics. Hey Color Kinetics, remember them? They were one of the big leaders in the early days of LED's and we all got mad when they got the patent on color mixing because we thought no one would ever be able to compete. .



I recall when CK was bidding on retrofitting the Empire State Building in NYC with LED. They were bidding against Phillips.

David vs. Goliath for sure, so Phillips said WTF and bought them out.


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## MikeJ (Mar 21, 2017)

Harman and Samsung are old news. Philips acquired VL almost 10 years ago,(I remember joking about getting a free coffee maker with the purchase of VLX) and has been trying to dump Vari*lite and the entire entertainment division for a couple of years now, with no takers, unless they changed their mind and decided to keep them.

I would guess this should be a boon for Chamsys, finally opening up the US market. Before this, I don't even know who distributed or supported them in the US, or if that was handled from across the pond. It is almost impossible to find a rental house with a full-size Chamsys desk in the US. Chamsys software could use a little face-lift, but chamsys seems like a good fit for Chauvet. There is a pretty big market for affordable, but full-featured controllers. Martin has tapped this market pretty well with M-PC and M2 line, and HighEnd/Elation with its HedgeHog and wings, but those are both priced about 20% higher than Chamsys based on googling prices, so I expect some healthy competition. 

Plus Chauvet's only "Moving Light controller" is ShowExpress, and that is a long way from being what I would consider a "real desk." Buying Chamsys saves a ton of R&D, and gives them an already pretty well-known platform. And they can keep selling theer ShowExpress dongles because they are simply artnet nodes. It really fills in their product line nicely, allowing them to sell a complete system.


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## ChamSysUSA (Mar 21, 2017)

Hi MikeJ:

Philip Watson here, former CEO for ChamSys USA. We've been distributing ChamSys Consoles in the USA since late 2012., and providing support and service. I'm moving forward with Chauvet, so for all those on this forum - I'm still reachable and read a lot here. Same numbers same emails. [email protected] 772-410-5762

If you need some places to rent full size ChamSys desks - get in touch I will be happy to introduce you to our rental partners in the USA. Hope you can check out the new MQ500 - we had two at USITT 2 weeks ago, were there with our own booth and had consoles on booths across the show floor and for free training.

One area we have not excelled in is marketing. That's going to change.


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## MikeJ (Mar 21, 2017)

ChamSysUSA said:


> Hi MikeJ:
> 
> Philip Watson here, former CEO for ChamSys USA. We've been distributing ChamSys Consoles in the USA since late 2012., and providing support and service. I'm moving forward with Chauvet, so for all those on this forum - I'm still reachable and read a lot here. Same numbers same emails. [email protected] 772-410-5762
> 
> ...



Phil, thanks for the reply. I am excited to see Chauvet and Chamsys together. I have in more recent years become a big proponent of Chauvet Products, when they really started to hone in their quality control, user interfaces, and build quality. Having commonly used fixtures from most major manufacturers, I have seen the transition from Chauvet being mediocre a best, to actually beating performance, quality, and reliability of other companies products, and at a lower price.

My point about not being able to find consoles was exactly the point you made. I have had trouble trying to source a console MQ-2/300 for A-Level act(s), who commonly tour and/or are from Europe just a year or two ago. Obviously, if LD's for A-Level artists are using Chamsys all over Europe, it is a very nice platform, however, popularity and distribution in the US was lacking. I hope this acquisition gives people more options, and gives me the ability to actually get the console that a band NEEDS on a fly date. I must say, that offering your software for free WITH artnet output, has created a lot of users who love the platform, but cannot yet afford a console. (probably why Martin copied you and offers 4 universes free now). I run into a bunch of young kids who can operate MagicQ because it was made available to them, and they could do amazing things with limited club/bar rigs because of it. Now that is good marketing and building a user base. The users are out there, they just need the access to the consoles. 

Lets face it, MA is king. I cannot even find a Hog 3 in my market, much less a Hog 4. There are plenty of ETC desks in the theater market, though. In its current state, Chamsys will never be an MA2 replacement, but it would be nice to have Chamsys as a reasonably priced and full-featured desk in this market, and with future improvements, it could potentially be a big player, especially by establishing brand loyalty early, maybe with a company that sells high-quality gear at affordable prices, like Chauvet. 

FWIW, in the Rock and Roll touring market I probably see more Chamsys, than Hog's, but that is a tiny fraction of the MA2 dominated market. (I saw a Jands vista once in the last 4 years).

Good Luck. As much as I hate learning new thing, I hope Chamsys is I console I will NEED to know in the near future.


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## Judge (Mar 24, 2017)

I would love to see ChamSys as a world player along with the other big names. Its odd how few big console companies there actually are in live touring industry. 
MA is king, then you have Pig, Avolites, and then finally ChamSys and Jands. And thats it really. 

Compare this to the sound department where you have Digico who seem to be the MA of the audio world having eaten everyone elses lunch.
Then Midas, Allen & Heath, Avid, Yamaha and more specialised brands like Cadac and SSL.
Then all kinds of smaller things like Behringer and Presonus.


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