synth stage light

EMPOWERTORCH · Jul 27, 2002

I am as well as being a torchaholic, an active musician, and have recently purchased a Casio MZ2000 synth. I have come across a disadvantage when using this instrument on a darkened stage, that of seeing the button legends on the control panel. The central LCD is very bright an highly visible, it having a very good backlight, but the rest of the control panel is not illuminated and I cannot see the button legends too well.
What I need then is some kind of LED lighting that will illuninate the control panel, maybe with cyan LED's and powered by batteries. I need diffuse light over quite a large area (120cm by 45 approx). The device will need some kind of collimator or diffuser to do this and ensure an even spread. The light needs to be bright enough to see the panel legends but not so bright as to blind out the annunciator LED's. I also do not want to modify the synth itself in any way!
Any attachment to the synth must not detract from the synth's good looks (image is important these days in a modern rock band!)
The device must also be rugged enough to put up with the usual knocks and bangs normally encounted when touring in a band!

Any ideas greatfully recieved!

Matt.

Saaby · Jul 27, 2002

What do you have around the stage that has power? Mic cables? Outlets?

Have you seen McGizmos 3 and 9 LED lighting fixtures? You might be able to rig something up using that but I don't know what you have to get power from. Batteries? Sure but I am thinking if you have something else that would be better...here's an example that should explain my point.

I am going to make one that plugs into the "light" port on many stage sound and lighting consoles, this turns the plug itself into a mounting point...does the synth have MIDI out? Does it supply a constant voltage..? I honestly don't know, but if it did you could rig something up using a MIDI connector and some Loc-line. This way it would look cool...just a little thing snaking out of the back of the synth, and the Loc-Line makes it act like a gooseneck.

Option B I would think would be an Arc AAA. You could find a way to attach it to Loc-line and find a way to attach the Loc-line to the synth.

P.S. Here is a link to where McGizmo is selling most of what you would need...
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=10&t=000089

you can get Loc-line from...
http://www.berkeleypoint.com

So there's 2 ideas to get you going...

Brock · Jul 27, 2002

I know it's not LED, but I would look at a "Little Light" and you could add some gel (color) over the light. They are pretty small and have a dimmer on them. I cna't tell you how many times I have seen them come through already attached to a keyboard.

Tree · Jul 27, 2002

We use those littlelites all the time on keyboards also. They have ones with heavy bases and ones that you could mount with velcro if you want. They work great and like Brock said are dimmable.