Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jacob Coakley on June 22, 2011 at 9:33am

And here's a little more info about Keny's history, from the Wybron team:

Keny began his path in the entertainment industry in the early 70s as a sound technician. During the mid-70s, he joined Showco, a sound and lighting equipment provider for the concert touring industry, and began touring the world with legendary rock bands. Lighting during this time period was all the same – PAR cans. Kirby Wyatt, Showco’s production manager, said they needed to come up with a way to differentiate from other companies and came up with the idea that PAR cans needed to change color. While at Showco, Keny and Jim Bornhorst worked on several ideas that were not practical.

Keny eventually left Showco in 1978, partnered with Mike Brown and formed Wybron. They went on to invent and manufacture the first color scroller, which forever changed the lighting industry. Within a few years, they split up over differences in business practices and Keny became the sole owner of Wybron. Soon after, Joe Tawil, founder of GAM, made a deal with Keny to sell the color scrollers for Wybron, and did so from 1981-1988. Beginning in 1988, Wybron expanded and began selling directly to dealers.

Innovation continued in 1992 with the introduction of the Autopilot, the only 3-D tracking system on the market. In 1994, the Autopilot garnered both the LDI and PLASA awards for best new product. In 2006, the InfoTrace System took the Best Debuting Product of the Year Award in the lighting category from LDI, and the PLASA Innovation Award for quality of design, concept and development.

From humble beginnings in garage to a 46,000 sq. foot state-of –the art manufacturing facility and 30+ employees, Keny and his team at Wybron have continued as leaders in product design and advancing the art of lighting. The most exciting leap forward for Wybron is the recent move into LED technology with the introduction of the Cygnus LED wash lights and the most recent Cygnus Incite 375W Profile, with plans to expand the line in the near future.

Permalink Reply by Jacob Coakley on June 22, 2011 at 1:52pm

And here's the transcript! Thanks everyone for participating, and join us next week for another live chat!

JACOB COAKLEY: We're almost ready to start, so why don't I go over how all of this will work?

JACOB COAKLEY: Keny and I will chat for the first few minutes (10 or so), and we'll lay the ground work for the rest of the chat.

JACOB COAKLEY: About 10/15 minutes in, I'll open it up to questions from everyone else, so we can ensure everyone gets their questions answered.

KENY WHITRIGHT: Given my typing, you might want to reserve 15 minutes.

JACOB COAKLEY: :-)

JACOB COAKLEY: fair enough. :-)

JACOB COAKLEY: Another note for you Keny -- some of the questions may necessitate longer answers

JACOB COAKLEY: So just type away, hit enter often.

JACOB COAKLEY: That way we can see the progress.

KENY WHITRIGHT: Ok, I can do that.

JACOB COAKLEY: But when you're done answering a question, end with "/e"

JACOB COAKLEY: like so. /e

JACOB COAKLEY: That way we know you're done and we can move on to the next question.

KENY WHITRIGHT: sure /e

JACOB COAKLEY: beautiful.

JACOB COAKLEY: Alright, it's 12:30, so let's get started!

JACOB COAKLEY: First off -- I always ask everyone: how did you get started in the entertainment field?

KENY WHITRIGHT: I was interested in sound in college. Not so much music, but sound.

KENY WHITRIGHT: So I worked at a couple recording studios and a company that did live sound in Wichita, Ks. /e

JACOB COAKLEY: and from there how did you get hooked up with Showco?

JACOB COAKLEY: (For those who don't know Showco was a big production company back in teh day)

KENY WHITRIGHT: They came to town with 3 Dog Night and I talked with Jack Maxon. Later I went to Dallas and interviewed with them and they offered me a job. This was in 1971. /e

JACOB COAKLEY: It just occurred to me -- talk about not seeing the forest for the trees -- you started out in sound, but then somehow invented the color scroller. A lighting effect.

JACOB COAKLEY: How'd you make that transition?

JACOB COAKLEY: From sound to lighting...

KENY WHITRIGHT: During the 7 years I spent @ Showco, I was in charge of special projects

KENY WHITRIGHT: Some of the lighting stuff we did fell under that umbrella

KENY WHITRIGHT: and along the way, Kirby Wyatt suggested that if we could change the gel on a PAR 64 we might have a world beater.

KENY WHITRIGHT: Both JIm Bornhorst and I worked on several ideas that were ultimately failures, but we each learned what not to do.

KENY WHITRIGHT: I left Showco in 1978 and worked at a number of places. Finally it occurred to me that the weakness that we were fighting was

KENY WHITRIGHT: the weight of the gel frame. That led to the scroller. Jim followed a different path and got rid of the PAR 64 which led to Vari*lite. /e

JACOB COAKLEY: :-)

JACOB COAKLEY: potato/potahto :-)

JACOB COAKLEY: I love the way that coming hard up against limitations always spurs the next great thing.

KENY WHITRIGHT: Well my point is that both ideas really came from one truly great guy, Kirby. /e

JACOB COAKLEY: Good point.

JACOB COAKLEY: The current big wave sweeping over lighting is LEDs.

JACOB COAKLEY: and in addition ot your scrollers and dichroics, you guys offer a line of LED fixtures.

JACOB COAKLEY: The first planned question I had was simple: what are the advantages of each for a tehatre? When might they find themselves using a scroller instead of an LED, or vice versa?

KENY WHITRIGHT: Given the tight budgets we all seem to have today, a theatre might want to make some improvements to their existing lighting system, Scrollers are a good way to do that.

KENY WHITRIGHT: LEDs can also augment a lighting system but the costs are higher and the dimmers are not really needed

KENY WHITRIGHT: in that kind of an upgrade. /e

JACOB COAKLEY: What do people need to be aware of if they decide to mix the two in a rig? With some LED fixtures and incandesecents with a scroller?

KENY WHITRIGHT: Scrollers, using gel, have a larger gamut of color. If the really deep blues are crucial then gel is a better choice.

KENY WHITRIGHT: Just as designers had to learn the differences in dichroic filters and gel, they will have to learn

KENY WHITRIGHT: how the two color sources can interact. Whether they complement one another or fight each other. /e

JUSTIN LANG: If I could interject a question here...

JACOB COAKLEY: Sure -- now seems like a good time. We're at 15 minutes in.

JUSTIN LANG: Do you see anyone using all white LED fixtures along with scrollers?

KENY WHITRIGHT: Gee, I hope so. /e

JACOB COAKLEY: For my enlightenment -- what would be the benefits of that?

JUSTIN LANG: Do you think that is a good way to still get the deep blues with gels but saving energy at the same time?

JACOB COAKLEY: ah. Got it - thanks Justin.

KENY WHITRIGHT: Some of the earliest profile lights have chosen to only use white LED

KENY WHITRIGHT: I am not entirely sure of their spectrum but it seems like they might have some output below the blue driver of the LED.

KENY WHITRIGHT: If that is true, then gel could be used to get the deeper colors and maybe even save some energy./e

JUSTIN LANG: thanks! /e

JACOB COAKLEY: Anyone else have a question before I jump back in?

JACOB COAKLEY: 3…

JACOB COAKLEY: 2…

JUSTIN LANG: hand up

SUZI STEFFEN: Me too!

JACOB COAKLEY: go for it.

SUZI STEFFEN: Justin first

JUSTIN LANG: please, suzi, go first

JACOB COAKLEY: teh perils of courtesy. Suzi, go for it.

SUZI STEFFEN: Ha, OK, question - how much money do theaters save using LED lights, and how does it change the heat/costuming for actors?

SUZI STEFFEN: /e

KENY WHITRIGHT: We are doing a fair amount of work in that area as a help to our dealers in explaining where the benefits are.

SUZI STEFFEN: (Yeah, hard questions, I know)

KENY WHITRIGHT: The answer of course, is it depends. Without trying to be a wise ass,

KENY WHITRIGHT: The amount of time the fixtures are used changes the payback

KENY WHITRIGHT: but as a rule of thumb, the savings are divided into two parts,

KENY WHITRIGHT: fixture consumption and HVAC. The fixtures use about 3 times the amount that the HVAC does.

KENY WHITRIGHT: That surprised me when we learned about that.

SUZI STEFFEN: o.O yes. surprising.

KENY WHITRIGHT: As a concrete example, a casino that we surveyed could save $250K by changing out their decorative lighting system and replacing it with

KENY WHITRIGHT: 300 of our Cygnus Wash lights. They would get their money back in 3 years

KENY WHITRIGHT: and get another 4 years of $250K savings over the existing system.

KENY WHITRIGHT: However, they use the lights 24/7 /e

SUZI STEFFEN: Thanks, Keny!

JACOB COAKLEY: Justin?

JUSTIN LANG: here!

JACOB COAKLEY: take it away.

JUSTIN LANG: oh, question! ;-)

JUSTIN LANG: Will an LED profile meet or exceed the output and quality of light compared to what many consider the industry standard, the source four? If so, when?

KENY WHITRIGHT: Once again, it depends.

KENY WHITRIGHT: There is a lot of work and conversation about how to evaluate LEDs against conventional fixtures. None of it has come to an end yet.

KENY WHITRIGHT: You probably remember Don Holder at BLMC saying that LED fixtures are getting better all the time.

JACOB COAKLEY: (BLMC - Broadway Lighting Master Classes)

KENY WHITRIGHT: Obviously in white, LEDs are not up to the output of a S4

KENY WHITRIGHT: However, if you need color within the available gamut, then LED profiles can be a very good choice.

KENY WHITRIGHT: To completely replace a source 4, we are going to need the next level of performance from the LED manufacturers which they _promise_ is just around the corner. /e

JUSTIN LANG: I think my predecessors saying it all in regards to LED advancement, “ask me again tomorrow at 5pm” ;-)

JUSTIN LANG: /e

JACOB COAKLEY: I'm gonna jump in with a questionhere, b/c it kinda fits in.

JACOB COAKLEY: In regards to color and LEDs –

JACOB COAKLEY: You guys just released Cygnus Incite 375W Profile - a profile LED fixture, with color mixing.

JACOB COAKLEY: How much did you have to change teh way you though about color or manufacturing with that, seeing as its a different color generating paradigm?

KENY WHITRIGHT: That decision and change came before we released the wash lights 18 months ago.

KENY WHITRIGHT: The color part had to do with adding a white LED. The white gives a

KENY WHITRIGHT: continuous spectrum, not flat, but continuous. We believe that allows us to offer a product that can be used on people and costumes and scenery

KENY WHITRIGHT: and not just white walls.

KENY WHITRIGHT: The manufacturing part was already in place from our work with dichroic filters.

KENY WHITRIGHT: Besides incoming inpection on the filters, we had to add a color adjustment

KENY WHITRIGHT: process to the manufacturing steps. This allowed us to compensate

KENY WHITRIGHT: for the differences in etching of the filters. We have adapted this same idea

KENY WHITRIGHT: to the calibration of LEDs. /e

JUSTIN LANG: hand up

JACOB COAKLEY: go for it.

JUSTIN LANG: On Wybron’s website, (http://wybron.com/news/press_releases/2011/6-15-2011.html), it states, “…offers as much as 10x the brightness of competing fixtures.”

JUSTIN LANG: Which fixtures are you referencing?

MARC: I have yet to use color scrollers, which I understand you were the inventor. What is the noise factor of this item in a smaller theatre?

KENY WHITRIGHT: Some of the ones we have tested. /e

JACOB COAKLEY: :-) Let's move on to Marc's question.

KENY WHITRIGHT: There are several sources of noise from a scroller. The most constant is the fan. The fan is necessary to keep the gel as flat as possible.

KENY WHITRIGHT: If the gel starts to wrinkle it leads to the next source of noise which is krinkling of the gel as it rolls. The last and least is the noise of the transport. Modern motors and timing belt tooth profiles has made this less of a problem.

MARC: ok...and I've noticed that scrollers are usually changing colors during a blackout or scene change...so the rolling of colors sound would probably be acceptable??

KENY WHITRIGHT: Your best bet is to try some and see what the tricks are to minimizing the noise, what you mention is one of the ways to do that. /e

JACOB COAKLEY: WE're coming up on 45 minutes. Any last questions for Keny before we have to let him go?

JACOB COAKLEY: 3...

JACOB COAKLEY: 2…

JUSTIN LANG: hand up

JACOB COAKLEY: hit it.

KYLE BJORDHAL: Me too.

JUSTIN LANG: Can you gives us a glimps of the price on the ignite?

JUSTIN LANG: please ;-)

KENY WHITRIGHT: We anticipate the Incite 375 listing for $3,000. /e

JUSTIN LANG: thanks! /e

JACOB COAKLEY: Kyle - jump on in.

KYLE BJORDAHL: Keny, I was looking around the Wybron site, and noticed the Autopilot system

KYLE BJORDAHL: I hadn't ever heard of it, and was wondering if you could speak to it's popularity, as well as the various other, shall we call them, side products, that you have developed, such as the range of iOS apps?

KYLE BJORDAHL: /e

KENY WHITRIGHT: Autopilot has been my favorite product from a technology point of view. Its financial performance has been my least favorite.

JACOB COAKLEY: LOL!

KYLE BJORDAHL: haha, understandable

KYLE BJORDAHL: was it a pet project of yours?

KYLE BJORDAHL: e/

KENY WHITRIGHT: Perhaps my most favorite moment was going to a broadway show with the Bornhorsts and having Jim not realize until the interval, that Autopilot

KENY WHITRIGHT: was keeping Lily Tomlin in the spotlight, not manual operators.

KENY WHITRIGHT: Yes I wanted to do Autopilot from Sept of 1992. We actually showed a prototype of the product in November of that year. It ran Intellabeams and some Clay Paky lights and followed a Frisbee. /e

JACOB COAKLEY: A frisbee?

JACOB COAKLEY: That's pretty cool.

KYLE BJORDAHL: That's a pretty impressive follow

JACOB COAKLEY: Alright -- Keny, thank you so much for your time today!

KENY WHITRIGHT: Thanks to you and all the listeners.

JACOB COAKLEY: Is there a way people can contact you if htey have any follow-up questions?

KENY WHITRIGHT: Keny /e

KENY WHITRIGHT: My email is on our website, wybron.com and it is: keny@wybron.com /e

JACOB COAKLEY: Perfect!

JACOB COAKLEY: Thanks again, Keny, and thanks everyone for the great questions!

JACOB COAKLEY: I'll have the transcript posted soon for anyone who came in halfway!

KENY WHITRIGHT: TTFN /e