Fast and Intuitive

Versatile

Distinctive

Dustin Derry, Stonewolf Studios

"This is EXACTLY what I wanted from a DMX/Artnet laser device. Artnet/RDM/DMX built in and work out of the box. The device features a small LCD screen GUI with a smooth interface, multiple control modes, ease of setup, and the hardware itself is rock solid.

Even in Mercury's basic mode, the LD finds a VERY robust set of tools at their fingertips and over 400 preloaded graphics, which X-Laser very aptly refers to as Gobos in this instance. So if you think about a Mercury laser in that context, adding it to your workflow is incredibly natural. At that point it is another device that has parameters to manipulate and that's all there really is to it... what you do with those parameters is up to you.

Moving a little deeper into the Mercury, an LD finds not only basics like color, position, and basic 'effects' like rotations but also finds that each unit has 4 'builders' in it, that each think like their own device to be layered on top with. (Yes there are scan rate limitations, but as a laserist, you knew that already and know how to cope with it). You can very easily think of each Mercury as a media server of sorts. The builders each have all 400 gobos at their disposal and have controls similar that smacks of the old school Analogue controllers, which if you've never been on are a riot to work with.

To top it off there is the color engine, which has a few very slick features up it sleeve like color gradients and bars and a secondary color picker to help layer things in seamlessly. I still have some work to do in sussing out how best to use this in my world... but all things in time.

Adam Raugh and the entire X-Laser team have been nothing short of amazing and accommodating hosts... and their new product is pretty awesome to boot. On a personal note, I cannot tell you how amazing, as a designer and community member, it is to have a manufacturer openly receptive to not only praise of the new product, but also constructive criticism and feature requests as well."

Drew Hornback, DH Designs

Before working with X-Laser, I had never run any types of lasers. I have been a touring LD for 10 years and had always hated working with lasers because it meant I had to share the vision I had for a song and try to have the laser programmer match my vision.

I started working with X-Laser on the project to give them an LD perspective. The first time I got my hands on a unit was LDI when I flew out to program for the X-Laser booth. I didn’t know all the terminology or how the internal laser components worked. All I knew is I wanted a certain look and when I did the same steps as I would with a moving light; the laser outputted the exact look I wanted. I then started to mess around with Wave Effects, Color Gradients, and Motion effects to find that this laser added so much potential to my ideas. I had never even imagined the looks I was getting from these lasers. At that point, my mind had been completely flipped and I said I would never push lasers away from a show ever again. I’m completely sold on using these units on everything I do. I’m excited to take these units on tour this touring season when I hit the road this summer. Thanks for the incredible people at X-Laser for giving me the opportunity to use these systems and really fall in love with lasers.