Earlier this year we were contacted by Mega-Lite, an intelligent lighting hardware and software company out of San Antonio, Texas. Mega manufactures lighting, LED, and audio products right here in the US, and were interested in OEMing a MIDI/DMX controller for use with their Enlighten DMX software. We OEM hardware controllers to a number of companies, but this was the first DMX controller we have designed, and it were really excited to have the opportunity to create one. We worked with their software division to create a control surface that gives lighting designers the physical controls they need to control lights at a fraction of the cost of using large dedicated hardware like the GrandMA. The result is the Mega Enlighten Wing, a comprehensive and portable control surface for stage lighting. Using this system give you the flexibility of a portable computer based system, with the power of a full lighting rig. You can literally carry this system with you to multiple locations, something you just can’t do with bulky hardware only systems.

We are also able to proudly provide this technology to a “Made in the USA, Made in Texas” company with the same tagline. The Enlighten Wing was developed, designed, and manufactured right here in Austin, TX. It’s a beautiful controller made from anodized aluminum with faders, encoders, jog wheels, and LED backlight buttons. It has USB, MIDI, and DMX connections. Mega-Lite is a company to keep your eye on, I think this controller with their software will revolutionize the professional lighting market.

Crumley New York saw that we know what to do with a piece of wood, and asked us to do a new line of high-end jewelry. Founder Brian Crumley just located an office here in Austin, TX , and premiered his new designs on the runways of New York during fashion week. Now they’ve made to the cover of Numero on the wrists of Giselle Bundchen: nice work Brian!

From Travis’s email (he’ll start posting on his own some day – sometimes it’s just easier if I do it, cuz you can’t blog from a pick and place [yet]!)

“The designs started out as paper templates that I converted to CAD drawings. After playing around with the shapes in virtual 3d space, we then converted the CAD designs to tool paths for the CNC machine. As an Instrument maker for almost a decade, I had an excess of small scrap pieces of exotic wood laying around. As a bit of a wood monger, I can’t even toss a piece of 4″ sq. piece of coco bolo. I figure that tree spent a lot of time growing and I might as well make something beautiful out of it. Crumley’s jewelry is the perfect use.”

The pieces are milled, rough sanded, then fine sanded by hand. The finish is a four step process of two or three coats at a time with wet sanding in between. The result is a high-gloss jewelry piece made out of exotic hardwoods.