Patronaat is a live music venue in Haarlem, just outside capital city Amsterdam, and one of the music hotspots of the northern Netherlands, with two busy live performance halls and a small stage/club operating over weekend nights. Music fans can enjoy a lively mix of rock and pop shows, plus banging club nights as well as more diverse music-based festival events.

The venue has featured a Robe moving light rig in-house since 2012, which has been very successful and also upgraded in recent years to include some of the newest Robe technologies. The most recent addition to the inventory is 36 x TetraX 360-degree rotating LED battens to the inventory, which are primarily being used in the 950-capacity main hall. 

Head of lighting Robin van der Plas explained how they were initially looking at LEDBeam 350s, but then saw the TetraXs and thought they would be “something different, especially with the individual pixel control, which can be utilised very creatively.”

Twenty-four fixtures were initially ordered, but quickly upped to 36!

The TetraX has been developed by Robe from the Tetra1, complete with dynamic pan movement and very high-speed continuous rotation which together unlock a host of sweeping kinetic effects. Each of the 9 evenly spaced pixels in the Tetra bar generates an ultra-tight 4° beam which can be combined to produce a bright, clearly defined moving “sheet” of light which can look amazing, especially when used inventively. 

The LED’s homogenised beams and smooth 11:1 motorised zoom also create excellent washes out to 45°, so as well as being different, TetraX is a highly versatile luminaire.

“It’s just what we were looking for,” says Robin, adding that Patronaat is constantly looking at ways to offer clients the very best production values, satisfy all potential artist rider requirements and more. 

Robin likes the linearity of the TetraX. “They allow completely different pictures to be created due to their shape!”

Twenty-four are rigged in the roof above the main stage, with 6 flown above the audience and 6 available as part of a floor package. The 6 ‘floating’ fixtures are also often used in the second hall.

The venue stages over 300 shows a year, so reliability is high on the list when choosing any product. Thanks to their existing experiences with Robe which includes 36 x ESPRITES, together with Spiider LED wash beams and ParFect 150s, they knew that this was a given.

The TetraXs have been in use extensively since the start of the year as part of the main hall production lighting design created by Dimitri de Wal, who created the house lighting schemes for all three of Patronaat’s performance spaces. 

Visiting LDs and Patronaat’s own in-house operators are all enjoying them together with all the other technical facilities that Robin and the team strive to make as comprehensive as possible. A technical crew of 12 covers all departments – lighting, audio, and video – making sure that it’s always a pleasure for anyone working and playing there.

The TetraXs were delivered by Robe’s Benelux distributor, Controllux, with whom the venue enjoys a great partnership. Their account manager at Controllux is Maikel Sakkers, and Robin also stresses the importance of that relationship and having a strong and proactive local supplier.