Quasar Science Launches Free starCTRL App for Rainbow Series

Lighting News

by Francesco AndreolaJanuary 23^rd, 2023

Quasar Science has just released an iPhone and iPad app, called starCTRL, to wirelessly control their Rainbow series linear LED lights. The app is free to download and allows users to adjust settings, manage presets and lighting effects, and arrange fixtures into groups by simply using their fingertips.

Nowadays, almost every lighting fixture comes with a first-party companion smartphone app that enables users to remotely adjust settings on the fly. Indeed, although lighting consoles and advanced protocols, such as DMX, have their own justification for existing for high-end applications, nothing compares to the intuitiveness and speed of touch control.

Videndum-owned lighting company Quasar Science has a razor-sharp focus on producing linear LED fixtures, such as the Rainbow 2 and Double Rainbow lights (our review here). These were recently complemented with new dedicated accessories and, finally, now a free app for smart devices is also available. So let’s take a closer look!

Quasar Science starCTRL app for Rainbow series: features

The new Quasar Science startCTRL app is compatible with Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices. When the lights are set to starCTRL Mode, the app automatically connects via Bluetooth and allows you to control up to 7 fixtures at once. Unfortunately, there’s currently no word on an Android version of the app.

Upon launching starCTRL, there are 3 tabs at the bottom of the main UI:

• the Control tab lets you adjust fundamental settings such as intensity, color temperature, green/magenta tint, hue, saturation and output (High/Normal/Low);
• the Presets tab grants access to a set of pre-configured colors, while allowing you to create and save your own presets;
• lastly, the FX tab provides a selection of built-in lighting effects, that can be customized to your liking.

Moreover, the app allows you to arrange lights into groups in order to control multiple fixtures simultaneously. Lastly, you can adjust intensity and speed settings within the app to create lighting animations.

Price and availability

The new Quasar Science starCTRL app is now available to download free of charge from Apple’s App Store. For the app to connect to your Rainbow lights, you need to make sure that the fixtures are updated to the latest firmware (v0.8). The firmware is also free and can be downloaded from the manufacturer’s website here.

Have you ever used Quasar Science’s Rainbow light tubes on set? What do you think of the new starCTRL app? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!