Definition
A strobe is a star whose combustion is not continuous but oscillating: the composition, based on ammonium sulphate or barium nitrate and magnalium, goes out and reignites several times a second, producing very brief white, silver or coloured flashes. In a 75 to 200 mm shell, a crown of strobes forms a sphere of points that twinkle chaotically, a “stroboscopic” effect at once silent and spectacular; in a cake, the tubes send up clusters of strobes lasting four to eight seconds. On the ground, strobe pots burn 20 to 60 seconds in repeated flashes and serve as markers or a carpet of light. Coloured strobes, red, green or blue, are harder to manufacture than white and remain rarer.
In practice, for the display company
Strobe is used as a breath between two loud sequences, or as a ground carpet during a musical solo; it spares the audience's ears and the module's cues. PyroDesk files it among the silent effects, and PyroSimulator reproduces the flicker at the right frequency, which is easier to judge on screen than in a catalogue.