Michael Van Marel.
Founder and lead designer of Matrix Digital Systems. Two decades designing and programming residential audio-video, lighting, and automation systems — now with studios in Fountain Valley, California and Austin, Texas.
A small studio, built on purpose.
Michael founded Matrix Digital Systems in 2003 and has run it as a small, founder-led studio ever since. The decision to stay small was deliberate: it keeps design ownership of every project in the same hands that program the control system and calibrate the rooms. Clients work with the same principal from the first walkthrough through year-five service.
The work is exclusively residential. The California studio at 10925 Kalama River Ave. in Fountain Valley serves Orange County, the Los Angeles basin, San Diego, and the wider Southern California coast under CSLB License #1143345. In 2026 the studio opened a Central Texas location in Austin to serve luxury projects across the Hill Country and Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.
Michael writes production Crestron Home extension drivers in C# using the SimplSharp SDK — device drivers most integrators consume off the shelf. That firsthand platform work informs every architectural choice the studio makes.
Designer, programmer, integrator.
On any given project, Michael leads the system design — room-by-room engineering, low-voltage scoping, equipment selection, and rack architecture — and personally programs the Crestron Home, Savant, or Lutron backbone that runs the house. The studio's draftspeople, technicians, and field staff carry the work into the field; the design and the logic stay with him.
This is the difference between the studio and a traditional dealer. There is no sales engineer handing a spec to a programmer handing a finished file to a service tech who has never met the client. The person who scopes the project is the person who programs it.
Where the work is concentrated.
Two decades of programming residential systems in Southern California has narrowed the practice to a focused set of platforms and disciplines.
- Crestron Home design and programming
- Savant residential automation
- Josh.ai voice control integration
- Lutron RadioRA 3, QSX, and HomeWorks lighting
- Kaleidescape movie systems
- Reference-grade home theater design and calibration
- Whole-home audio across Sonos, Sonance, and high-resolution distributed audio
- Motorized shades across Lutron, Crestron, Hunter Douglas, QMotion, and Hartmann & Forbes
- Residential network infrastructure and security
- Surveillance and access control integration
- Rack and equipment-closet architecture
- Multi-property system federation and remote service
A house should not apologize for its technology.
The most successful residential systems are the ones the household stops thinking about. The technology is in the walls, the rack, and the cloud — and the only thing the family touches is a keypad that does the right thing or a voice command that is understood the first time.
That outcome is not a function of brand. It is a function of design and programming discipline: scoping the system the room needs rather than the room a system can accommodate, writing logic that anticipates how the household actually lives, and being the team that picks up the phone when something needs adjusting in year four.
The studio does not lead with a platform recommendation. It leads with a walkthrough and a conversation about the household. The platform falls out of those facts.
Certified on the platforms we specify.
Matrix Digital Systems is a CEDIA Member, Crestron Authorized Dealer, Josh.ai Certified Integrator, Lutron Authorized Dealer, Kaleidescape Dealer, Sonance Reference Dealer, and ProSource member. California CSLB License #1143345.
-
LicenseCalifornia CSLB #1143345
Issued by the California Contractors State License Board. Applies to all California work.
-
CertificationCrestron Authorized Dealer & Programmer
Full Crestron Home dealer status plus programming credentials. Custom driver development in C#/SimplSharp SDK.
-
CertificationJosh.ai Certified Integrator
Josh.ai voice control platform — the studio's default voice layer for residential automation.
-
CertificationLutron Authorized Dealer
Homeworks QSX, RA3, Ketra tunable-white, and Palladiom keypads across both markets.
-
MembershipCEDIA Member
Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association — the industry body for residential technology integrators.
-
Buying GroupProSource Member
Direct dealer relationships with Sonance, Kaleidescape, Bowers & Wilkins, Focal, KEF, and other reference-tier brands.
Selected entries from the Journal.
Field notes on residential systems — written from the studio.
Crestron, Savant, or Josh.ai?
A balanced comparison and a decision framework by project type.
Read →When a touch panel actually makes sense.
The most powerful control surface in a smart home — and the most over-specified.
Read →The right moment to bring in the integrator.
A house that hides its technology versus one that apologizes for it.
Read →Most projects start with a walkthrough.
If you are considering a project — new construction, retrofit, or service — the most useful first step is a walkthrough of the house, the blueprints, or the early-stage ideas. There is no charge for this.
Connect on LinkedIn.