Europe - Trussing, staging and hoists manufacturer Prolyte has been acquired by Area Four Industries.
The news of the acquisition comes shortly after Prolyte filed for bankruptcy. Prolyte will retain its brand identity but will undergo a management, production and strategic reorganisation.
František Zykan, CEO of Area Four Industries, comments: “We will invest in the development of Prolyte as a brand, as well as in new ideas and products. Our current partners remain equally important for us. I trust that in two years, Prolyte will be number one in customer satisfaction.”
Founded in 1991 and headquartered in the Netherlands, Prolyte has an office and warehouse in the USA, an Asian office and factory in Guangzhou, China, and a European warehouse in Germany. Its

Property Moves - An immersive Monopoly experience is the first show to be announced under a new partnership between Selladoor Worldwide and games company Hasbro Inc. The collaboration will see the theatre company and Hasbro adapt more boardgames into live experiences in the future. While further productions have not yet been confirmed, other boardgames in Hasbro’s portfolio include Cluedo, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Twister and Operation.
Monopoly will run at a location in London which is yet to be announced in 2020. The experience will include a 75-minute segment where teams will compete to win tasks in order to move along the board, buy properties, and attempt to win the game. Features from the game including famous London landmarks, chance, community chest and jail will all be “brought to life” in a space that will also f

UK - Audiologic has promoted David Smith to the position of senior business manager, completing a management restructure recently instigated by MD, Andy Lewis.
Smith, who previously served as business development manager, will now take responsibility for the day-to-day management of the company’s external sales team, providing “a clearly defined link to the directors, whilst retaining some hands-on sales accounts”.
Lewis comments: “In the time Dave has been with us he’s clearly demonstrated what an excellent operator he is. His knowledge of the industry is second to none and his management experience in previous roles has equipped him with all the skills necessary to run a cohesive and effective team. We’ve enjoyed significant growth in recent years and it’s vital that we establish a robust and dynamic management structure to meet the challenges ahead. D
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Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

Europe - By leveraging the advanced technology of the Route66 from its associate company BroaMan, Optocore has not only been able to develop the AutoRouter intelligent patchbay - which offers similar functionality - but has been steadily exploiting the market segments in which the Optocore brand has greatest recognition.
“The Optocore AutoRouter automatically creates a redundant star out of ring topology, offering automatic routing of DiGiCo, Yamaha and Avid loops when thus connected,” states Maciek Janiszewski, who serves as technical sales manager for both companies. “It is the extremely close relationship that exists between Optocore and BroaMan - including a sharing of technical resources and expertise - that has enabled this to happen.”
The Optocore AutoRouter is designed for audio systems, mainly in installation markets such as theatre, while BroaMan’s

USA - Chauvet Professional has expanded its popular F Series LED panels to offer solutions for a wider range of applications with the introduction of two new products: the F2 2.9 mm pixel pitch panel and F5 IP, an outdoor rated 5.9 mm pixel pitch outdoor rated panel.
The highest resolution panel ever offered by Chauvet Professional, the slim-bodied F2 is designed for applications where crystal sharp clarity is essential from any viewing angle, even at distances as close as 7.5ft. Its black bodied LEDs, reproduce video at 14-bit grayscale, operating on an A5s Novastar card, to result in very clear and realistic displays of even the most detailed content. (An 18-bit Novastar card can also be used.)
High performance digital LED drivers in the F2 deliver an impressive 3840Hz refresh rate for flicker free images, while a maximum illuminance of just under 1,500 NITS ensures

UK - disguise studio partner and workflow specialists, Bild Studios has invested in the new gx 2c hardware.
Bild is a London-based visual engineering studio with credits including the opening ceremony for the Pakistan Super League, where 50 minutes of AR graphics replaced traditional pre-rendered content that usually is mapped onto projection surfaces or LED screens inside the venue.
Founders David Bajt and Rowan Pitts have been working with disguise for over 10 years, delivering hundreds of software training sessions globally, while also using the technology on some of their most ambitious projects.
“We've always put a lot of effort and detail into the pre-production, where precise system designs and creative content workflows are developed. We see ourselves living in the great world between tech and cutting-edge visual design, advising people and companies fr

UK - Lighting designer Elliot Baines of Spiralstagelighting utilised Prolights Panorama IP Airbeam moving beam and Panorama IP WBX wash lights to raise the roof for DJ sets on the main stage in the Metropolis district of Boomtown – one of the UK’s largest independent festivals.
Held for five days at the scenic Matterley bowl estate in Hampshire, the 66,000 capacity event fuses “immersive theatre and arts with a global, genre-spanning music bill”. During the festival, its 14 fully immersive districts come together as a fictitious city with its own story narrative.
In the futuristic Metropolis district, the main Pagoda Plaza outdoor stage’s eclectic global bill included US house DJ, Kenny Dope, techno from Dr Rubenstein, retro house grooves from Sally C, electronica from Horse Meat Disco, and soulful disco from The 2 Bears.
For Elliot’s lighting design

South Africa - With limited funds available for festivals in South Africa, it takes people who are able to give of their time and resources to keep the arts alive and to support the organizers who so tirelessly give of themselves. One such individual, is Brandon Bunyan of Black Coffee, a Durban-based technical supply company. Black Coffee is the main technical sponsor of The Hilton Arts Festival.
This year, the show was hosted from 13 to 15 September at Hilton College in KwaZulu Natal. In the early days Bunyan worked on the event as a young technician and for the past 16 years, Black Coffee has sponsored gear and technicians to the Hilton Arts Festival which has grown from one to eight performance art display venues, making it the second largest festival in the country.
“I first became involved because of my passion for theatre, to keep in the theatre game as a mark

UK - Martin Audio has announced the first sale of its new Wavefront Precision WPS array into the rental community. The 8” ultra-compact system -featuring scalable resolution optimisation technology - met the requirements of its premier partner, Capital Sound, and has gone out on Eddie Izzard’s UK and Ireland tour.
Izzard has toured with Martin Audio PAs on many occasions in the past, but it was his sound engineer Alan Behr, a fan of the Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA) technology on which it is based, who had requested the brand.
However, looking at the tour itinerary, Capital realised that while some venues would require the comedian to play through existing house systems, in others the restricted rigging and loading points would preclude the hanging of heavy incoming rigs.
Capital account manager Robin Conway comments: “We had to look at lighter opt

UAE - Protec recently took delivery of the first Outline Newton in the region. Newton product specialist Middle East Luca Gianni helped to organise a demo in the field during an event in KSA and hosted a complete in-depth training course exclusively dedicated to Protec technicians, to ensure that the new processor’s possibilities were exploited to the utmost and the team was able to make the best possible use of its great processing capacity and versatility.
Tim Allison, head of Protec’s audio department, stated that the Newton processor would be put to use on large-scale events in the UAE and KSA, and continued, “I envisage the Newton as an integral part of all our FOH main processing racks.”
Luca Gianni confirms: “The Protec team is highly qualified and will definitely make the very most of the Newton, thus increasing the company’s in the field and part

Italy - Holoplot’s audio solutions are now available through partner company Leading Technologies, the immersive sound specialist has announced.
Founded in 1978, Monza-based Leading Technologies is a pro AV specialist with decades of experience in sectors including theatre, concert arenas and retail.
Leading Technologies has spent time over the last few months becoming familiar with the benefits of Holoplot systems, and a team from the company attended a three-day training event at Holoplot’s Berlin base.
Danilo Meroni, live division manager and audio technical support, and Mauro Lavazza, installation division manager, at Leading Technologies, described the training event as “wonderful” and said that their team was delighted to encounter “very knowledgeable technical and commercial staff, and to have the chance to explore the potential and technical cap

USA - Multiple EMMY Award-winning lighting designer Bob Barnhart chose 80 VL2600 Profile luminaires from Vari-Lite as his “workhorse” tool for the 16th season of Fox’s popular TV show, So You Think You Can Dance. The new LED fixtures helped Barnhart to deliver an endless variety of looks in the tightest of time-frames.
Produced by 19 Entertainment, Dick Clark Productions and Conrad Sewell Productions, the show sees around 900 dancers compete to be declared “America's favourite dancer”. During the show’s final stages Barnhart needed to light almost 80 dances, usually with just 20 minutes available to decide each different design.
“The challenge is keeping the different looks fresh, so we try to use lighting equipment that can do a wide variety of things,” says Barnhart. “A ‘workhorse’ in this situation is much more valuable to me than a ‘o

Egypt - Green Hippo reports that its Hippotizer Media Servers are driving a range of custom high-resolution displays at the newly renovated Panorama 6th October Museum in Cairo, which commemorates the 6 October War of 1973.
Using Hippotizer’s advanced mapping capabilities and flexible third-party integration options, local AV specialist Audio Technology was able to meet the many challenge of this complex installation, which includes custom HD projection mapping solutions in three interior halls, as well as on the outside of the building itself. The museum is now able to pursue its educational remit with a full-day entertainment program which brings the history of this troubled period back to vivid life for audiences of all ages.
The building’s exterior is the projection surface for 4k resolution content, mapped and fed to six high-power 30,000 lumen laser projector

Italy - One hundred Claypaky Xtylos units were used to create the Il colore del suono (the colour of sound) lighting rig, conceived by the Giò Forma studio and created in conjunction with Claypaky's lighting designer Marco Zucchinali.
The installation was put together for the Jova Beach Party on the runway of Milan Linate airport, which has been closed since July for major refurbishment works. The event was the final stage of Jovanotti's tour of the beaches of Italy. It saw over 100,000 people attend over eight hours of music with various guests, and culminated in a concert by Jovanotti himself, Italy's most loved rap singer-songwriter.
Claudio Santucci from Giò Forma reports: “It all started with Jovanotti's and the creative team's request to have a light installation which could be seen from afar. I went to the Claypaky showroom to see their new light, th

UK - New research, carried out by Bournemouth University for the Events Industry Forum, has revealed that outdoor events have been much undervalued for the contribution they make to the UK economy, both locally and nationally, with a Gross Value of over £30 billion and providing employment for some 589,000 people.
The research, funded by sales of the Purple Guide, is thought to be the first comprehensive study of the market to be undertaken. Its findings were introduced to key industry players at an event at the House of Commons on 24 October.
In 2018, the year which was the focus of the study, over 140 million people attended outdoor events according to the researchers, ranging from music festivals to fairs and steam rallies. The good news for the industry is that 84% of those attendees were satisfied with the way events are run, and the majority of interviewees fe

Europe - Belgium-based entertainment technology engineering and automation specialist WIcreations has acquired the assets of Swedish advanced technology manufacturer, Visual act Scandinavia AB, effective immediately.
The terms of the deal include all the IP, source coding, patents, etc., related to Visual act’s computerised control systems designed for all types of automated machinery - on, over or below the stage - for events, installations and venues.
The move makes independently owned and operated WIcreations the largest automation rental provider in Europe.
Hans Willems, CEO of WIcreations, comments: “This hugely exciting opportunity will assist our planned medium-term growth and allow us to develop even more dynamic and all-encompassing automation solutions for a wider range of clients, including full touring packages.
“WIcreations has been usin

Germany - Genelec has opened an Experience Centre in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz.
The new demonstration facility features a 27sq.m ‘listening room’ and allows the company to showcase its range of studio monitors and AV and home audio loudspeakers.
This is Genelec’s third Experience Centre, joining existing facilities in London and Bangalore. It will be overseen by Genelec’s regional business development manager, Eric Horstmann.
“We’ve set out to create the perfect independent listening environment for end-users,” comments Horstmann, “and Genelec resellers in both Germany and the surrounding regions, so whether it’s for demonstrations, training, regional launches or special events, the Berlin Experience Centre will become a major hub for Genelec activity in mainland Europe - and will support the efforts of our distributors and resellers in a very

Europe - Nexo’s Celso Papadopulos has moved into the role of European sales manager. Papadopulos has been part of Nexo’s sales team since 2003 as LATAM sales manager, tasked with building the company’s export network and sales in Mexico, Central and Latin America. His first task as Europe sales manager will be the development of Nexo’s European commercial department following the departure of Alain Boone.
Papadopulos comments: “It’s a new challenge, and challenge renews life,” says Celso. “In South America, I was working in many different countries with different cultures, so I recognise that every place offers new opportunity. he skills of distributors are critical to our success, and I hope to boost our outstanding network to achieve great things, drawing on my own wide-ranging background in both of NEXO’s main markets, touring and fixed installation.”

Europe - Green Voltage has launched VOLTstack, a new range of portable, battery powered, silent generator units.
Designed and developed specifically to address the demand for environmentally-conscious power within the film and TV industry, VOLTstack provides crews with easy access to clean, reliable, silent power. Completely emission-free and with an IP54 rating, the VOLTstack range includes a number of highly capable power units in a selection of sizes, from 2kW and 5kW to 13kW and 200kW variants. With a rapid charge time of just 2.5 hours and available with a solar panel recharge option, the systems’ continuous power delivery is enough to handle almost any temporary application, says the company. Units can be series linked to provide for extended operating times and the system is IP54-rated (protected against dust ingress).
David Sinfield, gaffer on Alladin

Europe - City Theatrical has expanded its Pathway Connectivity product offering in Europe with five products now offering SixEye cloud-based remote management.
The expansion includes three Pathport DMX/RDM Ethernet Gateways - the Pathport Quattro, Pathport Octo, and Pathport 4-Port Gateway - as well as VIA16 PoE Ethernet Switches and Vignette Controllers, which can now be managed and monitored securely from anywhere in the world using a PC or smartphone.
Pathway products extend the functionality of DMX control, and have created the next generation of lighting networks with open system products that harness the power and convenience of Ethernet to create spectacular visual experiences for live audiences worldwide, says City Theatrical. The integration of SixEye cloudbased remote management provides users with secure access to monitor state, uptime, port status and othe

USA - Harman Professional Solutions has introduced CloudworX Manager, the first application from its cloud-based CloudworX software.
CloudworX Manager is a browser-based (available from www.cloudworx.harman.com) utility that unifies the configuration, deployment and monitoring of Harman professional audio, video, control and lighting systems. Initial supported devices include the AMX by Harman Acendo Core meeting space collaboration system as well as AMX Acendo Book scheduling touch panels.
Key features include support for private or single sign-on accounts; sorting, filtering and searching of discovered devices; simultaneous configuration of like or unlike devices; simple connection of local installations using CloudworX Gateway software; device firmware management; and template creation and deployment.
Future applications are being developed to offer addition

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