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USA - Users and potential users of Symetrix SymNet modular audio mixing, routing and digital signal processing system now can experience even more precise and reliable control over large audio systems thanks to the new 3.0 update of the operating system and software.

This is the fourth upgrade since the product was introduced in August 2001. SymNet Designer 3.0 software, a PC-based package that allows CAD-style 'drag and drop' control over audio processing modules, now incorporates a new category labelled Control Modules. By selecting and combining the 50 tools included in the new module, users can exercise a greater degree of logical control over the system involving programming, simple or complex decision making, and processing sequential, triggered events.

With the addition o

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UK - The APRS starts its 2003 programme with a seminar co-hosted by the DTI for all manufacturers and service providers who are interested in exporting goods or attracting overseas clients to UK facilities.

The event, postponed last year because of the Tube strikes, has been re-scheduled and re-designed to provide a broader exploration of exporting in general with a special focus on the fast-expanding Indian and Chinese markets. India has the largest film industry in the world and a significant proportion of domestic producers are now looking to enhance their production values in the hope that more Indian-made films are viewed by western cinema audiences. In the past, India has proved to be a challenging market beset with tariff and other bureaucratic barriers, however the World Trade Organisation rules mean that tariffs will be removed by 2005 and so now is the time to establis

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UAE - The first installation of ETC's Obsession II lighting control console in the United Arab Emirates was completed in Emirates Media's Abu Dhabi TV when the studio upgraded its lighting equipment to prepare for the new game show Win Your Weight In Gold. An alternative take on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, the programme's top prize is determined by the individual contestant's weight!

The television station's technical team, supervised by Mohammad Refaie, head of Abu Dhabi TV's Lighting Unit, specified the technical requirements for the upgrade. "We needed a new console, capable of handling both conventional and moving lights," said Refaie. Oasis Enterprises, officially appointed ETC's regional distributor in October 2002, came up with the perfect solution to meet the brief, supplying and installing the 3000 channel Obsession II, together with ten Source Fours.

The

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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

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UK - Turbosound reports that its diminutive Impact 50 loudspeakers have been installed on Cardiff's Millennium Riverwalk, to provide audio replay facilities as part of an innovative arts project for the city's Chapter Arts Centre. Surviving gale force winds and driving rain, the 32 Impact 50 loudspeakers, which utilize injection-moulded enclosures, are mounted on the Riverwalk's suspension cables, and relay the sound of 5000 Calls - a large-scale sound performance by David Chesworth and Sonia Leber - to passers by.

The Impact 50 loudspeakers were installed by Cardiff-based Cynhyrchu Illicit Production, with the company's Giles Parbery providing overall project management, and were supplied through Dimension Audio of west London. The project represents the European première of 5000 Calls, with the work being replayed along the length of the Millennium Riverwalk, alongside Cardif

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UK - Following the success of Pop Idol and the Johnny Vaughan show, engineer Fred Jackson, of Jackson Post Ltd, was contracted by LWT to work on its latest musical success story, Pop Stars - the Rivals. Working in conjunction with TV sound suppliers Plus 4 Audio, Jackson invested in the latest technology from Klark Teknik, this time in the form of two Helix DN9340 digital equalizers.

Jackson explained that he needed more outboard equalization in addition to the qraphic equalizers on board the Yamaha DM2000, which is where the Helix devices came in. "I used two units on the primary mixes for the show," he said, "and was very pleased with them. Although Helix is a digital unit, the sound is consistent with all of the analogue units that KT has developed over the years.

"In the Pop Stars application I found the notch filters to be especially useful. Because Ri

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UK - Columbus McKinnon has announced the addition of Adrian Forbes-Black to its international sales team. Forbes-Black, who will be regional manager for Europe, was previously general manager at Tomcat UK, a distributor of Columbus McKinnon products. Ned Librock, vice-president of sales, commented: "The Lodestar chain hoist continues to be the theatrical market leader and we believe this appointment will further support our European distributors, customers and users."

Adrian will be based in the Wirral, UK and will be supported by Columbus McKinnon's UK and European-based subsidiaries.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Funtime Installations has been sold in a management buy-out headed up by Mark Parker, former installations manager of the company. After six years at the helm of the company, Jonathan Reece--Farren has taken the difficult decision to step down. "It has been a very exciting time," says Reece-Farren, "with our company experiencing amazing growth and development over the last six years, as well as industry recognition with the usual BEDA Awards nominations, and accolades for our various club and bar installations.

"Recent months have been busy - we were commissioned to supply all the sound and lighting for the PLASA 25th anniversary celebrations, which was a real honour, as well as full production for the 2002/2003 Theme Awards." Other recent credits include sound and lighting for the BEDA Awards party, and the BEDA Chairman's lunch, supplied on behalf

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UK - Following the membership vote at the end of 2002, PLASA has welcomed three new members to its executive committee - Andrew Bishop of Carlsbro Electronics, Steve Cole of Navica and Matthew Tonks of Stage Technologies. The subsequent internal election for the officer posts saw David Hopkins OBE, managing director of Audio Design Services, elected as PLASA chairman, while Sammy DeHavilland of Dare Pro Audio takes on the role of vice-chairman, and Tim Brown of Apple Sound replaces DeHavilland as PLASA treasurer.

The new places were made available by the departures of Paul de Ville of Lightfactor Sales, Nikki Scott of Stage Technologies and Tracey Patterson of Artistic Licence, all of whom decided not to stand for re-election. Mick Hannaford, who stepped down as PLASA chairman at the close of 2002 after three years in the chair, acknowledged the valuable contributions that all h

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UK - The Sound Division Group has recently supplied and installed a comprehensive sound and lighting system to the American Community School in Egham in Surrey based on a Crown-driven Nexo audio system complete with Martin projectors and a Selecon lighting rig.

The school, which educates over 550 students between the ages of 3-18 who come from all over the world took the decision to move drama production into the main sports hall and invest in a proper theatre-style sound and lighting system. Once the decision was made and the specification agreed, the whole installation was turned around in just two weeks.

Sound Division supplied and installed a total of four Nexo PS-15 loudspeakers which were flown from the lighting truss, and two PS-10 stage monitors plus the requisite TD controllers. The system was driven by a Crown MA3600VZ and a Crown MT2400 power amplifier. In addition

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UK - The McKenzie Group has appointed David Laing as general manager of the Glasgow Academy. He joins the team from Queen Margaret Union at the University of Glasgow, where he set up and headed the Entertainments Department. In just over four years, Laing successfully increased the number of live gigs at the University, as well as promoting a number of key dance events and club nights.

The 2,500 capacity Glasgow Academy is the latest sister venue to be added to the expanding list of McKenzie Group venues, namely Brixton Academy (London) Bristol Academy, Birmingham Academy and London's Shepherd's Bush Empire - famous for staging events as diverse as Madonna and the Rolling Stones. Glasgow Academy will launch in March this year, and to date has confirmed live shows with Massive Attack (April 8th & 9th), Inspiral Carpets (April 2nd) and Sugababes (March 28th).

The McKenzie Group

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Austria - L-Acoustics has appointed Audiosales as the new L-Acoustics distributor for Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Audiosales was established in 1984, and has its headquarter in Austria, while Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic are individually serviced by national Audiosales subsidiaries. Over the years, Audiosales has acquired a significant amount of experience within the pro audio market, and has become the sole distributor for many top brands.

Due to the wide variety of products that they distribute, Audiosales have become specialist in managing permanent installation projects and supplying rental companies alongside their more regular sales activities. Reinhard Brummer, Audiosales sales director, adds: "We can efficiently support all the technical demands from and to our customers, owing to a professional team of support engineers and

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UK - XLFX, the UK-based pyrotechnic manufacturer, has appointed Graham Thomas as sales executive. Thomas will concentrate on export sales and business development. "It's a great opportunity for me to re-establish contact with many old friends in the industry," comments Thomas. "The response that XLFX received from the new products at both PLASA and LDI has been overwhelming, the quality of the engineering and simplicity of operation make the XLFX pyro system extremely innovative."

Martin Blake of XLFX added: "We are delighted to have someone of Graham's calibre onboard; he has a wealth of experience in global sales and can develop a really customer-friendly approach to making the XLFX product range easily available worldwide." The company's new pyro factory will be fully operational by the summer of this year and control equipment shipments will com

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Spain - As the popularity of multi-functional cabinets increases with rental companies, HK Audio's T-Series model VT 115 X, has been enjoying steadily increasing international success. This 15"/2" cabinet can be used as a stand-alone system, as a mid/high unit together with HL 118 subwoofers, as a down-fill in conjunction with the R-Series touring system, or as a floor monitor (as during the last Deep Purple world tour or the most recent episodes of the BBC live show Later with Jools Holland).

The VT 115 X offers interesting features and well thought-out accessories that make it even more flexible and easier to use, such as a switch to select either passive or biamp mode, aeroquip flying tracks, M10 threads, suitable mounting yokes or HK Audio's own TripleTilt pole-mount adapter, which allows for three different mounting angles.

The most recent member of the V

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France - L-Acoustics has appointed Gauthier Dalle and Stéphane Ecalle as new regional sales managers. The appointment is part of L-Acoustics' strategy to further strengthen its regional support for customers. Dalle and Ecalle will report directly to Michel Brouard, the company's international sales director.

Now in charge of sales at L-Acoustics for South and Central Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Indian regions, Dalle brings 10 years sales experience to the role, the last five within the pro audio industry, most recently with Innovason. Ecalle, meanwhile, has nine years experience within the pro audio sector, formerly working for both Yamaha and BSS USA. He will be responsible for the North European, Russian, Balkan, and both Central and Latin American markets.

(Ruth Rossington)

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The Netherlands - Prolyte Products, a well-known manufacturer of high quality truss, will kick off the year 2003 with a stunning action. Under the name 'Axion X' Prolyte Products launches a permanent price reduction of 25% on the standard lengths and corners from the X30-series that will be effective from 1 February 2003.

Prolyte Products has always heavily invested in their production facilities. Through the years this investment was paid back in high quality trusses and an outstanding reputation for reliability and durability. Making the production process more efficient is a constant challenge, not only for the engineers, but for the welders as well. Based on these insights in the complete production process, Prolyte gained an enormous effectiveness by intelligent routing of the production line of standard truss from the X30 range.

After a period of intensive try-outs and t

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UK - The Gus and Sheila Dudgeon memorial gathering, which takes place on 31 January 2003 at London's Abbey Road Studios, will also provide a platform for the formation of The Gus Dudgeon Recording Arts Foundation.

Record producer Gus Dudgeon and his wife died suddenly in a tragic accident in July 2002. The Foundation established in his name aims to promote awareness and understanding of the technical craft - particularly in analogue recording - and musicality that made him a producer of such significance. The Foundation will primarily be an educational trust dedicated to teaching recording techniques to a variety of students. The focus of the Foundation will be Reading College, where a Gus Dudgeon studio has already been established using an MCI console and various other pieces of vintage analogue equipment which once belonged to Gus. Provisional trustees for the Foundation incl

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UK - Turbosound is making a major impact on Belfast's new nightspot, Skye, with 49 Turbosound loudspeakers installed as part of a highly specified sound system. The Turbosound line-up at Skye includes 16 Impact 80 enclosures, as well as various QLight models. Designed and installed by RG Design Light & Sound (Omagh, County Tyrone), Skye's sound system joins the growing ranks of clubs around the world that have taken advantage of the Qlight's attributes.

Colum O'Neill, RG Design's technical director, outlined the project: "Skye's entertainment manager, Eamon Beagon, came to see us with a requirement for a top-quality system, to tie in with the club's high-end image. He was interested in using a Turbosound-based system, as he had heard a number of our Turbosound installations in other clubs and had been impressed with the results. Due to space constraints, the design called f

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UK - Audient plc and LA Audio have announced the formation of a strategic alliance that will see the operations of the two companies merge in a new joint venture under the Audient plc umbrella. Audient has relocated to new headquarters at Herriard Park in North Hampshire, UK, to provide room for the newly enlarged enterprise and for planned future growth.

A new joint sales and marketing resource has been established, headed up by Luke Baldry as director of sales and marketing. Baldry was sales manager with Expotus plc, which had previously handled distribution management for both the Audient and LA Audio brands. Anne Liversidge and Neil Saunders, also formerly with Expotus, complete the core of the team with responsibilities for marketing and operations respectively.

Luke Baldry told us: "This is an exciting development for Audient and LA Audio. It will help us work more

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Germany - MA Lighting has introduced Version 4 software for its complete grandMA product range, further increasing functionality, user-friendly programming and reliability. Key features of the new Version 4 are multi-user environment, comprehensive networking, pocket PC wireless remote, new grandMA 3D functionality, World Pool and more.

With the multi-user functionality, up to10 consoles can be linked together on a network to control one show. Each console can operate its own independent screens, command line and hard drive archive, allowing multiple operators to work simultaneously with no need to merge their single show files together afterwards. Any console, replay-unit or offline PC of the grandMA family can be utilized as a multi-user client - only the master console determines the DMX channel count.

Multi-user is ideally combined with the new world pool to filter the dis

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UK - The award-winning music and sound company Audio Network has started the New Year with 'The European Seal of Excellence 2003' award - an annual award from the European Multimedia Forum distinguishing European multimedia companies with applications, services or technologies which are genuinely outstanding. Richard Field, of the East of England Multimedia Alliance, says: "Audio Network has made a major contribution to providing high quality original music and sound content for the multimedia industry."

Audio Network has been making significant waves in the television and film community with its revolutionary approach to music licensing. Bypassing the traditionally complex process of licensing music for the broadcast industry, Audio Network has written and recorded a catalogue of over 60 hours of cleared-for-use music. Producers pay a small one-off fee and all the mus

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Italy - Coemar has extended its 10-year relationship with Gardaland - Europe's second largest theme park - in northern Italy. Having supplied intelligent lighting to this year's new feature, Fantasy Kingdom, Coemar has fabricated a customized outdoor Christmas lighting spectacular for their Prezzemolo festival. Both the great tree of Prezzemolo, based on a famous children's comic strip, and the new Fantasy on Ice - a musical fable entirely performed on ice - will be lit exclusively by Coemar fixtures.

The Christmas decorations for the Prezzemolo tree were specially developed by Coemar's Mauro Favalli, and the display consists of 400m of small Christmas lights, brought to life with four Antari snow machines (also distributed in Italy by Coemar). In the Ice Stadium, the ice rink is now lit with 16 Coemar iSpot 575s and several Panorama Cyc Power units - fitted with twin 575

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