UK - InnovaSON's Sy80 digital console made its Asian debut at Pala 2004, held in Kuala Lumpur in July. The console was being shown by Singapore-based Electro-System Industries, which was appointed at Frankfurt Prolight & Sound in April as sole distributor for the French manufacturer for Singapore and Malaysia, and the stand attracted a steady stream of visitors keen to attend a demo of the Sy80.

"It was an extremely busy show for us, with lots of interest in the console," says Electro-Systems director James Yeung. "We're expecting to close the first sale - which came as a direct result of showing the Sy80 at Pala - very soon, and are looking forward to establishing InnovaSON as a leading brand in the region."

Designed for live sound, fixed installations and

USA - Club V20 is getting incredible reactions from crowds with their recent installation of four High End Systems DL1 digital light fixtures (equipped with Digital Eye Technology) and a Catalyst Pro v3.0 Media Server. Digital Eye Technology is an optional feature for DL1. Having a Digital Eye inside DL1's moving yoke allows the user to capture action from different and unusual angles where conventional cameras plus the cameraman cannot operate, or where a camera setup would normally be obtrusive to the view.

Tony Mirador is the LD of the light show and senior designer of the sound and video system for the night spot, located at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, CA. He's also president of Akroz Professional, AKA The DJ Store Inc., the company responsible for the install. Says Mirador, "The DL1s are situated over the dance floor on the outer perimeter. The DL1s are also mounted

UK - Hebden Sound was originally created by Keith Ming in 1994 from the foundations of Calrec Audio, a name once synonymous with high-end microphone production and a long-standing tradition for producing high quality microphones aimed at the professional audio market.

Calrec had made the decision to concentrate on the development of its mixing console business leaving a gap in the market, which Ming sought to fill. Under a licensing agreement with Calrec he continued to build the microphones as Hebden Sound.

Sadly he passed away in 2000 and the company became available to interested parties and was ultimately taken over by the former head of microphones at Calrec Audio, David Anderson, an acoustic consultant with a wealth of experience and a long standing reputation for his meticulous approach. He decided to further develop Hebden Sound by re-working the package significantly.

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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

UK - Projecta, a leading manufacturer of professional projection screens and presentation equipment, is introducing a new range of stands designed to accommodate plasma screens. The new stands position the plasma screens at perfect viewing height, and also help to protect the screens. The range consists of three models: SolidStand, ClassicStand and Plasma Wallbracket, all designed for this typical purpose.

Projecta SolidStand is an elegantly designed stand equipped with a universal mounting plate, allowing quick and easy placement or removal of plasma screens. It is built around a stable wheeled frame and can accommodate screens measuring up to 42" (107cm) diagonally. The centre of the plasma screen is located at 150cm height and the screen can be tilted some 10°. It features a hidden cable through the stand and a socket that is accessible from the back of the frame which

UK - Vestax will introduce its latest DJ CD player, the CDX-05 at PLASA 2004. Aimed at DJs, clubs, installers and hire companies, the CDX-05 is a single desk-top front-loading CD player suitable for all styles of DJ, say Vestax. Features include a wide pitch range (+/-6, 10, 50 or 100%), BPM-syncable effects, vinyl-emulation filter, sampler with loop facility and three assignable cue points with memory. The unit also has scratch play, with an additional TT-M1 input link socket allowing control of the CD from any turntable.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - Out Board's CM-Series chain hoist controllers have recently found new customers in the concert touring industry, featuring on the rigging of state-of-the-art line array PA systems for several major acts this summer. London-based Capital Sound have bought a pair of CM6 six-channel controllers with remote handcontrollers, plus a quantity of C-Form splitter boxes to mount on the PA flybars. Specified by Capital's technical manager, Ross Anderson, the CM6s are handling multiple hangs of the company's unique hybrid line array system, comprising Meyer MILO mid-high boxes and Martin Audio W8LS low cabinets, which have been out for most of the summer on Dido's European tour.

Global Rigging's Oz Marsh purchased two CM12 12-channel controllers, also with remote handsets and truss-mounting splitter boxes, to support Concert Sound on recent international tours by Eric Clapton and Lenni

UK - APR Audio has provided a complete integrated stage and front-of-house sound system for Swansea's very own Party in the Park, which attracted 15,000 people. APR Audio has already built up a substantial track record as Europe's largest dry-hire source of Electro-Voice branded sound reinforcement systems, and this was one of the first large events to be serviced under the APR banner.

Based in south-west England, APR Audio entered the pro-audio rental sector in some style in 2002, purchasing a substantial inventory of EV X-Line, X-Array and XLC system hardware, complete with the latest remote controlled amplifiers and Midas consoles. Owner Andy Reed has been steadily expanding the company's horizons, first with the move into dry-hire in continental Europe, and now to the independent provision of PA services for significant events in their local region.

Typical of these was th

UK - Knebworth Park was the venue for this year's Red Bull summer event - the Soap Box Derby. Following last summer's highly successful show in Hyde Park - the Flugtag, where competitors constructed homemade flying machines in order to take part in the competition - this year's challenge was to build karts which could complete a downhill racetrack in record time.

Themed karts were the order of the day, with ideas including vampires, trifles, The Flintstones, hotdogs, snails and countless others. The winners, 'The Volvet Underground', triumphed as they glided past the finish line claiming first place position in their vole-mouse themed kart. SSE provided a Nexo Geo T system for the event. The mix was handled digitally using an Innovason Compact Live SY40.

SSE Director Chris Beale commented: "Everyone had a great time. The weather was hot and so were the drivers! The Geo T

UK - Spirit Design Limited has appointed James Hamilton to its design team. Hamilton, who has been living abroad for the past two years, joins the company as a lighting designer. After graduating from Croydon College School Of Art, he was employed at Midnight Design for a number of years, and then worked freelance as an LD for two years before going to the Far East, where he hosted discussions on lighting design in Kuala Lumpur for a performing arts seminar, and worked with Chameleon Touring Systems in Sydney, Australia where he worked on the Rugby World Cup opening ceremony, amongst other events.

(Lee Baldock)

Italy - Studio Due has announced that its new Photowall projection system is now in full production, offering high quality film-based scenographic projection. Using an 1200W HMI lamp, it reproduces photographs (minimum 10, maximum 90, 6x7 size), exposed on a special film.

There are two available options for film scrolling: by index (feed from image to image with no intermediate position) or in free mode - by moving the corresponding DMX channel. Scrolling is bi-directional and the speed is fully adjustable. The design of the spools, combined with the highly efficient ventilating system, protect the film from heat damage, even during prolonged use, say the company, while shutter and mechanical dimmer are also included. Furthermore, Photowall is designed to automatically adjust the power of the light beam in case of dark images, in order to protect the film from damage.

Furtherm

Russia - Currently the chain hoists and chain hoist controllers of ChainMaster of Eilenburg in Saxony are in demand all over the world, the company reports, with further successes in Russia underlining the trend: first it was the Kremlin, where 35 BGV-C1 chain hoists in the 500kg weight category, including encoder-driven way measurement equipment and a network controller (all from ChainMaster) were installed at the behest of the Arlecchino Business Center at the beginning of the year; then, one of Russia's largest festivals, at which the well-known events and entertainment service provider Arsenal Music of Tyumen recently gave its new set of ChainMaster hoists their first outing.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - The introduction of the VL3500 Spot and VL3500Q Spot luminaires by automated lighting pioneer Vari-Lite provides new opportunities for lighting designers requiring 1200W fixtures with automated shutter capabilities, say the company. The VL3500 Spot luminaries, which can be seen at the PLASA Show, match with the VL3000 Spot fixtures to provide a complete 1200W spot package.

The VL3500 Spot fixtures share the same performance standards set by the original Vari*Lite Series 3000 Spot luminaires. The shutter system consists of four shutters on two planes, which allows the blades to be operated independently or in unison on the two planes. This, combined with the opposing chamfers, allows designers a clear, crisp focus on all four blades at once.

"Designers will be pleased with this product," said Vari-Lite product manager George Masek. "No other competitor can

Spain - Kylie Minogue recently gave a one-off performance for 500 VIP guests of Deutsche Bank at the Finca Mas Solers outdoor casino, just outside Barcelona. Kylie's system providers Capital Sound Hire supplied the PA, with XTA DP226 crossovers specified for speaker control, on a Martin Audio W8LC Line Array system.

The 70-minute Greatest Hits show, was a mixture of numbers from the last two major tours, Fever and A Night Like This, performed on a custom-built set. Capital Sound's Paul Timmins has been working with Kylie for the last four years, and although this was only a one-off show, the preparation took in excess of two weeks, with 10 days' rehearsals and four days' on-site time.

At front-of-house, Martin Audio W8LC Mini Line Array loudspeakers were flown in two hangs of seven per side, under a pair of W8LX subs, with a floor-mounted W8LS on each wing. DiGiC

Germany - MA Lighting has announced that in the four months since the first grandMA micro lighting console was delivered in April this year, more than 100 consoles have been sold. The console with serial number 100 is in use in Italy, purchased by Gmep-Molpass. MA Lighting director Michael Adenau says: "At the moment the grandMA micro is the most compact console on the market. It relies on the software platform of the award-winning grandMA range, which means that it is compatible with the show files of the other grandMA consoles."

The grandMA micro can control 1024 parameters for dimmer channels and moving lights as well as LEDs, effects and video. The configurable colour TFT touchscreen and the digital encoders are only a few of the convincing features of the console. The operating philosophy of all grandMA lighting desks is the same, so that the orientation for the

UK - Julie Harper joins White Light from DHA Lighting where she spent over 11 years in various sales, PR and marketing roles. Julie began her career on a West End followspot and after nine years decided it was time to get a proper job so she went to bag gobos for two days a week at DHA.

This proved to be less painful than anticipated so she joined the sales office and was soon writing press releases, which ultimately lead to her overseeing DHA's PR and marketing operations. Latterly, after expressing a conflicting desire to travel and a pathological fear of flying, she was given the role of sales manager for Asia-Pacific establishing and maintaining DHA's overseas dealer network.

Julie subsequently overcame her fear of flying and brings all her experience to White Light, where she is looking forward to in her new role as EPL sales manager, promoting the product ranges - Robert

USA - At the forthcoming AES exhibition in San Francisco, the APRS (the Association of Professional Recording Services), in collaboration with British Consul General in San Francisco Martin Uden, will be holding a reception at the British Consulate on the evening before the show opens, Wednesday 27 October, at 6.00pm. The idea behind the reception, say APRS, is for exhibiting companies to identify key customers they expect to visit them during the show and invite them to enjoy some British hospitality and to mix with friends and colleagues from the UK industry. In addition to key clients and potential new customers, the APRS will be inviting many familiar industry faces based in the USA, including well-known producers and engineers, to the reception.

Due to space limitations, numbers are limited to a total of 80 guests, so tickets will be issued on a first come, first served bas

Australia. - The newly opened AFL (Australian Football League) "Hall of Fame and Sensation" has made extensive use of ARX's Level 8 Audio Line Balancer. Centrally located on Swanston Street, Melbourne's main CBD thoroughfare, the Hall of Fame features a series of "walk-through theatre-ettes" each showing video clips of Australian football history. Each visual display is accompanied by an appropriate audio track from a bank of un-balanced sources triggered by movement sensors.

As the distance from the sound source to the screen displays is up to 40m the normally un-balancedsignal would be prone to any number of interferences. Installation Contractor DRM Project Audio Visual installed 10 units of Level 8s offering a total of 80 Channels to balance the Soundtrack signals and provided strong clean interference free signal paths.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

UK - Entec, Avolites and James Thomas's Pixel range team joined forces to make Air's recent show at the Eden Project in Cornwall a memorable one. It was the first time that the attraction's famous Biomes had been illuminated with Pixel fixtures. Integrated into the live performance, they formed a beguiling multi-coloured backdrop to the stage. Entec supplied both lighting and sound production for the UK and European legs of Air's extensive 2004 tour, working with the FOH team of LD Dave Byars and sound engineer Paul Ramsay.

The 'specials' element of the lighting rig - which toured everywhere including all the festivals - consisted of 14 Studio Spots, eight James Thomas Pixelline LED battens and four Manfrotto stands on risers. It was designed with festival practicality in mind - quick and simple to rig and wheel onstage - whilst also providing Air with their own unique set of v

UK - On of the UK's leading entertainment lighting suppliers, White Light, will be at the PLASA Show once again this year, showing new products and introducing new members of staff on stand G29. New products on show will include the Digital Festoon System, a radical rethink of conventional festoon lighting that allows each lamp along a festoon to be individually dimmed, giving the possibility of creating stunning lighting displays from apparently simple strings of lights.

The Digital Festoon System (DFS) can be programmed using a laptop or can be controlled from a DMX lighting console for integration with a lighting rig. The system carries both 48V lamp power and DMX using a patented data system; up to 200 lamps can be individually controlled on a single cable from each DFS power unit. Offering exciting opportunities to lighting designers, the DFS has been nominated for the PLAS

Belgium - Simple Minds recently headlined at Suikerrock and Lokerse Feesten, two of Belgium's premier rock festivals. Among the key pieces of kit in FOH engineer Patrick Demoustier's rack were a pair of Apex Intelli-Q digital EQ units from the Belgian manufacturer APEX.

Demoustier specified the Apex Intelli-Qs as part of an Adamson line array system, powered by Lab Gruppen, that was supplied by EML Productions. "The Intelli-Q is the new generation of EQ," says Demoustier, who has been closely involved in its development. "I'm using them on Simple Minds with the digital Input option, and using the delay to get the subs and the line array into phase. Each unit is a super-quick processor, faster than other systems on the market, which gives me precise control over two discrete audio channels, as well as providing one of my favourite parametric EQs. Thanks to the AES/

UK - AVC, the audio-visual equipment hire company with its HQ based in Dublin, Ireland, has become the latest European rental operator to invest in the NEXO GEO S Series tangent array system.

Having taken the decision to buy a line array, John Magann and his team at AVC have opted for the NEXO GEO S series "because of the technology and because of the compactness of the system." Already a NEXO PS Series user, AVC has now made the strategic decision to concentrate its hire stock entirely around the NEXO designs. "It's a perfect fit," says Magann. The GEO S elements are ideal for the concert and cabaret work that we do as well as being perfectly suited to our corporate clients and the events market. The NEXO PS Series can be used as a monitor system with GEO S, or in its own right for the smaller jobs."

AVC made its decision after discussion with local d

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