USA - Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the LDI Conference and Tradeshow, Altman Lighting is preparing for the North American debut of the new AP-150 RGBW LED Par luminaire at LDI 2018. Located in Booth 2227, Altman Lighting will be showcasing the AP-150 next generation Altman Par, along with celebrating their own 65th Anniversary, and taking part as a sponsor of the inaugural USA Knight of Illumination Awards.
“As we make our preparations for LDI 2018, we are thrilled to not only be launching new product, but also to be celebrating a unique milestone of our own,” began Julie Smith, Altman Lighting general manager. “With a rich history spanning 65 years as a trusted lighting manufacturer, we are eager to both honour our past, and continue moving forward by continuing to offer state-of-the-art lighting innovations.”
The AP-150 is a compact and lightweight, 13

USA - With the opening of the 2018 LDI Conference and Exhibition approaching, PixelFLEX will be partnering with four industry leaders exhibiting at the show. As entertainment professionals from around the world gather to celebrate the organization’s 30th Anniversary, the tradeshow experiences for Avolites, Kinesys, and Vectorworks will all feature a FLEXTour LED video system, while the FLEXCurtain HD will be on display with Froggys Fog.
“LDI draws an elite audience of live design professionals that demand top-of-the-line products,” said Dan Monaghan, vice president of marketing at Vectorworks. “With this need in mind, we’ve partnered with PixelFLEX to use their state-of-the-art LED screens to showcase our award-winning entertainment design software.”
Located in Booth 3139, Vectorworks is a global design and BIM software solutions provider serving professio

USA - Chauvet Professional will be introducing an array of new products at LDI.
Additions to the company’s Maverick, Ovation, ÉPIX, COLORado, Rogue and WELL Fit series, the products debuting at the company’s LDI stand #1816 will offer designers an expanded range of lighting solutions.
Leading the way is the new Maverick Storm 1 Wash, a high-output (over 6000lm) IP65 LED fixture that features precision-engineered die-cast aluminum housing and 316 grade stainless steel screws that enable it to withstand even the harshest weather conditions, making it well suited for use in festivals, amphitheaters and other outdoor applications.
The Ovation Series is also expanding creative horizons at LDI with the rollout of new virtually silent 6” LED Fresnels, all of which feature motorized zoom and 16-bit dimming. The Ovation F-415FC offers the RGBA-Lime colour-mixing s

Slovenia - Slovenian media server specialist Lightact has launched three new software licenses and a new version of its flagship software, Lightact 3.
Lightact 3 features an upgraded 2D projection mapping workflow and a deeper integration with Unreal Engine. The software licenses are One, Easy and Start with the pricing and features further strengthening Lightact's mission of supporting creative multi-media installations and events of all sizes.
Mitja Prelovšek, CEO of Lightact, comments: "We feel elated that after more than two years in development Lightact 3 enters maturity. It's got tons of features and some unique capabilities that we believe our users will love. We are also excited about One, Easy and Start software licenses which bring Lightact closer to an even wider range of users."
Lightact is an integrated suite combining standard media server function

USA - Orlando-based Professional Wireless Systems has announced the addition of the 1RU Alpha Quad-4 and 2RU Alpha Quad-8 to the Alpha Series, which was introduced earlier this year. The new units will make their industry debut at the AES show in New York City this month.
The Alpha Quad-4 and Quad-8 are designed for use with multiple Shure Axient AD4Q receivers in Quadversity mode. The units provide four individual unity-gain signals (A, B, C, D) to up to four quad receivers, with RF filtering at 470-616 MHz Power is supplied to the units with either the main or the Aux inputs or used at the same time for redundant power.
“The Alpha Quad distros serve as the ‘head end’ for the receive antenna system,” explains Professional Wireless production manager Justin Van Winkle. “Four antennas can be connected to the rear-panel input connections. The RF signals are the

Europe - Wireless technology provider LumenRadio has released an update of their embedded operating system for wireless connectivity - MiraOS. One of the main features is the improved ultra-low energy consumption for battery operated solutions where they have “broken new ground”.
MiraOS enables products to become smart and connected through large-scale wireless mesh networks. With LumenRadio’s technologies and radio development expertise, product manufacturers can get an ultra-reliable and Future-Proof wireless solution.
In addition to decreased energy consumption, the main new features in the MiraOS v2.1 are BLE beacon support, high-precision time-stamping of data and the Mix&Match formation technology.
At LumenRadio, low energy meshing mode has been a dedicated focus for their research and development department and their goal has been to reach the

UK - This year’s PLASA Show was a special outing for LITEC, as their new MyT Virtue truss was entered in the PLASA Awards for Innovation 2018 and won over many show attendees with its design, folding feature, compact form factor, and 60mm main chords that allow use of standard clamps. Its high load capacity was also a favourite, due to the use of high-strength EN AW 7003 T6 aluminium alloy for its construction and integral structural parts assembled with high grade steel nuts and bolts to optimize performance, eliminate issues related to weld heat affected zones.
Products from the EXE Technology range on display in the Area Four Industries UK stand allowed visitors to have physical hands-on demonstrations of selected models from the EXE-RISE hoist and EXE-Drive ranges, as well as the EXE-Cell Interface System. EXE-Rise chain hoists feature an 8:1 safety factor, with a com

USA - Void Acoustics will be showcasing some of their latest products at LDI (19-21 October). Those attending can see: the new models of the much-anticipated Bias Q5, Q2 and D1 amplifiers; the ArcM 12 - part of the range of passive and self-powered, multi-purpose loudspeakers that complement the Arcline series; and the Cyclone 8, enhancing the highly popular Cyclone family.
All three of the enhanced Bias amplifier designs are eco-friendly with energy-saving efficiency, resulting in low operational costs, power consumption, heat dissipation and carbon footprint. The Bias Q5 (4 x 5,200 Watts) is capable of being driven from a wide variety of supply sources, including single, dual or three-phase supply.
Specially designed with versatility and ease of use in mind, it is equally suitable for most low frequency enclosures, as well as high-power, full-range systems in any co

Europe - Sennheiser and Neumann have unveiled a limited edition vocal set that combines Sennheiser’s evolution wireless 500 G4 microphone system with the Neumann KK 205 true condenser capsule.
Named ew 500 G4-KK205, the kit brings the Neumann sound to a wider as until now the German company’s microphone heads had been reserved for Sennheiser’s 2000, 6000 and 9000 wireless series.
Based on Neumann’s award-winning series of wired KMS stage microphones, the KK 205 true condenser microphone head features exceptional clarity and the characteristic Neumann sound. The super-cardioid capsule delivers an immediate, emotional vocal sound with airy trebles and fast transient response. The KK 205 can take sound pressure levels of up to 150dB without clipping, ensures high gain before feedback and offers good lateral isolation towards other on-stage sound sources.
Th

USA - Altman Lighting has introduced the AP-150 LED Par luminaire, a 135W RGBW LED wash which produces deep, saturated colours and soft, delicate pastels, while maintaining a smooth, uniform beam throughout the entire motorized zoom range.
Weighing only 11lb (5kg), the AP-150 replicates the soft output of a traditional par wash light with control states from 8-bit, 16-bit, RGB, and HSIC. Its factory and custom colour pre-sets allow for the quick selection of the most widely used entertainment colour choices, and it also adds the ability to record colour pre-sets directly to the luminaire for custom colour playback.
In conjunction with its colour output, the AP-150 also offers a variety of strobe options ranging from pulse and fade, to a 30 Hz strobe rate. With the motorised zoom which produces a beam spread between 12-65 degrees, the luminaire also has built-in stops a

Germany - Late last year, with the announcement of the Route66 Redundancy Manager, German network fibre giant BroaMan introduced the capability of full automatic redundancy switchover between devices, by harnessing the power of Optocore. This would enable switching between Route66 Video Router and Mux22 nodes - using smart mechanism to detect when one of the fiber links between the nodes is broken.
Now the same technology has been enabled in a very popular point-to-point system - between a pair of Mux22 devices. Mux22, which combines 3G SDI I/O and video sync, with Optocore and SANE digital audio networks, now also features full automatic redundancy. Thus, should one of the links fail, the system would automatically switch to the redundant path, enabling all video, audio and data channels to remain working. The switchover time is near instantaneous - implemented in just one

UK - Trussing manufacturer MILOS racked up another “overwhelmingly positive reception” at this year’s PLASA Show. With a selection of products from their extensive range of truss on display in the Area Four Industries UK stand, the company showcased the quality of their products and spoke with visitors about the many structural solutions they deliver for a wide array of projects.
Making its world debut was the new S10 deck from Xstage, sporting a light-weight, improved profile design, new cube lock leg attachment system (for both round and square legs), and hexagrip anti-slip surface. From the comments and praise received at the show, the future of the S10 certainly looks bright, says the company.
(Jim Evans)

UK - Current RMS treated PLASA 2018 visitors to an exclusive look into some of the upcoming developments in the equipment rental management software.
The company said the show was ‘a great success’ for the team, who were offering visitors live demos of Current RMS on its stand, built by Red Peak Design.
The team demonstrated how the software can manage an entire rental cycle, from updating booking details to viewing accurate kit availability, allocating resources like crew and transport, and drawing up quotations.
Visitors to the stand were also given a sneak peek at Current RMS’s upcoming Automatic Costing and Purchasing modules, to be released in the coming weeks. These new modules will automatically pull through additional costs onto a job, including sub rents, freelance costs and any purchases. Users will also be able to create purchase orders to send

Europe - Community Professional Loudspeakers has announced it has completed EN54-24 certification for its compact R.35-3896-EN loudspeaker.
Community’s R Series has long been a standard for stadia and other large scale, all-weather applications worldwide. The company has consistently invested in improving performance across the range, introducing new models, and meeting increasingly stringent worldwide standards. Since gaining EN54-24 certification on the larger R1, R2 and R6 models, permitting their use in voice alarm systems in venues across Europe, Community has seen demand for these certified versions building significantly year upon year.
The R.35-3896-EN meets the need for a high performance compact loudspeaker for fill and supplementary areas in larger venues and for smaller venues wanting to conform to EN54 standards. The R.35-3896-EN is equally suitable for

Spain - During a two-day summit, at the end of May, held in and around Amate Audio’s HQ facilities in Terrassa, outside of Barcelona, members of the company’s worldwide distributor network were introduced to a range of new products and technological developments.
A highlight of the second day was a dramatic change of location. High in the mountains of the Catalonian countryside, at the Masia Restaurant Torre del Conill, splendid isolation, an extensive terrace and brilliant sunshine provided an idyllic location to audition a line-up of the very latest and yet to be released Amate Audio speaker systems.
Alongside new additions to its latest NÍTID plug & play ultra-compact, ‘smart’ loudspeaker series, the company unveiled an all new flagship line array system; the latest addition to Amate Audio’s top of the range Xcellence series.
The X212AF is a 2x

UK - Robert Juliat was awarded a prestigious PLASA Award for Innovation for its SpotMe, a creative tracking system that works in association with followspots. The Innovation Awards took place at the PLASA Show (16-18 October) amid huge competition, with 47 entries and only eight Awards at stake.
SpotMe is Robert Juliat’s bespoke, 3D tracking system for followspots and the only performer tracking system to be driven via a real followspot. The SpotMe system communicates the X, Y, Z positions and the beam size parameters to the console. All parameters are then used by the console to control any automated or static lights, and coordinate stage lighting to follow performers, without the need for on-stage/performer sensors or cameras. It is a unique bolt-on system that can be added to existing followspots without the need to invest in complete new systems.
The judges consi

UK - Data Strategy says its stand was ‘buzzing with activity’ as it exhibited at PLASA 2018.
The company’s new VeriCal, which verifies that the Out Board PAT-4 testers are within their operational specifications, received particular attention. VeriCal is the latest Data Strategy product to combine hardware with intelligent software. The new product ensures the appliance test units within the QC-Check Workstation produce verified and accurate results.
Data Strategy MD, Iain Roche, comments: “We had a very busy show, seeing a combination of existing customers, contacts who have shown protracted interest and brand-new prospects. VeriCal attracted much interest especially from potential oversees customers who perceived its purpose, which is to ensure the Pat-4 remains in its operational specifications.
“Power-Check, the QC-Check distro test module, also a

UK - In mid-September a small piece of Japan appeared in West London for three days - and it proved a real talking point as Yamaha and Nexo exhibited at PLASA 2018.
This year’s stand was the brainchild of Chris Irvine, Yamaha Commercial Audio (UK and RoI) marketing manager, and Gareth Collyer, Nexo sales manager (UK and RoI). PLASA London tends to attract a high number of students and, with a shrewd eye to making the most of any free publicity generated by the ‘Instagram generation’, they created a stand themed as a Japanese garden.
Yamaha highlighted the long-term success of the company’s digital mixing consoles by showcasing the latest Rivage PM7 system next to a PM5D, one of its most famous products. Loaned for the show by Britannia Row Productions, it featured along an information panel about the number of high profile artists that particular console has wo

UK - Holoplot’s ORION sound system was awarded a PLASA Award for Innovation. The judges were convinced by the technology and the product, which allows a radical new approach to sound reinforcement and provides audio engineers with a versatile tool for their work.
On the first two days of the PLASA Show, the judges visited the 47 nominated companies to learn more about the innovative products. Demonstrations were given, use cases were discussed, and functionality for rigging, maintenance, and installation was explained.
The Holoplot stand attracted many of the jury members a second or third time. In their eyes, “a system with such precise beam steering capabilities and flexibility in how audio can be projected, demonstrates a paradigm shift in the industry”.
Roman Sick, Holoplot’s CEO, comments: “The conventional speaker technologies are very establishe

UK - At this year’s PLASA Show, UK immersive audio and showcontrol specialists Out Board demonstrated the new StageSpace object-based spatial environment auto-rendering tool within the new TiMax 500S software.
The stand featured a miniature booth-sized demo of TiMax’s ‘orchestral hugeness experience’, which has been trialled on some arena-scale and festival-sized stages across Europe this summer.
Out Board co-owner Dave Haydon comments: “Even under the slightly challenging conditions of a busy tradeshow floor, people were overwhelmed by the realistic spatial enhancement that StageSpace added to multitrack classical and jazz music playback. Of particular note was the adaptive nature of the StageSpace rendering that allows quick delivery of full immersion for audience members while using relatively minimal and flexible speaker system topologies.”
Haydo

UK - Allen & Heath has expanded its range of networking cards with the addition of a Waves SoundGrid option. The SQ Waves card provides any SQ mixer with a 64x64 96kHz or 48kHz interface to a Waves SoundGrid network using the I/O port.
Engineers can now fit the Waves card to any SQ mixer for Waves plugin processing, multitrack recording (at 96kHz or 48kHz), virtual soundcheck and audio distribution applications.
Waves SoundGrid is an Audio-over-Ethernet protocol developed by Waves for real-time professional audio applications. The card also enables the use of existing Waves plugins at a very low latency, using standard Gigabit Ethernet networks rather than a USB connection.
“Waves SoundGrid has been a very popular option among our dLive users, with many systems on tour deploying a Waves card on recording duties,” comments Allen & Heath’s Head of

UK - Avolites’ video and lighting control integration system Synergy has won a coveted PLASA Awards for Innovation.
Picked by an expert panel of judges, Synergy stood out because it “opens up the creative opportunities for visual effects on stage as well as providing time-saving opportunities in production workflow.”
Koy Neminathan, Avolites sales director, says: “We’re all thrilled that Synergy has won a PLASA Innovation Award. Synergy is the product of years of experience and innovation as we continue to push forward what’s possible for total visual creative control. To have this recognised by the judges is a testament to the forward-thinking attitude at Avolites and the hard work we put in to achieving our vision of the future - which is empowering our users to achieve even more incredible things.”
Synergy was launched at this year’s

Europe - Audio-Technica has introduced the ES954 hanging microphone array, a cost-effective solution for huddle rooms, conference rooms and other meeting spaces.
When controlled by the Audio-Technica ATDM-0604 Digital SmartMixer, the four-capsule microphone array provides 360° coverage through virtual hypercardioid or cardioid outputs which can be steered horizontally and tilted vertically.
Intended primarily for video conferencing, the ES954 may be used singly or in multiples to capture every person speaking in a room, with the total number of channels restricted only by the capacity of the mixer or DSP device controlling the system. When using the ATDM-0604 Digital SmartMixer, the intuitive graphic interface enables control of the width and orientation of each virtual polar pattern, which may be steered in 30° increments, with a tilt function accommodating differi

Europe - NEXT-proaudio has unveiled the Matrix Series of passive column arrays aimed at installed and small, portable applications. With a chassis of aluminium and wood, the cabinets are described as ‘stylish and yet sturdy’ and designed for architectural integration as well as portable solutions.
The Matrix Series comprises two models: the Matrix M8 (8x3”) and the Matrix M3 (3x3”), with eight and three 3-inch neodymium transducers respectively. Built to offer a ‘high intelligibility at high SPL’ and ‘wider frequency response while providing constant beam-width over a user selectable vertical coverage’, the Matrix columns provide beam control that reportedly extends up to 10kHz.
To better control the lower frequencies, the Tuned Dipolar Technologywas developed by NEXT-proaudio engineers to provide much more consistent low frequency pattern control than

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