ProLight Sound 2008

May / June 2008

The annual Frankfurt Musikmesse remains by far the largest and most important show of its kind, and its entertainment technology section, Pro Light & Sound, takes an ever-increasing role within it.

Maintaining the musical presence, however, serves to remind us of the reasons why much of the technology was developed in the first place while at the same time pointing to the future.

From a show directory which runs to hundreds of pages, lists thousands of exhibitors and a countless multitude and diversity of products, to attempt any kind of comprehensive collage would be a Gargantuan task indeed.

Thankfully, it is the very comprehensiveness of this show which makes it easy and useful to take an overview and to present a snapshot of the latest trends and innovations.

So, from the wider world of pro-audio at least, who was in town and what were they doing?

EMERGING PATTERNS
The concept of “Democracy for Listeners” has been with us for some years, certainly since d & b audiotechnik launched their promotional website under that banner in 2003 (incredible, but true), and it is interesting to watch, and to hear, that noble idea transformed into reality, perhaps never more so than this year.

I will return to d & b later, after extolling the virtues of two major exercises in pattern control, which is what such democracy is actually all about. The first was from Nexo, in the guise of their RS Series, which was unveiled and explained by Technical VP Francois Deffarge. The focus here is very much on pattern control of low frequencies.

Hitherto, low frequency speakers in general, and sub-bass cabs in particular, have generated sound in a mostly omni-directional pattern, emitting almost as much to the rear and from the sides as frontally.

This is more than wasteful, it can generate problems for musicians by saturating the stage with unwanted LF and for venue owners by creating noise pollution for neighbours and employees.

As M. Deffarge explained, Nexo’s bass technique reduces rear radiation by 12-15dB, while increasing forward output by around 6dB. In other words, it generates a controlled cardioid pattern.

Nexo have accomplished this by mounting the bass drivers in a push-pull configuration inside the cabinet, and then using dedicated electronic processing to adjust their time-alignment with unprecedented precision; both convincing and clever.

Pattern control has been the focus of much R & D effort at Martin Audio too. Specifically, they have developed unique control software for their OmniLine ultra-compact array system, the objective being to prevent unwanted interaction between each speaker in an array and its neighbours, with the result being an even, cross-spectrum dispersion pattern across all areas of the array’s coverage.

The benefit is that every seat can then be the best seat in the house. More democracy all round. Having effectively launched the concept, rather than merely coining the phrase, d & b should not be left out.

They used the show to launch the latest additions to their now near-complete E Series range, E-12 (80x50degrees), E12D (110x50) and an accompanying sub, E15. These are joined and powered by the dedicated D12 amp, with a D6 option for less demanding applications.

Deceptively small, these are all powerful systems. Before leaving this topic, I would note here that, almost immediately on my return from Frankfurt to the UK came reports that those charmers at the EU have taken the mindset that players in a symphony orchestra are in their place of work and should be subject to the same Health & Safety protections as other workers.

They suggest that orchestras have become louder in recent years and, incredibly, that LAEQ’s as low as 89dB may be deemed unacceptably high. And no, this wasn’t an April Fool.

OTHER VOICES
Pattern control apart, it wasn’t exactly quiet elsewhere in speakerland either. Recognising that, brilliant as they are, their top-of-the-range systems may be beyond the reach of some budgets, both RCF and KV2 launched cut-price alternatives.

The latter offering came in the form of the creation of a whole new sub-brand, KX, which is made in China, but which nonetheless carries the unmistakeable signature of George Krampera, KV2’s golden ears.

These powered cabinets may be conventional in that they comprise a 12” 2-way, a 15” 2-way and  a matching sub (KX12, KX15 and KXSub, would you believe), but they embody many of the key design features of their more expensive stablemates. Aimed mainly at the M.I. marketplace, these are speakers which would also be very much at home in mobile DJ, karaoke and small club environments.

Similar destinies probably await the extensions to the Art Series, announced by RCF. These are speakers intended to sit between the original Art Series of powered speakers and the high-class, multi-featured TTL Series of arrayable products which sit at the head of the RCF range.

Surprisingly to some, they are Italian made, built and designed. Staying with powered speakers, which the foregoing all are, the pioneers of that approach, Meyer, also had new things to offer, having turned their attention from the concert/touring market to the installation sector.

Introductions from them included the UPQ-1P and UPQ-2 (80x50 and 50x50 respectively) and the MML-XP powered mini-monitor. EAW showed an interesting collage of surface-mount speakers, the SMS range which, although looking like quite a lot of other offerings in this marketplace, without their grilles revealed more serious ambitions.

Funktion One had a new product too, the Resolution 1.5, a halfway house between their Res1 and Res2. Founder/designer Tony Andrews remains dedicated to the point-source approach (especially when it comes to cluster design), and this punchy, crisp-sounding newcomer is unmistakeably his.

F1 remains wedded to its unique approach to sound, and with Andrews its greatest exponent, that is hardly surprising.
 
AMPLIFIER ADVANCES
Peter Walker, the founding father of Quad, once defined the perfect amplifier as “a straight piece of wire, with gain”.

After more than half a century since he made that remark, and at a time now when top-end amplifiers come with more bells and whistles than a fairground calliope, how much closer to the ideal have we come? What Walker meant, of course, was that the more components one introduces into an audio chain, the greater the degradation to the signal that occurs.

The fact that the plethora of features and functions incorporated into today’s high-end units does not degrade audio quality to any discernable degree at all is no paradox, thanks to digital technology.

Once an analogue signal has been converted into digits, you can monkey about with it all you like, while its quality will remain unimpaired until such time as you re-commit it to the analogue domain.

To judge from the latest crop of amps unveiled at Pro Light & Sound, creepdown is already occurring in that it is not only top-price/spec units that offer the full digital Monty. Camco is a good example of this.

Following their successes with Vortex and Tecton, Camco announced a new series, Q-Power, of high output 4-channel amplifiers aimed at the installation market. They also produced a choice of UCA modules, effectively digital bolt-ons which can provide such functions as EQ, loudspeaker and system management and networking ability.

This last can be ordered as analogue, Ethernet or Cobranet compatible. Evidence of similar thinking came from Yamaha, who launched the TXn Series, networkable versions of their workhorse TX range, but with all the industry-leading DSP expertise they possess. Crown have followed the same path with their new XTi amps, which feature a front panel LCD display so you can see at a glance what’s going on.

QSC, here celebrating 40 years in business are well represented in all categories, and so contented themselves with the launch of the GX Series, a family of bread-and-butter workhorse amps which contrive to be easy on both the ear and the wallet.

The Q in QSC (no James Bond reference intended) was also in town, in the shape of Pat Quilter, and you can read his comments about amplifiers in particular and audio in general, elsewhere in this issue.

There was plenty of high-end action too, what with Nexo’s recently launched NXAmp, and fruit from Labgruppen’s hook-up with Dolby to savour alongside the pressed riesling grapes on offer there.

To summarise the foregoing, the message from Frankfurt is that you can now buy into the level of DSP, system management, remote control and networking you require at the price-to-power-to-quality ratio of your choice.

DJ DOLDRUMS
The level of hubbub, or as the Germans have it ‘gerauschberieselung’, in the dedicated DJ and turntablist section of the show was more muted than I recall from past years.

I couldn’t definitely say whether it being less of a bear-pit than usual was down to higher levels of professionalism among that fraternity, or to fewer customers. Let’s hope it was the former.

Busy or not, this section of the show often throws up some surprises, and this year was no exception.

For starters, this was the Eurolaunch of the Pioneer SVM-1000, a machine which will allow the VDJ to synchronise and mix four sources (video/audio/both), each with independent EQ, effects loops and dedicated control faders.

I know of no clear alternative to this device, which not only cements Pioneer in prime position within this market sector, but represents a must-have purchase for the operators of venues which rely on such mixed media presentations, mainstream nightclubs being the obvious candidates.

There was also a novel and compact digital DJ console from France, in the shape of the Hercules RMX.

This is a professional tool in all respects bar one, ideal for those DJ’s who like to mix at home, then regenerate or replay at work. Well thought out and robustly constructed, the RMX is just one of a clutch of DJ products from this young company.

I should remind readers, DJ’s and venue operators alike at this point that compressed data formats in general, and the most popular, MP3, in particular are not really suitable for high SPL public performance.

True, the advantages of squeezing data into compressed streams are many, extended playing times and maximised memory usage being the leading pair, but this is of relevant benefit only to users of portable or memory-limited devices. Professional use for performance purposes should therefore be eschewed.

On a more cheerful note, both here and elsewhere at the show, there were examples of purpose-designed DJ headsets. Hopefully, DJ’s are now getting the message that using these, as opposed to the general run of products, on a regular basis, may eventually save them from hearing loss.

This is especially true of on-ear devices, as opposed to the in-ear or around-ear variety. In view of my previous remarks, I will not trouble to assess the relative merits of the many i-pod and other MP3 devices on show, good as they may be.

FOOTNOTES
Ah, if only the show organisers would license a booth offering foot-spas - a diligent tour of the Frankfurt exhibits can be very hard on the feet, despite walkways and inter-hall buses.

Likewise, the odd aromatherapy booth would not go amiss, simply to remove the lingering stench of transfats from most of the food outlets or the residues of cracked oils from the numerous smoke machines that lampies still rely on to highlight their effects. A visit to one of the many (and thanks for that) dedicated smoking areas was almost the only hope of escape from this olfactory onslaught.

How non-smokers manage, is quite beyond me. A massage for the ears, especially after a visit to Halle 4 (by far the worst offender) was thankfully, as ever, available in the adjoining chapel, courtesy of Funktion One. I love a good demo, and it clears away the surplus cerumen.

My product of the show? Probably, no certainly, the Yamaha Pocketrak. The size of a mobile phone, this 2G device sports built-in Cubase A1digital workstation software and is, essentially, a mobile recording studio that fits into your pocket, and at a price that won’t empty your pocketbook, either. Now, that’s what I call progress.

The A.C. Lighting stand at Prolight Sound 2008 featured the international launch of the new Jands Vista I3 lighting console and a preview of the new Chroma-Q Color Block 2 LED fixture. Drawing a major crowd, the Jands Vista I3 is a compact lighting desk that provides most of the features of the full size T4/T2 consoles at around half the price.

Featuring the software, processor and control elements of the full size consoles, users connect a screen, keyboard and mouse to their I3 and it becomes a fully operational Vista. The recently launched Vista S1 compact control surface was also on show.

Meanwhile, demos of the Chroma-Q Color Block 2 showed the reliability and versatility of the original Color Block, but with striking improvements: a lumen output almost twice as bright as the original Color Block, new advanced single optic, full colour RGBA LEDs, and a unique Magic Amber mode for improved colour results. The fixture is also compatible with all existing Color Block accessories.

ADB Lighting Technologies previewed its new flagship dimming technology, EURODIM Twin Tech. It provides the best of both dimming worlds by allowing Sine Wave dimmer modules to be freely mixed with cost-efficient Thyristor dimmer modules in a single cabinet.

Also on display was a preview of Mikado, the first member of a new family of five user-friendly and yet powerful lighting consoles, intended for small to medium size stages with or without moving lights, whenever flexibility, case of use and cost are the prime considerations.

Avolites bought its new Pearl Tiger lighting console to Frankfurt for the first time, showing it off alongside a new version the famous Avolites Art2000 Series Touring dimmer on German Distributor Trendco’s stand.

The Trendco stand was the perfect context in which to show off Pearl Tiger, a streamlined version of Avo’s flagship Pearl Expert, featuring 30 channels and 10 roller playback channels. Offering everything the LD needs for quick and easy programming of small to medium sized shows, the Pearl Tiger’s expedient footprint, powerful functionality and familiar operating system made it an impressive addition to the show.

Barco had the European launch of their DML-1200 digital moving head luminaire. In lighting mode, the DML-1200 produces a perfectly circular light beam with a phenomenal light output equivalent to that of a 1200W hard edged moving light – 12.000 field lumens and three times as bright as any other digital light on the market today.

The show was the springboard for various new fixtures from Chauvet, including new additions to their COLORado and LED series fixtures. Their COLORado6 and ColorRado panel got star billing on the Chauvet stand.

The ColoRado6 shares with  the popular COLORado3 three pods of LEDs, an IP66 rating, RGB color mixing, built-in automated programs via master/slave, interlocking casings, and loop-through power and data cable wiring – but also features 108 x 2-watt LEDs (36 red, 36 green, 36 blue) each with a life expectancy of 50,000 hours and a combined output three times as bright as the COLORado3.

Meanwhile, the COLORado Panel is a DMX-512 RGBW LED bank system that operates in three, four, or nine channel modes. Each operating mode offers a varying level of control over the 48 x 2-watt LEDs, with colour temperature presets between 3,200 and 10,000 degrees Kelvin. 

Designed for indoor and outdoor applications with a durable, UV-resistant cover, and featuring an IP66 rating, COLORado Panel produces outputs of 23,026 Lux (2,140 fc), with a beam angle of 13x9 degrees (field angle 25x22). In addition, Chauvet bought to the show a number of high-power 1-watt LED fixtures.

The LEDsplash2 is a compact, low-profile six-channel DMX-512 wash light that fits inside a standard box truss, and is capable of RGB coulor mixing in DMX and stand-alone modes, while featuring both automated and sound-activated programs. The COLORpalette2 is a six, nine, 15, or 27 DMX channel panel fixture that features RGB control over up to eight separate sections of the unit. And finally, the LED Shadow2 is a 3-channel DMX LED blacklight that features multiple modes of operation and a coverage area of up to 9x9 meters.

On a typically showy stand, Clay Paky lit up the hall with their entire range of Alpha moving body projectors, from 300 to 1200w. The latest of these is the Alpha Beam 300, pegged as an alternative to a Par 64 ACL in a compact and powerful moving light beam.

It produces a concentrated near parallel light beam similar to that of a Par 64 ACL but with superior features, courtesy of a  a low power 300 W lamp which Clay Paky assures us produces three times the brightness as that of an ordinary 1200 Wash projector, making it a useful long-throw fixture capable of cutting through stage washes and LED backgrounds. A Dimmer on a dedicated channel, stop/strobe and high speed Pan/Tilt complete the Alpha Beam 300 configuration.

The Alphas Spot HPE 300 meanwhile is a new features-laden spot, boasting 15°- 40° Zoom, CMY, 8 1 colour wheel, 15 Gobos (eight %uFB01xed and seven rotating), morphing effect, rotating prism, frost, 0-100% dimmer on dedicated channel, iris and stop/strobe. An Alpha Spot 300 and Alpha Wash 300 was also generating a great deal of attention for the Clay Paky stand.

CycLite LED is the apex of Coemar’s LED technology range, whose brand new optical system (an exclusive Coemar patent), powerful LEDs and advanced colour mixing (RGB white source) were stirring interest on the manufacturer’s stand.

Three unbound rotating bars (motorized in the 2-cell version) allow symmetric and/or asymmetric light output, with linear adjustment of incidence angle. It is equipped with 96 (48 in the compact, single-cell version CycLite Led SC), high-output leds 1,2W each. The white RGB led interaction provides both ultra-bright colours and the same full white you can get by conventional light sources.

ETC’s eagerly awaited Ion control desk was seen for the first time at their stand in Hall 9.0. Like its big sister, Eos, with which it shares the same programming syntax, Ion has been designed for today’s multimedia lighting rigs – delivering seamless control over conventionals, moving lights and LEDs.

With its convenient small footprint - only 48cm (19”) wide - Ion is a compact, affordable solution for space starved venues, with the flexibility to grow more powerful as needed. Also on show was the first public view of SmartSoft, a new software application that runs on a PC and can be used to get to know the SmartFade ML lighting control console using its on-screen virtual console face panel.

ETC also unveiled Congo v5.0 at the stand – the latest version of their lighting control software which includes a powerful new effects engine. It will be released in spring.

Over in Hall 9.0, Griven’s Director of Sales and Marketing Danilo Bettinazzi and Sales Manager Paolo Defendi were pleased to talk up their latest units, including the architectural LED fixture Graph-i-Tube, the colour changing Graph-i-Spot and moving head projector Spyke 2000.

The new Graph-i-Spot is a modular 3W full-colour LED unit designed to be assembled with other units of its kind in any shape to build a virtual LED screen on almost all surfaces. Graph-i-Spot will accept any graphic, video or still image coming from a DVI media server or DMX 512 signal and the configuration system can then store and trigger the show. At the other end of the scale, the impressive Spyke 2000 is a powerful Xenon 2000W moving head projector designed for the heavy duty touring applications of the entertainment and architectural industries.

The motorised yoke provides full speed rotation of the head over 640° in the X axis and 230° in the Y axis with a 16 bit high resolution movement. All the Spyke’s functions, together with the lamp ON/OFF selection, the stand-by mode and the master/slave option, can be remotely controlled via standard DMX 512 signal protocol and the display readout gives clear visualization of each available option.

A total of 13 DMX channels is required. Griven’s other big talking point was the Graph-i-Tube, an LED-based video display designed to clad large external facades and aimed at the architectural market or the ambitious live LD.

Frankfurt was also the stage for the debut of High End Systems’ DL.3, the newest addition to its line of digital lighting products, demoed at the Arcus GmbH stand. Billed by High End as a next generation fixture, the DL.3 features an integrated media server and is equipped with a 6500 lumen three-chip LCD projector – a high output for a three chip digital light. A high 2000:1 contrast ratio results in a decent ‘video black,’ while an SDI input/output for is available for professional AV applications.

A handy feature is the DMX-controlled vertical lens shift function, which allows a user to set the lens shift function by DMX cue. Also on the stand were the new Road Hog Programming and Playback Wings for the Wholehog 3, Road Hog Full Boar, Hog iPC and Hog 3PC.

The new Road Hog wings include a powerful programming or playback surface, 12-inch colour touch screen, blue LED marker lights and a DMX output expansion slot. The wings can be expanded to output four universes of DMX when used with a PC-based Wholehog product.

MA Lighting’s grandMA2 comes with completely redesigned hardware supporting the existing grandMA software as well as all current and proposed lighting control standards. Listening closely to the market MA Lighting have kept the intuitive grandMA control philosophy including the same command line and syntax.

What MA have done is cleaned up, improved and extended the software, and optimized colours and views. The advanced networking architecture is now more powerful and allows compatibility with the ‘old’ grandMAs.

Independent from user interfaces, for theatre-style programming or a concert touring multi-user programming session, grandMA2 suits it all and includes fader wings that offer up to 90 faders per console. New ways of architectural interconnection are also possible.

Visitors to the Martin stand found a wealth of new additions to the MAC range on display, including an extra bright version of the MAC 2000 Wash; new indoor and outdoor LED luminaires; new Mania flower and rollerscan effect lights; new Magnum and Jem brand smoke machines; new lighting control systems and more.

The flagship release is the extra bright MAC 2000 Wash XB, which kicks out over 60,000 lumens of power from a 1500 W lamp to make it 40% brighter than the old MAC 2000 Wash. New efficient fans, ballast and starter combine with tried and trusted MAC 2000 modularity, optics and effects to produce a highly usable light - all housed in the same compact MAC 2000 design.

Also on display was the Mac 575 Krypton. Based on the reliable MAC 700 platform, the MAC 575 Krypton combines super efficient optics for brighter output with outstanding gobos and colours, all wrapped in the MAC’s market-proven, modular design.

It is suited for venues or any space that demands reliable, durable and no-nonsense performance. Two additions to Martin’s Magnum range of stage fog generators were given plenty of exposure. The Magnum 650 boasts a fast heat-up time and a punchy 600w heat exchanger, while the Magnum 850 is a more powerful fogger producing full, dense fog.

Wrapped in a sleek new design, this hard-working, rugged fog machine gives superb performance, offering substantial cost and maintenance benefits over a long operational life. Meanwhile, the Jem K1 Hazer is Martin’s new generation, top-of-the line hazer for high performance applications where great reliability and serviceability is required. Martin also bought to the show various updates to their Lightjocky lighting control software – details available on the Martin website.

Over at the Robe stand, the Czech manufacturers were talking up the six new products that graced their typically ambitious looking stand. The first of these is the the DigitalSpot 3000 DT, a high performance Digital Moving Light projector combining an LED-based wash light with a Digital Moving Light Projector.

The fixture emits 2,700 ANSI lumens from a single 200W projection lamp and has an awesome contrast ratio of 2,000:1 which is now available in an affordable and compact package featuring an additional REDWash Module from Robe´s RED (Robe Emitted Diodes) Series. Also on the stand was the DigitalSpot 7000 DT, Robe’s new flagship digital moving light projector, based on LCD technology.

The fixture emits 6,500 ANSI lumens from a single 330W projection lamp and is loaded with new and exciting parameters from its Graphics Engine and motorized fixture layout.

Meanwhile, Robe’s new DreamBox is a multi-functional Tool Box with two DMX Ports and one USB 2.0 port that communicates with a PC or laptop via USB. With additional Robe software, the DreamBox provides fixture software updates, DMX Control and RDM (Remote Device Management) – new control protocol featuring AutoPatch and Fixture Status Monitoring.  Robe also launched its new RED (Robe Emitted Diodes) Series of fixtures – including the  REDWash 3•192, REDPar 3•84 and RED Line 3•48 variants.

SGM launched the Giotto Digital 1500 - a moving head fixture that projects digital graphic effects with astonishing brightness and speed. The Giotto Digital 1500 features a special optic system that enables it to project graphic effects with the brightness and speed typical of moving head fixtures.
”We are extremely satisfied with the results achieved with the launch of the Giotto Digital 1500, “said SGM General Manager Alessandra Giorgi.

“SGM has patented a special application of DLP technology and has managed to combine the advantages of digital projection with its lengthy in-depth experience in moving head fixture design. This means that our initial idea is a winner and the market is willing to accept new products, providing they are truly innovative. The launch of the Giotto Digital 1500 was a great international success and positive feedback and interest at the expo exceeded all our expectations.”

The introduction of the DIN rail GPI, GPO and DMX Splitter attracted an extended audience for Visual Productions from the installation market.  “Coupled with the new release of VisualTouch, now host to an attractive and visual user interface, the balance of technical features verses ease of use was well received,” said Visual Productions’ Zoe Castle.

“During the show we also were able to establish new distribution agreements for Canvix and VisualDMX with several companies, details of which we are now in the process of finalising.”
Prolight Sound returns on 1-4 April 2009