Germany - ProLight&Sound proved successful for Clay Paky. Many Clay Paky Global Network partners visited the stand where a special demo room was set up outside so that each product could be presented in detail.

Pio Nahum, Clay Paky marketing manager, says:"We got very positive feedback from this show, which confirmed that our product choices and commercial policy are right, at a time when our reference competitors are announcing negative results for last year and a difficult recovery. Our distribution network is increasingly widespread on five continents, and our product range has grown to include new items, such as LED screens."

The Alpha 1500 line was presented in full force for the first time. A beam shaper, a spotlight and a washlight have been added to the previou

Italy - The latest attraction for amusement fans in Southern Italy is called Miragica, Terra di Giganti, a large theme park open eight months a year and covering an area of 100,000sq.m.

Miragica boasts 19 attractions, which are a combination of shows and rides - some of which are 'firsts' - including a Launch Coaster and a 4D cinema, which are the largest in Italy.

The permanently installed sound reinforcement systems at Miragica are by Outline, whose staff also provided direct consultancy for the audio project's design.

Starting with the theatre, the main loudspeaker system consists of eight Outline Mini-COM.P.A.S.S. (four per side) and two Subtech 218 SP subwoofers (all self-powered enclosures). Four compact (self-powered) Micra II SP cover the front rows of the audience and four (self-powered) H.A.R.D. 115 SP are used as stage monitors.

For the Launch Coas

USA - With a never-ending schedule of gigs spanning the classic rock of Neal Schon, the progressive stylings of Todd Rundgren, and the artful excess of The Tubes, drummer Prairie Prince is seldom without a gig. This veteran percussionist and acclaimed visual artist is a founding member of both Journey and The Tubes, so his services are always in demand. And wherever he goes, his collection of beyerdynamic microphones go with him.

"I've been using beyerdynamic microphones for the past six or seven years," Prince says. "It started on tour with Todd Rundgren, who has an endorsement with beyerdynamic. It was hard not to notice how good my kit sounded, and everyone I talked to said they sound great out in the house as well. We used again last year on the New Cars tour, and I heard the same comments. Getting that kind of consistency when you're playing on a lot of diffe

UK - 5 Star Cases exhibits at the PLASA Focus exhibition in Leeds, UK on 27&28 April for the second year.

The latest new product is a portable lectern system, which comes compete with integral Heavy Industrial grade case, This has been developed to address all the frustrating and time consuming things about setting up lecterns.

The lectern is manufactured from birch plywood which is CNC machined at 5 Star's factory in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire on one of three Thermwood CNC machining centres.

It's aimed at AV rental companies operating in the conference and presentation sectors, and anyone needing a quick and tasteful looking lectern set up, with the major advantage of being fully protected in transit and also ultra-portable with a flightcase.

It features a sloping work area to accommodate laptops or papers, with easy cable access via a series of slots machined into the body

Germany - Avago Technologies, a leading supplier of analogue interface components for communications, industrial and consumer applications announced at Lighting+Build in Frankfurt one of the industry's smallest, most energy efficient 3-Watt (3W) high power LEDs with high color rendering index (CRI) for use in a wide range of solid-state lighting applications.

With dimensions of 5 mm by 4 mm by 1.85 mm thick, Avago's compact 3W ASMT-Jx33 is packaged in a six-leaded small outline package (SOP) and capable of being driven to up to 700 mA to provide high flux output performance. Additionally, this competitively priced compact LED emitter provides a wide viewing angle and features long life reliability, says the company.

The ASMT-Jx33 has a wide viewing angle of 140-degrees to meet the needs of designers who require good colour uniformity. This LED provides a high typical CRI of 80

UK - Specialist AV distribution company PSCo has partnered with Prysm to bring its new Laser Phosphor Display (LPD) technology to the UK.

The current LPD range, available from June 2010, features a 25" panel, which is designed to be completely bezel-less with a 0.2mm seam. The versatility of the modular design allows for the construction of video walls in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, including columns, strips, archways and rectangles. The screens can also be set out in curved formations or arranged in large arrays with resolutions significantly higher than the best available from current indoor LED solutions.

Each LPD panel draws just 30 watts of power, making it around seven times more efficient than an average LCD screen. The screens also generate almost no heat during operation, meaning less energy wastage and no cooling issues for installations in confined spac

Mexico - Meyer Sound's return to Sound:Check XPO 2010 in Mexico City will be highlighted by two versatile live sound products: the new Mina line array loudspeaker and the JM-1P arrayable loudspeaker. On April 26, 2010, Bob McCarthy, Meyer Sound senior design consultant, will be presenting in an AES Mexico education session entitled Design and Optimization in Live Sound Reinforcement.

Mina shares the same musicality and intelligibility as the Milo, Mica and M'elodie line array loudspeakers. At less than 472 mm wide and only 21.32 kg, Mina produces up to 128 dB SPL at one metre with an operating frequency range of 70 Hz to 18 kHz over a 100-degree horizontal coverage area. Mina can serve as the main system in smaller theatres, ballrooms, and houses of worship, and as fill subsystems for Mica and M'elodie.

The JM-1P arrayable loudspeaker system provides precise hori

UK - AC-ET's Rigging division has taken stock of the new Crosby S-209T theatrical shackle, a black version of the industry standard G209 screw pin bow shackle designed for discreet rigging applications in the entertainment sector.

Featuring the same dependability and durability with a new matt black finish, the shackle is available in a range of sizes from 3/8" through to 3/4" and with working load limits of 1, 2, 3.25 and 4.75 metric tonnes.

The carbon steel shackles are forged, quenched and tempered, feature alloy pins and are fatigue rated.

A.C. Rigging stocks large quantities from the Crosby range of shackles, Masterlinks, chain slings and other high quality loose rigging accessories. For a limited period the theatrical black S-209T shackles are available from A.C. Rigging at the same price as the industry standard G209 shackle.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - As the first shipments of Apple's much-discussed iPad roll off of the production lines and into the eager hands of US consumers (delivery dates in Europe are still vaguely described as "end of May") software provider Stardraw.com confirms and demonstrates support of the iPad through their universal system control platform, Stardraw Control 2010.

There's been a lot of debate about the features (and possible failings) of the iPad but in the view of Stardraw.com CEO David Snipp, the device has great potential in the control market. "It isn't really an issue if people say that the iPad isn't as good as a netbook, or that it doesn't have a camera or support Flash or multi-tasking. If the worst you can say is that it's a big iPod touch - and a lot of people are saying that - then it will excel as a touchpanel interface for system control: for Stardraw Control, a bi

USA / UK - By Design Day 2010, which is set to raise money for Behind the Scenes in the US and Light Relief in the UK, is nearly here. To date over 30 of the industry's top designers have pledged a day's royalties to the two charities and their shows are a real indication of the global aspect of our industry. Although the majority are UK or US specific, several are international - in fact raoyalties are coming from shows in some 15 countries. But even if you are not in a royalty situation, you can still contribute by making a donation to show that you care. Businesses too - particularly scenic, audio and lighting rental companies - can show their support with a day's rental fee or single donation.

Established in 2007 as Light Relief Day and now renamed By Design Day, 24 April, is the day that, each year, people in the professional entertainment design busine

UK - True to its longstanding tradition as a DJ-centric company, American DJ Europe has tapped a well-respected DJ to be the area sales manager of its southern UK sales district. The company named the Simon Fletcher to this position after an extensive search of possible candidates.

Fletcher will be responsible for looking after the sales of the American DJ family of products in his region. As part of his job, he will be visiting dealers on a regular basis and building relationships with them. He will also be interacting with the DJ community in the UK at shows and events, and soliciting feedback on how the company's products can best meet their needs.

An amateur DJ since the age of 13, Fletcher worked as a sales executive for a number of international companies in the UK until eight years ago, when he left to pursue his DJ-ing career. As a DJ, Fletcher has worked at some of th

USA / Canada - Audinate reports that its high performance Dante digital networking connected the sound system during the recent Olympics. A network of more than 100 Dante-enabled devices transported the audio signals throughout the opening and closing ceremonies, at the BC Place Stadium located in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The 2010 Olympics was the first Olympics to have its opening ceremony held indoors. Dante was used in six Lab.gruppen PLM10000Qs as Dante transmitters, three transmitting the six main audio signals, three others transmitting the same six signals for redundancy. The signals were distributed via Dante to 104 Lab.gruppen PLM10000Q/PLM14000 amplifiers mounted on trusses in the air, all receiving the Dante signals via a fibre optic Ethernet network.

Featured acts at the opening ceremony included K.D Lang, Bryan Adams and Nelly Furtado. Audinate's Dante network

UK - Tindersticks, recently embarked on a European tour to promote their ninth studio album, Falling Down a Mountain, with FOH engineer, David 'Milky' Millward, selecting an Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system as the FOH console.

"I've used almost all of the pro digital consoles around, and although a very familiar name to me since I started in the industry, I hadn't encountered Allen & Heath's iLive system until now," says Millward. "Faced with a European tour of varying size venues - including clubs, theatres and a cathedral - I was looking for a console that not only sounded excellent but was very small, light and flexible in its interconnections to different house PA systems, and could easily be configured for the various local support acts, without compromising the Tindersticks' show."

Millward, who is sound engineer for artists including

Germany - In response to numerous requests, Dynacord has developed the D 8A - the powered version of the popular D8 system from the D-Lite series. Equipped with a 2 x 400 watt class D power amplifier, an electronic crossover and loudspeaker equalization, the system is suitable for a wide variety of applications. The D 8A is particularly suited to the creation of active three-way high powered systems in combination with active subwoofers - whether in the live music, AV or fixed installation area.

The D 8A is equipped with a low-distortion Dynacord DND8200-8 neodymium chassis for the bass and midrange. The symmetrically radiating, constant directivity HF horn with its 90° x 90° nominal coverage pattern and CAD optimized integration into the baffle is equipped with the DH3 driver from Electro-Voice.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Orbital Sound ran the ninth Sound Fundamentals Training Course for theatre sound technicians last week (6-9 April 2010), to a full house of 24 students. Orbital's training week is designed specifically to prepare theatre sound and more advanced technical theatre students for careers in the live entertainment industry, with the training held at the company's dedicated seminar facility in Brixton, south London.

Highlights of this year's course included backstage tours at West End shows Chicago and Grease, giving the students the opportunity to see the theory in action and get a first-hand insight into the sound behind a successful show. The students were able to quiz the operators on the day-to-day challenges of running a West-End sound department, and picked up invaluable tips for giving their careers in sound a kick-start.

The course's focus is on pre

USA - After more than 20 years' of troubleshooting, the rigging control system challenges are over in the showroom at Trump Plaza Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, thanks to the new control system and the complete makeover provided by J.R. Clancy.

The software specialists and engineers at J. R. Clancy replaced the troublesome rigging controller with its own SceneControl 500 automated motion control system.

The new system ends an odyssey that began as far back as 1984, said Scott Mahrer, entertainment technician for Trump Plaza, who arrived at the hotel and casino in 1985 and immediately began troubleshooting the control system in place. "The console was accurate to within two inches or so," he remembered. "If you wanted to move something in another quarter-inch, you had to run it back a couple of feet and reset the target."

Trump Plaza replaced this system i

UK - With In This Light And On This Evening being their second successive album to enter the UK charts at No.1, indie band Editors are riding the crest of a wave. With the band spending much of 2010 touring Europe, Sennheiser is on hand to help to make the live shows a success.

Band members Tom Smith, Ed Lay and Russell Leetch all use Sennheiser ew 300 G2 in-ear monitors.

Front of house engineer Nick Ingram reports: "We have been using Sennheiser IEMs for over four years. Tom showed an interest very early on, from the band's first tour in fact, and has never looked back. Ed soon followed and Russ has very recently moved onto them.

"The band has always been happy with them. They deliver a very clear, full range sound and are very simple to use. The packs are small, neat and, once set up, can be safely 'locked' for peace of mind - which always goes down well w

UAE - Swedish image processing and show-control specialist Dataton returns to Dubai for the PALME Middle East tradeshow with a new take on its flagship product, Dataton Watchout. Version 4.2, which is making its regional debut at the show, incorporates a new development, Watchout Systems Manager.

Based on Adobe Flash technology, Watchout Systems Manager allows users to create interactive front ends for their Watchout-driven systems and presentations. It includes two ready-to-run applications for remote control and scheduling of shows, and also features an Application Programming Interface (API) and a communications library so that users can create their own applications.

Michael Engström, director of sales at Dataton, says, "Remote control and scheduling are invaluable aids in larger, more complex multimedia installations. The remote-control application within Watchout S

Brazil - Exhibiting for the first time at AES Brazil, Renkus-Heinz will show its digitally steerable column array line, Iconyx, at the 14th AES Brazil on 4-6 May 4-6.

Aimed at a wide variety of installation applications where high audio quality, precise steerability and low visual profile top the specification list, Iconyx is now installed in hundreds of premier locations worldwide. The IC Live system is designed for high power AV rental or installation applications and has a matching dual bandpass subwoofer.

Typical customers are houses of worship, auditoriums, public transportation hubs, retail malls and other public spaces, linked by a common thread - the need for exceptional intelligibility in acoustical tough spaces, combined with slender, unobtrusive appearance.

Also on show at AES Brazil will be the ST4 three-way self-powered loudspeaker, designed for large format ins

Italy For its outstanding contribution to the CRN (Congress Rental Network) and its excellent performance at the 2009 International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) meeting in Florence, Italy, Bosch partner Tecnoconference has been selected as the CRN Agent of the Year for 2009.

Tecnoconference was responsible for installing all the A/V equipment in the ICCA meeting rooms, including the DCN (Digital Congress Network) wireless system installed in a special Bosch sponsored room. As a business partner of the ICCA, Bosch sponsored this room to demonstrate to delegates at the meeting the performance and flexibility of the DCN Wireless system, especially for temporary venues, where easy changes of unit positions and quick set up and break down are essential.

The system showcased comprised 20 wireless discussion units positioned around the room with automatic camera control

USA - EAW has released the NTS250 powered subwoofer. The NTS250 is designed to serve as a companion subwoofer for any EAW system (and those of several competitors), but, as the product name suggests, it is an obvious choice to use in conjunction with the NTL720 compact line array. As such, this comprehensively integrated system is a suitable solution for sound reinforcement or fixed installation for corporate A/V, clubs, ballrooms, theaters, performing arts centers, houses of worship and more, says the company.

The NTS250 is a high output yet compact and lightweight premium subwoofer that unites the following features: a push-pull pair of high efficiency neodymium 15-inch woofers; 2000 Watts of amplification; powerful system optimization DSP and EAW Pilot software-accessible front-end DSP; the proprietary U-Net audio and communications network; a professional rigging system; and

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