In addition to Sub-Focus the Ai Media Server, which is the result of collaboration between Avolites Media and Immersive, has been used extensively by Immersive to deliver stunning and dynamic shows for artists such as: Eric Prydz, Knife Party, Zane Lowe, Swedish House Mafia and Pendulum.
"We were looking to create an interactive audio visual experience in which audio and video were so intrinsically linked that they resulted in a powerful, all encompassing, synesthetic encounter for the spectator," explains Giani Fabricio, designer at Immersive. "The Ai Media server is the perfect partner.
"Our aim is always to push the boundaries of audio/visual synching techniques," continues Fabricio. "In this case we used the Ai system to deliver a complex midi triggering system that sync'd the video content with the music at every level. Most interestingly we created a system that could link the artist's musical instruments to generative video patches. This meant the content reacted in real time to the artist's performance and gave the artist an element of control over the video system."
The Ai system was also crucial for the LED mapping process as the core of the design concept was built around three circular rings of LEDs as Fabricio explains, "We didn't want to use the commonly found, traditional straight line grid configuration for our LED panels. Instead we custom manufactured PCB boards - with the help of our friends at LED Poison in which the LEDs were positioned in perfect concentric circular arrays. This then required complex DVI pixel mapping to a circular map rather than conventional straight edge, however it was easily and successfully handled and repeated at every gig using the Ai system."
This year Sub Focus (aka Nick Douwma) and Immersive busy schedule has seen them perform at a variety of summer festivals, including: T In The Park in Kinross; Global Gathering at Long Marston Airfield; V Festival at Chelmsford; the Sundown Festival at Norfolk Showground; and Bestival in Newport, Coachella / Electric Daisy Carnival. Sub Focus's second album is scheduled for release later this year.
Steve Warren, managing director of Avolites comments, "The Ai Media Server has seen some of the most exciting content delivery action this summer. It been used for touring theatre shows, live music at festivals and large scale events, some of which have been broadcast worldwide. Just a year into its existence the Ai Media Server has won a PLASA Award for innovation. However where it proves itself best is in the hands of some of the most exciting and stimulating creative designers in the world. The Immersive team regularly design ingeniously detailed, inspiring and stimulating shows and we are delighted they choose Avolites Media technology to realise them."
Mark Calvert, managing director of Immersive Ltd, concludes, "Immersive has decided to work with AI exclusively. We feel it's the only Media Server on the global market that not only offers up a tactile and intuitive end-user working environment for our designers to work with, but that it also allows access to the inner brains of the system. This enables our technical team to push the system's capability, allowing it to rise to the challenge of our own bleeding edge concepts."
(Jim Evans)
