UK - Wakestock, which takes place in Abersoch, North Wales, is Europe's largest wakeboard music festival - a watersport/music combination which is proving highly popular. Sound, lighting and power for the event was provided by Cheshire-based VME.

The event was staged over three locations: Pwellheli inner marina and Abersoch main beach were used for the wakeboard competition, while Penrhos was the music site, where headline act Kosheen was supported by the Ordinary Boys, Snatch and others. It took two and a half days to set all power, lighting and sound equipment across the site.

PA for the main area was Kling & Freitag's Access system: four T9 and T5 cabintes, with 12 B5 and four B10s as subwoofers, powered by Lab Gruppen amplification. At front-of-house were a Yamaha PM4000 and an Allen & Heath ML5000. For each desk was an outboard rack carrying a Yamaha SPX 900 and SPX 2000, a dbx

UK - The organizers of the Reproduced Sound conference have issued a provisional programme for this year's event, which takes place at the Oxford Hotel in Wolvercote, Oxford, from 8-10 October 2004. Previously known as 'The Windermere Conference' after the location in which it spent its first 14 years, the conference was successfully held at its new location in November 2003, and will return there this year for its 20th event.

The theme for the conference this year is 'Improving the listening experience', and the organizers are encouraging creative interpretations of theme in papers submitted for the programme. The event will also include an area for demonstrating and exhibiting products and catalogues, and practical demonstration sessions will take place on each of the two evenings.

The event is expected to attract more than 100 delegates, from all parts of the audio profession. Fu

UK - Souncraft's Going Live course in live sound engineering has to be one of the most useful and enlightening industry short courses I have ever had the pleasure of attending. Run in association with Adlib Audio and Liverpool Community College, it was well-structured and expertly delivered by respected industry professionals who were clearly passionate about their work.

For two-and-a-half days I counted 'one, two' into microphones (the emphasis on the 'T') - and, along the way, developed a working knowledge of live sound mixing and production. Beginning with a half-day induction course for the absolute beginner hosted by Adlib's Andy Dockerty, covering the basics of speakers, cable running, coiling and mic stand set-up. We then progressed onto a tour around a mixing desk, phantom power and a demonstration of active and passive crossover. By the end of the afternoon I had learned more

UK - One of the more unusual aspects of this year's PLASA Show (12-15 September, Earls Court, London) will be a photographic exhibition celebrating the creative and practical talents of Irish band U2 and their production team. The photographs for the exhibition have been taken from U2 Show - a new, authorized book by Diana Scrimgeour - which covers the entire touring history of the band. The exhibition is part of the PLASA Production Village, located on the Top Deck.

To coincide with the launch of the book, there'll also be an exclusive seminar featuring two of the band's longest-serving touring personnel. Hosted by TPI editor Mark Cunningham, the seminar - Designing for U2 - will feature Willie Williams and Joe O'Herlihy in conversation about their creative and technical involvement with U2, and how advances in technology have been successfully (and ingeniously) applied to del

UK - PLASA 2004 has now opened and promises to be another successful event: even this morning the stands were buzzing, with a vast range of the latest pro lighting and audio, video and digital media, rigging and staging products on show. The Innovation Gallery, where this year's nominations for the PLASA Awards for Innovation are displayed - 67 products in total - provides a popular draw for visitors at the front of the hall.

Seminars kick off today with a fascinating discussion on DJ/VJ technology and how club land is being transformed by user-friendly media servers and DJ-friendly CD decks. This will all happen in the seminar theatre on the top deck from 2 - 3pm, and will be closely followed at 3.30pm by a presentation on digital media servers, offering a comparison of the features of some of the systems available today and a demonstration of two of the current systems from H

UK - London-based 3D imaging specialists Inition, on their PLASA debut, scored a show first by unveiling new large-scale autostereoscopic plasma screens which show 3D images without requiring the viewer to wear 3D glasses. Early generations of autostereoscopic screens had a very narrow viewing angle whereas the new types can be viewed from virtually any angle.

The company, which sells 3D video creation and imaging systems and is itself a specialist 3D content creator for a host of blue-chip clients, is showing LCD monitors which display stereoscopic video via a special interlaced video signal format. Each screen is retro-fitted with a filter which creates the illusion of a 3D image that appears to leap out of the screen.

The screens join the company's existing range of stereoscopic imaging devices, which includes a Sharp laptop - the first laptop available off the shelf with

UK - Digidesign today unveiled its first foray into the live sound mixing market with the launch of the Venue digital console. Major features include high sound quality with 48-bit internal processing, a versatile and expandable digital mix engine and the ability to add to the console's standard feature set with plug-ins - a legacy of the manufacturer's long relationship with musicians via the Pro Tools recording studio series.

The standard package includes a 48-channel D-Show console, a full snapshot-based automation system which can store all console channel and parameter settings, channel facilities that include two dynamics processors, 4-band parametric EQ and delay and hand-calibrated microphone preamps.

Digidesign's expandable DSP mix engine architecture provides almost literally unlimited scope for adding effects and dynamics processors with plug-ins. The same effects

UK - In a PLASA showcase, loudspeaker innovators Funtion-One are using the PLASA Show to launch the Resolution 1, a standard sized loudspeaker aimed at the generic 2-way box market. The new product represents a radical departure from the norm in this market and the company claims it will "revolutionise the 2-way small box loudspeaker market."

The key component is a completely new 5 inch mid/high driver that eliminates the need for a compression driver, and lowers the LF crossover point to just 600Hz below which a ported 12 inch LF driver takes over. The 5 inch device, developed in-house at Function-One's Surrey, UK base, is mounted on a miniaturized, dedicated Axehead-loaded waveguide and the promise of the complete package is a combination of high efficiency and excellent projection and imaging.

The enclosure shape has been optimized to recess a wall bracket for n

UK - Formula Sound is launching the FF-6000 DJ mixer at PLASA, the product of a unique collaboration between the manufacturer and loudspeaker specialists (and dance market aficionados) Funktion-One. The mixer's features and layout were determined during the collaboration and extensively checked along the way with professional DJs.

A large-scale DJ mixer 'shoot-out', conducted by Funktion-One some 18 months ago that involved an informal panel of interested listeners from around the industry, revealed differences in both sound quality and control interface. "We tested mixers from all the major manufacturers," explains Funktion-One's Tony Andrews. "There were only two mixers that everyone agreed delivered acceptable sound quality, and one of those was Formula Sound's PM100. We then worked with Formula Sound to refine the layout with features that working DJs really

UK - Heralding it as "the world's most versatile amplifier", MTi Danmark announced its first product developed especially for international markets with the arrival of the MPA 82000 8-channel DSP amplifier and the DSM 88 Digital Speaker Manager.

The MPA 82000, which MTi says will replace a typical 12-16 unit amplifier rack, offers 8 x 500W or 8 x 1000W power amplifier modules, in any combination, in a 3U rackmount unit that weighs in at 58lb (26 kg). It's aimed at both the installation and touring / rental markets. The amplifier features the unique ICEpower power conversion technology, made under licence from Bang & Olufsen ICEpower A/S.

A built-in 8-channel DSP controller provides a full 8x8 matrix, EQ, crossover, delay, limiter and volume, with global delay of up to 8 seconds. Settings can be stored in 16 user presets. Via an RS485 interface, up to 16 MPA 82000s

No, not the work light on the Innovation Gallery, but the thing it was attached to - a simple and useful device which made the judges wonder why it hadn't been done before. Lewden's Encore T-Line incorporates both a 16A plug and socket in a compact IP44 black moulding with a rewireable cable outlet at the side. Applications include any fixture or appliance with a 16A plug where more than one item is often plugged into the supply. Permanently fitted to a lantern or accessory in place of the standard 16A plug, it allows simple and neat daisy-chaining of another fixture without the need for a separate 16A splitter. Because the plug and socket are in-line, it allows exceptionally neat rigging along a bar/truss or on the ground. This innovative daisy-chaining connector is now available exclusively from Stage Electrics.

Following a re-assessment of the Show's product awards by the PLASA Exhibitors' Forum, this year's event placed a greater emphasis than ever before on Innovation, while doing away with the familiar - but often unequal - product categories.

The PLASA Show's product awards have been a popular feature of the event for many years, highlighting the significance of the show as a focus for new technological developments. To further underline this role, the awards have undergone an important change for 2004, with a greater emphasis being placed on 'innovation' - hence the first presentation of the PLASA Awards for Innovation.

The previous assessment criteria, which separated the nominations into sectors, was removed, and products were judged on the strength of their innovation alone. The judges, chaired once again by L&SI's technical editor James Eade, consisted of respected consultants, de

Wireless Solutions took home an innovation award for its latest product the W-DMX, a wireless DMX transceiver system.

Broadly based on GSM (mobile phone) technology, the wireless side works in the 2.45GHz radio band alongside Bluetooth and similar IEEE 802.11 (W-LAN) compliant products. However, unlike equipment operating according to the 802.11 standard, the W-DMX system uses Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) encryption along with Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH) which allows greater data throughput as it is less affected by local 802.11 products.

The products are all DMX512A and RDM ready, and the firmware can also be updated using a separate data channel, which is also used for system set up. Up to 8192 receivers can be controlled form one system, and there are four differing types of transmitter - the differences being primarily in the quantity of DMX universes that can be co

Money raised by the PLASA Awards for Innovation was presented to the following good causes in order to help with the purchase of new equipment and facilities. Each organization received a cheque for £3,500 during the Awards ceremony.

Livewire Youth Project: A youth centre in Cornwall providing facilities for young people in music and performing arts.

Rehearsal Room Pilot Scheme: Supported by the Live Music Forum. Aims to provide rehearsal facilities and equipment in three UK urban areas.

Camberwell Music Project: Aims to enhance the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) aspect of music teaching, and provide facilities for the local community.

Turbosound's new high-efficiency sound reinforcement system, Aspect, consists of the TA-890H touring mid-high model and the matching low-frequency TA-890L.

Described by the company as its "most efficient loudspeaker design to date", the Aspect series features a number of patented concepts and is capable of generating peak SPL in excess of 146dB, with very low distortion. It utilizes in-house-designed transducers, which operate over four frequency bands divided between the system's modular mid/high and LF enclosures. All feature neodymium magnets, offering greater efficiency and thermal stability, plus lower power compression and low weight.

Notable innovations include the Polyhorn waveguides, employed for the design's HF and high-mid frequency bands to create a phase-coherent wavefront. The Polyhorn concept allows individual wavefronts to coincide seamlessly with the physic

Easy Stand Alone - IP version, the latest addition to the Easy Stand Alone range, is a new Ethernet-DMX 512 interface which makes it possible to work either locally or via the Internet with an IP address.

Programming via the Internet is especially useful for architectural installations: the system makes it possible for a lighting designer or installer to access and change colour settings for a special event at a building in Los Angeles, for example, from his office in London.

The interface is able to establish a connection to a server and look for any new updates: the lighting designer just needs to put his new show on the server and the interface will download it at the next connection. The company explains: "It works a little bit like antivirus software, which looks for updates every day, or week." The interface can be connected to a WebCam, allowing the installer to up

With its innovative approach to architectural building control and the potential to become a cost-effective control interface for a wide range of applications. Stardraw Control offers a new approach to solving the problem of controlling systems comprised of products from many different suppliers.

Stardraw's Rob Robinson explains what sets it apart from other control solutions. "Stardraw Control creates stand-alone control applications that can manage any kind of product from any manufacturer as long as it can be controlled or monitored remotely. It is designed to support any communications infrastructure and any protocol such as LAN, Wi-Fi, IR, RS232, EtherSound etc. Furthermore, the application that you have created with Stardraw Control will run on any Windows-enabled device from PC to PDA to touchscreen panel, as well as Linux, Mac etc. To our knowledge, no-one else offers such

The DGS Counterweight Drive System has been designed using the latest steel band technology to simplify the arduous process of operating counterweight systems in the entertainment industry. Faster fit-up times, significant reductions in running costs and a greatly improved safety and operational capability are among the benefits offered by Hall Stage, in conjunction with ASM Steuerungstechnik GmbH, for the movement and control of scenery and stage equipment. The system won the ABTT's Rigging & Engineering Product of the Year award in the summer, and has added to its haul with a PLASA Award.

Loading and unloading cradles is an inherently dangerous process: DGS reduces the potential for conflicts with safe working practices legislation and future health issues as well as future claims for injury and long-term back problems - by doing away with the manual aspects of the process.

Operat

UK - The D1 Live, a compact version of the D5 Live digital mixing system at what DiGiCo calls an "Access All Areas price", made its debut at PLASA 2004, heralding what the company confidently predicts will be its biggest selling product to date.

Aimed at the midrange rental company and installation markets, a brand new MADI card is largely responsible for the dramatic price reduction, by providing a fully digital link from stage to FOH for up to 100m of coax cable, where previously 50m was the maximum run -dispensing with the need for expensive optical fibre.

The worksurface has the D5's instantly familiar and distinctive look - although there is slightly less of it, as the new console provides two (rather than three) input fader sections, each with eight faders, and offers a maximum of 224 inputs and 224 outputs. It shares the D5's built-in dynamics, EQ, matrix, eff

The Digital Festoon System's DFS200 low voltage batten lamp driver is a standard two-core festoon cable that carries both 48V and DMX using a unique patented data system. This means that up to 200 lamps can be individually controlled on a single cable from one DFS200 power unit. To realize large-scale coordinated lighting displays -perhaps involving hundreds of thousands of lights - practically any number of power units can be synchronized.

The system builds lighting displays in scenes - a scene defined as the state of each lamp pertaining to a given power unit. Each power unit can store up to 30,000 scenes and can play up to 20 scenes per second: combined with fast playback, this allows for long, non-repetitive and complex lighting effects.

A final feature of the DFS200 system is the ability for lamps to fade: conventional festoon lighting systems can only switch lamps on and off. W

UK - Pro audio distribution specialists, Fuzion plc will announce the formation of a new lighting division at this year's PLASA Show in London (September 12-15). Difuzion will be headed by the experienced Graham Barron, who has spent the last four years at Martin Professional, having dedicated much of his professional career to lighting design, support, consultancy and sales. Difuzion will open its account by confirming an exclusive UK distribution deal with German-based Futurelight, headed by Bernd Steinigke.

Said Graham Barron, "I was ready for a new challenge and was impressed by the set-up at Fuzion. As for Futurelight, they produce a comprehensive, attractively-priced range of well-made products - and yet historically the brand has been under-exposed in the UK." He emphasized that this was just the start. "We are ready to take on other non-conflicting lighti

UK - Two video innovations are on display on stand D97, where German digital imaging specialists Coolux are displaying the Pandora's Box media server, and Schnick-Schnack Systems show a new LED matrix backlighter aimed at the décor and effects market.

Pandora's Box is a powerful media server, joining the new generation of digital lighting / video convergence technologies. Using multi-layer technology, its 3D rendering process allows one image layer to be used as a background while layering or fading other images on top. 3D rotation allows keystone correction even at extreme projection angles. Up to 9 separate layers can be created with soft crossfading of layers, variable tilting and zooming of images, RGB colour mixing, an extensive 3D effects library, 3D point-of-view shifting, perspective or orthogonal view selection, and firewire or optional capturecard input.

The LED-Kac

Described by the judges as 'a leap forward in chain hoist control with an elegant solution in control and planning aspects of the production process', the much-vaunted InMotion 3D / CyberHoist motion control system was unveiled at PLASA at the start of four days of on-site demonstrations. The system offers a combination of precision movement and user-friendly programming and its creators, Dutch company XLNT Advanced Technologies, claims it is the most advanced motion control system available for the entertainment industry.

It was first seen at this year's Eurovision Song Contest (L&SI June 2004) and is now on its début world tour with Phil Collins (L&SI August 2004) via PRG Europe. A complete system consists of InMotion 3D object-oriented software, an unlimited number of half-tonne Verlinde CyberHoist motors, an Ethernet network (DataMotion), a dedicated power distribution system (Pow

UK - PLASA 2004 opened its doors on Sunday 12th September to enthusiastic crowds, with a full show, hundreds of exciting products and a real buzz across the show floor. Both visitors and exhibitors are commenting that the excitement is back and the industry future looks bright.

The Product Excellence Awards at the PLASA show have been a popular feature of the event for many years, highlighting the significance of the show as a focus for new developments for the industry. To reinforce this role, the awards have undergone an important change for 2004 with the focus being much more on genuine innovation and have been relaunched as the PLASA Awards for Innovation. The previous assessment criteria, which segmented the nominations into sectors, has been removed so that products were not judged within category lines, but on the grounds of their innovation alone. The judges looked for

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