Australia - Cadac has announced the appointment of Hills as its new exclusive distributor for Australia and New Zealand. Hills, recently celebrated its 70th anniversary and is committed to being a value-added distributor of technology and communication solutions across a wide range of market sectors, including home, health, education and audio-visual.

Dan Fletcher, head of Hills AV, stated, "Hills is extremely proud to be exclusively distributing Cadac consoles in Australia and New Zealand. At Hills, the combination of Cadac with other world leading audio brands, such as L'Acoustics and Biamp, continues to provide our partners and their customers with complete solutions that are trusted the world over."

Consultant support manager Bryan Davidson has been busy building the Hills brand portfolio. "Cadac is the perfect fit for our brand portfolio, it will partner extremely wel

Germany - Studiomaster has extended its digiLiVE16 product line with new models being shown for the first time in Europe on its booth #H40 in Hall 4.1 at Prolight+Sound.

The Studiomaster digiLiVE16R is an ultra-compact "blackbox" iPad driven version of the new Studiomaster digiLiVE16 hybrid concept micro-mixer; the digiLiVE16 with simultaneous remote tablet and console operation, is also on the company's booth.

The digiLiVE16R mixer provides identical internal features and buss specifications to the console format digiLiVE16, fully Wi-Fi controllable from an iPad. With a 16 input / 16 bus / 8 output configuration, the mixer features state-of-the-art DSP technology, including 40-bit floating point, 4th generation SHARC internal processing and proprietary mix algorithms for EQ, dynamics and FX. 12 XLR mic input channels, 24 bit/48 kHz AD / DA conversion, and up to eight inte

Germany - HK Audio has bolstered its flagship Premium PR:O range of modular, musician-friendly speakers with five new active full range cabinets featuring advanced DSP technology.

Known as Premium PR:O D, the new models boast all the features that have enabled the series to sell more than 150,000 units in the past decade - made in Germany build quality, resonance-resistant, roadworthy wood enclosures, timeless designs and exceptional live music reproduction - as well as state-of-the-art digital technology and intuitive plug and play operation.

The new cabinets benefit from all-new, DSP-powered preamps and the latest generation of ultra-efficient class-D power amps.

Alexander Wollenberg, HK Audio product manager, says, "We're immensely proud of the fact that Premium PR:O D delivers more sound pressure, noticeably more bass and a more balanced frequency response than its

Germany - In the 40 years since Yamaha produced its first professional power amplifier, the P2200, Yamaha power amplifiers have become a byword for sound quality, power output and reliability. Prolight+Sound and MusikMesse 2016 see the launch of the new PX Series, which continues this tradition of excellence by combining the latest developments in Yamaha's renowned DSP technology with unparalleled professional audio expertise to produce a light, durable design, capable of delivering maximum output power while simultaneously protecting the speakers with optimised processing.

As well as being the latest development in Yamaha's long tradition of technical excellence and reliability, a feature of the PX Series is the cost-effectiveness which made the original P (and subsequent P-S) series amplifiers a favoured option in regional theatres, community venues, retail premises and many

Germany - Genelec is expanding its range of new generation Smart Active Monitoring (SAM) systems with five additions to the series. All visitors to the Genelec stand (Hall 4, Level 1, Booth E27) will be able to see and listen to these new systems.

The SAM project began in 2000, and 10 years after the successful introduction of the 8200 and 7200 Series (in 2006), Genelec's commitment to providing state-of-the-art monitoring solutions continues.

Following the introduction of the 8320, 8330 and 7350 SAM systems in 2014, the new 8340 and 8350 monitors combined with new 7360 and 7370 subwoofers offer "the highest possible system flexibility for demanding monitoring needs, for both analogue and digital audio applications". The Smart subwoofers are also complemented by the new 9301 AES/EBU Multichannel interface which allows easy connection to any 7.1 digital audio sources.

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Germany - L-Acoustics has launched the KS28, a new reference subwoofer, adding 3dB of SPL (versus the SB28) and exclusively driven by the new LA12X amplified controller.

The KS28 takes sub performance to new lows, offering extended bandwidth down to 25 Hz, outstanding low frequency resolution, exceptional SPL and tight impact. The KS28 comes "with the ease of use that is the hallmark of an L-Acoustics enclosure", weighing in at only 79 kilograms or 174 pounds, the sub is rapid and cost-effective to deploy, with all rigging integrated into the box. The KS28 is suitable for performances from classical or contemporary music through to EDM or green field music festivals.

L-Acoustics is also launching the LA12X, a new, future-ready amplified controller with 12,000 Watts of power, thanks to its smart DSP-controlled Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS) with Power Factor Correction. Bo

Germany - At Frankfurt this week, Sennheiser will preview the new digital version of its MK 4, one of the audio specialist's most popular recording mics. With high-quality Apogee A/D conversion and mic preamp technology, MK 4 digital connects directly to iOS devices, Mac and PC computers. The large-diaphragm MK 4 digital is the ideal partner for any mobile recording task requiring great sound quality with the typical warmth and detail of a true condenser microphone.

"I am delighted to announce the latest product to be born from our cooperation with A/D conversion experts Apogee Electronics," said Wolfgang Fraissinet, director audio recording at Sennheiser. "The MK 4 digital true condenser studio microphone will bring full, detailed sound and "made in Germany" quality to recordings on iOS devices, Macs and PCs. It will offer bands and artists freedom and flexibility in recordin

Germany - Following on from the proven success of Stealth Digital Processing, and the use of FPGA's for large scale audio processing applications, DiGiCo has revealed their concept design of the company's next, into the future, development of Quantum 7 processing.

Quantum 7 is developed with seventh generation FPGA devices that further expand audio processing power, and ultimately allows DiGiCo to provide its users with an unrivalled amount of further flexibility. To put this advancement into perspective, the current Stealth Digital Processing is heavily based around third generation FPGA devices.

Although not scheduled for release until Spring 2017, DiGiCo will present an SD7 installed with Quantum 7 at Prolight+Sound 2016. Those attending the show will see some of the unique ways this processing and flexibility are being implemented.

Some examples of these enhancemen

Australia - Hillsong, a multi-site church with campuses in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Newcastle, Gold Coast, Hobart, Darwin and Noosa as well as numerous international campuses around the world, has announced a partnership with Adamson Systems Engineering to provide sound reinforcement to multiple Hillsong venues worldwide.

"It started with our looking for a new system that would better meet our needs for the City Centre worship space in Sydney," explains Hillsong production facilities manager Steve Le Roux. "At the same time, we knew that there were existing systems in other venues that needed to be upgraded, plus new churches under construction that would require sound reinforcement. It made sense to be incredibly thorough - we sat through many, many product demonstrations - in order to decide upon one manufacturer to work with for everything. In the end, Adamson came out

Argentina - DPA Microphones has announced that it has named Equaphon Sistemas de Sonido SRL as its new distributor in the Argentina market.

Equaphon designs, develops and manufactures international-quality sound products, and represents the best international brands in professional audio. At the same time, the company guarantees all its products: the ones designed and manufactured in Argentina and abroad, as well as the products of the companies it represents.

"The expansion of DPA's products into markets all over the world is an important part of the company's strategy for future growth, and we are pleased to name Equaphon as our new distributor in Argentina," says Leonardo Romero, sales director, Latin America for DPA Microphones. "This agreement brings together two companies that are both recognized for their high-quality craftsmanship, reliability and exemplary custome

Germany - In recent years the prediction and control of far field noise immission from live open air events has become a serious topic. Gaining permission and licensing to stage such productions often requires an official statement, predicting how the noise will impact on surrounding areas. The introduction of the far field noise immission modelling software, d&b NoizCalc, addresses this issue, taking the d&b promise of predictable, precise performance another step further.

NoizCalc models the sound propagation of coherently emitting complex sources such as line arrays and subwoofer arrays from multiple stages in the regions outside of the audience listening area and applies the results onto a 3D terrain map. This PC based software predicts the calculated far field impact of a d&b loudspeaker setup in the open air, by applying the

ISO 9613-2 and Nord 2000 standards. Using

The Netherlands - After releasing its latest album, All In Good Time, last year, and playing several large festival and one-off arena gigs, award-winning Dutch band Racoon has been on an extensive but intimate theatre tour around The Netherlands.

Front of House engineer Marty Brugmans and monitor engineer Jelmer Dijkstra both specified SSL Live consoles for the tour, with Brugmans taking an L500 for FOH and Dijkstra using an L300 on monitors. Both consoles have been supplied by Dutch hire and events production company, Stagelight, and are using Dante AoIP network technology for audio transport.

Brugmans was an early adopter of SSL Live technology, having already used the L500 on several large-scale events. His move to the SSL platform was triggered by dissatisfaction with the quality of summing and processing on other live consoles. "The first time I used it, everyt

Germany - Coda Audio's AiRAY system is making waves. Since its launch in July 2015, sales have been strong and orders are being placed in increasingly high volumes. AiRAY's impact is nowhere better illustrated than at this year's Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt where Japanese giant, Hibino Sound Division, placed a substantial order for AiRAY, increasing its holding of Coda boxes to over 300 (including AiRAY, TiRAY, ViRAY and others).

Hibino Sound Division, head of sound, Hiroshi Inoue comments, "Firstly, as with all Coda line-array systems, we see that AiRAY achieves very high sound resolution with good separation of each instrument's sound. Sound shape is maintained over a long distance meaning that the required SPL can be obtained using fewer cabinets. AiRAY's functionality is also excellent for both flown and ground stack applications - cabinet angles can be quickly and easil

Canada - Adamson Systems Engineering has announced the E119 compact subwoofer, the newest member of the popular E-Series loudspeaker family. The E119 not only bolsters the low-end of the E-Series but also meets the demand for a powerful, compact sub that packs well into US and European trucks and sea containers.

Developed with input from Eighth Day Sound, the enclosure is loaded with one long-excursion 19-inch SD19 Kevlar Neodymium driver utilizing Adamson's Advanced Cone Architecture and Symmetrical Drive Technology. The driver employs a dual 5-inch voice coil for exceptional power handling with a dual-spider suspension system for extra stability even under extreme excursion. The front-loaded enclosure is designed to reproduce clean, musical, low frequency information.

The slim, lightweight E119 allows users to achieve long flown arrays with greater directional control an

Germany - Following a global debut at NAMM in January, DiGiGrid gave a European launch to its new Desktop series at MusikMesse in Frankfurt. Designed to ensure that the audio professional's working environment is as uncluttered as possible, the four new products may be small, but they squeeze in a lot of features.

Delivering maximum flexibility and ease of use for recording, monitoring and creative audio applications, the DiGiGrid Desktop range includes the [Q] headphone amplifier, [D] desktop interface, [M] musician recording interface, and the [S] four-output Power over Ethernet (PoE) source.

A core design feature of the Desktop series is that it maintains the principles of DiGiGrid's Networkable solutions. Key to these are natural, high quality audio reproduction and total integration with any other DiGiGrid product. Whether used as a standalone item or as part of bigge

USA - When Audio Formula / Tour FX CEO Nick Assunto and his team were hired by the City of Doral and The Knight Foundation to produce an evening of music at Downtown Doral Park, he turned to DPA Microphones for all of his amplification needs. The free concert, which took place on a cold Miami evening with the breath-taking Doral City Hall as the backdrop, featured the world-renowned Forbidden Saints and a special guest performance by the Miami Symphony Orchestra.

Assunto, an avid user of DPA microphones, was confident the mics would be capable of handling the challenges that come with miking a large number of performers in a temporary outdoor venue.

"Amplifying a symphony orchestra with 70-plus musicians on stage in a windy environment is not an easy task," says Assunto. "We had to give care and consideration for the microphone placement with the addition of windscreens, a

UK - Following six years of development, British loudspeaker manufacturer Funktion-One has launched Vero - the new, large format touring sound system that promises "to re-define audio and operational performance expectations and deliver the next level of tour sound," the company says.

Vero began life when Funktion-One's Tony Andrews considered the possibility of designing a sound system that configures in a linear array. Having spoken of his concerns about the intrinsic sound issues of line-array systems for many years, this may have appeared to some as an unusual step. While Andrews recognised the time and manpower benefits of rigging a vertical array, he definitely wasn't prepared to compromise the audio standards that he and John Newsham have lived and breathed for over 40 years. Andrews and Newsham set out on a journey, which has seen many twists and turns along the way .

UK - Baldwin Boxall has launched a new logo and refreshed look, reflecting the company's ethos of ongoing improvement and evolution of the brand. The new logo has an updated look, whilst keeping its traditional, and highly recognisable, blue triangle. The rebranding exercise has included a fully responsive website (www.baldwinboxall.co.uk) and modernised exhibition stand.

During the website redesign Baldwin Boxall insisted that there must be no loss of content as the company has always been keen to ensure that it is as informative as possible. To give you an idea of size, the site itself consists of well over 100 pages and contains over 200 items of downloadable content. In addition there is a project profile area, a news blog, customer log-in area and staff news blog.

Despite its size, the website is straight-forward to navigate, with plenty of interesting content, and in

UK - A new venue has just opened its doors in Chavasse Park in Liverpool, with décor inspired by a New England-style Hamptons beach house, so it is fitting that the sound system that was chosen by systems integrator Adlib was Bose. Coincidentally, Bose has its global headquarters in Boston, New England's gateway city in the US, so whilst it may seem unconnected, there is a neat synergy to the coming together of style and sound.

The Club House, a flagship venue owned and operated by New World Trading Company (NWTC) comprises a 200 capacity split level restaurant, bar, private dining, beer tasting room, and a huge outdoor area with a bar and BBQ, catering for an additional 400 covers, so the audio system had to deliver on looks, coverage and audio quality both inside and out. The striking interior features white panelled walls and an entrance foyer leading to a grand stai

UK - PRS for Music Foundation, a leading charitable funder of new music and talent development across all genres, has launched the latest initiative in its Flash Funding programme.

Last week, music creators were able to apply for The Performance Fund, which is in association with Wigwam Acoustics and Musicians' Union and offers four emerging UK artists and bands access to bespoke monitoring packages (such as in-ear monitoring, microphones, control systems) worth up to £10k to ensure consistently great sound across live dates, plus advice and training on touring, promotional support and an additional £375 for touring costs.

This edition of Flash Funding recognises that the costs of touring for emerging musicians are not always being met by live income streams. In offering financial tour support, The Performance Fund will fast-track careers at a crucial early sta

Europe - French loudspeaker manufacturers Active Audio and APG confirmed at ProLight+Sound 2016 the signing of a strategic alliance. While both brands will remain independent in their respective activities - and through distribution channels - Active Audio will continue to focus on the Public Address market while APG will still cater for live events and large venue installations. The decision to join forces will foster critical synergies between both companies in R&D, production, financing and ultimately global reach.

As a result, with immediate effect. Active Audio will now hold 60% of APG shares while APG's historical shareholders, Jean-Luc Moncel, Philippe Frarier and Grégory Dapsanse, will hold the majority of the remaining shares.

Commenting on the agreement, Régis Cazin enthused, "All stakeholders at APG and Active Audio feel elated to have this new all

Germany - Martin Audio took full advantage of this year's significant changes to Prolight+Sound 2016 in Frankfurt, announcing the new CDD-LIVE! series from its new stand location and showcasing the products in a live demonstration. It was also an opportunity for the industry to meet Dom Harter, Martin Audio's new managing director.

The combination proved highly successful as the media gathered enthusiastically at Martin Audio's new stand to see the unveiling of the new series. This comprises Martin Audio's popular Coaxial Differential Dispersion horns, now teamed with integrated amplifier, Dante connectivity and tour grade materials.

The complete range was then showcased to hundreds of guests across 24 demonstrations in a dedicated theatre, away from the stand.

Director of marketing, James King, said, "It's the first time that we have taken a stand in our own right at

Germany - Optocore and BroaMan had plenty of surprises in store for the world's press (and partners) when they assembled at the company's booth during Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt.

Unmissable for its slot car scale racetrack, the booth featured milestones from the company's 20-year history right up to the present - including this year's new blockbuster releases.

First up was BroaMan's upgraded Route66 video router, now offering Auto Routing and an intelligent fibre patch bay. The new functionality is powered by Optocore, and is ideal not only for Installation but equally for live events or broadcast.

The first customer is Wigwam Acoustics - and their long-term digital specialist Alex Hadjigeorgiou, the man responsible for the acquisition, flew in from South America to address the assembled press. Now an independent designer, he announced that Coldplay would be the first

UK - No less than nine DiGiCo SD series mixing consoles formed the backbone of the audio production at the annual Brit Awards, held at London's O2 Arena on 2 February.

The event's audio production management - headed up by Colin Pink - crew, control and loudspeaker systems were provided by Britannia Row Productions. The complex sound requirements of a televised major awards event, with performances by some of contemporary music's highest profile acts were handled easily by the DiGiCo consoles.

Not only were DiGiCo consoles chosen to mix the live performances, as well as the presenter and warm up acts, but seven of the 11 winners on the night are regular DiGiCo users.

Two SD7s were installed at the Front of House position, which were used to mix live performances by Adele, James Bay, Coldplay and Justin Bieber, with all four regular DiGiCo users winning awards on the ni

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