UK - JoeCo Limited has confirmed a PLASA preview of its new Blackbox Player. Based on the Blackbox Recorder's's technology, the Blackbox Player is a dedicated 1U multi-channel device specifically designed for replaying backing tracks for live shows. Able to replay 24 channels of 24bit/96kHz audio, the player can be triggered with a footswitch or keyboard, or controlled via MIDI commands, giving the live engineer, musical director or artist full control of the show.

Audio for playback can be loaded onto a standard USB2 hard drive, or Flash RAM drive, from any workstation capable of creating Broadcast WAV files. A simple naming convention ensures that the correct file is replayed through each output. The 'set list' can be configured into a simple playlist file written in an easy to understand XML format. Multiple playlist files can be stored on the external media allowing for quic

Denmark - Guitarist, composer and producer Henrik Andersen has chosen a DPA SMK4061 miniature stereo miking kit for the live debut of possibly the most advanced guitar in the instrument's history: the 52-stringed, three-neck Manzer Medusa.

The concept for the Medusa sprung from Andersen's success on the Indian classical scene and a desire to create a personal trademark encapsulating his musical identity. Accordingly, the Medusa features necks of a veena, sitar and conventional guitar.

"The sonic range and acoustic colours of the Manzer Medusa are fantastic and outstanding, so I needed to find a mic solution for live concerts," says Andersen. "I ended up choosing the SMK4061 stereo miking kit from DPA. The 4061 miniature mics are extremely small, but catch the overall sound of the 52-stringed beauty. For me they set a new standard, because the small size of the m

UK - Celestion has announced the appointment of Ken Weller in the newly created role of product marketing manager. Based at the company's headquarters in Ipswich, UK, Ken will take responsibility for Celestion's marketing function, with particular focus on professional audio product management.

"As the company continues to be successful, it's important that we invest in the right personnel to facilitate further growth" Commented Nigel Wood, Celestion managing director.

"Ken offers a wealth of experience and knowledge within the audio industry, and of loudspeakers in particular. Bringing Ken on board enables us to strengthen our product management capability and will help drive the business forward through the development of a new generation of innovative and market-leading new products."

With a strong background in physics and a keen interest in loudspeak

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies has confirmed its status as an official sponsor of the Jack Goff racing team for the 2010 ELF Renault Clio Cup with Michelin Championship.

For this year's Championship, Jack Goff is sponsored by several entertainment technology companies, including Avolites, Fibre Optic Systems, GLP, HSL Group, Litestructures, Pixel Range, Robe, Rope & Rigging and SES.

Jack Goff and his Renault Clio racing car will be appearing in the JG-Motorsport Lounge at PLASA 2010. Visitors to the lounge have a chance to enter a free prize draw to win an exclusive track day experience with Jack.

AC-ET's UK sales director, Phill Capstick comments, "Further to AC-ET's sponsorship of the BRDC's exclusive Rising Stars Programme supporting promising young British racing drivers, it was a natural progression to sponsor a talented up and coming driver from the local ar

UK - Electrovision reports that it has secured its continuing relationship with Behringer, after over 10 years of successful association with the German company.

A Behringer statement says, "Electrovision will now be authorised to service regional dealers in the European market who are not participating in the group's container programme with fulfilment of Behringer and Bugera product orders. The appointment marks a significant milestone in the existing relationship between the two companies."

Richard Fox, managing director of Electrovision, comments, "We have been fortunate enough to have a long and successful relationship with Behringer and we firmly echo their goal to offer 'the best equipment at fair prices', which helps us to stay competitive and makes the Behringer and Bugera ranges accessible for our customers."

Fox continues, "Electrovision's

Austria - Tannoy's QFlex steerable array system has recently been specified to good effect in Austria, solving a long-standing intelligibility problem in a historic ballroom. Located in the town of Wiener Neustadt, 30 miles south of Vienna, the opulent classical ballroom is housed in a 350 year old building that began life in the 17th century as a church and then later home to the Mayor's Office following a long stint as a factory for most of the 19th century.

The building was then acquired for use by a local bank with a grand opening in 1898 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Emperor Franz Josef I, and has remained in the hands of the financial institutions ever since with numerous renovations and a number of sound systems for the ballroom space having come and gone over the years.

To mark the 150th anniversary of the bank, the owners (Sparkasse Wiener Neustadt) sought to a

USA - Aviom's Pro16 personal mixing system is proving a big hit on Broadway, where it is being used as part of the monitoring setup by three of the season's hottest musicals - Promises, Promises, Come Fly Away, and La Cage aux Folles - to help the orchestra to stay on cue.

Promises, Promises, a musical adaptation of the hit 1960 Billy Wilder film, The Apartment, has the most traditional arrangement of the three shows, with a large orchestra playing in a pit near the stage. Production Resource Group (PRG) supplied Promises, Promises with its Aviom A-16II Personal Mixers and mounted them on the orchestra musicians' microphone stands, so musicians can easily access and customize the mix they need to listen to in order to properly get their cues.

With an A-16II, individual performers can create custom monitor mixes tailored to their indivi

USA - Renkus-Heinz has announced the appointment of Rik Kirby to the position of vice president of sales and marketing.

Kirby has been with Renkus-Heinz for five years, most recently as vice president of operations, and previously as national sales manager. A pro audio veteran, his resume includes stints at Turbosound and BSS Audio and before that several years as a live sound engineer. In his new position, he will be responsible for the direction and coordination of all sales and marketing activities, as well as overseeing product management, and supporting the company's growing application engineering department.

"Rik is truly the ideal candidate to lead the company's sales and marketing efforts," says Harro Heinz, Renkus-Heinz founder and president. "He brings many years of experience and dedication to the position, and we are confident that under his leaders

Switzerland - reports that Montreux-Oberland-Bernois Railways in Switzerland will become the first customer of the new Barix Annuncicom 155, a networked Audio over IP device specially designed for harsh everyday operation on railways, buses and ships. Barix partner Railtec Systems will exhibit a new panorama carriage with the device on the open-air grounds at the Innotrans show in Berlin, Germany, taking place September 21-24 at the Messe Berlin Exhibition Centre.

Railtec Systems, based in Switzerland, is currently outfitting 14 locomotives and railcars and about 60 passenger carriages operated by MOB Railways with networked Annuncicom 155 devices. The devices are integral to the configuration of MOB Railways' pioneering passenger information and announcement system. The Annuncicom 155 is responsible for the bidirectional exchange of live announcements as well as priority, monit

UK/USA - Blackbox Recorder manufacturer JoeCo and Audinate, creators of the Dante digital media networking solution, have announced the start of a collaboration which will see Dante technology incorporated into a range of Blackbox Recorder products.

JoeCo is the latest pro audio manufacturer to announce an incorporation of Dante technology, under licence, in its products. "Successful capture and play back of large amounts of audio data in different live situations depends on sample accurate synchronisation and low latency", comments managing director Joe Bull. "With BBR products increasingly used in broadcast, film and TV applications as well as live sound, it has become increasingly important to find a protocol that enables fast, reliable and integrated data transfer while keeping costs and complexity to a minimum. In this respect, Dante has proven itself to be t

France - L-Acoustics has announced that a new GLL (generic loudspeaker library) is now available for its WST systems, including Kiva, Arcs, Kudo and Kara. The development now provides complete compatibility between L-Acoustics Soundvision and AFMG's EASE software applications for acoustic source data, as well as for audience area.

The new GLL format allows quick insertion and setup of WST systems in EASE 4 system design software. The library provides true line source radiation patterns, and audience area data can be shared by both applications using import/export functions.

"We were the first to develop the previous version of GLL, EASE DLL, and we are thrilled to bring this new evolution to L-Acoustics system integrators around the word," says Cédric Montrézor, head of installation support at L-Acoustics. "This follows our overall installation dev

UK - Orbital Sound has supplied a new sound system to the Hideaway jazz club, employing d&b audiotechnik E12 and E0 loudspeakers, and D6 power amplifiers. Specified by freelance sound engineer Cliff Scott, who was called in by the Hideaway for advice on upgrading an earlier system, the new installation is configured to provide consistent coverage throughout the club, with an accurate performance sympathetic to the club's genre.

Frances Strachan, Hideaway's creator and owner, comments, "You can't separate a successful live music venue from the quality of its sound system. By its nature, our clientele is discerning and musically literate, and is quick to criticise any perceived shortcomings. Our new system has been extremely well received, and we are getting numerous compliments about the quality and clarity. When the band's good, and the system sounds right, people just sit-

Latvia - ARX, the Australian based pro audio manufacturer, has announced the appointment of Riga based SGS Sistemas Ltd as their new Distributor for Latvia.

ARX managing director Colin Park and SGS Sistemas's Normunds Eilands recently finalised the new distribution agreement following initial discussions at the Frankfurt Pro Light + Sound earlier in the year.

Colin Park comments, " SGS Sistemas is a well known and established distributor in the Latvian audio and lighting industry and at ARX we're excited that SGS Sistemas is introducing our USB DI Series products and the new USB I/O Universal Transformer Isolated USB Interface to their pro audio clients and market, as well as our MSX series of signal distribution products, our AudiBox series of audio toolbox essentials, and the rest of our ARX signal processing range."

Along with ARX, SGS Sistemas also represents l

UK - Sandown Park racecourse in Esher, Surrey was the venue for one of this year's biggest one-off music events in the south.

Surbiton's Hillcroft College, celebrating its 90th anniversary this year funded the venture, in a brave bid to raise urgent funds to fix the leaking roof, improve disabled access and carry out essential maintenance - spurred on by the collapse of £13m of Learning and Skills Council funding.

Working from the college, a team of just three people managed to secure some of music's top artists. Among the names who performed to a 14,000 crowd on 28 August were headliners McFly, Chipmunk, Tinchy Stryder, Roll Deep, Alesha Dixon, The Wanted and Julian Smith.

Ipswich-based DHE Professional were contracted to provide sound reinforcement for the festival, and put together a full HK Audio FOH and monitor set up consisting of Cohedra, Cohedra Compact, ICON a

UK - Avid today introduced the M-Audio GSR active sound reinforcement speaker series for musicians and DJs who perform in small to mid-sized venues. Built from the ground up by the same engineering team behind the industry-leading M-Audio studio reference monitor line, the GSR series includes 10" and 12" full-range PA cabinets that deliver exceptional, professional-quality sound and an 18" subwoofer that offers extended bass reproduction for larger venues.

The GSR speakers are ergonomically designed and engineered with lightweight components for maximum portability. The GSR10 250-watt and GSR12 300-watt two-way active PA speakers feature Neodymium magnets in the low-frequency drivers, substantially reducing overall weight to enable easy set-up and transport between venues.

The GSR18 500-watt active subwoofer features four locking casters that make it easy for cu

UK - UNioN is a system design philosophy which is being promoted by Yamaha Commercial Audio in Europe. Based on the company's corporate slogan Creating Kando Togetherit recognises that exciting music experiences can never come to life without people and technology working together. This philosophy is embedded, like a DNA, in all Yamaha CA products.

A UNioN network integrates Yamaha consoles and stage boxes with 3rd party devices to expand the possibilities of networking audio for live events.

Based on the Ethersound ES100 redundant ring topology, UNioN combines Yamaha components with those from a wide range of other manufacturers - including Teqsas, Neutrik, Waves, AuviTran and Steinberg - offering the highest redundancy level on the market.

UNioN networked systems deliver high audio quality by optimising the distribution methods in the digital domain, with each signa

UK - Leading entertainment industry associations The Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) and Women In Stage Entertainment (WISE), and the lighting charity Light Relief are present at this year's PLASA Show. The three organisations are sharing stand M-14; the stand is located immediately behind the White Light Zone in Earls Court 2.

WISE, an organisation established to address the representation of women in the entertainment technology sector, will step from their stand onto the White Light Stand from 4pm to 6pm each day to host Tea O-Clock. A WISE spokesman says, "Each day WISE members from all sectors - sound, AV, lighting, rigging - will offer PLASA Show visitors a calm oasis from the frenetic show floor. We will be providing refreshing mugs of scalding tea, fabulously tasty home baked cakes, an empathetic ear and some scintillating conversation."

The AL

UK - At PLASA 2010, Allen & Heath has unveiled the GS-R24, an analogue console combined with a choice of interface modules, motorised faders for automated mixing, and MIDI controllers for tactile interfacing with software DAWs, all at "an attainable price point".

Based on the successful ZED-R16 Firewire recording mixer concept with influences from the classic GS3000, the GS-R24 is primarily aimed at project recording studios, although its flexible feature set lends the mixer to live sound applications requiring multi-channel recording, post production suites, and as a general use home studio mixer, says the company.

Sporting a high quality mic pre-amp and four-band fully-parametric EQ, the GS-R24 has 24 mono mic/line channels, two dual input stereo channels, two mono valve pre-amp channels, six auxes (two switched pre/post EQ), four audio sub-group buses, a master st

UK - HSL supplied lighting, LED screens, rigging, staging, structures and power for the Sainsbury's UK Schools Games Opening Ceremony at Gateshead International Stadium. The Blackburn-based company was working for show production company Fast Track Events and also for Modular Projects who together delivered the show for end clients, the UK Youth Sport Trust. The ceremony was hosted by BBC Sports presenter Jill Douglas

HSL's Mike Docksey co-ordinated a masterpiece of planning which ensured that everything ran like clockwork on site, with Howard Dean production managing HSL's crew and liaising closely with show producer, Fast Track's Bob Caple.

Says Docksey, "This was a real team effort from all angles, requiring a lot of transparent and lucid communications. It was a pleasure to work with Bob and Fast Track Events again, to be involved with and assist in capturing the vibe

UK - Positioned as the digital mixing solution for all sizes of sound company or user, the new Soundcraft Si Compact Series is billed as "a power-packed range of digital consoles that brings all the experience of Soundcraft's digital mixing platforms to a very affordable price level for tour sound, corporate event, house of worship and theatre applications, amongst others".

With full DSP functionality built-in to a small-footprint chassis, the Si Compact provides up to 40 inputs to mix in three frame sizes, the smallest of which is also rack-mountable. Motorized faders with Soundcraft FaderGlow operate on two layers, but the main difference from similarly priced mixers is the provision of a full encoder set for all the functions on a channel, from input gain through EQ and dynamics to bus controls, says the company.

Drawing on its bigger brothers; Soundcraft's Si Ser

UK - TC Group International has announced the appointment of John Hornby Skewes & Co. as UK & ROI sub-distributors of Tannoy's VQ Live touring PA system.

JHS takes on responsibility for driving sales and promotion of the recently launched VQ Live range from 1 September.

"Since introducing VQ Live to the market earlier last year, Tannoy has, for the first time perhaps, a dedicated high-performance PA solution specifically aimed at live sound applications and we've been extremely encouraged and enthused by the early feedback," says Miguel Hadelich, TCGI's VP international sales (touring). "It's clear that there's real potential with this system, particularly in the small and medium scale live music and corporate AV sectors, sectors where the benefits of VQ Live offer real advantage to hire companies."

TCGI UK sales manager (touring), Simeon Ludwell adds, &q

UK - Line 6, Inc., an industry leader in digital modeling technology for music production, is currently showcasing its new XD-V digital wireless microphone systems at PLASA 2010.

Line 6 digital wireless microphone systems offer a simple and effective alternative to conventional core TV band UHF wireless systems. XD-V systems operate in the 2.4GHz band, which permits worldwide license-free operation while delivering future-proof solutions from any further re-allocation of the core UHF spectrum to the pro audio user.

"Since its release, Line 6 digital wireless technology has received unanimous praise for its unmatched performance, simplicity and sound," remarks Simon Jones, vice president of new market development at Line 6. "PLASA 2010 is the perfect venue to bring this new, advanced technology and simple user experience directly to a key audience of audio profes

UK - Why look at a loudspeaker when you can listen to one, that's the message once again being sent out by Duran Audio at this year's PLASA Show. For the second year running, Duran Audio will have a demo room at PLASA where potential customers can listen to the products and discuss their merits with members of the Duran Audio team.

The company will be demonstrating products from its Scope, Source and Flex ranges. In addition to this, the flagship Intellivox products and the new range of Beam Shaping Subwoofers, which take low frequency control to another level, will also be on show.

A few surprises are in store for visitors to the demo room with Duran promising to launch three new products at the show.

The AXYS demo room is in the Westminster Suite, Earls Court 1. Public demos will be held daily at 12 noon and 4pm. Private listening sessions are also available by appointment

UK - LumenRadio, a leader in wireless lighting control technology, releases support for RDM over Art-Net in all CRMX RDM transmitters at PLASA this year.

"Our CRMX wireless products already supported all the common entertainment lighting protocols: DMX, RDM, ArtNet I & II, Streaming ACN (draft & standard), ETCNet 2 & 3, Strand ShowNet, and Pathport. We are now taking it a step further by adding support for RDM over Art-Net. This means that we now have extended the bi-directionality of RDM into the Ethernet domain with the obvious advantages that has for networked connectivity on the controller side", explains Niclas Norlén CTO of LumenRadio.

All CRMX hardware is designed to last for "a life time" in the most demanding applications, including professional production and touring environments. The hardware longevity is paired with an extensive ongoing s

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