The Scout Association provides adventurous activities and personal development opportunities for 400,000 young people aged 6-25 in the UK, with some 28 million people participating worldwide. This year, the Association celebrated its centenary, and marked it with two unique entertainment spectaculars at London's O2 Arena, attracting 30,000 (two full houses of 15,000 people) to watch a cast of 3,000 Scouts, encouraged by guest presenters from children's TV programme Blue Peter.
If there is such a thing as an acid test for a new console type, this was it. Concert Sound mix engineer Simon Wooler was using the Vista 5 SR for the very first time, professing that nothing makes him happier than standing in front of a Midas XL4. Set-up deadlines for the Scouts' production were very tight, so there was no technical rehearsal and no soundcheck, just a 20-minute run-through with the band and orchestra.
Studer's product manager for the Vista Series Peter Weber had flown in from Switzerland to baby-sit the new console, although Simon Wooler admitted that he "felt incredibly comfortable at the Vista 5 SR. Yes, it feels like a digital desk, but it doesn't feel like I'm making a big leap from what I'm used to in analogue terms. It really helps to have such a comprehensive graphic interface; I can see the console's reaction to me. "
Wooler praised the Vista 5 SR for its operational transparency. "I can see it all on screen, it's very obvious where everything is. You can grab absolutely everything because you can see what all of the layers are doing. And you can grab more than one thing at a time; you can gang channels, multi-select channels, see all the auxes, see where the sends and auxes are going - nothing is buried. And it sounds great. "
At the other end of the vast O2 Arena, Gary Sylvester and Matt Manasse used a Soundcraft Vi6 console for mixing monitors and a Vi4 to sub-mix the orchestra and send to the Studer Vista 5 SR. Monitor engineer Gary Sylvester had used the Vi6 in front-of-house situations, but the Scouting extravaganza was the first time he'd mixed monitors on this console. The day before the show, Version 2 software was loaded into the desk.
(Jim Evans)
