Madden's main objectives in investing in equipment were for everything to be brand new and absolutely state-of-the-art, and his choices included the XTA DP428 working in conjunction with Audiocore 8 software for loudspeaker control. "Rory knew the high standard of audio performance he wanted to achieve, plus the required wireless capability to make it easy to get this performance," says XTA's Guy Lewis (the only Guy in the village!). "With 500 or so DP428s already in use around the world, we could point to a lot of successful tours and events. And with only two units and our WLAN Walkabout Kit, he has got 16 outputs, all on the single wireless computer."
Sonalyst put together two identical systems for The League of Gentlemen and Little Britain tours, all the time knowing that there would be very little time to rectify things if they went wrong. However, the tours are going very smoothly, says Madden. The XTA DP428s and Audiocore 8 software are controlling a flown Meyer Sound MICA PA system which, says Dave Wooster - system technician on The League of Gentlemen tour "is proving a great combination".
"For an on-the-road situation, the Meyer system is quick and reassuring. When you walk into a venue you've never been in before at 7.30am and you haven't got the chance to walk around, then it's reassuring to know that when the computer says the sound is going to go there, it's going to go there. I've not had any problems with EQ'ing and setting the system at all."
Wooster is especially pleased with the new features of the DP428 and AudioCore 8, which have additional functionality while maintaining XTA's high quality A-D and D-A conversion. "You can matrix the audio within the processors, so you can run stereo feeds and change them into mono outputs without having to go back to the desk to do it," he says. "From any of the seven feeds we're running, I can reconfigure the sound to any version of stereo or mono, outfill or infill without having to go back to the desk [a brand new 48-channel Yamaha MC7L, incidentally] and rewire it every day. Being able to move around the venue with the wireless tablet is a really outstanding way of working," he adds. "I couldn't go back to doing it any other way."
