d&b today announced the appointment of Anand Narayanan to serve as Territory Manager Asia Pacific and President, d&b audiotechnik Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. effective January 1, 2020. Narayanan succeeds Michael Case, who is taking another strategic role within the d&b group.
Anand Narayanan
Narayanan will be responsible for d&b’s business in Asia Pacific, which includes strategic business development, sales&services, expansion of d&b’s brand positioning, and general management. Narayanan succeeds Michael Case, who is taking another strategic role within the d&b group.
Narayanan brings a strong background in operations and technology, coming to d&b from Danfoss Industries, where he was the Asia Pacific Regional Director. Narayanan also previously served as the Regional Commercial Leader of Projects for Korea and Japan at General Electric. Narayanan is an ambitious leader with an affinity for technology, engineered products, and music.
Narayanan’s appointment underscores d&b’s commitment to drive new growth in the APAC territories and successfully strengthen its regional partner network. He brings a depth of knowledge and a track record of successfully driving strategy, sales and marketing and business development in his previous roles.
“After a successful expansion in APAC under the leadership of Michael Case, Anand will play a central role in the next phase of d&b’s development in the region,” stated Amnon Harman, CEO, d&b audiotechnik Group. “His proven capability to define and execute on long-term growth strategies and strong leadership experience will be invaluable as we continue to invest in additional infrastructure and resources to support our customers and partners in Asia Pacific.”
LEA Pro, the emerging heavyweight in amplifier introduces 4 new four-channel models ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 watts and available in Network Connect and Dante Connect iterations providing power performance and IoT connectivity to address large scale installations.
In another comprehensive industry-first, LEA Professional, the emerging heavyweight in amplifier and systems design today launched four new IoT-enabled high-power amplifiers that set a new standard in performance, connectivity and ease of deployment. The new LEA Connect Series amplifiers are available in four-channel configurations ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 watts and in Network Connect and Dante Connect iterations. According to Blake Augsburger, Founder and CEO of LEA Professional, the new additions make LEA a strong consideration for any large-format application and a must-see at ISE 2020 in Amsterdam.
“We’ve been told that LEA Professional punches much higher than our weight when compared to legacy brands in this space. The new Connect Series amplifiers do exactly that providing power performance and IoT connectivity to address large scale installations such as stadiums and arenas.” Augsburger said today. “We’ve worked very hard to deliver on our early promises and now we’re taking a step further with four new amplifiers that consultants, contractors and end-users have been asking for!”
The range includes four new four-channel models available in configurations ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 watts (into 2, 4, and 8 ohms and also 70Vrms and 100Vrms). The new lineup is available in Network Connect and Dante Connect version, which adds Dante and AES 67 connectivity options. All models provide three different methods of network connection using the amplifiers built-in WiFi Access Point, connecting to an existing WiFi network or using a Local Area Network Ethernet connection. Designed and engineered to optimize configuration capabilities and control for commercial integrators, the Connect Series amplifiers also feature advanced DSP with FIR Linear Phase and IIR Crossovers. The new models also feature LEA Professional’s proprietary Smart Power Bridge, universal switch mode power supply with power factor correction and direct LoZ and HiZ selectable per channel in a two-rack-unit chassis.
Unique to any other professional amplifier manufacturer, the new Connect Series models also leverage the built-in Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT Core. The platform allows integrators to monitor multiple critical operational data points including fan speed, thermal temperatures, and system faults remotely.
The capability delivers greater visibility to potential issues, easier trouble shooting and fewer on-site maintenance requirements, in addition to allowing integrators the tools they need to provide an additional recurring revenue stream to their existing service contracts leveraging the IoT capabilities built into the Connect Series.
“Our new high-power Connect Series amplifiers meet the strong demand from integrators to bring the same level of performance and connectivity they have only been able to achieve with LEA Professional amplifiers to address a much broader range of applications,” Augsburger added. The new Connect Series models are compatible with the LEA Professional Web UI and via the cloud from leaprofessional.com for control and monitoring. Neither interface requires a software download and provides control and monitoring capability from any mobile device, tablet or desktop computer.
The University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli in Napoli is turning to a unique use of immersive audio technology thanks to Martin Audio’s Sound Adventures featuring Martin Adorn A55 two-way passive speakers, SX110 slimline subs and the Astro Spatial Audio Sara II Engine.
The lab during the audio integration. The shot benefits from an ultrawide lens. The actual room is smaller.
The University Luigi Vanvitelli is exploring the relationship between temperature, audio and visuals, and to do this in a scientific way, the researchers required a space where each element could be precisely controlled. To achieve this control from an audio standpoint, the researchers turned to Martin Audio’s Sound Adventures.
The new lab has been purpose-built as a small, dedicated space within a historic building. Radiant heating panels on the walls and the floor and air conditioning system allow for the room’s temperature to be raised or lowered, while the intelligent lighting system allows for the management of this element. The Sound Adventures solution controlling the sonic environment resulted in the installation of 26 Martin Audio Adorn A55 two-way passive speakers and a pair of SX110 slimline subwoofers, all controlled via the Astro Spatial Audio Sara II Premium Rendering Engine.
The lab ready to roar.
“The university was specifically looking for a high-end wave field synthesis-based solution which could offer natural features such as depth experience, making Sara II the obvious choice,” explained Astro Spatial Audio Managing Director, Bjorn Van Munster. “The wide, even dispersion of the A55 over the frequency range was a major reason for selecting these cabinets.” With the components selected, designing the solution became the next part of the project. “One of the major initial challenges was to create the proper layout for the loudspeakers in such a small space,” recalled Van Munster. “We also had to provide a level of flexibility with the system that would allow the researchers to test different elements in the future that have not been thought of yet.”
The two layers of A55s fed by the Astro.
The resulting system design sees two layers of Adorn’s wall mounted around the room as well as four installed on the roof to provide the ceiling channels. Low frequencies are catered to via the two floor-mounted SX110s on either side of the room.
Reflecting on this innovative use of the technology Van Munster is pleased to have found a new vertical for Sound Adventures. “The work we have done with researchers in the past has been focused purely on musical studies, so having Sound Adventures used in a different setting like this is very interesting. I am happy with the result and the system sounds great. However, in this case we have just provided the toolkit, it will be up to how the researchers use the system and the breakthroughs that they make which will determine if the project has been a success.”
“Research plays a vital role in everything we do at Martin Audio, so it is nice to see someone else using our products as the tools that will help develop their research,” added Martin Audio Managing Director, Dom Harter. “The A55s were the perfect choice for this project as their compact footprint and premium sound quality met the physical and research needs of the lab. Being part of a unique scientific project like this is real praise for the capabilities of Sound Adventures, I’m sure the system will help the researchers expand what we understand about the relationships between temperature, audio and visuals.”
The new Maverick MK3 Profile spotlight with an 820 W LED source is entering into a highly competitive market niche to meet the needs of lighting designers and lighting companies who are looking to replace their lamp-based fixtures.
Here, Chauvet demonstrates its ability to deliver a professional product in line with the times and perfectly equipped to provide beautiful light.
The machine is impressive and attractive. Its matte, even satin, finish with a slightly grey “rubberized” coating is very nice and makes it look good. The design is angular and ridged, with a clean appearance. [private]
This lovely baby weighs in at almost 35 kg, and stands 77 cm tall when fully upright. It’s crowded inside. The base is compact and the bottom of it is designed to accept two omega brackets and the safety cable. The unit can be moved using two large, comfortable handles. The pan and tilt locks use large catches located at the bottom of the movement axes.
The measurements
The derating curve.
We start with the derating, turning the fixture on at full power to assess the attenuation of the light output as the source heats up. The luminous flux stabilizes in 5 minutes with 9% attenuation, which is quite good.
Tightest sharp-focus beam
Once the the light output has stabilized, with the zoom set to the tightest sharp-focus beam of 7.7°, we measure an illuminance at the center of 48,030 lux after derating (52,900 lux when cold), which translates into a flux of 15,710 lumens (17,300 lm when cold). The luminous intensity curve is smooth with a small hot spot in the center.
20° beam
With a 20° beam, the optimal flux reaches 24,000 lumens after derating (26,430 when cold) which is quite respectable, thanks to an 820 W array of white LEDs. The nominal CRI is 73, but a filter can increase this to 93 (at the cost of a little luminous flux). The white has a color temperature of 7400 K. The luminous intensity curve is, again, characterized by this slight hot spot in the center.
Widest sharp-focus beam
With the beam opened up to 56°, the flux remains practically unchanged from that of a 20° beam: 22,350 lumens after derating (24,620 lumens when cold).
The framing module
The framing module.
The Maverick MK3 Profile has a framing module with four shutter blades, each of which can be pivoted on two axes, fully closed and the entire module can be rotated through 90°. We get a sharply focused edge on a single blade and the more the blade is closed, the more difficult it is to get a sharp edge. This won’t bother those people – and there are many of them – who use frost to soften the edges of the beam. But if you want sharp, clean profiling, you’ll have to make a few compromises, which will be more or less significant depending on the angle at which you’re working.
The framing module in action.
The focus and zoom
The zoom has a very wide range, and is linear and fast. It goes from 6° up to 57° measured in full field, ranging precisely from 7.6° to 56° with a sharp focus. This zoom is very effective. If you add the iris to certain effects, you can get a fantastic movement. Both frosts are effective and quite “heavy”, even if one is lighter than the other. They provide a lovely diffusion of the light and allow for very subtle beam overlaps. It works very well with the framing shutters. With gobos, it offers very impressive airy textures.
The zoom range.
A tiny iris.
The two frosts can also be combined, which enhances the effect even more, if necessary. The level of frost can be varied on the two different filters, with a surprising and rare consistency. The only drawback of these frosts is that they can only be made to act on a beam with a minimum angle of 11°. On a smaller beam, the activation of the frosts sends the zoom/focus lens carriage to a certain minimum position to allow the insertion of the filters… It’s a bit of a shame.
The effects of the frosts.
The colors
The CMY side of the effects module.
The MK3’s color mixing generates beautiful, rich colors. Apart from the green, which lacks a bit (just a little) of punch, overall, the hues are balanced. Even the red, which tends a little bit towards orange, is quite dense and provides quite satisfactory intensity.
The progressive CTO is fairly mild but very pretty. It complements the CMY very well. The additional color wheel has six saturated hues, including a very dense and deep red, a bright and vibrant green, a royal blue and a lemon yellow. Of course, all this can be livened up by the infinite rotation of the wheel to create flashy “rainbow” effects.
The fixture emits light with a nominal CRI of 73. A CRI filter allows this to be increased to 93 for lovely color rendering that will appeal to cinematographers.
The native white beam on the left, and with the filter that raises the CRI to 93.
Some original gobos!
The gobo side of the effects module.
The gobo set of the MK3 is really nice. A significant number of them are original and are either already seen and re-seen, or happily reinvent some of the classics of the genre. They are very interesting, both for beam and aerial effects, and also for projection. There is also enough choice to allow the use of gobo textures without compromising the flux of the fixture. The first wheel has seven indexable rotating gobos with the option of a shake effect. Six of them, most of them very different and new, provide really nice beam sculpting effects, as they are optimized for rotation. A revamped striped cone mixed with the central point (which was a classic in the early heyday of moving lights in France) creates an effect that has never been seen before.
The rotating gobos.
Various interlaced geometrical contours are included as well as an uneven bar. In short, there are some really attractive and new effects. A classic multi-layer transparent glass gobo completes them skillfully and will allow textural mixes with prisms or other effect wheels.
Some combined gobo effects.
The second wheel features nine static gobos, also with a “shake” effect. Here again, there are some very nice original gobos, interspersed with a few classics like a break-up, a fine colander and even some small foliage. The only thing that puzzles me is the presence of a gobo “dot” (a simulation of a rather tight iris) on a fixture with a very fast iris. An animation wheel, with traditional vertical scrolling, completes the graphic effects.
The static gobos.
The prisms
There are two prisms for multiplying the beam: one radial and the other linear, both with five facets. They are indexable and limitlessly rotatable in either direction. They can also be combined to multiply the projections even more.
Le radial prism with gobos.
The linear prism.
Unfortunately, when the prisms are engaged on a very tight beam, the zoom/focus lenses move back (opening the beam if it was very tight) to allow the prisms to be inserted… These two prisms are very effective and permit very nice beam mixes for texture projections, or very nice aerial effects.
Disassembling the fixture
The heat pipe and radiating vanes of the cooling system for the LED circuit.
The head cowls can be removed by means of six captive Phillips screws (12 in total for the two halves of the cowling). A plastic gasket, which ensures against light leaks between the two parts, comes off. You have to be careful if you open the head on a truss, as you risk watching this fall down onto the stage… Don’t worry, it’s very light and harmless, but it’s not very practical. The cowls are perfectly fitted and fit together very well.
And the fans.
Inside, the entire rear section is occupied, as usual, by the LED engine, with a serious cooling system consisting of heat-pipes with fan-cooled heat sink vanes. You can see the output lens of the optical block that concentrates the flux from the LED engine.
The output of the LED engine.
Then comes the color and effects module (which includes CMY, CTO, CRI, color wheel, the two gobo wheels, and the animation wheel), followed by the framing module. The forward section is dedicated to the travel of the zoom and focus lenses, running on their motorized carriage. Surrounding these lenses, the two prisms and the two frost filters wait to be inserted into the beam, negotiating their passage under certain conditions, as mentioned above.
The insertion mechanisms of the prisms and frosts.
Assembly is simple and the construction is very sound. It’s beautifully crafted. It’s just that this fixture is not particularly designed to be serviced on the road. No captive quarter-turn screws or other quick fastening systems… To take out the modules, you really have to remove a whole bunch of small screws, and sometimes even parts.
To remove the gobo/color/effect module, you have to unscrew and remove a plate with the ventilation of the source, in order to allow the passage of the whole assembly. It is therefore preferable to consider maintenance in the shop. The advantage is that everything can be dismantled with a simple Phillips screwdriver without the need for special tools – a good point.
Once the screws have been removed – and marked, to avoid mixing everything up – the modules can be removed fairly easily, and the assemblies are straightforward and precise. Cleaning the dichroic color flags is tricky because, as I mentioned above, the module that carries the CMY, the filters, and the color wheel, also contains all the effects (gobos, animation wheel, etc.). It is therefore very densely packed. It’s a meticulous job, so it’s best to clean it in the workshop.
Inside the arms, the individual covers of which are held by means of four screws, as is customary, on one side there is the tilt drive, with the motor and the transmission by means of a large belt that is tensioned by means of spring-loaded pulleys.
The tilt drive mechanism inside one of the yoke arms.
The pan drive system inside the other.
Changing the belt requires removing all the wiring harnesses that run in the pulley axis on this side, and cutting all the plastic cable ties that go to the modules (and then replacing them) because there are no connectors to ensure easy disassembly… It’s a tedious job, in fact… In the other arm, there are some electronics, and the pan rotation motor.
The touch display.
The display, a large, fully touch-sensitive color screen, allows you to navigate through the fixture’s menu. For the sake of security, it is surrounded by six small control keys if the touchscreen fails, or if one prefers to use keys… On the other side, the connector panel has a True-1 power input, a large on/off switch and a mains fuse holder, dual XLR3 and XLR5 DMX inputs and outputs, and two RJ45 sockets for network input and output. Above the connectors, a folding antenna allows WDMX operation.
The very complete connection panel.
The menu is very friendly. It provides access to several sub-menus in which you can access most of the fixture’s settings as well as the information needed for maintenance or operational monitoring.
– The “Address” menu permits DMX addressing. Addressing is very quick, thanks to the small numerical keypad on the touch screen. No more waiting on the arrows, no more scrolling to the desired address 400 channels away; just type in the desired number and bang! Efficient and practical! Well thought out, in any case. Addressing can be done using either of two control modes – 38 or 54 channels – from the “Personality” menu. – The “Settings” menu allows you to choose between the different protocols used to control the fixture (DMX/WDMX/ArtNet/sACN) as well as all the possible options on the functions of the fixture (calibrations, pan/tilt angles, possible inversions, etc.). – The “Information” menu provides the global status of the machine, its software version, the total operating hours… including very precise details on the fan speeds, what is happening inside the unit in terms of DMX channel reception, possible error messages, etc. In short, this menu, keeps you very well informed! – The “Network Setup” menu allows you to configure all the network parameters. – The “Test” menu allows you to launch a standalone test or to manually test each of the functions.
A simple, efficient, easy-to-read and logical menu. I like it!
Okay, so how does it work?
Well, it works great! Let’s start with the movements. They are capable of quite a respectable speed for a mover of this size. The fixture is lively, and its movements can be fast. When moving very slowly, one can notice some irregularities in the diagonals but it’s just a bit of a wiggle, as the movement is generally clean.
The dimmer is impeccable. We have an almost exemplary curve in the “Square” mode.
The “square” dimmer curve from 0 to 10%.
The “square” dimmer curve from 0 to 100%.
The light is beautiful, the beam is super clean, the focusing provides a beam with perfectly sharp and precise edges. As for focusing, except for the animation wheel, which can’t be focused at all distances and all zoom settings, the two gobo wheels have no problems. You can even focus very close, down to less than a meter from the source. This is really interesting when you have to project onto a backdrop curtain or a cyclorama, for example. The zoom is excellent, its 7° to 56° range is very effective.
The beam from the smallest to the largest sharp-focus setting.
The effects possible with the gobos are very attractive. They are original and really useful (which is not always the case), mixing them can create some very beautiful things. Each one of them (with the exception of only the “point”, the point of which escapes me, but which must have its reason for existing that I haven’t grasped) will allow you to sculpt very impressive beams. The colors are lovely and the color mixing responds very well, both in progressive insertion for very slow fades, and for almost instantaneous changes. The CTO is excellent.
The CMY and CTO.
The color wheel helps to compensate for the green that may lack a bit of punch in a CMY mix, or the red that may seem a bit orange. The overall result is that this fixture – other than a congo saturated with UV (as with most LED fixtures) – doesn’t have any problems whatever the color.
The color wheel.
The frosts are very good and allow for finesse in working with well measured blurs. We can also say that all its motors are very quiet; the pan, tilt and internal mechanical movements are smooth, nothing rattles and nothing squeaks.
Conclusion
This fixture rounds out the range of spot/profile units equipped with an 820 Watt source. It is not necessarily a revolution in terms of its light and features, but it does a very good job and will certainly prove its worth on stages and at events. Lighting companies and lighting designers should appreciate this fixture, which offers some very nice possibilities.
Two distinguished product awards – an Indispensable Technology Award for the Artiste Monet™ and a ProSoundWeb & Live Sound International Readers’ Choice award for the Fuze Profile™, Marked the beginning of 2020 for Elation Professional. Both of those fixtures are cutting edge LED profile moving heads.
Elation Sales & Marketing Director Eric Loader and Elation Product Manager Matthias Hinrichs accept the Indispensable Technology Award at the Parnelli Awards Show.
Bestowed January 17th at the Parnelli Awards during the NAMM show, the Indispensable Technology (IT) Award for Lighting marks the Artiste Monet’s third industry award and the Artiste Series’ eighth accolade. The IT Awards recognize products that have advanced the state of the art in entertainment technology and are voted on by subscribers to PLSN and FRONT of HOUSE magazines.
Elation Artiste Monet
On hand at the Anaheim Hilton Pacific Ballroom to accept the award were Elation Sales & Marketing Director Eric Loader and Elation Product Manager Matthias Hinrichs. “Winning an award never gets old and the Indispensable Technology award is extra special as it reflects the opinion of users and knowledgeable professionals who use and specify products every day,” remarked Elation Sales & Marketing Director Eric Loader. “We’re thrilled to again be recognized as an innovator in entertainment lighting and honored to add it to the Artiste’s growing trophy case.”
The 45,000-lumen Artiste Monet is a full-featured LED Profile luminaire that houses Elation’s proprietary 7-flag SpectraColor color mixing and continuous rotation framing systems. Increasingly specified on both the production and installation sides of the market, its growing list of references includes prestigious venues like The Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
And Fuze Profile wins ProSoundWeb & Live Sound International Readers’ Choice award Days earlier, the company’s Fuze Profile™ was chosen by ProSoundWeb readers to be a top lighting product in the entertainment technology industry, winning a 2020 Readers’ Choice Award (RCA).
Elation Fuze Profile
All voting for an RCA is by readers of ProSoundWeb and end-users from around the world. With over 25,000 ballots cast, it is one of the most successful entertainment technology awards programs in the industry. Designed with both creativity and value in mind, the Fuze Profile is a full-color-spectrum, LED moving head with framing designed for applications where beam control and high color quality is important.
It is loaded with design features like zoom, two gobo wheels, animation wheel, frost, prism and full blackout framing system. The 2020 Readers’ Choice award is the Fuze Profile’s second accolade having won a WFX New Product Award last fall.
APG will officially launch its new iX series at the ISE 2020. Comprising a full line of install coaxial speakers, the new iX range is characterised by a combination of uncompromising drivers and a non-diffraction baffling allowing pure point source directivity.
Scheduled to be shipping from April 2020, the iX Series is made up of five coaxial speaker models: iX5, iX6, iX8, iX12 and iX15; all of which are two acoustic way speakers loaded in bass-reflex for low-frequency extension. APG will also introduce a future extension of the range with specific pseudo-coaxial speakers optimised for vocal applications.
The remarkable work done on the iX8 baffling
From an acoustic point of view, the iX range offers stunning musicality down to low mid and even low frequencies and is characterised by an impressive SPL to size ratio and exceptional sound clarity. For some of the iX models, APG has created coaxial devices that strike a perfect physical alignment between low and hi transducers.
The iX range’s non-diffraction baffling offers a perfect linear acoustic response, substantially reducing feedback without the need for equalisation. This factor makes the iX range suitable for a variety of purposes, including immersive sound. The speakers are also well-suited to a variety of applications, including main FOH or distributed sound reinforcement in all types of venues like theatres, concert venues, clubs, bars, restaurants, conference rooms let alone congress centers.
Gregory Dapsance
It is also possible to combine iX speakers with APG’s popular Uniline and Uniline Compact systems. All iX models have been ergonomically optimised to make them as compact as possible, with smart accessories for discrete installation, customisable colours and a weatherproof finish. All of the iX speakers are compatible with APG’s SB subwoofers, while the company provides all standard processor settings of APG electronics and customised settings for other brands such as Powersoft.
Gregory Dapsanse, sales & marketing director at APG, enthused: “This line has been tested extensively by APG users; we already received a number of orders for spatialised sound applications, as well as from our Asian distributors in China and Korea. We are looking forward to introducing the iX range to the wider ISE crowd.”
Introducing the APG iX Series
A sneak peek of the iX Series
iX5 APG’s iX5 is a miniature, 2-way full range and passive loudspeaker fitted with a 5” long excursion LF driver and a coaxial dome tweeter (120° conical dispersion). The iX5 is characterised by its sound quality, which is close to the best studio monitors. iX6 The iX6 is fitted with a 6.5” driver loaded in a bass-reflex while HF is handled by a coaxial dome tweeter (105° conical acoustic opening). It offers clear and precise sound reproduction of mid / high frequencies up to 20 KHz. iX8 The iX8 features a coaxial device fitted with 8″ cone driver and independent HF compression driver. The coaxial mounting offers perfect acoustic dispersion with a homogenous dispersion coverage of 110°. iX12 The iX12 is a 2-way, full-range compact loudspeaker fitted with a coaxial coupling of 12’’ and a 1’’ HF compression driver (filtered). The non-diffraction baffling creates a perfectly coherent acoustic field with a conical dispersion of 100° and a minimal feedback effect of 4dB. iX15 The iX15 is a 2-way full range speaker fitted with 15″ neodymium driver including a forced thermal ventilation system and a 1.4″ neodymium HF compression driver. This results in an exceptional sound pressure capacity down to 60Hz and up to 19KHz.
New Year’s Eve special shows at Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas this year featured the worldwide known pop rock group Maroon 5. The show presented an elegant lighting design with some geometric lines by Brian Jenkins… for which he also specified over 200 Robe moving lights.
In the recent year, the band has been used to play on this slot and at this venue. The objective is to present a completely new and fresh visuality for the occasion which is different from any of their touring shows. This year the New Year shows were introducing an upcoming album release and 2020 world tour. Brian had wanted to “go geometric” as a design concept for some time, and this was the perfect opportunity. Nonetheless the relative luxury of two days for the get-in and set up.
Knowing the band’s video content also fed Brian’s inspiration. The upstage LED screen was a triangle 50ft wide at the base and 30ft high, and this was flanked by two angled lighting pods either side at the top – in a diamond orientation – with a third pod over center stage, also at 45 degrees to keep the triangular / diamond architecture. These three trussing pods were each filled with 49 x Robe Spiider LED wash beams in a 7×7 matrix format.
Brian needed a lightweight fixture for this that he could source easily in quantity, and that had some degree of pixel control. Spiider was “a robust fixture and a great fit.” Fifty-six MegaPointes were on the plot as they are among his current favorite beam lights.
Describing these fixtures as “reliable and with plenty of tools”, 30 x MegaPointes were positioned along the sloping edges of the LED screen with the remainder on a V-shaped truss in between the pods. “They work well for big graphic looks and sometimes cutting across the video imagery,” he stated, adding that if they develop this design in the future, he will add some wings with MegaPointes for additional filling.
He positioned 13 x Robe BMFL WashBeams on an upstage truss, used for powerful silhouetting of the band and to outline them without getting too beamy. They were also used to fly out into a cool fan focus that framed the whole visual stage picture. The band prefer to use video sparingly. Around a third of the show features playback content, a third IMAG and the other third has no video content onscreen, so lighting was used to produce much of the visual mood and styling.
These Robes and other lighting fixtures – including LED profile moving lights, tilting LED battens and bright LED strobes were all programmed and run by Brian using a grandMA2 full size console supplied by Delicate Productions the lighting and video vendor. His account handlers there – Jason Alt and Angelo Viacava – “were brilliant.”
The biggest challenge of shows like these says Brian was delivering a product to meet all expectations… after management have approved the budget and the crew have worked so hard to hang it. “I strive to be a good steward of people’s time and money” he states, “the pressure is on me to make the design work, be diligent in programming and put in the extra effort.”
Brian has worked with Maroon 5 for some years and enjoys the creative freedom they offer and working with a talented and excellent team of good people including production manager Alan Hornall and tour manager Fred Kharrazi. Delicate lighting crew chief Paul Mundrick was also an essential part of the human equation which helped deliver these shows so successfully … and we all look forward to catching Maroon 5 on the road in 2020.
d&b audiotechnik will present to ISE 2020 in Amsterdam scalable audio solutions and technologies for the integration market including the new KSLi System package, the new 40D amplifier and the A-Series augmented arrays.
Talking about customization option, here’s the solution to have a whole lot of good sound with KSLi, still being unobstrusive over a white wall.
The KSLi System package comprises the KSLi8 and KSLi12 loudspeakers combined with matching KSLi subwoofers for both flown and ground stacked applications and d&b’s new 40D amplifier.
Completing the KSLi system approach is a full catalogue of system specific accessories, hardware, customization options, and software. The introduction of the KSLi System package represents another first for d&b in providing integrators and end users with the highest quality performance capability and a feature set for fixed installation applications.
KSL needs power, please welcome the 40D.
In the d&b demonstration room on the pro audio corridor (E105 and E106) there will be a single session throughout each day of the show: d&b Soundscapes. Tech, art and beyond. The session will invite attendees to experience d&b Soundscape, the AV industry’s award-winning immersive audio system while exploring the evolution of technologies and innovation within the d&b system philosophy and how these can be applied in real-world applications of any scale.
Amnon Harman, d&b audiotechnik Group CEO.
“ISE resents a unique opportunity for our team to connect with a broad spectrum of global AV professionals and end users,” stated Amnon Harman, CEO, d&b audiotechnik Group. “As we continue to work closer with specifiers and integrators shows like ISE provide an opportunity to not just present our latest offerings, but to increasingly understand how we can support the unique applications and projects they are seeking to address.”
At February’s ISE 2020, Integrated Systems Europe exhibition in Amsterdam, Yamaha will be highlighting its support for both the entertainment and enterprise markets with its range of high end, integrated solutions. ISE takes place at the Amsterdam RAI from 11-14 February 2020, with Yamaha exhibiting on Stand 3-C95. Yamaha provides an unrivalled level of support for the enterprise and entertainment markets, the display of Unified Communications products underlining the close relationship between the company’s pro audio and enterprise solutions.
Some of the Unified Communication products.
Yamaha’s industry-leading digital mixing systems will be on show, including RIVAGE PM and the latest V5.5 firmware for CL/QL series digital mixers, which supports ProVisionaire Control/Touch, the latest Version 3.6.0 enabling complete control over the entire network chain, from mixers through to amplifiers (including Yamaha’s PC Series and the NEXO NXAMP4X4MK2), processors and speakers.
The new white dressing of the DRZs.
The new white models of the flagship DZR/CZR series loudspeakers and DXS XLF/CXS XLF subwoofers will also be shown in Europe for the first time, following their launch at the NAMM Show in January. The powered DZR range comprises eight full-range models and four DXS XLF subwoofers, including ‘D’ versions that feature onboard Dante IN/OUT capability. Sharing the same cabinet and speaker components as the DZR/DXS XLF models, the passive CZR/CXS XLF models are perfectly matched with Yamaha’s all new PC-D range of amplifiers to deliver very high power-handling and focused, professional sound.
The new PC-D amplifiers range.
All DZR/CZR and DXS XLF/CXS XLF models will be available in white as well as the existing black finish, providing more options for a greater variety of uses, such as hotel banquets, houses of worship and auditoriums, where a high quality audio system needs to blend into the design of the space.
Andy Cooper and a PM10. A true love story.
Yamaha will also be highlighting its wide-ranging Audioversity education content at ISE, with a variety of training sessions available on the stand. These will cover a variety of topics, including overviews of the RIVAGE PM systems, hands-on with CL/QL consoles and integrated AV control using ProVisionaire software.
The company is also presenting two in the series of AVIXA Flashtracks short seminars at the Flashtracks stand 13-N110. At 12 noon on Thursday 13 February, Holger Stoltze, senior director of technical sales and marketing at Yamaha Unified communications presents AI Is Improving The UC Experience. Meanwhile Andy Cooper. pro audio application engineering manager at Yamaha Music Europe asks the question AV Networks: Which Topology Works Best? at 11.30am on Friday 14.
Powersoft, the Italian audio and technology innovator and master in Class-D amplification and many others innovations, will use its final visit to the RAI in Amsterdam to look back on 25 years as one of the world industry’s true trailblazers.
With a quarter century of innovation to celebrate and a convention centre full of industry professionals in town, this year’s ISE (11-14 February) has been chosen as the perfect event to mark a significant achievement for Italian audio and technology visionary, Powersoft.
Powersoft, highly talented smiles !
Over the course of its history, Powersoft has been credited with a number of technological innovations and industry firsts. Just a year into its life, in 1996, the company had already mastered designing and developing the (then) first commercially viable Class-D amplifier, which was able to deliver consistently reliable, high power levels, something that hadn’t been achieved until then.
This technological breakthrough on switch mode amplification, also helped the company earn a coveted reputation on green power and efficiency, making it the company’s trademark to this day.
The very beginning of the story. 1997 and the 1U Digam revolution on the left and an EOM amp made for Outline. Shot taken in the “museum” of the Scandicci premises.
In the intervening years, the company continued to push the envelope, always conscious of making the most consistent, efficient, and intuitive products imaginable. This resulted in a number of new products and technologies that have since become industry standards, such as the X Series workhorse and the Ottocanali Series, which boasted advanced signal processing and full Dante by Audinate compatibility, or breakaway innovations such as M-Force, Deva or Mover to name a few.
The Show Floor
Building on the successful launch of Mover at ISE 2019, this year Powersoft will use their pair of stands to showcase the capabilities of their latest products in real-life applications: Commercial and Conferencing.
The fanciest way to pack power under the branding name of Mezzo which means “half”
While the first stand (7-Y195) will demonstrate the company’s line of renowned fixed install products including Mover, Mezzo, the Duecanali, Quattrocanali and Ottocanali lines of FI amplifiers – the second stand (7-X205) will be an experiential zone split in two areas: Hospitality and Meeting Room.
The Hospitality Area will feature a sports bar with screens and beer on tap. All audio speakers will be powered by Mezzo, Powersoft’s 2/4 channel highly compact, Class-D technology amplifier platform. Packing all the features of an advanced install dedicated amplifier in half the size, Mezzo was designed with ease of installation and operation in mind, and adapts to multiple uses and applications through flexible power routing.
Visitors will be able to pick audio from one of the three screens as the source to play in the entire Hospitality Area. In addition, they will have individual volume controls for the Sports Bar and the Stage Area via GPI controllers on the walls. Next to the bar area, the Meeting Room will host another screen, which will also be powered by Mezzo. Visitors will be able to select the audio source from either the TV in the Conference Room or the audio played in the Hospitality Area, courtesy of the Mezzo set up. Additionally, they will have a GPI wall controller for the volume in that room.
The never ending soft ArmoníaPlus’
Back on stand 7-Y195, visitors will be able to see the extensive range of FI amplifiers and get a hand on ArmoníaPlus’ latest audio system management software update, which features the HealthPlus tab, a new feature which gives sound engineers a streamlined monitoring environment of all elements in a given sound system with improved communication, control and reporting to ensure the best performance.
This year’s ISE will also see the return of Mover – the small yet incredibly powerful linear transducer that can be used in audio applications and, more excitingly, as a linear motor / shaker. Adaptable to various purposes, including 4D cinemas, theme parks, or venues with vibrating acoustic floors – as well as applications that go beyond entertainment – Mover lets audiences feel the sound through haptic perception by vibrating the surrounding environment, which the human body picks up and, through bone conduction, translating the vibrations into perceivable frequencies.
Get ready to experience Mover. Small under your feet but powerful.
The Mover platform will again be available for attendees to try on the Powersoft stand, linked to an immersive VR video. Away from the stand, Powersoft will also be in attendance at the Inavation Awards, where the company is listed as a finalist in the R&D Award category, with company founder and R&D director Claudio Lastrucci also shortlisted for the Industry Influencer of the Year award.
As the first US performing arts center to install L-Acoustics L-ISA Hyperreal Sound technology based on Kiva II and SB15m and a PM10 Rivage mixing system, the Kaufmann Concert Hall is prepared for its next century of much more modern shows.
On top, 5 hangs of 6 Kiva II, a central LF factory comprising of four SB15m. Now look down, six X4i ultra-compact coaxial frontfills lay on the lip of the stage, and two Syva colinear loudspeakers serve as proscenium nearfills. Look for them on the very border of the stage.
The Kaufmann Concert Hall at the 92nd Street Y is part of New York City cultural history. The 92Y itself was opened in 1874 and evolved into an institution, serving people with education, social services and entertainment. Central to its mission is the Kaufmann Concert Hall, which opened there in 1927 to host classical and other acoustic music genres, as well as world-renowned lectures and performances. Notably, Dylan Thomas did his last reading of Under Milk Wood there two weeks before his death in 1953.
Today, the 92Y has become an indispensable part of the New York City landscape. The honored stage of the Kaufmann Concert Hall hosts regular panel discussions with leaders in all sorts of fields: former heads of state, government leaders, supreme court justices, members of the news media, movie stars, and celebrity chefs—talks designed to enlighten and inform the citizens of NYC in a topical and interactive forum. Combined with a rotating program of musical theater, cinema experiences, rock and acoustic acts, and special events, the 92Y has grown into a cultural beacon on the Upper East Side.
905 seats and a whole lot of wood but an ideal shape for L-ISA with a Quality Mapping Result certainly stellar !
But this venerable space desperately needed an upgrade to its nearly 20-year-old audio system, which often worked against the naturally reverberant space and intimate programming of the hall.
“The main challenge for this concert hall is that the interior is largely made of wood, and it’s very reverberant,” explains Kaufmann Concert Hall Technical Director Sean Fogarty. “It was built in the 1920s and meant for classical music, so when we did amplified music, it could easily overwhelm the space.”
Enter L-Acoustics’ L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal technology, which was selected to solve these issues and bring the audio of the 905-seat Kaufmann Concert Hall into the 21st century. The technology has since reinvigorated the venue, bringing spacious, natural sound that is localized to the presenters onstage, while also blending into the notable architecture. To match the historic venue, the L-ISA installation is in itself historic, marking the first US installation of L-ISA in a performing arts center. A true collaborative effort, the system was sold through local rental and integration mainstay See Factor, and installed by the Kaufmann Concert Hall’s IATSE Local One technical staff, with guidance from See Factor’s Alex Jones, L-Acoustics and Hudson Scenic Design.
As part of a broader update of the venue’s sound, which included the installation of a new digital FOH console and recording and broadcast infrastructure also supplied by See Factor, Fogarty and his team, including house sound engineer Anthony Lombard, reviewed all of the needs and challenges to design a system that would allow maximum flexibility and ease of use to handle the variety of events in the hall, while ensuring clear, intelligible, and exciting sound. The large network of systems had one overriding directive: integrating seamlessly and unobtrusively into the historic architecture of the venue.
A closer view of the rig, definitely busy but ready to offer SPL and quality in an object based way.
The answer was L-ISA. A demo of the system, at See Factor’s Queens, New York facility across the East River from 92Y, provided ample evidence of how L-ISA could address all of those contingencies. “We had gone to the venue for a site survey, and to speak with Sean and Anthony about what their needs were for a sound system,” says L-Acoustics Application Engineer Jesse Stevens. “The more we discussed the acoustic properties of the space, the design directives, and the varied programming, it became clear that L-ISA was the key to solving this puzzle. So we all hopped a cab to the L-ISA studio space at See Factor so that the Kaufmann team could hear and mix in L-ISA in real time.”
Stevens designed a system comprising five arrays of Kiva II—with six enclosures per hang—across the width of the stage, and four SB15m subwoofers. This frontal system would solve a key issue in reinforcement: localization. The ability to localize the reinforced sound to the source onstage became a key factor to improve intelligibility, creating a cohesive blend of live and reinforced sound.
A distinctive view on some of the X8 lateral surround/ambience speaker. Also visible the under balcony 5XT fills.
For the immersive aspect of the system, a total of 20 X8 loudspeakers—four X8 coaxial loudspeakers per side and four in the rear for balcony and orchestra—allow the Kaufmann staff to use the entire venue to place sounds for cinema, or enhance the space using the L-ISA integrated Room Engine.
Furthermore, 5XT under-balcony fills, six X4i ultra-compact coaxial frontfills on the lip of the stage, and two Syva colinear loudspeakers as proscenium nearfills complete the system, which is powered by 11 LA4X amplified controllers, fed via AVB from the FOH infrastructure. Finally, there are two L-ISA Processors (main and backup) located at FOH, and managed by the L-ISA Controller software, running on a Mac Mini.
Audio into the L-ISA system first starts at the console, a Yamaha Rivage PM10, which sends each audio channel post-fader and post-processing into the L-ISA Processors via a MADI stream. From there, the resulting objects are placed and layered in the L-ISA Controller—with the spatialized outputs sent to the corresponding loudspeakers.
FOH Engineer Anthony Lombard notes, “The ease of use of the L-ISA Controller is so natural. I can place objects quickly, move them around, add width and depth, and create and recall snapshots, all from the same screen in the software. It just naturally integrates into the workflow, so while mixing with dimension might seem complex, it’s made to feel really intuitive. And the quality of sound is just amazing.”
The L-ISA Controller screen, positioned above the hall’s Yamaha Rivage PM10 house mixing console.
Based on the comprehensive system design, the Kaufmann Concert Hall’s IATSE Local One technical team was able to install the L-ISA configuration on its own, with assistance from Hudson Scenic Design, which designed a second “mini-truss” for the subs to minimize low-frequency vibrations, as well as a reconfiguration of the lighting system, letting both sound and lights share the existing box truss.
From the very first show, the L-ISA technology has performed flawlessly and proved its worth. In fact, that first show—a performance by Shinedown in September—well illustrated its capabilities as the band members discussed their music with the moderator, Chris Porter, followed by a three-song performance. “L-ISA has really changed the way we hear music here,” adds Fogarty.
For information on 92nd Street Y’s Kaufmann Concert Hall and upcoming events, visit 92Y website. See Factor and Hudson Scenic Design can be found on See Factor website and on Hudson Scenic website, respectively.
16 Ayrton Khamsin-S LED profile luminaires have been installed by Proline Entertainment, LLC, of Wisconsin, USA, which provides lighting production for the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks in the Fiserv Forum. They will light the team’s current season.
The Khamsin-S fixtures is Proline’s first Ayrton acquisition products. “We were in the market for LED-driven fixtures that had the capability for multipurpose functions and the ability to outperform the standard lamp fixture,” says Proline’s owner and lead Lighting Designer, Aaron Zimmermann. “Our long-time ACT Lighting representative, Aaron Hubbard, brought almost the entire Ayrton product line to our shop. We did a shoot-out with the Khamsins and some other brands, and the Khamsins outperformed them all. We fell in love with them.”
Zimmermann says that the fixture proved to be “plenty bright with a lot of punch, which is important when you’re competing with the sports arena house lights. We liked the framing effects for performances on the court, too. It’s a well-rounded light with so many features – you can’t go wrong with it.”
Proline mounted the Khamsin profiles in the grid in the catwalk throughout the arena. They are utilized for player intros, half-time performances and time out performances featuring dance teams, drum corps and a giant T-shirt cannon. “The fixtures’ framing effects enable us to create a runway when the Red Bull Rim Rockers daredevil basketball team appears: the players run down the runway, hit the trampoline and slam the ball,” Zimmermann explains.
“We’ve been using every feature in the lights from top to bottom – all the gobos, the zoom – it’s a real workhorse,” he notes. “We look forward to possibly increasing the inventory as the Bucks continue on the road to the playoffs by adding more Khamsins to the grid.”
After basketball season concludes, the new fixtures will integrate the Proline inventory where they will be deployed for festivals, touring and corporate shows. “I expect the Khamsins will perform just as well for all of those applications,” Zimmermann says. He also gives kudos to ACT Lighting, with whom Proline has a long-standing relationship. “I’m always impressed by their product support and couldn’t believe the quick turnaround when we need to replace a frost flag broken in shipping. Aaron Hubbard was here early the next morning with a new one.”
More information on Ayrton Khamsin-S and the extensive portfolio of innovative Ayrton LED fixtures can be found on the Ayrton website
Transmission is Europe’s, and possibly the world’s, most spectacular trance music festival with a legion of loyal fans who return year on year. As usual, the 2019 event was enhanced by haze from MDG generators which showcased the spectacular lighting and laser shows that accompanied the artists.
Transmission is held annually in the Czech Republic at the O2 Arena and attracts thousands of fans from over 70 countries to the beautiful city of Prague who come to enjoy performances from the genre’s most prestigious talent. The line-up for Transmission 2019 included trance legends such as Blastoyz, Cosmic Gate, Darren Porter, Ferry Corsten presents System F, Giuseppe Ottaviani, Key4050, MaRLo and Thomas Coastline.
The acts are knitted together by Transmission’s unique, themed storylines that take the visitor on a journey throughout the night, with each artist introduced by their own bespoke ‘show movie’ and visuals, all of which are accompanied by spectacular lighting, laser and special effects.
To showcase the lighting and lasers to peak effect, Transmission’s lighting designer, Bas Kemper, needed to fill the huge 15,000-capacity venue with large quantities of smooth, pure white haze. He knew exactly which manufacturer to turn to which would give him precisely what he needed. He invested in an ATMe haze generator from MDG and three MDG MAX 3000 generators, supplied by Rudo Tucek of Slovakian rental company, Ministry.
“The venue is huge and filled to capacity for the festival – the stage alone is 48m x 24m and the floor space covers approximately 80m x 80m, with the hall stretching – with the tribunes included – to something in the region of 120m x 120m,” says Kemper. “To bring the full experience to everyone in the hall, we created lighting and laser shows with an immense reach across a wide-open forum, so we also needed haze that could fill that space, on stage, in the hall and right up into the rafters!”
Kemper positioned the three MDG MAX 3000 generators onstage at left, right and upstage locations, and placed the MDG ATMe haze generator front-of-house. The MAX 3000 units were all controlled manually as stand-alone units, with the ATMe levels controlled directly from the console by lighting operators, Zis Ankone and Martijn Deenen.
“I was confident that the MDG units would be able to handle the dimensions and the result was fantastic,” says Kemper. “The haze was as smooth and pure as expected which highlighted the colours of the lighting design – each act is identified by its own colour – to perfection. And I couldn’t be happier with the extent to which the haze spread and showed off the huge laser shows and each individual beam of light. Yet, at the same time, we were able to control the levels so the haze never got out of hand or obscured the audience’s view of the artists, and we never have complaints about the amount of haze – it’s just invisible without light passing through it.
“It’s simple – MDG generators can be relied upon to produce great haze throughout the whole evening – they really are the best for lighting in halls like these.”
For more information on all MDG’s fog, haze and atmosphere generators, visit the MDG website
Brompton Technology’s Dynamic Calibration was one of the most talked about new technologies at last year’s LDI Show, with more than 300 existing and potential customers from around the world passing through the door of its showcase room.
The company is now bringing this technology to Europe for the first time at ISE 2020 in Amsterdam. At this exhibition Brompton will be present on its largest ever trade show stand, where it will host regular public presentations of Dynamic Calibration and Brompton HDR. It is also launching the new Tessera S8 LED processor, and will have three of its ever-popular demo stations ready to show visitors exactly what a difference the Brompton processor family can make to the end result on-panel.
Tessera S8
Dynamic Calibration is a ground-breaking new technology that enables LED panels to achieve a higher brightness and wider colour gamut than is possible with legacy calibration techniques, while maintaining uniformity. Dynamic Calibration is the enabling technology for Brompton HDR, as well as new, performance-enhancing features such as PureTone and ThermaCal.
The main demo screen at ISE will comprise of 98 panels of ROE Diamond 2.6 provided by Brompton partner 80six. These are not new panels and come from a working rental stock, calibrated with Brompton’s revolutionary Hydra camera which gives them a new lease of life and unleashes the full brightness and saturation of their LEDs.
Following the debut of Dynamic Calibration at LDI, several visitors to the demo were very complimentary about the new technology.
“For the first time I understood why HDR was needed for LED screens,” says LED screen manufacturer digiLED’s CEO Graham Burgess. “Brompton’s Dynamic Calibration allowed a five year old screen to demonstrate HDR in a way that I’ve never seen before. Along with the rest of the US-based digiLED team, I was blown away by the images that were presented at the launch. We can’t wait to show this technology, on digiLED screens, to our customers.”
Roly Oliver from UK-based rental company Universal Pixels concurs: “Thank you for a great demo [at LDI],” he says. “The content looked stunning and gave me a great insight into where the video industry is heading with HDR, and the ground-breaking application of it from Brompton.”
Dynamic Calibration takes a unique and revolutionary approach to maintaining uniformity, while unlocking the full potential of the LEDs to achieve previously unthinkable levels of brightness and colour saturation. The result is a huge step forward in visual performance for all content, but in particular HDR. Brighter whites, higher contrast ratios, more saturated colours, and true-to-life colour accuracy deliver a previously unattainable level of image depth and realism. And Dynamic Calibration is not just for new panels, it can give existing panels using Brompton’s Tessera R2 card a new lease of life.
“When it comes to content playback, it is quality of image not necessarily pitch, that is the new driver for LED display technology,” says Sarah Cox, VP Sales for content creation tool company Notch. “HDR is the next step in image processing that provides accuracy in delivering the artist creative, as it was truly meant to be seen. Brompton has again, created industry defining tools, to deliver these incredible HDR workflows in a standardized, repeatable way.”
Dynamic Calibration is enabled by Brompton’s Hydra measurement system, an all-in-one industrial solution that incorporates all the measurement instruments and processing required for panel measurements.
“After seeing the demo [at LDI] of the new Hydra camera and HDR it once again reconfirms why we invested in Brompton Technology’s products,” adds Graham Northam, CTS-I / President of Canadian rental company, Apex Sound & Light. “Once again Brompton is way ahead of the competition with this technology and breathing new life into our existing inventory. All I have to say is, well done Brompton, well done!”
How does it work?
“Commonly used calibration methods achieve uniformity by sacrificing both brightness and colour gamut, forcing every LED to match the dimmest and palest LEDs in the entire screen. Once calibrated, this is used for all content over the entire life of the panel,” explains Brompton’s CTO Chris Deighton. “However, with ever-increasing demand for better image quality without increased cost, such sacrifices in performance can no longer be justified.”
Fig1: The Hydra measurement and analysis system is one of the key elements of Brompton Technology’s Dynamic Calibration
To benefit from Dynamic Calibration an LED panel must be fitted with a Brompton Tessera R2 receiver card and needs to be measured using Hydra – an advanced measurement system custom-designed for LED panels and exclusive to Brompton Technology (Fig1). The R2 Receiver Card may be plugged into an SO-DIMM socket, a form-factor first pioneered by Brompton and now provided in many LED panels (Fig2).
Fig2: The Tessera R2 reception card, one of the elements of Dynamic Calibration, plugs into a SO-DIMM connector integrated into each LED panel.
“Dynamic Calibration is a flexible approach that uses the immense parallel computing power of the R2’s Dynamic Engine to process incoming video in an entirely new and innovative way,” says Deighton. “Before making any decisions, the Dynamic Engine gathers a vast array of data, including the incoming video pixels, the video signal’s metadata, Dynamic Calibration metadata, the precise capabilities of each individual LED and the user’s preferences for how the image should be displayed.” (Fig 3)
All this extra information is processed in real-time, with no added latency, to intelligently determine the best possible way to drive each LED. Areas of the image where peak brightness is the most important visual aspect will make full use of the LEDs’ peak brightness. Areas requiring extreme saturation will make full use of the LEDs’ maximum colour gamut. But all this is achieved without needlessly sacrificing uniformity across the rest of the image.
Fig3: Dynamic Calibration Concept
The result of this unique approach is a huge step forward in visual performance. Brighter whites, higher contrast ratios, more saturated colours, and true-to-life colour accuracy deliver a previously unattainable level of image depth and realism. Lifelike colour and brightness without the compromises inherent to legacy calibration.
The dynamic nature of the system means the desired brightness, primary colours and white point are all fully user-adjustable. What would previously have required a lengthy and expensive recalibration process can now be done at any time from the simple new DynaCal user interface on any Tessera processor, with changes seamlessly reflected in real-time on the screen – even during a live event.
Zebra indicators can be enabled to highlight areas of the image that are trying to drive the LEDs beyond their peak brightness (Fig 4) or colour gamut (Fig 5), allowing rapid fine-tuning of screen performance based on the content, viewing environment and user preferences.
Fig4: Activated zebras showing areas where brightness is likely to be excessive and may cause LED saturation.
Fig5: Activated zebras showing picture areas that are likely to go out of the color range provided by the LEDs.
Colour accuracy is managed throughout the entire system. Even with no user configuration, colours are perfectly balanced, skin-tones look natural and content looks just the way its author intended.
Dynamic Calibration is not just for brand new LED panels, it also allows existing panels using the Tessera R2 card to be given a new lease of life and it is supported by all Tessera processors as a free software upgrade.
Impressive Dynamic Calibration-enabled features
Using Dynamic Calibration measurement, analysis and correction capacities as well as computing power and high precision – high number of bits for colour encoding and computing – provided by the R2 receiver card, two powerful LED screen behaviour improvement features have been developed and were also introduced at LDI 2019; ThermaCal and PureTone.
ThermaCal
LEDs are affected by temperature and all tend to be a bit less bright as they get hotter. But the scale of this effect varies between colours, with red LEDs most strongly affected: heat a red LED by 10 degrees and its output typically drops by 10%.
Fig6: Thermal gradients on two LED panels and their origins (simulation).
Because of this difference in effect between LED colours, areas that are hotter or colder than the temperature the panel was calibrated at can show a colour shift. What is more, panels often heat up more in the centre than round their edges, which can lead to unsightly thermal patterns that mark out individual panels in the wall (Fig 6-7).
Fig7: Thermal gradients in a video wall made up of 48 LED panels.
ThermaCal compensates for these effects and gives the user control of how much compensation is required based on the panel temperature and environment. It does this by both separating thermal effects from the optical calibration and by profiling each panel type to understand in detail its thermal characteristics for a smooth, panel-specific correction. The amount of correction can be adjusted dynamically, even during a show, to account for changes in temperature over time.
PureTone
Fig8: Linearity curves of R, G, B LEDs. Red LEDs exhibit a significantly different behavior, likely to cause a cyan dominant in the low brightness parts of pictures.
LEDs and their driver chips are not perfectly linear, meaning that when asked to output a particular brightness they may not accurately achieve it. It is common for the red, green and blue LEDs to have different behavior (Fig 8), meaning that many panel types show a colour cast in darker greys or when using the panels at low brightness levels.
Most content has dark as well as light areas, so this non-linearity is a real problem that means you may not be getting accurate colours (Fig 9-10) and true neutral greys (Fig 11). It is also a common reason why different panels that appear to be matched when displaying full brightness test patterns are obviously unmatched when displaying real content with darker areas.
Fig9: Picture displayed with PureTone correction activated.
Fig10: Picture displayed without correction (simulation). Significant color drifts in low brightness areas are due to the differences in RGB LED non-linearities.
Previously, it has been difficult or even impossible to correct for this non-linear behaviour, but now PureTone builds on Brompton’s new Dynamic Calibration technology to enable each panel type to be profiled in order to compensate for the non-linearities ensuring true, clean, accurate colours and neutral greys at all brightnesses. This is particularly important for film and broadcast work, where screens are often run at much lower brightness to match camera exposures, and maintaining neutral colour output is critical to looking good on camera.
PureTone depends on Dark Magic – which improves the quality of the image or video showing on LED panels when they are operating at less than maximum brightness – for additional effective bit depth in order to make very small fractional adjustments to the output drive levels. It also works alongside ThermaCal. Both ThermaCal and PureTone are exclusive to Brompton R2-based panels that are enabled for Dynamic Calibration.
In Moscow for performances of The Worker and Kolkhoz Woman a comic opera by Pavel Kaplevich which stunned and amazed critics and the crowds alike during performances at the Zaryadye Concert Hall, Astera’s wireless LED Titan Tubes helped the action to come alive onstage.
The opera is dedicated to the history of one Russia’s most famous monuments The Worker and Kolkhoz Woman, a 24.5-metre-high sculpture by Vera Mukhina, renowned globally as an example of socialist realism and art deco. Two figures – male and female – are leaning forward holding a hammer and sickle above their heads. The work was designed for the Soviet Pavilion at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris and was subsequently moved to Moscow. It is instantly recognizable as a powerful Soviet-era symbol. 2019 marks the 130th anniversary of Vera Mukhina’s birthday and the 80th anniversary of the monument’s ‘home’ at the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (VDNKh) in Moscow.
In the opera version, Worker and the Kolkhoz Woman come to life as two real workers who get packed up and sent to Paris for the Fair, where they reassume their poses and engage in a series of bizarre and surreal adventures and encounters … including with Marlene Dietrich and Pablo Picasso.
Lighting designer Alexander Krasnolutsky created a distinctive look and style for the show utilizing a conventional lighting rig, LED screens and the 60 x Astera Titan Tubes that were a central element to the performance. Alexander explained that he could not work with traditional beam lights as the Zaryadye Concert Hall itself has high ambient light levels and the use of haze is prohibited, so lighting designers cannot use popular techniques like beam technology. However, contending with such challenging conditions plus the LED screens upstage, he saw nothing but new possibilities … which fired him up to take a different path in maximizing the scenic background created with the Titan Tubes.
“The Titans conveyed the mood of the moment as well as highlighting the images of specific characters throughout the opera,” he explained. The Titan Tubes were placed inside a black cabinet mounted about 2 metres off the floor which wrapped around the back and two sides of the stage in an arc. The black cabinet provided maximum contrast and gave the impression the Tubes were floating in the air! Inside the cabinet, the Titan Tubes were fixed equidistant to each other, resulting in a broad strip of bright, colourful, symmetrically positioned vertical lines. This striking geometry worked brilliantly as a visual treatment.
Alexander worked closely with video designer Ilya Shagalov to create overall moods and ambience as the different scenes unfolded. Ilya set the general tones while Alexander worked on lighting the many details in each scene and also on drawing in the audience and making the viewing experience more immersive. “Using the Titan Tubes in this way solved several issues,” he explained. “The units are very bright and don’t get lost in the luminosity of the screens. They provide another layer and dimension of visuality … and sometimes I even had to dial them down!” Prior to working on this production Alexander had used Titan Tubes on various projects and loved all the features and the general versatility.
He appreciates the high CRI and “great range of colour temperatures” which also make them ideal for television and film applications. He thinks the colour palette produced by a combination of the RGB + Amber and Mint LEDs is “beautiful”, and this was very handy in setting some unique backgrounds to accent parts of the plot.
The bright blue sky of Paris was continued by pale blue Titan Tube lines; different colour white stripes reflected the monochrome gloominess of the Nazi era during World War II. The Titan Tubes also supported the figurative red lights of the Kremlin walls and even the goldish orange shimmering of the ruby stars – all of these detailed effects were fluid and effortless using the fixtures.
Alexander notes that the “well-thought-out functionality” and battery power supply of the Tubes is a great tribute to the practical and realistic thinking of Astera’s product developers, and having the option of both battery or wired operation doesn’t compromise the brightness and quality of the light in any way. “Even during a show or event lasting several hours, when the battery charge is lower, the tubes don’t deteriorate, and for this production they performed flawlessly just as we planned.”
The Worker and Kolkhoz Woman received rave reviews for its excellent cast including Sergey Mazaev as Stalin and the legendary Ilze Liepa who brilliantly delivered the Marlene-Picasso dance sequence in a human split-screen style.
What we liked:
What we disliked:
