Page 40 - Zone Magazine Issue 021

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Well, this seems to be an interesting thought but it is still in development and so fact and thoughts slightly differ at the moment. Maybe this is something to be better in future. Basically this idea came from cinema sound systems and is an enhancement of the THX system. While in THX speakers are placed around the audience in various angles in spatial sound there are more speakers placed above the heads so that sound can be directed more specific to the audience. But sound is always dependent on the actual circumstances. So what works in an audio laboratory must not really work in reality and the bigger the scale, the bigger the difference between Lab and wildlife.
If you got more than 2 speakers like in your home stereo and you want to get an optimal performance you will soon get to a point where you need a speaker management system. I want to point out 2 companies there: DB-Audiotechnik and Marani. Both have shown some of their new developments PA. Dante becomes more and more an universal language in Speaker management and I will surely point that out in another article.
Line arrays are getting smaller and smaller. The principal of the array is found in bigger installations and PA since years and now more and more spreads into smaller PA systems and as more companies develop into that direction, the systems become more affordable for smaller uses. So it was just a matter of time until the first systems will fit into a normal car for transportation. Companies start to discover the “consumer” market and put in their experience from the big systems into smaller ones and achieve high quality in small scale.
One of those is LAX. (https://laxpro.de/) They offered me the possibility to test one of their smaller systems. So if this comes true I will write a detailed report here in Zone Magazine too.So stay tuned for further information.
Let´s get to the other side of the speakers: Production.
Over the last years analog signals vanish more and more into background. Production today is fully digital. What you could see in Planes in the cockpit since years now starts to go into music. In a plane you call it fly-by-wire and glass cockpit in music it´s fully integrated virtual sound processing. So when you first see a new studio you may think, that you better can fly a spaceship with it than make music. Everything is automated and every knob or fader is multipurpose and free assignable. Sometimes you may think, that there is at least one ghost living in the equipment when faders start to move automatically. But this is an interesting thing. The mixers and controllers can be much smaller or on the other hand you can put much more functions into smaller housing. But sometimes this may also be confusing (where the hell did I put this function again???). Complexity grows for audio engineers and producers but also the possibilities are growing because you don´t need that much hardware anymore. Effects and other devices like synths only run as plugins controlled on a touch screen or on knobs you can assign as you like. So even in smaller studios you have the chance to use devices as plugin that normally in hardware will cost a fortune and occupy a complete room.
Digico is one of the leaders in big scale (https://www.digico.biz/) , but the same development also takes place in smaller ones like at Allen&Heath consoles i.e. the SQ series, Qu series or the dLive. Another big player has always been Stagetec. Stagetec more concentrates on live and theatre audio and consoles and had the crescendo and crescendo-T console at their booth.
Automation is one of the most important features in a theatre audio mixing console. CRESCENDO goes beyond the standard provision of many consoles by offering two automation options, snapshot and scene automation. In CRESCENDO-T, static automation is now enhanced with some important functions that theatres require. For example, the five scene list control buttons are now on the surface for rapid access. Another feature is
"snapshot preview", which interrupts the link between the physical user interface and signal processing. This enables settings to be tried out first without the audio processor implementing them immediately. With "Save All", mode changes can be written as absolute values or relative changes (“Offset”) either in all or a selection of snapshots.
In addition to the peak filters and the two cut filters, the CRESCENDO-T equalizer is also equipped with two shelving filters.
"It is well-known that most theatres lack space and appreciate any console that saves room," comments Christian Fuchs, Application Specialist for Theatre/Live at Stage Tec. "We have recently seen an uptick in interest from theatres, which is why we are now offering the compact CRESCENDO with special features needed for theatre applications."
Each CRESCENDO can be modified with software and eight custom key bindings as a special CRESCENDO-T for theatre applications.
Another one here is for sure DiGiCo. Well, I really can´t count all the innovations from DiGiCo I´ve seen over the years. They were the first to implement a fully digital console with build in monitors and so they are way ahead of others here. They found a way of controlling their s-series consoles by app from an iPad and called that Stealth Core2. Maybe this is a nice addition for audio engineers at big concerts for setting up the master output mix...
At the booth of Function One I thought to see nothing new on the first glance. Well, a bass box is primarily just a box. Nothing spectacular from the outside. Differences are inside.
European launch of the F124 bass enclosure Loudspeaker manufacturer, Funktion-One, will introduce the new F124 bass enclosure to the European market. First introduced at The NAMM Show 2018 in January, this unique addition combines Funktion- One’s horn-loading technology with a 24-inch driver.
By re-visiting a 24-inch frame and tooling they had developed during a previous R&D phase, the basis of the new enclosure quickly fell into place. To create the completed package, Funktion- One invested significant time into ensuring the other elements were exactly right. Key among these was the magnet and coil. Andrews and the Funktion-One design team worked closely with Precision Devices to find the best performing solution, eventually developing a double 6-inch voice coil motor with an unprecedented Bl factor of 50 to give the necessary motive power. To Funktion-One's knowledge, this is now the most powerful electromagnetic structure in a loudspeaker.
The results are astonishing. Two voice coils and intense magnetic flux control a 24-inch cone with impressive accuracy, ensuring excellent transient response and extended depth to below 30Hz. This combination of mid-bass speed and impact with low-bass extension from a single enclosure makes the F124 the perfect bass partner for the company’s Evolution systems and other Funktion-One mid-high speakers.
As Andrews notes, the universally enthusiastic feedback the F124 has received during testing provides confirmation that the team’s time has been well spent. “It’s probably the best all round bass device on the planet,” he says. “Everyone who has experienced it has been blown away.
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