Germany - ARX will be releasing a number of new products at ProLight&Sound including the newly updated USB DI series of products, the MSX 48 16 channel signal splitter and several new additions to the AudiBox range of 'audio toolbox' products.

ARX's Managing Director Colin Park says: "This year, ARX has moved across to Hall 8.0 where we are exhibiting in conjunction with our new German Distributor E.A.S GmbH. We're looking forward to spending the show working with Helmut Beermann and his team, showing his customers and our international visitors our new and existing products, and explaining why investing in ARX Signal Processing makes good business sense in the current challenging economic environment."

(Jim Evans)

Germany - Martin Professional's expanding range of LED lighting solutions will feature prominently at the upcoming ProLight&Sound exhibition. On display will be the LC Plus Series of LED video panels with new generation technology and an IP65 rating; EvenLED, a modular LED system for extremely even field projection; and FlexDOT, a lightweight yet bright string of LED pixels for customized video solutions.

Also on display will be Martin's first LED moving heads, the MAC 401 Dual, a powerful LED washlight with a unique double-sided design that gives it dual functionality; and the MAC 301 Wash, a compact, high-power LED washlight with powerfully fast zoom. Another innovative launch will be Martin easyStrip, a simple yet highly capable plug-and-play LED striplight for interior enhancement. Martin's successful 1500 watt MAC III Profile will also be shown.

Several new control soluti

UK - Electro-Voice's new DC-One two-in-six-out processor, designed to maximise performance from a small to mid-sized EV loudspeaker system, has made its debut in a UK installation.

The Derbyshire Hall is a 400-seater venue in The Hayes Conference Centre, located just outside Derby. Owned and operated by The Christian Conference Trust, a registered charity, The Hayes is the Trust's flagship venue for providing quality, affordable conference facilities for Christian organisations.

Having provided AV solutions for two other venues belonging to the Christian Conference Trust, installation specialists Acoustic Arrangements were particularly pleased to win the contract for this Hall. "As this is their premier venue, it demanded the highest specification for the sound system, capable of handling performances by prominent worship bands as well as speech requirements," says A

Germany - Out Board will feature the new TiMax2 SoundHub and TiMax Tracker at this year's Frankfurt Musik Messe, in conjunction with Pro Audio Technik, the recently appointed TiMax distributor for Germany.

TiMax2 SoundHub-R systems integrator version is optimised for mainstream AV and live performance installations needing comprehensive audio processing, playback, networking and remote control.

TiMax2 SoundHub-S audio showcontrol version (available Summer 2009) is specially tailored for real-time showcontrol and audio animation in live shows and events.

Also demonstrated will be the new TiMax Tracker, which uses UWB radar tracking technology to make performers' audio and other effects automatically follow their position onstage in 3D space. The system has already featured on numerous opera and theatre shows and made initial sales into Europe and the USA.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Hoists manufactured by Vortek, a Division of Daktronics, are centre stage in the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre at the Dallas Centre for the Performing Arts. The custom hoists manipulate seating sections along with Vortek Pro Series hoists in an advanced fly system. This innovative theatre design was commissioned by REX/OMA, Joshua Prince-Ramus and Rem Koolhaas.

The theatre consultant, Michael Nishball, of Theatre Projects Consulting said, "When direct lift, multipart-line in a high capacity hoist is required, there is no group with as much experience as the Vortek team at Daktronics. At this point, it's clear to me that this is going to be a very successful power flying and controls installation."

Scheduled for completion in October 2009, this 74,915sq.ft facility has 12 stories and seats approximately 600 people. The vertically stacked floors are unlike the tra

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Germany - Entertainment Equipment Supplies is exhibiting Tinhao, their range of dimmers and distros, for the first time at Prolight&Sound.

The company produce a wide range of reliable products, ideal for use in conjunction with each other to ensure safe installations of dimming and power distribution, making them suited to TV productions, theatres and touring.

EES's product lines offer different options to meet a variety of needs, as will be shown during the exhibition where samples will be displayed for visitors to take a closer look at.

As well as presenting their Tinhao equipment, EES will display a new member of their product family, the Flygeko wall rack for fixed installation, which will launch and be introduced to the market at the exhibition.

(Claire Beeson)

South Africa - Rosco has confirmed a new partnership between Rosco and South African lighting design company Congo Blue Design. After being appointed as a new Rosco distributor for South Africa, Congo Blue Design can now offer South African customers the full range of all Rosco colours and products. Having been regular users of Rosco products on many of their projects previously, Congo Blue Design will now stock Rosco products themselves and distribute them throughout South Africa.

Congo Blue Design specialises in lighting design and consulting for both theatrical and architectural environments. They are headed by lighting designer Declan Randall, who has worked on projects all over the world especially in South Africa and Europe, and they are joined by Dave Whitehouse as senior lighting designer and Rosco's product manager.

See the March issue of

Germany - Ultrasone, has announced the launch of its new professional headphone range: the scientifically designed S-Logic Natural Surround PRO headphones.

The PRO headphones are designed using S-Logic Natural Surround technology, an exclusive design to improve sound quality by using decentralised driver positioning. This moves the sound out of your head and into the space around you to create quality which resembles that of a live concert, without all the additional equipment. The S-Logic Natural Surround design projects the sound pressure at reduced levels by up to 3-4db and can potentially cut the risk of hearing damage by up to 40%, says the company.

As with all Ultrasone's headphones, the PRO range is designed with Ultra-Low-Emission (ULE) technology, which produces a low-frequency magnetic field. In traditional earphones, the magnetic radiation produced can be as much a

World - This Saturday (28 March) at 8.30pm local time, the world is being encouraged to act with their light switches to combat climate change. Organised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the worldwide blackout is described as an election between Earth and global warming. "For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote - Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming," says the Earth Hour website.

WWF are attempting to reach a target of 1 billion "votes for Earth", which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

In London, the famous Coca Cola sign in Piccadilly Circus will be switched off for only the third time since the Second World War. Other famous London

The Netherlands - With the introduction of Electro-Voice's new FIR filter-based system upgrades, EV distributor E-audio Benelux started its IRIS-Net/NetMax with FIR-drive two-day, basic-level training.

Axel Nagtegaal, MD of E-audio Benelux, explains, "IRIS-Net software, NetMax hardware, and the RCM DSPmodules have been on the market for years and are popular in the fixed install market, but with FIR-drive EV has ushered in a new era in system control for concert sound. Almost our entire line array client group switched to the new EV NetMax N8000-1500 platform with FIR-drive due to the sonic improvement the equipment achieves and the operational flexibility of IRIS-Net and NetMax. That said, we needed a professional and consistent training program in order to get the most out of this incredibly powerful control system.

"We are entering an era where software and IT und

UK - Kramer Electronics has announced the introduction of the VP-728 ProScale presentation scaler/switcher. The VP-728 is a nine-input scaler/switcher that sets new quality and performance benchmarks in the Kramer line up of ProScale scalers and scaler/switchers with the incorporation of Silicon Optix HQV video processing.

The VP-728 is HDTV and HDCP compatible offering 720p, 1080i and 1080p HDTV output resolutions as well as numerous other user-selectable pre-defined output resolutions and one user definable output resolution setting.

The VP-728 presentation scaler/switcher employs Kramer's FTB (Fade-Thru-Black) switching for glitch-free switching. The VP-728 can switch between any of nine inputs that include three-wire universal video inputs on RCA connectors (each can be composite video, s-Video or component video as chosen from the menu), two computer graphics video inputs

USA - One of the biggest stars in country music, literally, is the 6' 7" Trace Adkins. The newest addition to the resume for Trace is star of the TV show The Celebrity Apprentice, with Donald Trump. Adkins is currently touring in support of his newest work, X (Ten).

Tour manager Jeff Gossett, production manager Benny Durham and lighting designer Jeff Lavallee have worked with Bandit for some time with Trace. Lavalle has captured the rock-n-roll sprit of Adkins with his up-tempo lighting presentation, using MAC 2000 wash and spot fixtures, along with High End Studio Beams, Maxedia Media Servers and a Jands Vista Console.

Brent Barrett at Bandit handles the daily needs of the Adkins tour. The tour has programmed twice at Bandit Lites rehearsal facility, Venue One, in Nashville, a full service facility that allows an entire show to be flown with band gear and s

Germany - Trantec will showcase its extensive wireless portfolio at PLASA Focus 2009 which takes place 28-29 April in Leeds.

The spotlight will be on the Trantec S-D7000 - billed as the world's first professional fully digital wireless microphone system. Features include 24 bit audio resolution, network monitoring for over 60 channels, and over 20 user channels in an 8MHz TV band .

Trantec will also be previewing the new S6 wireless system which builds on the success of the S6000 range, taking the 19", 8-way concept to a higher level. Trantec has now incorporated a comprehensive user interface on the front panel allowing the user to configure and monitor all channels, with or without an external PC. Based on Trantec's award-winning technology, the internal circuitry of the S6 beltpack and handheld transmitter has been redesigned and upgraded, extending the frequency capab

Germany - Prolyte has teamed up with two specialist companies for its Theatre Projects range. Partners Silicon Theatre Scenery and Silk both have a wealth of practical experience in providing staging and theatrical solutions. With their shared knowledge, Prolyte, STS and Silk are able to translate the specific technical requirements of the theatrical environment into comprehensive solutions and the appropriate products to match.

The first fruits of these collaborations will be seen at ProLight&Sound in Frankfurt, where the Performer Fly System, a modular fly system, built in a H40V truss, approved at SIL 3 levels will be shown alongside a new winch for stage and theatre use.

(Jim Evans)

USA - In addition to its home on the web at www.tomcatglobal.com, Tomcat USA has a new page on Facebook. Those who visit the page will find photos of products, workshops and projects. In addition, anyone with an account can stop by and become a fan of the staging and lighting equipment company.

"We encourage everyone to stop by and check it out," said Lisa Jebsen, marketing assistant for Tomcat USA. "We see this as another great opportunity to interact with industry professionals and show off our work. In the near future, we plan to offer special giveaways to our 'fans.'"

(Jim Evans)

Singapore - The first iLive-T digital mixing system off the production line has been purchased by Singapore AV company, the Production People. The company debuted the system, comprising an iDR-48 MixRack and iLive-T112 Control Surface, at the Kids Horizon Appeal Gala event held at the Ritz Carlton Millenia hotel in Singapore.

The charity dinner, held annually to raise funds for children suffering from cancer and HIV, was attended by many distinguished local guests. The highlight of the evening was a performance by Singapore's premier large-scale jazz ensemble, the 16-piece Thomson Big Band. iLive-T managed audio requirements for the evening, which included the band and several speeches by presenters and guests.

The Production People's Sheldon Gooi was very pleased with his recent purchase and impressed by how easy the system is to set up with just one Cat 5 cable in pla

UK - Deptford-based ARC Sound has extended its long relationship with JBL loudspeakers by adding 12 VerTec VT 4887A enclosures to the company's rental fleet. Established by James Dougill back in 2000, initially as a rehearsal facility, ARC Sound has constantly sought to keep its equipment at the cutting edge.

"We've always got on really well with both our point source Venue units and the fixed curvature VRX line array, which for its size and weight performs tremendously," says Downer. "But as a company, we were being asked to tender on bigger events, which clearly required a more appropriate solution."

He continues: "We considered several other options, but as most of our existing fleet is JBL, it made very practical sense to choose a product which we could easily integrate with our older stock. We're really comfortable with the product, It's very plea

Spain - D.A.S. Audio's new website has been launched. It includes the company's wide range of products and offers a better browsing experience, with more information available and a new corporate image.

The new website boasts an enhanced layout both from an aesthetic and from a practical point of view, in order to simplify navigation and search experience. The current logo uses a new font for the first time since the creation of the brand.

By means of drop-down menus, users can access all kinds of information about the company, navigate through the different product categories, and learn about the brand's latest developments, facilities, corporate events, seminars.

More importantly, the website now offers users a series of new services through a Support tab, giving them access to an industry glossary, obsolete products, technical datasheets, and spare parts.

(Jim Evans)

Switzerland - Lighting for the majority of shows of the 2008 AVO Session indoor music festival in Basel was controlled by a grandMA full-size lighting console. The event featured 13 evenings of sold-out musical performances, including appearances by international artists including Zucchero, Kelly Rowland, Michael Bolton, Jethro Tull and Gary Moore.

In addition to the main grandMA at the FOH lighting position, grandMA programmer/operator Patrick Rakus had a laptop running grandMA onPC software and a 12-channel DMX desk that was triggering one page on the grandMA, giving an additional twelve faders for TV and band key lighting.

Werner Kokott, CEO of Five K Lighting & Video Design, who supplied lighting equipment for the Session, said: "Most Lighting Designers - including Günter Jäckle, Billy Bigliardi, Geoff Hall and Marco Zepeda - were happy to use the grandMA for their

UK - A/V services company PSP has continued its rolling investment programme with the addition of more state-of-the-art equipment to its inventory.

The recent purchase of a Panasonic AVS-400 multi-format live vision mixer, Christie S+20K Roadster projector, Barco DCS 200 dual channel seamless switcher and additional Grass Valley Turbo iDDR digital media recorder/players has reinforced the company's commitment to quality.

"High definition is becoming more and more of a client requirement and so we have to ensure that we can deliver it whenever requested," says PSP's David Woodcock.

"The AVS-400 and DCS-200 are both tremendously versatile. With great input and output flexibility for all formats, they provide the ultimate in vision mixing and switching capabilities and are also remarkably cost effective.

"We aim to deliver the ultimate in visual quality an

UK - Ableton is taking its Live software on the road again - with free Loopmasters samples, Novation prizes and Ableton goodies to give away at every venue.

After the success of last year's Ableton Live tour, Ableton and Novation have teamed up again to showcase Live 8 at select venues. With a new schedule of demonstrations and workshops, the organisers say there will be something for everyone - from beginners taking their first steps to seasoned power-users wanting to check out the new features. This time the focus will be on Scotland and the North of England.

An Ableton specialist will be on hand to introduce the software to those who haven't yet seen Live in action. The workshops will also give existing Live users a chance to explore some of its more advanced features and participate in question and answer sessions.

There will also be various Ableton goodies to give away,

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