Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

DirectOut Revolutionises Touring Playback

07/05/2014

Wigwam Hire has been a leading supplier of sound systems and equipment for touring and dry hire for over 30 years and Alex Hadjigeorgiou, Technical Specialist at Wigwam Hire, explained how one small box has made a significant difference to the weight and subsequent cost of touring in the last couple of years.

Traditionally when using playback on a tour you were limited to 24 channels of playback. The 24 channels from a Tascam or Fostex fed a relay changeover switcher controlled by the presence or not of tone. More recently it became the Radial SW8 stackable 8 channel auto-switcher.

But over time 24 tracks were not enough for playback and the analogue way of doing things became unworkable simply because of the amount of sync required and the sheer size of the systems.

Moving to MADI based systems meant the track count could be greatly increased while drastically reducing the physical size and weight and improving the ability to respond to changes and emergencies. However, there was no obvious way to switch MADI streams without compromise.

One of Wigwams customers, Des Ward of Audiotech Services, thought of an idea to seamlessly switch from one MADI stream to another. DirectOut was already thinking along the same lines and the EXBOX.BLDS (Buffer Loop Detection System) was born after a short period of intensive code writing at DirectOut and, for speed, delivered in their EXBOX.64 format converter box just in time for The Steps Reunion Tour.

The Lord of the Dance Tour asked us to cut the size and weight of their playback system by half a tonne and the EXBOX.BLDS was the lynchpin that made this possible, allowing us to reduce 24U to 10U. We have two Mac minis with RME cards to produce MADI, a video switch and any MIDI we need to run plus the EXBOX.BLDS. We use QLab, the software application for live show control. With QLab tracks are edited instantly as opposed to the two hours it used to take in the old analogue days.

Since its debut as a fix-it box, DirectOut has developed the EXBOX.BLDS into a fully-fledged product with push buttons and GPIs to manually control playback changeover and LEDs and GPOs to confirm MADI and changeover status. It constantly monitors the BLDS channel on the primary input and when theres a lock-up or output buffer loop, EXBOX.BLDS automatically switches the MADI output to the second input. The changeover is within two samples and no one is any the wiser.

EXBOX.BLDS was part of a huge playback system for Massive Attack v Adam Curtis and its been an essential bit of kit for the Edinburgh Tattoo, One Direction World Tour, JLS tours, Westlife Farewell Tour and many others. In my view EXBOX.BLDS is the Rosetta Stone in the evolution of MADI based playback systems

Alex is pictured with Gary Kenyon on the left, FOH and Head of Sound Lord of the Dance, "The little box which finally got us away from analogue. And in the centre Oliver Twiby, Playback Operator Massive Attack, "Extremely simple and clever little box."

DirectOut Technologies MADI equipment is distributed in the UK by Aspen Media.

www.aspen-madi.com www.aspen-media.com

www.aspen-madi.com/news_details.aspx?ni=5
LINK: http://www.tv-bay.com/news/DirectOut_Revolutionises_Touring_Playback/9...
See more stories from tvbay

Most recent headlines

09/12/2024

Dalet Named an IDC Innovator in Media and Entertainment

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced that it has been named an IDC Innovator in the IDC Innovators: ...

09/11/2024

Dalet Expands Leadership Team to Fuel Next Stage of Growth

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced three new members of its executive team. Tara Bryant joins as Chi...

05/11/2024

Comcast Technology Solutions Introduces Cloud TV Platform

DENVER Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) today unveiled its Cloud TV platform, a centralized ingest, transcoding and video-processing solution supporting live ...

05/11/2024

Report: Shari Redstone to leave Paramount board after Skydance merger

Neither Redstone nor her son, Tyler Korff, will join the new entitys board, said the report By Matthew Corrigan Published: November 5, 2024 Neither Redsto...

05/11/2024

QuickLink Expands Reseller Partner Network to Increase Av...

QuickLink, the leading global provider of multi-camera video productions and remote contribution solutions, announces the expansion of its reseller partner netw...

05/11/2024

Chaos Releases V-Ray 7 for 3ds Max

Today, Chaos releases V-Ray 7 for 3ds Max, bringing Gaussian Splat support, new ways to create interactive virtual tours and more to the most complete rendering...

05/11/2024

New LiveU Studio Simplifies Localization of International...

LiveU is continuing its commitment to provide storytellers with innovative tools that help to engage viewers with diverse content while controlling costs. The c...

05/11/2024

DP David Wells Lenses the Rapper Actor Ludacris with Zeis...

When Austin-based cinematographer David Wells was handed the treatment for the C4 Energy sweepstakes featuring rapper and actor Ludacris, he knew this commercia...

05/11/2024

FAST, AVOD Driving New Ad Tech Options

As content creators, aggregators and distributors continue to finagle their respective paths around the constantly changing video-consumption desires of global ...

05/11/2024

Target To Offer Hisense Xumo TVs

PHILADELPHIA The Xumo streaming platform joint venture between Comcast and Charter Communications has announced that Target will offer Hisense Xumo TVs, a budge...

05/11/2024

Brian Williams Returns to Election Coverage With Prime Video Special

As broadcasters and news nets pull out all the stops for their election night coverage of one of the most hotly contested presidential races in U.S. history, Am...

05/11/2024

Political Ads Drive Scripps to Record Revenue in Q3

CINCINNATI The E.W. Scripps Co. said it produced record revenue of $646 million in Q3 2024, driven by record spending on political advertising....

05/11/2024

Prime Video Launches AI-Powered Recaps of TV Shows

Prime Video has launched a new feature that uses AI to catch viewers up on TV series with recaps of episodes or a full season without providing spoilers to upco...

05/11/2024

Enter to Win Week 3 of the RE:Vision Effects 2024 Raffle at Creative Cow!

Enter to Win Week 3 of the RE:Vision Effects 2024 Raffle at Creative Cow! Brie Clayton November 4, 2024 0 Comments Two chances to win a RE:Vision Effe...

05/11/2024

BatteryEVO Shoots New Commercial with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K

BatteryEVO Shoots New Commercial with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Brie Clayton November 4, 2024 0 Comments New digital film camera's full frame 6K sensor ...

05/11/2024

Amplify Berklee Gala Raises $1.3 Million for Berklee City Music Scholarships

Amplify Berklee Gala Raises $1.3 Million for Berklee City Music Scholarships This year's event featured a dance party with DJ Jazzy Jeff and performances ...

05/11/2024

Remembering the Rare and Extraordinary Life of Quincy Jones

Remembering the Rare and Extraordinary Life of Quincy Jones With the passing of the legendary musician, composer, arranger, producer, and all-around media mog...

04/11/2024

Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Jesse Eisenberg, the Writer-Director of A Real Pain

By Bailey Pennick One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festi...

04/11/2024

Light up classrooms for the Festivals of Lights with SBS Learn

Light up classrooms for the Festivals of Lights with SBS Learn 4 November, 2024 Media releases SBS Learn is providing educators with ready-made resources s...

04/11/2024

The Science of Conversations: How Generative AI is Revolutionizing Consumer Engagement

In our latest blog, Tim Pearson caught up with Julian Williams at Anthropic to e...

04/11/2024

Transforming the Future of Uncrewed Surface Technology

L3Harris' advanced technologies provide innovative solutions for customers' toughest requirements in the uncrewed systems market....

04/11/2024

NAB Taps Sean Perkins as Chief Marketing Officer

WASHINGTON The National Association of Broadcasters said it has named Sean Perkins as chief marketing officer and senior vice president of Global Connections an...

04/11/2024

Telemundo To Use VR for First Time in Election Coverage

MIAMI In recent weeks a crew of about 150 have been transforming Telemundo's Miami headquarters into two studios that will play a central role in its electi...

04/11/2024

Announcing the Winners of the RE:Vision Effects Raffle, Week 2!

Announcing the Winners of the RE:Vision Effects Raffle, Week 2! Brie Clayton November 4, 2024 0 Comments The results are in for week 2 of the RE:Visio...

04/11/2024

CBS Stations Debut AR/VR Presidential Election Center

An ambitious effort to develop and deploy AR/VR technologies at CBS' owned stations will be taking center stage on Nov. 5 in five markets, when CBS Stations...

04/11/2024

Lloyds Bank hits back against liquidators in Arena Television claim

The bank argued it should not be liable for processing payments linked to an alleged £1.2 billion fraud By Matthew Corrigan Published: November 4, 2024 Upd...

04/11/2024

Getting On Track with Ateliere to explore M&E industry's future trajectory

The interview series will examine subjects such as sustainability within the industry By Matthew Corrigan Published: November 4, 2024 The interview series...

04/11/2024

Iconic Triumph Roadster returns for the re-imagined series of Bergerac on U and U&DRAMA

Jim Bergerac's iconic Triumph Roadster is set to feature in the upcoming re-...

04/11/2024

Hong Kong's RTHK Finds Paris Olympics Streaming Success with Mediatech, Vindral

Hong Kong's RTHK Finds Paris Olympics Streaming Success with Mediatech, Vind...

04/11/2024

A Perfect Storm? The Cloud and the Future of Remote Production

A Perfect Storm? The Cloud and the Future of Remote Production Leaders from FOX Sports, Grass Valley, NEP VISTA Worldlink, and Riedel Communications dissect thi...

04/11/2024

SVG Rewind: ESPN's NHL Frozen Frenzy Delivers a Whip-around Show at Breakneck Speed

SVG Rewind: ESPN's NHL Frozen Frenzy Delivers a Whip-around Show at Breaknec...

04/11/2024

SVG Esports Production Summit 2024: Riot Games to Make In-Depth Presentation on Its New Seattle-Area Remote Broadcast Center

SVG Esports Production Summit 2024: Riot Games to Make In-Depth Presentation on ...

04/11/2024

One system, one source: Rohde & Schwarz leads the way in naval system integration

One system, one source: Rohde & Schwarz leads the way in naval system integratio...

04/11/2024

Euronaval 2024: Stay ahead of emerging threats with comprehensive SIGINT/EW solutions from Rohde & Schwarz

Euronaval 2024: Stay ahead of emerging threats with comprehensive SIGINT/EW solu...

04/11/2024

The Final Bell: Production Begins for the Third and Final Season of Heartbreak High'

Back to All News The Final Bell: Production Begins for the Third and Final Seas...

04/11/2024

Netflix Announces Release of the Documentary 'Avicii - I'm Tim' and Avicii's Last Show From Ibiza's Ushuaa

Back to All News Netflix Announces Release of the Documentary Avicii - I'm ...

04/11/2024

Fox Corporation Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2025 Financial Results

Fox Corporation Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2025 Financial Results NEW YORK, NY, November 4, 2024 - Fox Corporation (Nasdaq: FOXA, FOX; FOX or the Company...

04/11/2024

Thales: Launch of the 2024 Employee Share Ownership Plan

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) announces the launch of its 2024 employee share ownership plan, running from Monday 4 November to Fr...

04/11/2024

Double your Money List! Baz Ashmawy is back with brand new series of gameshow The Money List!

Get ready for weekend thrills and high stakes with The Money List on Saturday an...

04/11/2024

RT AND FS IREANN JOIN FORCES TO UNLEASH A TRIO OF NEW IRISH STORYLAND DRAMAS ON RT2 AND RT Player

RT and F s ireann/Screen Ireland are proud to unveil three new Storyland drama...

04/11/2024

Give AI a Look: Any Industry Can Now Search and Summarize Vast Volumes of Visual Data

Enterprises and public sector organizations around the world are developing AI a...

04/11/2024

Thales AI developments enhance operational performance of maritime mine countermeasures

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn At the Euronaval exhibition at Paris Nord Villep...

04/11/2024

Thales's Naval DRAKON solution enhances interoperability and secure connectivity for naval forces

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn With the return of high-intensity conflicts and ...

03/11/2024

ALL ABOARD Get On Track with Atelieres Game Show-style Se...

Ateliere Creative Technologies, a leading GenAI media software solutions company, today announced the launch of its innovative game show series, "On Track Wit...

03/11/2024

Pixel Power Makes New Appointments to Support Expansion

Following the launch of an updated brand identity and corresponding restructure, Pixel Power, a Rohde & Schwarz company, is now pleased to announce several sign...

03/11/2024

Skandha recruits new VP of Business and Growth in strateg...

Industry veteran Jim Oakes to boost brand awareness and spearhead company growth as major partnerships continue to form between US sports leagues and streaming ...

03/11/2024

Ikegami UHL-X40 Ultra-Compact Camera plus IPX-100 IP Gate...

Ikegami's UHL-X40 Ultra-Compact camera, IPX-100 IP gateway and OCP-500 camera control unit will make their Japanese market debut at Inter BEE 2024, Makuhari...

03/11/2024

Disguise Platform Storms New Heights at the Top of the Ro...

Disguise, an immersive technology leader with 20 years of experience in live installations for some of the world's most iconic venues including the Burj Kha...

03/11/2024

SATIS 2024 - Leader to showcase leading Test and Measurem...

Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics of Europe, has announced that it will showcase both Leader and PHABRIX instruments at this year's SATIS exp...