
Eight Yamaha STAGEPAS 1K Systems Used To Showcase Immersive Live Sound posted: 22/05/2020
As an audio professional with experience stretching from the Paleo festival in the 1970s, through working with many of the world's highest profile artists, to his current role of designing high end audio installations for events and venues, Pierre-Andr Aebischer knows a thing or two about sound. This experience is why he chose Yamaha's STAGEPAS 1K all-in-one portable PA systems to demonstrate the advantages of multi-channel, immersive live audio.
Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, Pierre-Andr has always been fascinated by immersive audio. He has recently started using eight Yamaha STAGEPAS 1K systems under the banner of Superdiff.com for a range of immersive audio projects. These have included the Stokata.io invisible orchestra' project, a one-off show Les Grands Espaces, as well as a regular experimental multi-channel event Immersive, demonstrating how immersive sound can improve the live experience.
I needed some small, portable multi-channel line arrays for a system which could demonstrate immersive audio in a live music situation, he says. I needed narrow vertical coverage, wide horizontal coverage and reasonably long throw, to make sure everyone in the room had the best experience and could hear all sounds coming from all the loudspeakers. They also needed to be self-powered, with coherent amplification and processing, easily transported, and with as few cables as possible.
The STAGEPAS 1K system was an ideal solution for Pierre-Andr 's needs, thanks to its high quality reproduction and because it includes a subwoofer in each array. This lets him quickly steer the low end content from one location to another.
When moving from theory to practice with live immersive audio, there is a lot to learn, he says. It requires lower SPLs, offers cleaner, clearer sound quality and accurate localisation, delivering huge benefits for audiences. It minimises interference like comb filtering, ensuring instruments sound as much like their original source as possible. The sense of space it creates is also very reassuring for the ear/brain system, replacing the need for high SPLs from traditional systems and making for a comfortable and peaceful listening experience.
He continues, You will ideally have one loudspeaker for each instrument, making accurate localisation possible, even with your eyes closed. You can also let the listener's brain do some of the mixing. If the ears can accurately localise and isolate every instrument, the brain will naturally emphasise certain sources that it likes, while minimising others.
To prove these benefits, Pierre-Andr deploys the eight STAGEPAS 1K systems in a line or 180 arc, each system running independently and reproducing as few different instruments as possible to minimise interference.
A 360 system is perfectly adequate, but extra care is needed when using rear points for music because of the obvious timing issues for different locations within a space, he says. But people like the immersive nature of 360 sound, even if the rear speakers are just used for things like wind noise or animal sounds, so I have tended to use those for sound effects.
Pierre-Andr composes the music for all the demonstrations, recording it to a digital audio workstation (DAW) and then routing it to the loudspeakers in a variety of ways.
For the Stokata.io project, each input source was independently sent from the DAW to an individual output of a mixing console and from there to one of the STAGEPAS 1K systems, effectively using the mixer as a router. While for others, like Les Grands Espaces, the mixer pre-amplified several guitar effects, freeze and looped tracks, which were then routed to the eight output channels via an external object mixer. This allowed me to map the trajectories of sounds and pan' them across all eight loudspeaker systems, he says.
In the same way that demand for line array systems exploded in the early 2000s, I believe that the demand for live immersive audio will soon be on the verge of a huge expansion. Yamaha STAGEPAS 1K systems have helped me to open people's minds to the amazing possibilities that this brings.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
NBCU brings together News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo for a 50+ camera live pr...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiativ...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Docume...
02/07/2026
Maxon Autograph: Introduction to working with Tables
Simon Ubsdell July 1, 2026
0 Comments
An overview of Autograph's ridiculously powerful tables...
02/07/2026
Boston Conservatory's Soir e Breaks Records to Fund Student Scholarships The event achieved 127 percent of its fundraising goal in an evening celebrating ...
02/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Med Tech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might thin...
02/07/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery UK & Ireland backs Unacceptable for a second series on TL...
02/07/2026
Thursday 2 July 2026
Tea with Judi Dench returns to Sky Arts with legendary guest, Sir Ian McKellen
Sky today confirms Tea with Judi Dench will return this su...
02/07/2026
Summer is heating up - and GeForce NOW is taking players along for the ride.
Start the month with Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains, bringing a galaxy fa...
01/07/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...
01/07/2026
Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...
01/07/2026
FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...
01/07/2026
NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...
01/07/2026
Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...
01/07/2026
England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...
01/07/2026
Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...